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Homily The Deacon Joe

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

2Kgs. 5:14-17; Ps. 98: 1-4; 2 Tim. 2:8-13; Lk. 17:11-19

“Your faith has saved you”.  In the gospel today ten lepers are healed but only one return to give thanks.  Healing came to all ten but salvation came to only the leper who returns to give thanks to God.  Leprosy was thought of as a punishment from God worthy for the sin of the person.  Naaman also is washed clean of his leprosy but only after his obedience to plunge himself into the Jordan seven times.  The Jordan is the river Jesus is baptized in, not for any sin of his but to sanctify the waters to bring us salvation by baptism.  Baptism the first of seven sacraments we receive for our sanctification.  The story of Naaman prefigures the baptism of the Lord and the coming to perfection the washing clean of our sins. 

The story of Naaman is also a beautiful story of conversion.  His cleansing from leprosy did not save him, this was the visible sign of invisible grace from God.  Naaman returns to Elisha, the man of God to give thanks to the god of Elisha and vows “I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the Lord”.  He didn’t simply acknowledge the God of Israel, he called him “Lord”, a conversion of faith saved him.  The sign of conversion is to persevere in our faith and die with him as our Lord and savior.  Many saintly souls as the hour of death approaches experience a dryness of faith, a final test summed up in the words of Jesus on the cross, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me”.  It is the final opportunity for the serpent of evil to strike at the soul before it can never approach it again.  How are we to prepare ourselves for that hour by perseverance.   

“In all circumstances give thanks for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”  What is the meaning when we say “Alleluia”?  It is a two-word translation of “Hallel” and “Jah” meaning “Praise the Lord”.  We use Alleluia as an exultation of praise but it is also a command to praise the Lord.  We are to give thanks and praise him always, in good times and in bad, sickness and health.  “Hallel” in Hebrew means joyous praise in song.  In fact, the more we sing the Mass the greater the praise of God.  The Mass is a celebration of thanksgiving.  The intent is that we boast in God our savior.  The dialogue of the Mass is to be praiseworthy.  The gospel is announced, “THE LORD BE WITH YOU” spoken boldly with the response “And also with you” just as boldly, not timidly or “ho hum” going through the motions. 

It is not easy to constantly be joyous.  I would propose that it is almost impossible if our attention is ego-centric.  Joy is not an indulgence from having more of our pleasures met.  Joy is a conscious awareness of the love and mercy of God present in our lives.  Our joy then leads to gratitude, the attitude of being ready to accept the will of God in thanksgiving.  In thanksgiving we are open to a spirit of praise.  We have a choice, either to focus on the negative and be drawn into pity or on the blessings and be raised up in joyful praise.  We teach our children to say “thank you” when they receive a gift.  Who benefits more the gift giver or the child by saying “thank you”?  The child gains more by learning to be grateful and thankful.  We are the child of God.  God is the same yesterday, today, and forever; thanksgiving changes us not him. 

 A contemporary philosopher, Tristan Garcia (The Life Intense A Modern Obsession) speaks of our current human condition as in search of greater intensity of life “that might justify our lives”.  This is the opposite of the complacency of life.  This thrill-seeking behavior is pervasive from energy drinks, drug use, and roller coaster rides not just in theme parks but in relationships for maximum intensification of pleasures, love, emotions, communication and consumption.   It seeks an escape from the discipline of life, from perseverance desiring for the “maximizations of our entire being…an intoxication of our sensation.” We are in “search, not for transcendence, as those of other epochs and cultures were, but for intensification”, we want more indulgence. 

Transcendence is to know, love and serve God.  It is recognizing his presence in every moment and desiring to do his will at that moment.  Saint Teresa of Calcutta said her desire was to be a pencil in God’s hand.  Saint Therese the Little Flower found her purpose and missionary calling in “always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love” in other words do the next right thing with love for holiness.  In those moments of weakness when our struggle of faith is tested, the road less traveled back to our faith is the path of thanksgiving.  God desires our greatest good and he knows the desires of our heart so let us trust in his goodness at all times especially in moments of darkness with a spirit of thanksgiving. 

One of the dangers in adopting a life in search of a greater intensity is the disappointment from any obsessive behavior, there is no fulfillment, no joy, only emptiness of the soul.  The nirvana we created in our minds is an illusion waiting to fall apart.  For our youth this leads to anxiety, depression, and suicide.  This is in part why we see a rise in mental health issues among our youth and it is increasing in younger children.  We go to restaurants and observe families sitting together and each child is so well behaved absorbed with their electronic device.   We observe television and each 1.5 seconds the image changes even if it is only from a different camera angle.  When is the last time we just sat and contemplated a still image, a work of art, nature?  How about sitting and contemplating Jesus on the cross or in Holy Hour for adoration?  Here lies our joy and our peace.

Do you feel alive or in a rut?  The great experience of living does not come from the egocentricity of overstimulation.  It is a transcendent love from God in the Trinity.  Turn to the love of God and experience the joy and peace he offers us.  In return come to the house of the Lord in praise and thanksgiving to receive his salvation.  If today you hear his voice, give praise and thanksgiving.  In the morning when we rise, give praise and thanksgiving for all the day may bring before we live it by faith that it may guide us to salvation.  Our faith will save us. 

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Homily

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Hab. 1:2-3; 2:2-4; Ps. 95: 1-2, 6-9; 2 Tim. 1:6-8, 13-14; Lk. 17:5-10

The apostles say to Jesus, “increase our faith” and St. Paul says, “…stir into flame the gift of God…For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control”.  The mystery of faith is this gift of God, Jesus himself active in our lives.  When the apostles say “Increase our faith”, Jesus begins with “If you have the faith the size of a mustard seed you would say…and it would obey you”.  He gives his parable as an example and concludes his answer with “When you have done all you have been commanded say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.”  The power of faith in action is not waiting for Jesus to “show up” it is taking the next right step of faith and trusting him to part the waters of the Red Sea as we go forth.  The warning of today carries over from last week “woe to the complacent” who do only what they are obliged to do. 

First let us look at the dangers of complacency.  It begins with the approach to faith called minimalism.  I am a good person and I pray I don’t feel I have to go to church to be with God.  This doesn’t even comply with doing what we are obliged to do.  Even Jesus went to the synagogue as required by the Jewish law.  Others may say I am a good Christian, I ready my bible, I pray, I go to church and give a donation…BUT I don’t believe in all that sacrament stuff…the real presence of God in the host, confession to a priest that is just a little too much.  The sacraments were instituted by Jesus so if we don’t believe in them then we don’t believe in the one who gave them to us. 

Secondly doing only what we are obliged to do is seen in the “good” Catholic who is very proud in compliance with all church law but their hearts are far from the real presence of God.  They may quote scripture and Canon law but mercy and love are alien to their hearts.  Today we are reminded “good enough in not good enough”, meeting God half-way is non-negotiable.  God desires the best of us, the best he created us to be.  Today that may not be much because we are limited by our weakness and our sins yet we had the courage to take the first step of faith and also seek God’s mercy and love.  Be prepared to be surprised that what we feared in our weakness we were able to overcome by faith trusting Jesus whose power we are given. 

Finally, looking at the power of faith the Lord says “the just one, because of his faith, shall live”.  The just don’t have a spirit of “cowardice” but a “flame of power, and love and self-control”.  I offer these “Seven Spiritual Tips to Holiness”. 

Tip #1: Offer it up!  Beginning with the morning rise offer “it” your day, work, challenges, joys or sorrows.  God knows what you are going to face by divine providence so offer it up for his glory and your greater good.

Tip #2: Exercise it!  “It” is the virtue needed to build spiritual muscle.  Be prepared for God to provide you the opportunity to exercise it.  I often prayed for the virtue of patience and found my patience tested so much I looked for another virtue to work on.  Spiritual exercises like physical conditioning requires repetition to gain the power of spiritual muscle as warriors for Christ.  Exercise it!

Tip #3: Abstain from it!  This is self-control, to say “no” to self when we want to say “yes”.  No, I won’t talk back to my parents; and parents “I won’t check my smart phone every moment I’m bored.  Phones are as addictive to adults as to youth but it is one of many temptations we need to overcome.  Pleasure is not the end game; we don’t live for pleasure we live for the greater good.  Abstaining is a means of cleansing our souls, gaining purity, and opening ourselves up to God. 

Tip #4:  Confess it!  No excuses needed.  Acknowledge the wrong on your end regardless of any fault by the other.  If we need an excuse there is underlying guilt.  Confess it immediately in your conscience.  Follow it up in the sacrament of confession the next opportunity.  When we don’t confess it, we carry it with us as a thorn of venial sin or nail of mortal sin.  Healing comes through confession. 

Tip #5:  Proclaim it!  If you proclaim it you own it.  What we believe is a gift of light, be the light with the power to proclaim it.  From the head to the voice it feeds the heart for greater power and love and self-control.  Mass is a participatory celebration and we are all called to proclaim it by lifting our voice in prayer and song.  “If today you hear his voice” proclaim it and his love will pour into us. 

Tip #6: Awaken it!  “It” is the slumber of complacency that says “good enough”.  “I am a good enough Catholic, parent, son or daughter”.  God desires it all, your heart, love and might, no compromise.  Jesus came and radicalized our practice of faith for a more perfect love.  The norms of society then and now are self-centered, God is other.  Awaken to the other present in our life. 

Tip #7:  Embrace it!  “It” is the cross of love.  Embrace the gift of life, all we are and all we are created to be in God’s image is life giving.  We live this gift for a short time on earth compared to eternity.  It is not easy to embrace our suffering.  If we just fear it, we may never free ourselves from it.  It too can be transformative in our faith for greater power, love and self-control to be set free from it.  The miracle of faith is active love, rejoice and embrace it. 

Maximillian Kolbe in prayer asked the Blessed Mother “what was to become of me, a Child of Faith.  Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red.  She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns.  The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr.  I said that I would accept them both.”  Dying to oneself is the daily red robe of sacrifice and the “Seven Spiritual Tips to Holiness” is the daily washing of our white baptismal robes of purity.  Let us embrace all that God offer us this day and go forth with the faith of a mustard seed. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Am. 6:1a, 4-7; Ps. 146: 7-10; 1 Tim. 6:11-16; Lk. 16:19-31

“Lay hold of eternal life” and fight the good fight!  Jesus became poor in the flesh yet remained rich in his divinity to pour out riches to those who “pursue righteousness…Compete well for the faith” says the Lord.  We are born with a competitive drive in fact, we love a good fight to win just look at all the sports options to drive our competitive fire.  Friday night lights in every community are ready for the intensity of the game, the rush and the thrill of victory.  How well do we compete for our faith?  “Blessed he who keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry” and finishes the marathon of life.  May we be blessed to say “I have run the race and fought the good fight…it is finished”. 

We are reminded “Woe to the complacent in Zion!”  Complacency is more than taking our faith for granted.  It is depriving it of nourishment so that when the test comes, we find ourselves surrendering without a fight.  The first nourishment and line of defense is the sacraments of the church. These prepare us for the fight as the foundation of faith.  Through the sacraments Jesus pours out his riches in grace to provide us the weapons of virtue, knowledge, and wisdom.  This does not come to the complacent but to the those who seek through prayer, devotions, study, and fellowship. 

How much time do we spend in fellowship as a community?  Tis the season for church festivals uniting ourselves in support of our parish.  Study of our faith is power to be good in apologetics defending the faith.  We recently had Scott Hahn speak at our parish, a minor miracle given his international ministry and we were blessed to have a packed church.  Devotions both private and as a community like coming to Mass the first Friday of every month fill us with grace.  Prayer is God’s time we give to be open to the spiritual work God wants to do in us. 

Complacency says “not now God”, see in the intensity of life there is always something that is demanding attention, time, priority.  The intensity of the world becomes the normative way and it deprives us of our time to mature in faith and wisdom of God.  We judge ourselves as not complacent because we adhere to the intensity of worldly demands yet the spiritual life is dormant.  We carry the spiritual life of a child hoping for the best and fearing the worst. 

We are called to “Lay hold of eternal life” that is our mission statement.  We do this when “we give life to all things…with faith, love, patience, and gentleness”.  The rich man did not give life to all things, beginning with Lazarus “who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table”.  The self-indulgence of the rich man landed him in the “netherworld, where he was in torment.”  There was no escape yet he begs for his five brothers to be warned.  Abraham prophetically tells him “If they did not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.”  So true for Jesus came suffered died and rose from the dead and the world continues addicted to the sin of self-indulgence, they will not repent. 

To fight the good fight in the world the first battle to be won is internal.  It is the one that draws us to the intensity of sins of self-indulgence.  Like an addict we keep seeking the intensity of a new high or chasing the memory of a past experience because the current experience has created a vacuum.  The vacuum can only be filled by Christ.  The battle within cannot be won without the power from above, God’s mercy and love.  To lay hold of eternal life in this world is the victory for Christ and he shows us the way.  St. Augustine says, “Trust the past to God’s mercy, the present to God’s love and the future to God’s providence.” 

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Homily

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Am. 8:4-7; Ps. 111-2, 4-8; 1 Tim. 2:1-8; Lk. 16:1-13

Jesus entered the world into the poverty of a stable, grew up in the poverty of a carpenter’s son, walked and slept among the poor in his ministry, and died on the poverty of the cross, “he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”  All the riches of the world are his yet the riches he offers are not material abundance but spiritual abundance in the graces of faith to believe, hope to trust, love to care, prudence to judge rightly, justice to be fair, fortitude to  demonstrate courage, temperance for balance, knowledge to understand, and wisdom to know God.

Jesus chose solidarity among the poor to witness his love of humanity for we all enter the world poor and return to the dust of the world yet “He raises up the lowly from the dust”.  In this we see the promise of being raised up from the dust to heaven with the riches we have received and not squandered.  The Lord calls the poor in spirit blessed knowing our fallen nature brings us the poverty of sin yet his mercy endures forever.

We will all be asked to “prepare a full account of your stewardship” the graces we squandered and those we multiplied.  Are we prudent as children of the light to recognize these gifts and invest them into the greater good of humanity?  It is tempting to “fix our scales for cheating” as the steward trusted with the master’s wealth acting “prudently” in our own interest.  The parable however was of a steward who was not prudent with the master’s property until he got caught for squandering his property.  Lesson then is a “person trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones”.

If we serve the god of mammon, the material god then we are anxious to preserve our riches and least eager to share them, the scales are always tipped our way.  Jesus is ready to share his riches with us, generous to those who “Ask and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you”.  There is no limit to the degree of riches we can receive in Jesus.  Unlike the megachurches who preach material wealth, look to Jesus and his witness on earth to see the fallacy of those false teachings.

Material goods are a blessing not as a reward for good behavior or a trophy of recognition as perceived in the Old Testament but a blessing for the purpose of doing a greater good in service to God.  One of the criticisms of the Catholic church is the amount of wealth invested into some of its cathedrals and basilicas while people are walking on the streets hungry and poor.  Those beautiful churches also feed the spiritual needs of the poor in comforting their lowliness as a visible sign of God’s presence closer to them than their suffering.  The church, that is the people of God inside the building are called to respond to the physical needs of the poor.

In union both spiritual and physical needs are cared for as one body in Christ.  With all the power of God and all the miracles Jesus manifested he never bestowed material wealth to the poor, to his parents, or his disciples.  Instead he asked them to trust him and sent them out in poverty to minister to the world.

Today we are reminded one of our ministries to the world is for the “supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone, for kings and all in authority.”  As a society we choose sides and attack the authority in control when they don’t represent our views.  They need the most prayer because their authority impacts the “quiet and tranquil life’ we seek.  As we become more interdependent with the world in a global economy, a nuclear age, and the geopolitical tensions around the world no one is immune from the next global threat.  There are wars of weapons, trade wars, virus attacks, environmental wars, and cultural wars.  Our leadership needs our prayers and “This is good and pleasing to God our savior who wills everyone to be saved.”

The Lord pours out his riches into our souls to bring us the peace we seek in our homes, comfort in our suffering, forgiveness of sins, blessing for our work, joy in our hearts, the confidence to persevere in our challenges, help at the hour of death with the assurance that our names are written in the book of life for all eternity.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ex.32:7-11, 13-14; Ps. 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19; 1 Tim. 1:12-17; Lk. 15:1-32

Come to Jesus!  The Lord “will make of you a great nation” of saints for Christ apart from those who “have become depraved…”.  Has God prodigally given his love on his people…see how stiff-necked this people is”.  Depravity is the moral corruption of the soul that does not reflect the light of truth but the darkness of sin.  Apart from Jesus and the Blessed Mother immaculate without sin the rest of humanity has passed through the darkness and fall of Adam.  “Sinners who were not under the law will also perish outside of the law; sinners subject to the law will be judged in accordance with it…All have sinned and are deprived of God’s glory” (Rom. 2:12, 3:23).  This we refer to in social sciences as the baseline of the human condition.  There is a chant that says, “we fall down…we get up…we fall down…we get up”.  The history of salvation is the fall and rise of nations of God.  It begins with the fall of Adam and Eve meaning we pass through our own personal falls into sin and rise in mercy.

I recall the story of a confessor telling the penitent, “as soon as you walk out of the confessional you will sin”.  Thank God, the Church and the Holy Spirit are given to us to recognize all sin is not equal between mortal sin and venial sin.  God is a just judge who sees the mind, will, and heart that govern the intent of the soul and offers us mercy.  “I will rise and go to my father…Have mercy on me O God; my sacrifice O God is a contrite spirit”.  A contrite spirit often comes after the fall from pride and a return to humility.  A contrite spirit recognizes our sinfulness, weakness, and in humility calls out to God the Father for mercy.  The God of mercy “relents in the punishment” our sin merits and a contrite heart responds with “I am grateful to him who has strengthened me” as Paul says in the letter to Timothy. 

The Lord not only forgives he strengthens us and transforms the sinner into a saint.   Paul gives testimony of his transformation from a “blasphemer…persecutor and arrogant…acted out of ignorance” in his unbelief.  Paul uses himself as an example of the love of Christ Jesus and his “patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life”.  Christ is patient, kind, slow to anger and he is ready to moment we turn to him to receive us.  It is a tragedy when someone says they cannot come to Christ for forgiveness because they have not forgiven themselves.  It is a trap of the evil one to keep a soul in bondage for the depravity of their sin.  Come to Jesus! 

The Gospel is a reflection of three parables, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.  The focus is not the sense of loss but on “Rejoice”.  “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep…Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost…rejoice because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found”.  Who found the brother, did he not come “to his senses” and return on his own?  Jesus never stops seeking us in his patience, kindness and mercy.  It is up to us to repent, receive sanctifying grace and return to the nation of saints.  It is not a nation of race, territory, or geopolitical ideology.  Those barriers foster moral depravity when they become “a molten calf and worshiping it”.  This we see in our world when violence is justified as a means to an end, when dialogue is silenced with threats, and the Word of truth becomes relative.  What do we do then?  Come to Jesus!

The word “prodigal” has two concepts.  One is a person who spends money recklessly as in the son who squanders his inheritance.  He suffers the fall from pride to humility and is left with a “reality check” to return to the father.  The second concept of prodigal is a person overly generous and giving an abundance.  The father in the story is overly generous in giving what was his to one son and telling the other “everything I have is yours”.  This is God the Father’s love for us in abundance ready to forgive and receive us back.  In birth God gives us ourselves, the gift of life with a desire we give ourselves back to him.  In baptism God gives us himself generously ready to pour out an abundance of grace for our inheritance.  Our fall is squandering our grace in a world of depravity.  God’s generosity is mercy. 

In moments of solitude and prayer I get these inspirations, I believe we all receive and I considered it “God speaks”.  This one came to me in one of those moments and I will close with it. 

ORIGINALE VERBUM

Once was a “word”, a friend able to carry meaning sent forth to generate life and come to rest in understanding. 

A life of relationship and unity of purpose to reveal truth and true meaning was defined in the word.

The word’s flight ascended higher above and descended deeper within creating a bond between other words as soul mates on a journey of understanding. 

Then the enemy comes who undefined any meaning by redefining a flight of meanings through individuation, isolation, and rationalization in a complexity of contextual uses ever changing. 

The intent of the enemy is an essence of purposeless subject and purposeful objects for power to be gained in one instant and discarded the next for a new intent ever fleeting. 

The “new” word wills to cannibalize Sophia into prostitution; with image distorting mirrors of vanity for the kingdom of One…hell. 

The original Word filled with grace and beauty allowed Sophia to unite faith and reason to ascend to heaven. 

The “new” word is weaponized with self-defined technical innuendos to distort meaning in flight through reflective colored lenses for a disordered reality. The enemy hears himself alone while others are silenced. 

Our hope is in the hollowed Word made flesh and not the flesh filled words that seek to disarm truth. 

The original Word descends and breaks into consciousness the lost meaning.  The word revealed in its’ full splendor is the original Word incarnate.   

Come to Jesus in prayer, come to Jesus in song, come to Jesus in the Eucharist and receive the abundance of his love. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

23rd Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Wis. 9:13-18b; Ps. 90:3-6, 12-14, 17; Phmn. 9-10, 12-17; Lk 14: 25-33

“Do you love me?”  That is the question posed to Peter and the question of the day for us.  “In every age O Lord, you have been our refuge” for those who love you.  Beginning with Genesis the story of salvation history has 7 wisdom warriors against the sin of the world “plus one”.  They include Adam vs his fall; Abel vs Cain, Noah vs flood, Abraham vs wicked nations, Lot vs the wicked people, Jacob vs night visitor, Joseph vs. his brothers; and then comes plus one.  “Plus one” is Moses who represents a new era as he battles the pharaoh.  Moses brings in the era of Israel as a child of God.  What these eight warriors share is the discipleship of abandonment to God.

Jesus is calling us to a greater love, a love of abandonment to his sacred heart.  We hear the English word “hate” used by Jesus and for us that has a strong meaning of rejection and lack of love.  It appears to imply a lack of love of others and even our own life.  Jesus however is not posing a contradiction to his call to the greatest commandment for love of God and love of neighbor.  Do we hate mother and father against the fourth commandment?  No more than we would “hate” angels, saints or our Blessed Mother.  The Greek word translated into the English has a different emphasis meaning a “preferential treatment” of placing Jesus before all else in priority of life.  We are all made for the one body of Christ to be in communion.   Spiritually we should not place anything or anyone before Jesus and when we do, we should hate the act of doing it.

In the English context we don’t hate the gift of our life, we place God before us and that requires of us an abandonment to God’s will and carry our cross.  As disciples there is a sacrifice to bear.  To bring it home to our reality, Jesus institutes his body as church.  As members of that body we cannot be cafeteria Catholics, especially in matters of doctrinal teaching.  Imagine that at the moment of death we face Jesus and our only response is “I met you halfway, like a brother.”  Where will that get us, halfway to purgatory? 

Many listened to Jesus and went away having “calculated the cost” and feeling his teaching was too hard.  Others may think it sounds great but it is not the “real world” we live in.  In whose world do we want to live in?  The choice we make has eternal consequences.  What is lacking is the first commandment, the Love of God above all else.  Where else are we to go?  We cannot save ourselves but God cannot save us without ourselves responding to Him.  Love opens the heart and soul to wisdom from above.  We receive wisdom through the Holy Spirit to respond to God’s divine will.  

To please God, it begins with an abandonment to his love.  Love leads to God’s revelation and a response to the wisdom from above.  Left only to our humanity “deliberations of mortals are timid” and “what is within our grasp we find with difficulty”.  God is within our grasp here present at the altar of sacrifice in the Eucharist and yet with difficulty we come to him especially through the sacramental life of the church.  Baptism opens the door to the Holy Spirit to receive wisdom from above; then we need the gift of fortitude to have the courage to grasp it and make it our own.  This is the incarnation of truth in our souls to overcome “the corruptible body (that) burdens the soul”.  I find it amazing that by the grace of God there are the “Incorruptible” that is saints whose bodies have remained incorruptible.  They are a testimony of someone who abandoned themselves to the will of God having had the opportunity to travel and see some of them.  He is closer to us than we are to ourselves.  The question remains, “Do you love me?” 

Paul an “old man” not only “a prisoner for Christ” is our wisdom warrior abandoned to the love of God literally a prisoner awaiting his death sentence.  He is the spiritual father of a slave Onesimus.  We can say what the Pope is to Peter, the priesthood is to Paul, a spiritual Father to his people.  Onesimus is a slave owned by Philemon.  Paul is advocating for a slave to be recognized as a brother in Christ. 

When Jesus asks Peter “Do you love me?” three times we think of it as a reminder of Peter’s denial three times.  And yes, how often do we deny Jesus in his call to love him above all.  It is also believed Jesus asks the question using the Greek word “agape” for love meaning unconditional love and Peter responds with the word “phileo” for brotherly love.  If you have a brother or sister it is not always that hard to say “no” to them.  Unconditional love is what Jesus asks of us today.  Peter!  God is before you and you respond with a weak brotherly love?  How do we respond to God’s call?

In a world of hierarchy there is always an authority we respond to even within the church and yet obedience to authority is a fellowship of love in Christ for a greater good, the good of other.  Today we are reminded that discipleship is more than “phileo” it is “agape”, unconditional and sacrificial love.  Together we sacrifice and abandon ourselves to the love that is waiting for our response.  “Yes Lord, you know that I love you”.  It is a love without end.  Amen.

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Homily

22nd Sunday Ordinary Time Christian Perfection

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Sir. 3: 17, 18, 20, 28-29; Ps. 68: 4-7, 10-11; Heb. 12: 18-19, 22-24a; Lk 14: 1, 7-14

Inward humility manifests itself in outward charity for Christian perfection.  The Lord speaks to our sense of justice and our call to Christian perfection in two statements.  First is “God in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor” and then he says “Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you”.  First, we recognize God is good and in his “goodness” he cares for the “poor” and we all share in being among the poor.  Second in our poverty of humanity we are to demonstrate our humility by charity to the poor that is among ourselves for Christian perfection.  When we do good we feel good because the goodness of Christ lives in us. 

God’s home for the poor is the tabernacle in the sacred heart of Jesus.  He is “the mediator of a new covenant” we receive in the Eucharist, “the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently” to live is us that we may be at home in our being in Christ.  The poor is not a class system of disparities between the “haves and have nots”.  We all share a poverty we bring to Christ as an offering and let his will be done.

The word of God was often spoken in parables to be understood by the spirit of God at various levels of understanding for “The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs”.  There are for example the poor who suffer economic stress having to choose between buying food or buying their medications.  There are the poor of health suffering from chronic illness, trauma, or genetic conditions.  There are the poor in spirit who suffer from anxiety, depression, obsessions, and/or abandonment.  There are also the poor in grace who suffer from separation from God crippled by sin, blind from God’s presence. 

The Lord’s response to all the poor is, “you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God…and God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect, and Jesus the mediator of a new covenant…”.  In our poverty spiritual and corporal, we come to Jesus the just judge to be transformed into the “just made perfect”.  How are we made perfect given our own weakness, sinfulness, poverty and brokenness?  When we do good, we feel good because the goodness of Christ lives in us to be made perfect in Christ.  Christ says, “My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more…the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.”  When we recognize our own poverty before God, we give life to our spirit of humility and our actions are transformed into charity for a greater good. 

Our call is to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect and it begins in humility and leads to charity.  Jesus says, “Learn from me, for I a meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt. 11:29)  For this perfection we cultivate a temperance among all virtues, love without selfishness is not about what’s in it for me; obedience without servility is about what is good for both not one over the other; patience without weakness is standing firm in our faith, firmness without pride is honesty, courage without recklessness is prudence, and authority without haughtiness is justice with a heart of love. 

Finally, I want to do a “shout out” for the souls in purgatory with the reminder that “alms atone for sins.”  The souls in purgatory suffering in the “flames of fire” hunger for atonement of their sins.  They thirst for water that quenches their suffering and our prayers, Masses, offerings of charity in remembrance of them is water that quenches.  I just finished the book titled Hungry Souls on the apparitions of the souls in purgatory to many people.  What all these souls have in common is they seek some form of atonement by the person they appear to while in purgatory to shorten their suffering and time in purgatory on their path to heaven.  This is perfect charity to make atonement for the souls in purgatory “because of their inability to repay you.  For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” 

I say again, “When we do good we feel good because the goodness of Christ lives in us.”  We just may be shortening our time in purgatory in atonement of our own sins in perfect charity.  We are all called to be saints and heaven is waiting to receive saints.  Purgatory is waiting to purify the souls who died short of Christ’s perfect call.  Let us pray to receive the grace to follow the call to perfection while there is time. 

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Homily

21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 66: 18-21; Ps. 117:1, 2; Heb. 12:5-7, 11-13; Lk 13: 22-30

In Quincianeras (15th year Celebrations) I enjoy playing the “Knock-knock” game with the quincianera. The game starts like this:

“Knock-knock” (Q: “Who’s there?) “God is” (Q: “God is who?”) “God is your Father who is in heaven calling you to be the best he created you to be”

“Knock-knock” (Q: “Who’s there?”) “The big O” (Q: “The big O who?”) “The big O of Obedience who is your BFF, best friend forever”.  Called to obedience in God’s greatest commandment is in our DNA search for happiness.  We come to know who God is in obedience as he reveals who we are in his image.  Not who we are in general as a people of God but who we are individually as a unique being with a given purpose and meaning in this life and time.  Obedience to the natural law as God created it is for the greater good even science cannot deny it.  Obedience to God’s command is the “narrow gate” many will “attempt to enter but will not be strong enough”.  All are invited to enter the “narrow gate” but are we strong enough to resist the sin in our lives that draws us away? 

“Knock-knock” (Q: “Who’s there?”) “The big D” (Q: “The big D who?”) “The big D of Discipline to “endure your trials as ‘discipline’…For what ‘son’ is there whom his father does not discipline?”   With discipline we stand for our faith or we may fall for the sin that is pleasing at the moment.  Discipline is the workforce that makes obedience come easy.  Parents love is based on discipline to mature in truth for learning freedom is not free it is a sacrifice out of discipline.  Discipline “later brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it”.  Discipline begins by doing the next right thing in obedience to the law already in our hearts from our baptism.  Parents teach and reinforce this law by their testimony of love through discipline.  “Endure your trials as discipline”, is it not as punishment.  When we suffer we have an opportunity to purify our souls, wash clean our baptismal robes, unite ourselves to Christ in his passion for our sins and make an offering of ourselves. 

“Knock-knock” (Q: “Who’s there?”)  “The big W” (Q: “The big W who?”) “The big W is the work plan that comes through Jesus.  Scripture says, “I am the way, the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father, except through me”, through his love embodied in discipline.  The work plan is to spread the Good News we have been given.  The plan of salvation is an invitation to all the people of all the nations and “they shall come and see my glory” says the Lord.  Salvation is not an accident waiting to happen, it is a calling and we are free to respond yet not all have.  That is why we are reminded in the gospel there will be those outside the “door…(with) wailing and grinding of teeth”.  Lesson learned is we take so much in life for granted until it is gone.  

There was a program on EWTN with Father Mitch Pacwa interviewing a doctor of philosophy named Dr. Frey (first name not captured).  She was invited to Yale University to debate with a doctor of psychology on the topic of happiness.  She proposed the question that if there was a box in which the person was guaranteed to always be stimulated to feel happiness would they enter and be left there.  The psychology doctor said yes.  Others however saw the logic of being trapped in a box with reservation.  The “box” represents a place of isolation and happiness comes from being outside yourself in relation to God and others.  She stated 25% of college students suffer from anxiety, depression, and isolation.  This is the lie of Satan mentioned last week to live each day thinking only of yourself a little more until you find yourself in this box of artificial stimulation and emptiness.  One of the main tools becoming an addiction is social media.  The box is the phone to create an altered reality filled with artificial and narcissistic grandiosity of happiness because the world that is waiting outside the phone is too intimidating. 

The Good News is happiness comes from the unconditional love offering of giving of ourselves to God and others.  Follow the way of Jesus giving of himself out of love in the freedom of a world created for us to give good fruit.  “So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.  Make straight your paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed”.  Let us live outside the box of sin.  There will be trials through the “narrow gate” but also great consolation as we enter into his presence, healed by his love and at peace.  The discipline is a life of virtues all serving the greater good for ourselves and others. 

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Homily

20th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Jer. 38:4-6, 8-10; Ps. 40:2-4, 18; Heb. 12:1-4; Lk. 12:49-53

“I have come to set the earth on fire.”  If our faith on fire or simply lukewarm?  Jesus speaks of a baptism to come though he was already baptized by water in the Jordan river by John the Baptist.  His great “anguish until it is accomplished” is his passion and death on the cross.  Christ teaching was a two-edge sword of division. 

For the institutions of this time there was the Jewish tradition with governance by its law and the other was the Roman political structure in control of the territory or as we would refer to in our time as church and state.  Jesus word would cut through both ways dividing long held Jewish beliefs and traditions for families and threatening the status quo for the state.  Who is the identified enemy?  For many it became the messenger, Christ and his followers.  For Christ it was peoples’ sin the “struggle…you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.” 

St. Francis of Assisi threw himself on thorn bushes to mortify his body against the temptation of sin.  Other saints have used flagellation to mortify their bodies and some have done simple acts of mortification such as placing a pebble in their shoe to feel the constant reminder for holiness in every step of discomfort. Even modern psychology in behavior therapy will use the example of having a rubber band on your wrist to pop yourself every time you are tempted to do a negative behavior like biting your nails to break the habit.  As a church we have the Lenten season to deny ourselves with fasting and abstinence to mortify our bodies.  For the world a voice against the normalization of sin must be silenced. 

Jerimiah was a voice against sin in his time.  He prefigures Christ the King.  King Zedekiah hands him over to the people for his crime.  What is his crime?  He is “speaking” and teaching the people against sin and this is judged as “not interested in the welfare of our people but in their ruin.”  When evil held as good and good is attacked as evil kingdoms fall to ruin.  The voice of Jeremiah, the voice of Christ is counterculture.

Before, during and after Christ until the present to challenge the institutional norms is treated as a crime worthy of death.  We have only to look at our own world history in the making to see the same culture of death as Jerimiah and Christ faced.  Speak of sin and you will quickly make enemies and there is no end to the labels that are thrown out ending in “phobic” to silence anyone willing to speak up.  It is not a phobia to speak of the natural law of marriage between male and female, or beliefs and lifestyles contrary to the natural law.  It is simply defending God’s creation through his Word and his Word is the foundation of his creation in natural law.  It is the source of life not for his good but or our greater good. 

I was listening to a homily on EWTN where the priest shared a story of another priest who approached a group promoting the Church of Satan.  He asked them what they believed.  They said they practiced being “friends of Satan”.  The taught their followers to practice thinking of themselves a little more each day. If everyone follows this logic to the end then every person will create an island within themselves to exist in isolation from others.  To have a friend is to think of the other before yourself.  The great lie is Satan has no friends, it is all about him and his followers are simply puppets of this lie.  Place a person in solitary confinement and deny them all human contact and they are more likely to become depressed and suicidal than to grow in happiness and peace.  Hell is a deprivation of love. 

“Lord, come to my aid!”  The pit of destruction is to live thinking of ourselves more and more until we become abandoned in the mud of sin and swamp of evil.  Jeremiah preached against sin and was thrown into the pit by many but it took only one person to intercede for him with a voice for justice.  We must be that voice of justice in this world.  We can go to Christ our King to hear our cry for our own family, our church, and all the sins of the world.  We can offer our sacrifices coming to Mass, in Adoration, in sharing our faith.  When we make an offering of ourselves Christ will give us what we are to speak and how we are to serve.  Be open to this grace and trust in the Lord. 

The earth is on fire as Jesus foretold and from this fire some will journey down to the fire of hell.  Others will pass through the fire of purgatory that purifies on the way to heaven.  One path has no end to pain and the other is a flame of love to enter into God’s friendship.  This is the fire of love that calls the sinner to repentance and divides the righteous from the unrighteous.  If our faith is on fire, we are a voice for righteousness ready to love the sinner not the sin.  Let us pray for those who identify more with the sin that with the creator while there is still time.  The fire of faith is a flame of love from the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

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Reflection

The Assumption the Blessed Virgin Mary

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Who is the greatest apostle for Jesus?  Is it from among the twelve Apostles whom Jesus called?  They questioned among themselves who was the greatest and Jesus called them to humble themselves.  It is the one who says “my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord” by her purity, fiat, and her lowliness.  Mary is the one who did not taste death but in sleep was assumed body and soul into heaven. 

Consider all the relics of the bodies of the apostles who died and were immediately venerated and given their final burial place.  Mary was placed in the care of John the apostle by Jesus at the cross.  There is no body, no remains, and no burial place for Mary.  The ascension of Jesus was witnessed by many and written about.  No word is mentioned of Mary.  Perhaps no explanation could be given for her assumption as she vanishes without a trace.  Death has that impact in that one moment we are here and the next we are face to face before the judgment seat with Jesus but our bodies remain behind as a consolation to others.  Mary’s body and soul remained with the breath of God in unity, immortal, uncoruptible, and blessed. 

Mary is the one who returns in her apparitions sent to us for the conversion of sinners and is called to holiness.  Mary is the one by her son in life and death and the mighty one continues to do great things for her.  Her soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord for it is united to his rejoicing to be the beloved full of grace the one “Blessed by God”. 

Our blessings come from God and Mary is there to present our prayers before him.  Where two hearts are thus united by love a transformation of the world comes for the salvation of souls.  We cannot receive in our hearts Jesus without receiving Mary and we cannot receive Mary without receiving Jesus.  We belong to a communion of saints called to be one with the Father, in the Son, through the Holy Spirit. 

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