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Homily

Solemnity the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Gen: 14: 18-20; Ps. 110: 1-4; 1 Cor. 11: 23-26; Lk. 9: 11b-17

“Give us this day our daily bread”.  Melchizedek, both king and priest uses bread and wine to offer a blessing and Abram gives his “a tenth of everything”.  Imagine before all the history of animal sacrifices there is this event that prefigures Jesus sacrifice on the altar with bread and wine.  That is why all of salvation history either point forward to Jesus or back to him, “You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek”.  He is the eternal sacrifice poured out for us on the altar today in the Eucharist.  How important was that blessing to Abram that he gives a tenth of everything to Melchizedek?  The importance of a blessing by God will “deliver your foes into your hands.”  When we receive Christ in the Eucharist, we receive power over evil and sin in the spiritual warfare of this life.  Do we bless our children before they walk out of the house to go out into the world to face “the wickedness and the snares of the devil”?  When we go to confession what is the first thing we say?  “Bless me Father for I have sinned.”  We ask for a blessing to be forgiven and healed from the wounds of sin. 

A blessing is not giving “best wishes”, it is affirming favor with God and calling on his protection.  A child says, “Mom/Dad I’m leaving”.  How do we often respond?  “Ok, take care, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, stay out trouble.”  How about, “May God bless you and keep you, may his face shine upon you.”  A blessing fulfills the song, “In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus”.  “Do this in remembrance of me.” 

“Do this” is to make Jesus alive in the Eucharist, to receive him and proclaim his sacrifice and death until he comes.  Jesus coming is always a present event for he comes in the Most Holy Body and Blood in the Eucharist.  Having just visited many holy shrines in Italy, one place we visited was Lanciano, Italy.  Here is the “Miracle of Lanciano” where the sacred host changed into flesh and blood.  Able to stand within feet of the reliquary which holds to this day the flesh and blood you see the fleshy host and below it five globules of blood intact.  Within the miracle itself scientist weighed each of the five separate parts and found that each part weighs the same as all five together.  They also determine that the fleshy host is human cardiac tissue of type AB blood and they can point exactly what spot of the heart muscle tissue it comes from.  This is consistent with all other Eucharistic miracles in the church.  What are we to believe?  More importantly do we believe Jesus is “the living bread” in the Eucharist “that came down from heaven” and the source of eternal life when we “eat this bread”?  This is our celebration today!

We celebrate the kingdom of God already present able to heal us and strengthen us when the priest raises the host and multiplies the heart of Jesus that we may receive our equal amount of blessing.  In the gospel, Jesus blesses the five loaves and two fish and it is multiplied to feed the five thousand plus.  God is the creator of natural law thus his power is outside of the natural law.  We are bound by natural law but he is not bound b y the object of his creation. 

Years back we went on a pilgrimage to Israel.  Our guide was a very well educated older Jewish man with a sense of humor.  He was also in much better physical shape than a lot of us younger people.  During daily Mass he always sat in the back but remained in church.  He had a good understanding of Christian history and was a very good guide.  When discussing the faith of the church in transubstantiation, the changing of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist, it was a stumbling block for him.  His response was “it cannot be that easy”.  It is that easy if it is the will of God.  What happens the next day after the multiplication of the loaves?  The people want a sign from heaven to believe in him.  Jesus responds by saying, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day” and again repeats “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him”.  (Jn. 6: 54, 56) How did many of his disciples respond?”  They said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”  Many left and “returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” (Jn. 6:66) How do we respond to the invitation today?  Do we follow the teaching of Jesus or do we go through the “cafeteria line” and pick and choose only what we can accept? 

Today this teaching is a stumbling block for many other Christian denominations.  Some take crackers and grape juice to reflect communion as a symbolism skipping over Jesus teaching.  The literal meaning is too hard to accept.  Some say the Word of the gospel is the body of Christ as we consume his word to transform us.  We receive both in the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist for the fullness of truth.  Do we believe what we profess every day in all the tabernacles of the world?  The miracle is present for us today.  Believe and receive, but go to confession first for the blessing of forgiveness.  “Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses…” 

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Homily

Pentecost Sunday

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 2: 1-11; 1Cor. 12: 3b-7, 12-13; Jn 20: 19-23

Can you say “Jesus is Lord”?  I was listening to a program on ETWN with Dr. Ray.  He had a guest who had been a prison guard at a maximum security prison in California.  His shift was at night and finding little to do he requested to review the files of the prisoners.  He noticed that many of the prisoners had histories of “Satanism”.  When he went home and told his mother she warned him to be careful and said one thing they cannot repeat is “Jesus is Lord”.  Given his curiosity he decided to put his mom’s statement to the test.  At night he went up to a prisoner and offered him a nice meal if he would say three words.  Incredulously the prisoner agreed.  When he told him all he needed to do was say “Jesus is Lord” the prisoner started to attempt the words and he became possessed making evil sounds.  The guard quickly closed the solid door in front of the rails that secured the prisoner.  The next night he tried again with another of the prisoner and the same thing happened.  Soon he found out that all these prisoners with satanic history could not mutter the words “Jesus is Lord”.  “Only through the spirit can one say ‘Jesus is Lord’”.  

One tragedy of this story is that one of these prisoners is the serial killer who killed one of our youth from this parish. This community has dedicated a school after and she is our goddaughter in heaven.  Evil is real and we are in the battle against the “wickedness and the snares of the devil” but we have been given the greatest power to overcome evil.  Where does this power lie?  It is in the unity of the one body when we come together and receive of the different gifts.  Jesus appears to the disciples who are gathered together and “breathed on them and said to them “Receive the Holy Spirit”.  When we gather together in prayer and call upon the Holy Spirit, we are given the power to go forth and face our battles with courage transformed to witness our faith in action and we will “renew the face of the earth”.    

In the Old Testament you may recall how the people gathered together to build the tower of Babel.  They wanted to reach the heavens by their own power.  God sent them tongues of confusion that kept them from understanding each other and they were dispersed because of their pride.  God is now sending down his Spirit with tongues of fire to bring back the dispersed into unity with God through his Son and the Holy Spirit that we may be one in him.  They are “different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit…all baptized into the one body”. 

For those who say “I believe in God but I go my own way” listen to this.  Our own way is the way of pride and confusion and the evil one knows our weakness to bring us down.  In an article in the National Catholic Register (NCR 06/09/2019, by P.J. Smith) it reports a growing trend of “Nones”, that is persons who claim to have no religious affiliation.  The percentage is 23.1% of Americans but among Gen-Z, those between 18 and 22 years old it is 40.4% as “Nones” with 16.2% Catholic and 14.4% as evangelical.  This separation from faith begins with our youth as they move away to college and find themselves apart from the unity of a church community.  Gradually these believers are challenged in their faith.  They stop going to church and separated from any affiliation with a group of faithful Christians the evil one finds their weakness.  Slowly they move from practicing their faith, to non-practicing and end up as “Nones”. 

Our power lies in unity within a community of faith that shares in the different kinds of gifts for the good of the one body of Christ we all belong to.  No one person can bear all the gifts except the one from who they come but we can all share in them and in our charity and love draw from them for the greater good.  Will there be martyrs along the way who will be singled out for their faith?  Yes, history remind us well of all those who gave their life for their faith.  They are dressed in white robes to be reminders of the one true sacrifice we all share in.  God prepares a special place for them as the book of Revelations makes clear. 

Having returned from Italy where thousands were sacrificed as followers of Christ, one place we celebrated Mass was at a cave in the catacombs.  There are miles of tunnels and within the walls are carved out spaces where the dead were laid to rest.  Within the smell of the dying the early Christians gathered to celebrate life in the breaking of the bread for they had witnessed the resurrection of Christ and believed.  Along one of these walls is a mosaic dating back to the first centuries with the image of Peter and Paul.  Peter husky with a big head of white hair and beard and Paul slender dark skin and long pointed dark beard.  The keys of the kingdom and the spread of the gospel is given to the church in these two men and we are the inheritance of this treasure.  Let us remain faithful that is a people of faith, hope, and love. “Come, Holy Spirit, come!” 

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Homily

Ascension of the Lord

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 1:1-11; Ps 47:2-3, 6-9; Eph. 1:17-23; Lk. 24:46-53

Today our Easter time joins Jesus passion, death and resurrection to his ascension. First, “shouts of joy” to the pilgrimage group from EWTN led by Father Miguel as we visited the shrines of Italy in May.  It was a blessing to celebrate Mass daily whether in large basilicas or down in caves and catacombs where Christians were buried.   One of these places we visited was the Shrine of the Holy Face of Jesus in Manoppello.  Divine providence allowed us to be present as the community was celebrating Mass on the day the Holy Face of Jesus was being exposed for veneration by the community. 

Here we learned about the studies that have been done on Veronica’s veil, the Shroud of Turin and the Holy Face of Jesus burial cloth.  Jesus in his love and mercy has left us these signs to increase our faith.  Science has determined that these three cloths overlap each other perfectly representing the same person who suffered, died, and was coming to life. 

They are a sign of his passion, death, and resurrection.  In Veronica’s veil we recall Jesus scourging and bloody mouth which Veronica wiped away.  In the Shroud of Turin we recall Jesus death as he lay in the womb three days.  In the Holy Face of Jesus we have the hood that covered the face representing the moment of the resurrection as he came to life.  Together they represent our Easter time.

“This Jesus who has been taken up…will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”   “Only the one who came from the Father can return to the Father: Christ Jesus” (CCC 661).  Christ now opens the gates of heaven to share in his glorified life, not by our own power but through his coming for us.  What is this glorified life we are promised? 

After the resurrection for forty days Jesus appeared to the disciples and revealed his glorified state in which we are all to share.  The church speaks of four properties of a glorified resurrected body.  They include:  impassability, subtlety, agility and clarity.  Reflecting on each is seen in the resurrected body of Jesus who leaves us his witness of the glorified state. 

Impassability is the promise that we will no longer pass through suffering, physical sickness or death for the body “shall rise in incorruption” (1 Cr. 15:42)   There is no reincarnation or return to “try again” at a more perfect state of life from our past sins.  Even science demonstrates the world is in perpetual motion forward and no second chance.  We pass from mortality to immortality.

Subtlety is the spiritualized nature of the body with the ability to pass through the material.  Jesus appeared to the disciples as he passed through the doors.  It is important to remember that the body and soul is one nature of humanity thus our spiritualized resurrected body will be of one nature in its subtlety.  Just as a hand runs through running water the spiritualized nature will remain as one. 

Agility is the glorified body’s ability to obey the soul and be transported at the speed of thought (1 Cor. 15:43).  This was seen in Jesus appearance and disappearance on the walk to Emmaus to the two men.  We also have seen testimony of this in saint’s ability to bilocate, is to have appeared in other places. 

Clarity indicates the glorified body will be free from any deformity, filled with beauty and radiance (Math: 13:43/Wis. 3:7).  This is the healing Jesus provides us when he heals the blind, and paralytic.  You may ask then why did Jesus’ resurrected state remain with his wounds, a sign of imperfection.  In a homily by Father Wade Menezes (EWTN homily 05/29/19) he expressed the need for perfection of charity.  That is to the degree we demonstrate our charity we are perfected.  Jesus wounds remain as a sign of our imperfect love which he so desires of us. 

It is important to clarify that the glorified state is a grace obedient to the will.  When someone we love dies in their humanity they are alive in Christ.  Saints often expressed their intent to do more for us in dying than in their humanity.  This can only be by our will to pray and ask of them, of our Blessed Mother Mary, and of God in the Trinity.  The glorified state honors the will of the other thus Jesus stands at the door of our hearts but we must invite him in.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 13: 14, 43-52; Ps 100: 1-3, 5; Rev 7:9, 14b-17; Jn. 10:27-30

“All who were destined for eternal life came to believe”.  Who is destined and how do we know?  I have often asked the question in RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) who believes in predetermination or self-determination.  Answers vary in the group with some feeling in the tradition of Calvinism that God has predetermined everything and we are living out the plan.  Others go to the other side of feeling in the tradition of Gnostics that God created us and placed us here to work out our salvation but remains distant from interfering with our life.  Then there are others who simply never considered the question and have no idea.  Where would you stand as a believer? 

The believer who does the will of the Father is destined for eternal life.  This does not imply that God is simply an observer of our daily life waiting to determine our destiny simply by our actions.  Jesus stands at the door of our hearts knocking ready to engage us in our daily life but our hearts must respond to receive him.  Is there a plan of salvation written into our hearts for each of us?  Absolutely, it is custom drawn to go with our personal state of life for us to follow.  God also knows our inherent weakness and free will and will continue to knock on our hearts to return to his plan for us.  The prodigal father and son remind us of this reality.  No matter how much we turn away from him he cannot deny himself and his love is everlasting.  Yet not all live to do the will of the Father.  In predetermination there is an individualized plan but not all follow. 

“Follow me” is the core message of last week meaning follow Jesus.  Self-determination then is our journey of faith governed by our free will, intellect, and emotions that are the essence of our soul.  To unite our free will, intellect, and emotions is to unite our soul in relationship with the Father’s will, the mind of God, and his love.  The perfect union is the ecstasy of grace one in being with the Father in the Holy Trinity.  Into this plan of truth, goodness, beauty, and unity we are a people of God.  If this does not excite us then we are not ready to simply let go and let God be my Lord and savior. What is the resistance that keeps us from being glorified in the word of the Lord?  We remain set on going “my own way”. 

“No one can take them out of the Father’s hand”.  This is not predetermination that “once saved is always saved.”  We choose to take ourselves out of the Father’s hand in our self-determination.  The word has been given to us since our baptism.  God is waiting for what we choose to do now.  Signs to awaken us to his presence surround us.  We have Jesus life, death, resurrection, the descent of the Holy Spirit, his body and blood in the Eucharist, and the church to serve as his authority.   Follow these signs and graces will pour out of his riches in glory.   

“My way” does not listen for the voice of the Lord.  It is not watchful and attentive to a God who is nearby.  The soul wanders seeking to discover “the way” as the Israelites in the desert who were never far from the promise land but kept wandering within a region while God waited for the conversion of their hearts.  In what ways are we wandering in search of truth, goodness, beauty and unity without turning to our God?  God waits for our conversion and it begins with an act of the will to let go and receive him who is love.  Jesus is the way to follow to the promise land “and they will never perish”.   In God are truth, goodness, beauty and unity of love.  Let us answer the call and follow the good shepherd and we will know we remain in his hands. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

Third Sunday of Easter

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 5: 27-32, 40b-41; Ps 30: 2, 4-6, 11-13; Rev 5: 11-14; Jn 21: 1-19

“Follow me”.  The core message of the call to Christianity is follow Jesus.  In the third apparition of Jesus to his disciples Jesus continues to bestow on them the power to follow with the authority of Jesus.  He has already appeared to them and called them to go forth with authority as he breathed on them in the first apparition with the words “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  He has given them the power to forgive sins, “whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, whose sins you retain are retained”. 

These disciples are now being given authority to be the witnesses of Jesus himself as apostles and carry forth with authority the will of the Father.  What is their response?  Jesus finds them back at their trade as fishermen going back to the day in which he first called them to follow him at the beginning of Jesus ministry.  This is the process and the cycle of conversion and growth in holiness. 

We have been called from the day of our baptism to follow not in weakness but in the power of the name of Jesus.  Baptism has given us the virtues of faith, hope, and love to believe in God and to practice what we believe.  In the waters of our baptism we are cleansed and we receive the Holy Spirit.  It is the fire to grow in perfection living out the virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.  This spirit of courage gives wisdom to understand in right judgment the will of the Father, seek justice for all, have the fortitude to act rightly, and the temperance of balancing the scales of love of God and love of other in our unity to him. 

Then comes life in all its truth, goodness, beauty, and unity to be one with our creator, to “follow me”.  Our response is often “I go my way.”  The disciples have seen the miracles, the sacrifice of Jesus for them, the resurrection of the Lord, the fire of the Holy Spirit descend on them and they go seeking their way.  Their way is often our way, the way of our comfort zone.  We seek to return to what is known than to for forth into the unknown but that is not the cycle of life. 

Life is always going forth into the unknown but not alone.  In the unknown God is with us to lead the way.  We are not the same person of our childhood, our youth, or our later stages of life.  I am reminded that every five years our cells completely replicate and we are not the same person we were before. If we question that reality then just look in the mirror and be convinced. Not only our features change but we are in a transformation into someone new and the old passes away. The laws of physics are the force of motion forward and we must prepare for this destiny.  Mortal life is but a fraction of this destiny thus we are called to vigilance and readiness to respond to the call of this moment.  What is God asking of me to respond in faith, courage and love?

The unknown is the journey of faith what tomorrow brings us.  It brings us growth and maturity for the young, hopes and dreams as we discover our gifts and God given graces, struggles and challenges in our obstacles that strengthen our spiritual muscle, and letting go to let God move in us to go forth and follow him.  Our temptation is to hold on and not let go or let God be our God.  We hold onto our self-image when God offers us his image.  We hold onto our strong will that is unreceptive to the guidance of the spirit simply because as Jesus prayed, “they know not what they do”.  We hold onto our control because of our insecurity when God offers us a power greater than ourselves.  We also hold onto our sins because we find a false identity in our weakness and hide in our darkness of the soul. 

The soul is given the light of Christ to be kept brightly burning, not looking back but going forward in this light. The disciples first left their nets to follow Jesus to be baptized, catechized, to live the passion with Christ and now receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Where does Jesus find them in today’s readings but back in the comfort of their trade still waiting for a messiah to come?  Jesus has come for them and for us to go forth giving testimony of God’s real presence in our lives.  Trust Jesus and your light will shine with the power of the word made flesh in our being.

Still they needed the real presence of Jesus to go forth after the resurrection.  We need the real presence of Jesus to go forth in our lives.  He makes himself present in our prayer life, in the Eucharist, and in our sacrifice of love for other.  He is prepared to manifest his miracles through us and bring all to salvation.  He instituted the church as one body of authority to carry forth his love in the sacraments and in fellowship as Christians. 

Three times Jesus asks Peter “Do you love me?” Do we really love God? He waits for our answer with the rising of the sun to rise to follow him. He wants us to follow him by doing the will of the Father. Jesus lets Peter know his calling is “feed my sheep, tend my lambs”. We need more holy priests. We need them as pastors of the flock not administrators of the parish. To administer the parish is the “other duties as assigned” but the call is to be a pastor. A pastor tends to the spiritual needs of the people, administers the sacraments, and goes out to be with the flock in their world in order to call them back into God’s kingdom.

“Follow me” into the light and release the yoke of sin we carry with false pride.  Our pride is in the one who gives us the power to follow in ways of truth, goodness, beauty, and unity.  This is the resurrected life of our Easter time.  This is living in the perfection of the Lord this day.  We are in this moment in time called to follow.  Fear not the call into the unknown but in unity to our God be open to amazing grace and we will be his apostles in Christ.

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Reflection

Easter Triduum

Posted on by Deacon Joe

The Easter Triduum is three events in the one continuous recognition of the Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection.  This begins with Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday and concludes with vespers (evening prayer) on Easter Sunday. 

It began with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday as the Lord institutes the memorial of the Eucharist in the offering of his body and blood in preparation for the sacrifice to come in his death.  The Eucharist is his true body and blood in a mystery of transubstantiation for the atonement of our sins through all ages.  Lent was an opportunity to join Jesus by sharing of our own sacrifice not to atone for our sins but as an act of worship and thanksgiving.  The celebration of the Mass is a celebration of thanksgiving in remembrance of the one sacrifice.  It also institutes Holy Orders, that is the one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic church with himself as our High Priest and the disciples as priestly servants of the High Priest.  We recall this institution by the reenactment of the washing of the feet to remember true discipleship is servant leadership.  This invitation to servant leadership is a call to all faithful believers in our own state of life.  The willingness of ourselves to sacrifice for others is the beginning of the Christian life. 

Next is Good Friday, just one day after the institution of the Holy Eucharist we have this one day in which the church does not celebrate the Mass.  The solemnity of this day is the passion and death of Jesus in which Catholic churches around the world conduct reenactments to recall the reality of the sacrifice in all of Jesus true humanity to return to the Father in all his divinity.  His life is not taken from him.  He surrenders it to the Father to be one, consubstantial of the one nature with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  We are invited to spend an hour in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament this night as Jesus asks his disciples to stay awake with him in his agony before his arrest.  We recall his suffering is very personal in our lives for our own redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.  As Peter denied Jesus three times, we recall our own denial of our faith.  When we trust not Jesus will in our lives but our own egocentric desire to be our own god we reject his grace and mercy and deny him once again.  When we choose to disobey the commandments with full knowledge and free will we deny the fear of God and invite judgment upon ourselves.  When we vow to the Lord to live our state of life in chastity to our call as single, married, widow, religious, or priestly and break our vows we deny our Lord.  We may deny our promises but Jesus does not deny himself the promise he has made to us. 

The Tridium concludes with the final day beginning with the Saturday vigil at sunset until Sunday evening vespers.  In the darkness of the fire the Easter candle is lit to bring us “The Light of Christ” to “banish the darkness of sin” and “persevere undimmed” (Exultant) in the life of the church and in our lives as faithful followers of the light.  The night recalls the history of salvation in all the readings and in our voices raised to sing the Gloria, the Litany of the Saints and our Alleluia!  Easter has come with the promise of the empty tomb that is the resurrected Christ.  We join him as children of the light to burn brightly in our souls fulfilling the great commandment, “love God” and “love your neighbor” as he loves us. Our praise to God is fulfilled in our capacity to love.  We come together as family to express that love having already reconciled our self to God and with each other.  We come together as church to share in the fellowship of this love poured out for us giving testimony through our worship together.  We come together in our image of God to be one with him in our soul joining our mind, hearts, and will to be of one mind, one heart, and one will as humble servants ready to wash each other’s feet. 

Saint Peter reminds us of that we do fall and we rise again in hopes that each time our conversion brings us closer to Jesus, closer to the divine life, closer to each other.  HAPPY EASTER!! 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Lk. 19: 28-40; Is. 50: 4-7; Ps. 22: 8, 9, 17-20, 23-34; Phil. 2: 6-11; Lk 22: 14 – 23: 56

It has begun the source and summit of “Christendom”.  Palm Sunday is the complete narrative of our faith as Christians.  The preparation of Lent is to receive Christ as Lord and King and to be welcomed into his kingdom for all eternity.  Palm Sunday is the beginning of the final journey into eternal life in Christ.  It is a celebration of joy and sorrow, the joy of our salvation in Christ and the sorrow of our sins which persecute Christ even to this day.  “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest”.  For this we must never be silenced in the public square.  Even as the Pharisees tried to silence the people Jesus responds, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!” 

Our times are filled with threats to those who speak in the public square their religious beliefs.  It goes as far to the extreme as to call it “Hate speech”.  It is condemned because it does not show tolerance or inclusive language.  Today gender neutral belief seeks to deny God’s creation of humanity as male and female by natural law.  The freedom to choose personal gender identity, the right to give life or end life, now extends to the demand that others comply with these social norms or lose their rights to exist in the public square.  In times of darkness comes the light.  Jesus is the light and he comes as a disruptive force to the Pharisees despite all their attempts to silence him. 

The words of Jesus, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” is a reminder of his deep sorrow and suffering in his humanity.  He is a God who joined us in all our human suffering and in agony feels the separation from God as we often wonder and question where God is when we suffer.  His supplication “But you, O Lord be not far from me” is followed by a commitment “I will proclaim your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.”  In joy praise comes naturally but in suffering do we remain committed to praise the Lord? 

Poor Peter, “I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows this day you will deny three times that you know me.”  Peter’s weakness is our weakness yet Jesus turns to Peter to be the rock “Simon…once you turn back you must strengthen your brothers.”  This is our joy we must turn back to the Lord from our sins and be the rock of strength for our family, friends, and a sign of hope to the stranger.  We are to serve the Lord as the light in the darkness with fortitude, justice, prudence, and temperance.  The light is received in our baptism through the Holy Spirit to be kept burning brightly with love in action willing to go forth into the darkness.  It cannot be kept hidden beneath church ceilings or within the soul of a believer. 

The sign of hope is a servant’s love to lift others by our testimony in word and act of charity with all humility.  Jesus offers us his cup and his bread that is his body and blood to strengthen us in this our personal crosses we bear in this life.  Our hope is the end of death by sin, the redemption of the sinner we are, and the resurrection into new life in the covenant of love.  Lent is our preparation time for a new beginning just as the world celebrates the New Year with a new resolution we celebrate our conversion.  Each day brings its joys and sorrows, trials and triumphs, beginning and end.  Each day is an offering of us to God and Easter is our springtime to be new once again in our faith, hope, and love. 

Let us invite Jesus into our lives and see the miracle of transformation beyond all understanding.  Let us now live our “Passover” from death into eternal life in the joy of the Eucharistic celebration, the sacrifice of the Mass and the going forth to love and serve the Lord.  “Jesus wept” is the shortest sentence in scripture.  Now Jesus waits.  How will you and I respond?  We belong to Christ! 

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Homily

Fifth Sunday of Lent

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 43: 16-21; Ps. 126: 1-6; Phil. 3: 8-14; Jn. 8: 1-11

This is our final Sunday of Lent and I am consoled by the words from St. Paul, “forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead.”  Perhaps the most difficult thing to forget is our mistakes, our sins of the past.  This is because sin brings about suffering and it leaves its scars in our souls.  In the resurrection, Jesus appears to the disciples with the scars of his wounds.  They remain as a reminder of our sins he bears today for us. 

In contrast good time memories seem to need to be summoned up to recall those blessings but our suffering is always before us.  Jesus wants to heal our memories and free us from this cross.  The good news of the gospel is no one can condemn us for no one is without sin and God will not condemn us if we repent and sin no more.  God heals our memory from the pain to go forth to what lies ahead.  Going forth requires new behavior, a change of attitude, and a commitment.  The temptation is to return to the behavior of our past as creatures of habit, the easy road.  The road less traveled is following the path God is calling us to seek. 

This is the time to reflect on my behavior changed this Lent.  Does it have lasting commitment replaced by new behavior for the greater good?    It is easy to see Lent as a temporary behavior adjustment to pray a little more, cut back on some treats, or clean out our closet and give to charity.  Now what?  Do we simply slip back to our past habits or do we continue to pursue the goal, the “prize of God’s upward calling in Christ Jesus”? 

Each moment of life is a new experience and no two moments are exactly the same.  If we read scripture last week and we now read the same scripture passages it may have a new significance given what is going on in our current moment.  The Word of God is organic in its lifegiving principles.  Lent is not intended to be simply a bump on the road of “living my life” but a call to conversion into the image of Jesus in our suffering, our daily duty, our relationship with him and through him with humanity.

Jesus command is direct, “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”  Ever wonder what Jesus was writing on the ground for all the Pharisees and scribes to see?  While we don’t know, I suspect a list of sins that the accusers would recognize as their sin on the ground.  The impact of seeing words like adultery, theft, covetousness, gluttony, murder and knowing it applied to them made them drop their rocks and walk away. 

Jewish tradition had many laws to follow, breaking one would be very likely for which they made atonement with sacrifices of animals.  Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement for repentance is found in the Book of Leviticus, chapter 23.  “Blood atonement” by the shedding of innocent blood from a bull and goat in the Holy of Holies was the sacrifice on the altar.  Jesus gives his blood as the spear is thrust into his side and blood and water gush out.  Jesus is the innocent lamb for our sins and we are redeemed by his blood.  The command then for us is “Go forth and sin no more!” 

Mortal life is but a 100 years for some and for most much less but divine life is eternal and every day we are one day closer.  Dare we put off God for tomorrow, if not now when?  “Even now says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart; for I am gracious and merciful”.  Lent is our time of atonement and be washed clean to celebrate Easter with the “upward calling in Christ Jesus”.  The prize is waiting and our time is now.  Don’t leave this world without it.  The prize is heaven in Jesus Christ. 

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Homily

Fourth Sunday of Lent

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Jos. 5:9a, 10-12; Ps. 34: 2-7; 2Cor. 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

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 To be called Christian is to be ambassadors for Christ in the proclamation of the good news.  The good news for our times is God’s love and mercy and it is emphasized in today’s gospel reading in the parable of the Prodigal son.  In this triangle between the Father and his two sons we each can see ourselves being called to respond to the God’s love. 

Often in men’s retreats I have attended come a group of men at all stages of their conversion and commitment to the faith.  The son who asked for his inheritance and then squandered it in a life of sin is the retreatant who comes in hope of reconciliation but their sin makes them struggle with a sense of unworthiness until they witness the testimony of a sinner who like them has found forgiveness, peace within themselves from God and through God are able to stand and share their journey of conversion.  They see the God of mercy in the love of others and approach the Father’s love with fear and uncertainty until the Holy Spirit is received as confirmation, they are a new creation born of the spirit. 

The rebellious son is a spirit of the human condition that by our actions says, “I have no need for God for I choose to do it my way.”  This predates to the original sin of Adam and Eve we would define as egoism where we define morality as “my truth” and I determine reality in a sea of relativism.  In my reality then I must have “my space, my choice, my freedom, my everything” otherwise I am a victim of your hate, your intolerance, your racism, your bigotry.  To avoid you my enemy then I must retrieve into the bubble of my isolationism or you must be destroyed as the evil one.  My choice for freedom of you is your extermination. 

We may accept that “God is there” somewhere but we go our way trusting in our own “goodness and wisdom” until we have squandered our inheritance of faith in a God, hope in a power greater than us, love unconditional, and compromised all our values in search of success defined by the values of the world.  By then relationships have been hurt or even broken without hope of reconciliation.  What is left?  Do we simply “try again” or do we return to the God of mercy and love?  “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord”. 

The retreat also brings men who have remained close to the Church, following in obedience as the son who remained in the Father’s house and does not understand the “injustice” the world has delivered them.  “How can a good God allow for the suffering in their lives?”  The heavy burden of sickness, death of a loved one, the loss of work, the tragedy from abuse as a child all weigh upon the soul, hidden by their actions is the anger and resentment to the Father.  What has obedience done for me, “not even a young goat to feast on” while other sinners seem to have the “better life”.

The response of the Father to his son, “everything I have is yours” is a reminder God is ready to pour out his blessings on his sons and daughters but our rebellious spirit is holding on to our sense of “injustice” in its own rebelliousness to the Father.  We can be in the Church but not of the Church without the “agape” love which is unconditional ready to be the ambassador of mercy “as we forgive those who have trespassed against us”.  The retreat is a conversion of love and mercy for the sinner called beyond the spirit of obedience to grow in the image of Christ, the God of love. 

Then we have the Father whose relationship with his two sons gives the impression of bias in favor of the younger over the elder.  As parents no two children are the same and the discipline and or leniency in which the children perceive of their parents is often questioned as perhaps also the expectations of them as they are growing up.  In the human condition we feel “its not fair”.  In the context of the culture of the time the younger son’s actions by daring to ask for his inheritance are a betrayal and the death of a relationship.  The Father never loses hope and “while he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion”.  The Father longs for the return of his son because his love is an unconditional love.  This is the Father’s unconditional love for both sons as he explains to the elder “everything I have is yours”.  In this statement Jesus reveals the kingdom of God belongs to his faithful as our inheritance. 

If we have the kingdom of God to celebrate as faithful followers from the Father how are we living with this treasure?  The elder son did not have a sense of ownership from his Father’s inheritance.  There remained a separation with the Father created by the son who remained obedient but not living an intimate relationship with his Father.  For us the question to ask ourselves from our baptism promises is what relationship do I have with our God and Father?  If we come to Church and leave the same without a deeper conversion what is keeping me away from his love leaving his graces at the altar.  God is ready to pour out his graces into our lives to live our inheritance and we don’t ask, don’t seek, and we don’t trust.

 The younger son “was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.”  In the fifth commandment, “You shall not kill”, it is not the Father who kills but the son who commits the crime against himself in dying to sin.  In returning to the Father he is born again of the spirit.  This is our Lenten call today to free ourselves from the bondage of our own sins and return to the Father whose arms are waiting to receive us.  He remains outside the door of our hearts with his sight on us filled with compassion and mercy.  Come, receive and live the kingdom of God, let us live our inheritance to the fullest. 

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Homily The Deacon Joe

3rd Sunday of Lent

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ex 3: 1-8a, 13-15; Ps. 103: 1-4, 6-8, 11; 1 Cor. 10: 1-6, 10-12; Lk. 13: 1-9

Years ago I had the opportunity to visit a drug treatment program in a prison.  As I sat in the treatment group and witnessed the process it was disturbing at first the means of confronting the prisoner with his addiction.  The group was assigned to place one prisoner in the middle of the group and then they began one by one listing the faults of the individual, which we may refer to as his sins.  They described how they observed the individual in denial of his problem, how he behaved in his attitude towards the problem and how they observed his limited commitment to recovery. 

At the end of the verbal confrontation some might describe more as a verbal assault the counselor then directed the group to “build him back up”.  They then each gave him their supportive views such as his ability to stick to the program, to want to reconcile with his family, to be supportive of other prison mates, etc.  In today’s gospel we see some of the same process of confronting first our sins and then “building us back up” with a sign of hope in the parable of the fig tree. 

Luke describes how Jesus confronts everyone’s need for repentance and we cannot draw distinction from each other’s sins.  The Galileans whose sins included their sacrifices and suffered at the hands of Pilate we no greater sinners than all other Galileans or than all those present before him, “if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”  Then he reinforces the point with another example. 

The people judged those who face suffering as sinners yet he reveals to them those who were killed in Siloam were no “more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem.”  He is turning the mirror on his followers to acknowledge their sins and repent.  In the context of their understanding of sin they believed in their righteousness as follower of the law.  Jesus turns the tables on them to see their unrighteousness coming from the heart of their intentions.  This is through the gift of becoming consciously aware of sin as defined by truth.  The foundation of conversion was the convincing of sin.  We should not think we stand “secure” but “take are not to fall” as history reveals many times over.

Bam! Bam!  Wake up to the truth.  “Conversion requires convincing of sin; it includes the interior judgment of conscience, and this being a proof of the action of the Spirit of truth in man’s inmost being” (CCC 1848) We are to pray for the Spirit of truth in our continued conversion into the image and likeness of Christ.  Our culture seeks to deny absolute truth fostering instead relative truth in the “eye of the beholder”.  If there is only relative truth then there is no sin and if there is no sin there is no need for repentance and without repentance “you will all perish as they did!”  What is there left to say? Many stand secure in their judgment of self without the revelation of the Spirit of truth. “Take care not to fall.”

Jesus does not leave them broken but follows the Spirit of truth with the parable of the fig tree.  The owner wants the fig tree cut down after three years of not producing any fruit.  The gardener asks for forgiveness for the tree and to allow it another year to produce fruit before cutting it down.  Jesus is our gardener who came to “cultivate the ground” of our hearts “and fertilize it” with a Spirit of truth.  Jesus is the final hope for repentance and conversion and he came with some very strong arguments to convince his people.  Jesus is the one to build us up into a righteous people, a holy nation.  In the end it is our turn now to “bear fruit in the future” or be cut down for our sins. 

“The Lord is kind and merciful.”  God not only pardons all our sins but he “heals all your ills”.  Then he does something even greater, he redeems us.  What does this mean?  He has won back our freedom and given us a crown in his kingdom.  This is our “exodus” from sin and a return to the holy land “flowing with milk and honey”.  Moses led the people of Israel out of their human exodus from slavery and Jesus comes to lead us out of our human exodus from the slavery of sin.  The ground of our hearts is being cultivated and fertilized by Jesus and we are to produce “milk and honey” from our hearts of love.  By our fruits we shall be known as true witnesses and followers to the Spirit of truth incarnate.  We are now sent by “I AM”.

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