Twenty-First Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on August 26, 2018August 28, 2018 by Deacon Joe

Jos. 24: 1-2a, 15-17, 18b; Ps. 34; Eph. 5: 21-32; Jn. 6: 60-69

“Decide today whom will you serve”. Today’s readings reflect the mystery of love between Jesus and his church. Joshua’s statement is as true for the Israelites leaders, elders, judges, and officers as it was for Jesus disciples who decided to return to their former way of life though not all for those who remained with him had hope of the unseen power of God. This also applies to our times within the church during a time of scandal and crisis.

Our second reading addresses more than the sacrament of marriage it speaks in reference to Christ and the church. The great mystery of Christ is his love for his bride the church. As servants of the church we are called to sustain the church “without wrinkle or any such thing that she may be holy and without blemish”. Today the stain of sin within the church is exposed to the faithful and the church is responding to the need for conversion and for some to decide “whom will you serve”.

Seeing is not always believing but, believing is having hope in the unseen and seen by God who wishes to reveal to us the mystery of faith. This week Dublin Ireland is the host of the World Meeting of Families by the Church. One of the issues for the Church all are speaking of is the crisis of child molestation and homosexual behavior by priests going back for over 70 years coming to light. The sins of the world have entered the church and it must be purified once again. One of the hosts for EWTN broadcasting is Joan Benkovic who offered this acronym for HOPE. She said, “H” is for holding onto the truths. In times of crisis and scandal we hold onto the truth of the gospel. “O” is for own the challenge. This is not only a challenge for the magisterium of the church but for all the faithful. In times of crisis the church comes together with courage to face the challenge to overcome the darkness. The light must shine and scatter the darkness and we must decide whom we serve. “P” is for perseverance and penance. We must persevere with prayer and a call for justice to be washed clean of sin. “E” is for expectation to expect God to intervene in our world as a God of love, mercy, and justice. What we do to the least of these we do unto Him and he is suffering the stains of his bride the Church, its people, and the innocent and he hears the cry of the poor.

Bishop Daniel Flores is addressing the faithful with a letter of hope and call for “reparation”. The emotions of disappointment, anger, discouragement are valid but as Peter points out, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Jesus loves his bride and has given us the command to be subordinate to each other in reverence to him as we are the church. In subordination to each other we also remain subordinate to him by our obedience. In these times of scandal some want to leave the church, others speak of stopping their donations as an act of punishing the church. The Church and Jesus are one as a covenant of love. Do we feel we can punish Jesus more than he has already suffered on the cross for us?

Hope is needed but not the hope of wishful thinking but the hope of love in action. It is the hope that addresses the needs of those who suffer from these sins. The action expected is of prayer, penance, responding to the challenge and expecting from God to respond in his mercy. Then we shall “taste and see the goodness of the Lord”.

Bishop Daniel E. Flores, Diocese of Brownsville in his letter (dates August, 2018) to the faithful has ordered the priests to offer Masses of reparation every Friday for nine weeks. He states, “Let us ask the Lord to show his kindness and not to sustain his just anger forever. Reparation requires a great spirit of penance on the part of the whole Church to repair the damage caused by such evil acts. By grace we are a body, and by grace we have to feel the pain of the members who suffer harm.”

Do we love Jesus? Then we love his bride the church. We will defend her for our hope is in the Lord and the evil one will not prevail against her. We are the church militant against sin and God hears the cry of the poor. Fear not, Jesus does not abandon his bride. Hope with expectation and we see the goodness of the Lord in victory.

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Homily

Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time B

Posted on July 8, 2018 by Deacon Joe

Wis. 1: 13-15; 2: 23-24; 2 Cor. 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mk 5:21-43

Live with the end in mind. “God did not make death” thus to live by grace is not to die but to be transformed into the eternal life “for justice is undying”. Death belongs to the darkness of the evil one and they will experience it. What hope for the living! But wait! Will only the righteous experience immortality as a gift from God and the unrighteous cease to exist? In God’s image we are “imperishable” but then we must look at ourselves and see his image in us and in our actions. What is that image? We were given an intellect to put on the mind of God and receive knowledge, a will to follow God’s will for a purpose driven life, and the emotions to receive God’s love to fulfill “God’s justice”. Live the image of God with the end in mind.

Often emotions are seen as inferior to the intellect, you must be “strong minded” over being “touchy feely” or have an “unbending will” over “sensitive nature”. What about the emotional “EQ” to fulfill justice in the world? Why would a stranger run out into the street to save a small child who has wandered off on the street when a car is coming that will kill the child. Is that smart, or a weak will to risk his own life or is there a sense of love greater than self than seeks justice at the risk of their own poverty if they could also die or at least be severely injured. The child has no chance against a car and is innocent of the danger but the adult recognizes the impending harm and is moved to act. “Excel in every respect” with the end in mind. Where do we want to spend eternity?

“Brothers and sisters: As you excel in every respect” along the spiritual gifts from grace excel in your poverty. How do we excel in our poverty? Our trust is in the Lord who made heaven and earth. We trust in God’s divine providence for by Jesus’ poverty his coming into humanity we receive our riches prepared for us in heaven. In our poverty we recognize all that we have, all that we are is God’s and we share that in charity to supply the needs of others. In his image we become the best God created us to be by our spiritual works of mercy and our corporal works of mercy.

Those who fail to think about where they will spend eternity will find the darkness of the “easy road” that is wide. Historically kingdoms have risen and fallen but scripture reminds us that it was God who saw the sins of man and revealed the fall to come. Those sins were driven by the kings and temple priests who ruled the people. They included idolatrous priests, cult prostitutes living in the temple apartments, immolation of children sacrificed by fire in honor of other gods, and consultation with ghosts, and spirits. Is the world different now than then? The nations of the world are more secular and deny the existence of God to worship the State and fight for control of the government as their god. The sexual revolution has taken prostitutes from the outskirts of town “red zone” and given them a place of honor, even the key to the city in one infamous recent “Stormy” case. The sacrifice of children by fire to other gods has become the sacrifice of children by abortion to the god of self. Consultations to spirits is still consultation of spirits, some things never change. The darkness is in battle for spiritual control with palm readers, “curanderas”, spiritualist, etc. It is time to turn to the Lord with our whole heart, whole being, and whole strength or suffer the same fate.

There are some who see Jesus coming as a coming “new world order” of socialism and can point to a reading like today “Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less” as mantra for a redistribution of wealth. I was watching in the news a debate between what is recognized as a “conservative and a liberal” and the liberal was quoting scripture to justify their position. The conservative asked, if the liberal allowed the stranger into his home and had an open door policy to care for the poor. His response was he was not the “state”. Since when did Jesus say he came to establish a state run kingdom in the world? To the contrary he said his kingdom was not of this world. There can be no systemic justice without individual justice. It cannot be forced upon a free will, no more than we would want to becomes slaves to the state. God’s kingdom must live in the individual soul and some will choose the darkness of envy but others will choose the sacrifice of love, the “undying justice” of eternal life.

The work of salvation Jesus performed in miracles was relational. In the gospel Jesus cures the woman with hemorrhages and he raises the child to life. In the woman we see the power of faith because as the Apostles claimed the crowd was pressing upon him but it was the touch of faith that drew power out of Jesus. It was with the touch of the child’s hand that drew life back into her as he called out “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The child was dead in her humanity but asleep in her righteousness as a child of God for she did not belong to the evil one. Jesus could have easily cured by the crowd full and saved himself much time but he chose to impact one life at a time. The riches of his grace come when we reach out in faith and touch someone with love. Today we will reach out and touch the heart of Jesus with our hands and/or our mouth but will we also touch him with our heart believing in faith in his presence.

The transubstantiation of the host into his body and blood is the daily miracle we receive today. Eucharistic miracles when studied are always identified as flesh from a heart and AB type blood. One recent Eucharistic miracle occurred on August 18, 1996 in the church of Santa Maria y Caballito Almagro in Buenos Aires Argentina under the auspices of Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio, our Pope Francis. (Mieczyslaw Piotrowski 2010 “Eucharistic Miracle in Buenos Aires in Love One Another “ A team of five scientists were assembled and concluded:

“The analyzed material is a fragment of the heart muscle found in the wall of the left ventricle close to the valves. This muscle is responsible for the contraction of the heart. It should be borne in mind that the left cardiac ventricle pumps blood to all parts of the body. The heart muscle is in an inflammatory condition and contains a large number of white blood cells. This indicates that the heart was alive at the time the sample was taken. It is my contention that the heart was alive, since white blood cells die outside a living organism. They require a living organism to sustain them. Thus, their presence indicates that the heart had been under severe stress, as if the owner had been beaten severely about the chest.

The scientists were not told that this human heart sample came from a host. Let us reflect on this one statement, “The heart was alive at the time the sample was taken.” It comes from a host. This is an indication of the living presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. This is also the tortured heart of Jesus that still bleeds for our sins and those of the whole world. From the Sacred Heart of Jesus comes the blood and water to wash away our sins in his divine mercy. Historical meaning of blood carried the life of animals and soul of humans. Science reveals the heart pumps the blood which carries the impurities of the body to be cleansed by the organs which in Jesus is a sign of our sins being washed away. Our riches rest in Jesus’ poverty, in the sacrifice of the Mass, and in the personal relationship for we are called by name. Jesus is calling, the Blessed Mother gave her fiat, let us be a child today in the touch from Jesus and say yes Lord I believe. Live with the end in mind with undying justice, heaven is waiting.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

Eleventh Week Ordinary Time Wed 2018

Posted on June 20, 2018 by Deacon Joe

2 Kgs 2:1, 6-14; Mt 6: 1-6, 16-18

Having stood by the river Jordan during a pilgrimage, it is not a large or deep river but to Elijah and Elisha to both use the mantle of Elijah to strike the water and divide it to cross over on dry land is a miracle of God’s divine power and the spirit of God on these men. Elisha calls Elijah “My Father” is a religious title accorded prophetic leaders and thus Elijah is the spiritual father of Elisha. He is also about to be taken up to heaven in a “flaming chariot and flaming horses”. As is the human tradition of those times giving the firstborn son a double portion of his fathers’ property as an inheritance, Elisha now asks for an a double portion of a spiritual inheritance. Elijah seems surprised by the request, “that is not easy”. “Still” Elijah places the request up to the test, “if you see me taken up from you, your wish will be granted; otherwise not”.

As a parent our desire is to leave our children in a better position in life than we lived, ideally an inheritance of “double portion”. We work hard, save, and invest for the future, a future for our children. We write our wills and divide up our wealth and plan for the day we will be taken up to the Lord. What is our spiritual inheritance for them, is it even a passing thought? My parents were fairly illiterate with hardly a first grade education. My mother was able to self-educate enough to read the bible. Education was an important inheritance in my life in a time when many poor families valued children being part of the work force more than graduating or seeking higher education. Education was not the only inheritance it was how I used my education young in life reading books of bible stories and as I grew older the bible. It was an inheritance that valued church and prayer. As early as I can remember I was expected to pray in the morning and before going to sleep. Sometimes we prayed together often on my own but I recall getting on my knees next to my bed to pray.

I remember one day my mother was ill and we were staying at the home of one of my aunts and on Sunday she said I needed to go to church so she told me to go find a church. I was only 8 or 9 years old so I started walking down the streets until I saw a church. I walked into this church I did not know what faith it was or anyone there. I sat in the back and then someone escorted me to the back of the church into a separate room where there were other children. We had bible study and then were brought back to the main assembly. I walked back home at the end and shared my story with her. Even though she had her disability she did not want me to be limited by her limitations even if I had to venture on my own very early in life. These life experiences gave me my spiritual inheritance. God was important and it has brought me to this altar as a deacon.

The gospel is a reminder that the Christian idea of reward is not what the world has to offer but the gifts that come from God. If we look to the world the rewards of the world will offer an “eye for an eye” and we will have been repaid but God offers us double or more of his gifts as our inheritance.

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The Deacon Joe

Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Posted on June 8, 2018 by Deacon Joe

Hos 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9; Eph. 3:8-12, 14-19; Jn. 19:31-37
“An eye witness has testified, and his testimony is true…so that you also may come to believe”. The eye witness standing at the side of Jesus was “his mother and the disciple there whom he loved” John. Believe what? Believe in death, no that we already accept. Believe in him who died for us that we may have life everlasting. Believe in the love of his sacred heart joined to our Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Heart. The mystery of love is not one heart but one body in Christ who suffered and died united to the hearts of many. Israel is a child and a nation he has “called my son”. God stooped to feed a nation of Israel and Jesus stoops to feed his people in the Eucharist. The transubstantiation of the host into his body and blood is the daily miracle we receive today.

Eucharistic miracles when studied are always identified as flesh from a heart and AB type blood. One recent Eucharistic miracle occurred on August 18, 1996 in the church of Santa Maria y Caballito Almagro in Buenos Aires Argentina under the auspices of Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio, our Pope Francis. (Mieczyslaw Piotrowski 2010 “Eucharistic Miracle in Buenos Aires in Love One Another “ A team of five scientists were assembled and concluded:

“The analyzed material is a fragment of the heart muscle found in the wall of the left ventricle close to the valves. This muscle is responsible for the contraction of the heart. It should be borne in mind that the left cardiac ventricle pumps blood to all parts of the body. The heart muscle is in an inflammatory condition and contains a large number of white blood cells. This indicates that the heart was alive at the time the sample was taken. It is my contention that the heart was alive, since white blood cells die outside a living organism. They require a living organism to sustain them. Thus, their presence indicates that the heart had been under severe stress, as if the owner had been beaten severely about the chest.

The scientists were not told that this human heart sample came from a host. Let us reflect on this one statement, “The heart was alive at the time the sample was taken.” It comes from a host. This is an indication of the living presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. This is also the tortured heart of Jesus that still bleeds for our sins and those of the whole world. From the Sacred Heart of Jesus comes the blood and water to wash away our sins in his divine mercy. Historical meaning of blood carried the life of animals and soul of humans. Science reveals the heart pumps the blood which carries the impurities of the body to be cleansed by the organs which in Jesus is a sign of our sins being washed away.

Christ brings to “light for all what is the plan of the mystery…so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church…according to the eternal purpose. “As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam’s side, so the church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross” (CCC 766). The eternal purpose is salvation through Jesus Christ. The Eucharist is his coming through the church for our times. The church is the living organism in the Mystical body of Christ. The body is made up of millions of cells that organizes into a living organism with a soul for a divine purpose. The baptized are a cell in the body of Christ through the Holy Spirit born into a spiritual organism with Christ as the invisible head and the Vicar of Christ, our Holy Father who direct the church on earth.

In our times we have many who call themselves Christians but who do not see a need for church. They identify themselves as having a personal relationship with God, many pray, some may offer penance, others just call on God in time of need. Why go to church? Can a branch separated from the vine survive if not united to the source of life? When the test of faith comes as it is destined to happen, will the branch wither and die from lack of grace to persevere in trial? It is in the unity of the body, the church suffering, the church militant, and the church triumphant together we receive the springs of salvation.

In contrast those who “draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation” receive “the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self…” In the inner self we encounter Christ in the Eucharist, his most Sacred Heart “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones” the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge. The heart of Jesus is humble, overwhelmed with love and stirred with pity for the lost, the broken, the sorrowful, the sinful, for you and me. His mercy endures forever. The heart of Jesus raises the heart of the humble as an “infant to his cheeks” for the kiss of life.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary remains next to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Her heart is pierced and she weeps for her children. The love of a Father who offered up his Son for our salvation is comforted by the love of a mother who carried him in the womb, kissed his cheeks, presented him at the temple and stood by him at the cross. Love unconditional is perfect love and we are created in his image to receive that love and to go forth and love one another.

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Homily

Wednesday 9th Week in Ordinary Time II 2018

Posted on June 6, 2018June 7, 2018 by Deacon Joe

2 Tm 1: 1-3, 6-12; Mark 12: 18-27

Our first reading is about our calling from God the Father. Paul is “in persona Cristi” as father to Timothy calling him “my dear child”. That is the love of God the Father for us all. Through the imposition of the hands it is about the call to the priesthood and for us now deacons also. It is a gift of “power, and love and self-control…to a holy life not according to our works but according to his own design.” God has designed a mission and purpose for each of us. It is a gift, what gift? The gift of salvation, “he saved us” through baptism we are saved from our sins with the power to overcome sin with love and self-control.

Salvation leads to service, “the calling”. In baptism we all share and receive the calling as priest, prophet and king. “A calling is something you live and are willing to die for. That is the essence of the sacrament of marriage. In marriage preparation a good question to ask a couple who claims they are ready to get married is, “So this is the person you’re willing to live and die for?” That is the level of commitment in a covenant. The bride of a priest is the church “entrusted to me” says Paul and by extension the priesthood “until that day”. That day is the day of immortality approaching us and is already here for our loved ones who have passed from death to light immortal.

Paul is “appointed preacher and Apostle and teacher”. We are appointed father, mother, teacher nurse, doctor, farmer, coach, business owner, administrator and more but also to preach by our witness of faith, apostles to evangelize beginning at home and to teach in raising our families in the faith. At the end of Mass we say “Go forth” meaning go forth to fulfill your mission. Mathew Kelly in his book Perfectly Yourself says “mission is a meeting between self and service”. We receive the gift of grace to be formed in his image to respond to his call. Paul reminds us it is not about us, “our works but according to his design.” Fulfilling our mission has a place in the salvation of the world. We have been called by name and today we have an opportunity to give our fiat as the Blessed mother surrenders complete faith and trust. Let us also say, “yes Lord I have come to do your will, teach me, guide, and give me your grace to walk boldly in faith, hope and love.”

In the gospel, the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. One would think that is a good hope to have. It appears they were more interested in their earthly inheritance and building up their earthly treasures. In fact the Sadducees were part of the priestly class in power to rule over the people. To believe in the resurrection meant to believe in judgment for their actions. To deny the resurrection meant no eternal consequences. Jesus however responds with the same scripture Book of Moses with the quote from God, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the living.” This they cannot deny. The God of the living has that day also marked a the day of judgment.

None of us have reached the resurrection so we only have a sense of this mystery from Jesus and scripture, “they are like the angels in heaven”, “We shall be like Him as he is” (1 Jn. 3:2), “Never again shall they know hunger or thirst, nor shall the sun or its heat beat down on them for the Lamb on the throne will shepherd them. He will lead them to springs of live-giving water, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes” (Rv. 7:15-17). In heaven, “They will look upon his face, and his name will be on their forehead. Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun, for the Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. 22:4-5). This is our faith, this is our hope, and this is why there is a crucifix reminding us of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, his covenant with us. We share invited to share the cross on the journey to get to heaven. It is our gift for purification.

This reminds me of my early childhood when families looked to children as an inheritance that provided more workers in the fields and everyone turned over their pay to the father to manage the household. Big farming families or big migrant families the bottom line was more is better. In the past it was common to lose a child from any number of diseases something we have come a long way in preventing. Today the world preaches less children is better and more makes for more poverty. Today children are still being born in large numbers but lost in conception through an ideology of less is better with contraception, abortion, genetic manipulation, in vetro fertilization and end of life decisions on health care with no fear of eternal consequences. In heaven there is no marriage because there is no more reproduction but love remains.

God keeps his promise. Let us not be “greatly misled”. We are his children of the faith.

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Homily

Friday 8th Week of Ordinary Time 2018

Posted on June 1, 2018June 1, 2018 by Deacon Joe

1 Pt. 4:7-13; Mk 11: 11-26

“Each one has received a gift, use it…use it with an intensity of love…love covers a multitude of sins.” From the gospel we can add, “Pray with an intensity of love and it will be done for you.”

The fig tree is a symbol of God’s temple. Jesus our Lord “comes to judge the earth” and protect his temple. Before the fig tree incident Jesus goes into Bethany to the temple and “looks around at everything” checking it out; after the incident he goes to the Jerusalem temple to check it out and finds it “a den of thieves”. After Jerusalem he returns to the fig tree and it has withered away, the judgment of the Lord.

In the gospel we see a hungry Jesus by the fig tree and an angry Jesus at the temple. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit where is our fruit of the spirit? Jesus is hungry today awaiting the fruit from the gift we have received. Let us feed him with the intensity of our love bearing fruit. Our church of St. Francis Xavier is the temple of the Eucharist and Jesus is hungry for our communion with him. Let us feed him with the intensity of our prayer in adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication. Jesus is in search of his “house of prayer for all peoples”. Are we a welcoming temple in our hearts and as church community or do we live for ourselves and forget the other?

Jesus is in search of disciples with a pure heart. The purity of love is sacrificial love; it is what Dietrich Bonhoffer called “the cost of discipleship”. Sacrificial love purifies the soul and spirit. The self is always in search of a good for itself. Recall how James and John expressed this human desire to be at the right and at the left of Jesus without considering the path of love on the cross. Recall also the rich young man seeking a good for himself—heaven. It is a worthy desire but the path Jesus offered was to sacrifice his riches and he went away sad. Do not be surprised that the path of discipleship is a “trial by fire” says the Lord, a “share in the sufferings of Christ.

Consider three principles to arrive at purity of heart. The first principle is seen in the story of the rich young man. It is a detachment from worldly riches. I saw a short clip in the news this week of an evangelist who had four private planes and was asking his followers for millions to buy another luxury plane. When is “enough” enough and less is better? Simple detachment is the first principle of discipleship.

The second principle is Jesus’ call to “follow me”. Let go and let God be the center of our search for happiness and he will fulfill the good of self, better than we could ever imagine. Follow Jesus through the trail by fire and rejoice in the gift of sacrificial love, it purifies the soul and spirit. Let go of self through surrender to God and fulfill the second principle of discipleship.

The third principle of discipleship is “transformation”. Be transformed to share in the sufferings of Christ. Be transformed in the likeness of Christ by the use of our gifts for his glory. Be transformed in our hospitality in our words, and in our service so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. Do not be surprised by the trials of this day. They are transformative.

The angry Jesus disrupts the temple status quo, an attack on those in control and so they seek “a way to put him to death”. The intensity of prayer leads to action in defense of love itself. God is love who we are called to defend as a militant church on earth. In Pope Francis, his words, writings and his actions are disrupting the status quo. The movie on Pope Francis titled “Pope Francis a Man of his Word” is a documentary not of his life but of his faith, hope, and love. I hope you make or made time to see it. It is a love story of his relationship with Christ by responding to his call to be a Holy Father to others and to the world. It is a man in search of purity of love and love covers a multitude of sins. There are those who support his positions and those who oppose them with the same intensity of belief. He is not a perfect man, Jesus is. He is a man seeking perfection in Jesus. Let us all follow the path, the Jesus way.

Finally, the documentary ends with his prayer from St. Thomas Moore, “Lord give me a good digestion today and something good to digest.” Food for the soul is the best meal we receive today, Jesus in the Eucharist. Jesus came to tear down the walls of the heart in his temple and build up the body of Christ. He did not come to establish a new world order in the political economy among nations as some seek to create. We are not a people in search of an earthly king as the Jewish people hoped for. We are a liberated people of the heart with a king in Jesus Christ. Amen, Amen, be transformed.

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Homily

Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Posted on May 25, 2018May 26, 2018 by Deacon Joe

1 Jas. 5: 9-12; Mk. 10: 1-12

The readings and responsorial for this day link three themes: perseverance, mercy, and truth in marriage. “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No”. It reminds me of another common saying “say what you mean and mean what you say”. The God of truth isn’t interested in excuses, his word is truth and he who seeks truth is consecrated to Him. The issue of marriage and divorce is a “hot” debate in the church under Pope Francis. Pope Francis has encouraged the church in mercy to review applications for annulment with greater efficiency and expediency so couples can receive the sacraments. In the last few years there is the debate of whether a divorced person remarried can receive communion. The church recognizes today’s gospel as a sign of “No”. It is an adulterous relationship.

Why do Pharisees in the gospel event ask the question? They know the laws of the temple and Jesus lets them answer their own question, it is “Yes”. They were testing Jesus in defense of all their laws to accuse him if he dared to claim otherwise. “Because of the hardness of your hearts” God allows Moses to make for special circumstances. The fact they ask the question indicates the possibility this allowance was abused, a simple way out of marriage for convenience, a sin before God. Jesus provides the perfect truth.

Recall the story in scripture of the woman who marries seven brothers and each dies on their wedding night. Whose wife will she be is asked of Jesus. His response is that in heaven there is no marriage, our joy will be God. We live in times where divorce is more common that fidelity to a marriage and perseverance to our commitment is not a virtue of value but an inconvenience. A divorce person however can still receive the sacraments. The sin is in remarriage without annulment of the first marriage. Annulment recognizes that the first marriage is invalid opening the door to remarriage in view of the circumstances.

Pope Francis in “Amoris Laetitia” opened the dialogue for remarried couples to receive communion reaffirming the Catholic teaching on the “primacy of conscience”. The CCC 1790 states “individuals are obligated to follow their conscience” but the church recognizes it must be an informed conscience by church teaching or risk falling into moral relativism. Recently in a letter to the Argentine bishops in Buenos Aires he declared his letter as “authentic magisterium” which means “official teaching” of the church. In the letter he provides “guidelines” on handling divorce and remarried Catholics. In the guidelines he asserts “that in certain circumstances, a person who is divorced and remarried and is living in an active sexual partnership might not be responsible or culpable for the mortal sin of adultery. The guidelines add that “Amoris Laetitia” opens up the possibility of access to the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist.” The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium states the faithful are instructed to give a “religious submission of mind and will” to teachings that are authentic magisterium though the teaching may not be an infallible “declaration on faith and morals” (National Review, Tyler Arnold, 12.12.17, 5:00 p.m.) Thus the debate in need of truth and reconciliation.

Jesus says to the disciples after the resurrection “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven and whose sins you retain are retained” (Jn. 20:23). The church is given great authority for right judgement of truth but also for mercy. The Holy Father who stresses dialogue has begun a very important one in an age of high divorce rates. Why is it so high? There is no one answer. One thing I have seen in my years as a counselor is that couples don’t know their spouse. The reason is not always a lack of attention, especially in the beginning when everything is done “together”. To know the other, the other must know themselves and share who they are as a person, not just justify their behavior as “this is who I am”. Confusion and misunderstanding comes from a lack of deeper sense of awareness of who God created us to be and living it out. If we now ourselves as a child of God we grow in maturity, secure in who we are and able to be open about our inner self. The reality is we are in continuous growth and development in every stage of life and every stage has its unique challenges of life.

In conclusion I share a story of my parents. One day while visiting my mother she shared she did not know what else to do with my father. He had become so difficult to live with and her tolerance had reached a climax. Knowing some of what she was referring to understanding the circumstances of their situation, and the power to change rested in him not her. I said simply, “Mother that is your cross to bear.” She would often remind me of what I had said to her that day and it seemed that it allowed her to place it in perspective of a spiritual sacrifice she could bear finding meaning in her struggle in marriage. Our first reading reminds us of the need for perseverance, “In good times and in bad” all for the glory of God.

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Homily

Friday 7th Week of Easter

Posted on May 16, 2018May 18, 2018 by Deacon Joe

Acts 25: 13b-21; Jn. 21:15-19

“Follow me”. The question Jesus asks Peter in the gospel is the question of the day and the question of a lifetime. “Do you love me?” It is not a general question but a personal calling to Peter by his name, “Simon Peter, son of John” by your name and your heritage “do you love me?” We are all called by Jesus but who is ready to follow him.

In Paul we see the witness of his readiness to follow unto death, the great sacrifice of faith. Jesus says to Peter “feed my sheep” and “tend my sheep”. The aspect of feeding is a call to the faithfulness in the proclamation of the Word and in the Eucharist. It is a calling to the celebration of the Mass. We are fed the Word but also we are given an “exegesis” in Greek “to bring out” the interpretation of Sacred Scripture in the original meaning and then an “exposition” which is determining the passage’s meaning for contemporary times (CCC 116, 119). Feeding is also the reception of the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus in the Eucharist to strengthen our body and soul to follow him.

Jesus also calls Peter to “tend” the sheep of Jesus. Remember that earlier in the week Jesus is giving thanks to the Father in prayer for he tended to his disciples and none of them was lost “except the son of destruction.” Webster’s (on-line) definition of “tend” is to “watch over” and “apply oneself to the care of “. The archaic meaning is to “attend as a servant” which is the call to the disciples at the Last Supper in the washing of the feet. Jesus is calling Peter to be a servant of the people after the resurrection as he did before the Passion.

In the spirit of Pope Francis his calling is to go out and smell like the sheep. If you care for someone you invest time with them to know their minds, hearts, and souls. I was listening to a program on EWTN and the priest was in charge of seminarians in Alaska. As the seminarians were assigned to parishes they asked what would be their assigned duties at the parish thinking of the traditional roles like teach RCIA or baptism classes. The Priest told them your assignment is to go work with the people and learn about who they are in their culture. That meant if they are fishermen for a living go fish, if they hunt go hunt, meet them in their world and in their cultural needs for survival and learn who they are. This meant smelling like the sheep.

The Pharisees and Sadducees in Jesus time separated themselves from the lives of the people protected by the temple and temple guards “watching over” the people as legislative judges not participants among the sheep. There is a story of Father Groeschel from the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal that was told on “Sunday Night Live” (EWTN). Father Groeschel received Mother Teresa of Calcutta as a visitor. They were walking the streets of the Bronx and passed a homeless man on the street. Father Groeschel gave him a greeting and kept walking. He turned and Mother Teresa was not next to him. She stayed behind and was talking to the man. She later commented to Father Groeschel that she saw Jesus in the man’s face. If we saw Jesus in those around us how much attention would we give them. What love would we offer them? Would we tend to them or simply keep walking after a formal greeting.

The first step in tending to someone is to “listen”. To listen with an open heart and a clear mind to Jesus in the person before us as Jesus makes himself present. Allow Jesus to guide our calling to service in the present moment as instruments in his hand. Then respond as Jesus to others that we may all share in his one body.

As a mother watches over her children she knows by just observation and listening to their voice if something is needed, often with the question, “what happened?” They know their sheep and often accused of having eyes behind their head. They are the eyes of the heart that tend to their sheep. Let us learn from mothers and apply that love to the stranger, the orphan, the homeless, the poor and the sick but also to the neighbor standing next to us as Jesus stood next to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Let us remember to call on our Blessed Mother who stands close to the heart of Jesus to intercede for us with her son. She is a powerful voice tht gets results as in the Wedding of Cana.

Jesus is calling, “follow me”.

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Homily

Second Week of Easter

Posted on April 14, 2018April 14, 2018 by Deacon Joe

ACTS 5:34-42; Jn. 6: 1-15

Today we see the wisdom of Gamaliel who recognizes a very important principle of life, the work of man alone perishes but the work of God through man is eternal. The world is filled with a long history of false prophets of human origin who offer false hope for a better world. They succeed in gathering a flock of believers but as Gamaliel says, “but with their death come the end” of their movement. Gamaliel is speaking to the Jews who were part of the crucifixion of Jesus. They should feel relieved that with Jesus death his movement will disband. Instead they continue to fear the Apostles. Why?

The Apostles preach of a resurrected Jesus but that alone is not reason enough to bring fear into their hearts. It would be easy enough to discount it as a made up story since the Jews did not witness the resurrection. The reason they fear the Apostles is because they now demonstrate the power to do the same miracles of Jesus. Not only do they heal the sick, forgive sins, feed the poor, but they also are imprisoned and leave the jail without unlocking doors and go back to the temple to preach, heal, and baptize in the name of Jesus. To defy nature’s laws brings fear to those in power. Instead of dealing with one who they crucified they now have to deal with a multiplication of the one. Gamaliel understands clearly, “but if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.” The power comes from God, Jesus the second person of the Trinity.

Are we part of the multiplication of the loaves? Absolutely! In this concrete sign of taking the five barley loaves and two fish and multiplying them to feed the people we recognize it to prefigure the coming Eucharist which the priest breaks to feed us with the body and blood of Jesus. We receive the Eucharist to become what we receive, Jesus. We then go forth to be Jesus to the world and feed others by the power of his name. The fear of the Jews is today’s reality.

One part of the gospel’s reading invites some further reflection. I am struck by the idea that among the five thousand men not counting the women and children they identify one boy carrying five barley loaves and two fish. If they had said it was a woman who had the bread and fish it would have been in the norm. If you ever go on a trip or just down the road for a day out at the beach you can count on the woman to prepare for the journey. They even try to add something that each person likes to eat. Men generally focus on the destination but a boy is not the caretaker. Boys carry their toys. I believe God sends us his angels and perhaps this was an angelic boy from heaven to deliver a blessing just as manna from heaven fell to feed the people in the desert. In this story bread and fish kept multiplying into more fragments the more it was broken.

Today Jesus is the bread from heaven being delivered by the priesthood multiplied for our sanctification. We receive it and we are to multiply it but sometimes we must be broken and sacrifice ourselves rejoicing that we may be worthy to suffer for the sake of his name.

What is a vocation? It is doing the work of God in our state of life. We can look to Mary and Martha when Martha complained to Jesus for the work she was doing. It was not that her work was meaningless. It was necessary but in her heart it was about her and not her service. When we offer our daily work to God it opens up to divine purpose and is transformed into the work of God through us. If we make it all about us we will someday die and it will soon be a forgotten history of dead works along with us. If we open it to God’s plan of salvation it will be a legacy and heritage that bears fruit for eternity. May we eat of the eternal fruit of our work for God judges the heart and blesses the labor as an offering.

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Homily

Fifth Friday of Lent

Posted on March 23, 2018March 23, 2018 by Deacon Joe

Jer. 20: 10-13; Jn. 10:31-42

Jerimiah serves as a reminder of the world we live in and our human condition. Two expressions come to mind to represent this. One is “Its’ a jungle out there.” The “whispering” we call “chisme” or gossip that often tears down instead of lifting up souls. The second is more dangerous. I often remind individuals when you go to a new place be it a job, community, or organization you have your friends and enemies waiting for you. We connect and we clash and sometimes both with the same people. God however is faithful.

The reading speaks of “friends” ready to “denounce” our actions who turn against us. It also serves as a reminder of our hearts that seek “to witness vengeance” of God on our enemies. Jesus the visible sign of God’s mercy comes to rescue the poor. He rescues the “poor” in their distress from captivity. God sends Moses to rescue the people of God from their slavery. As we approach the end of Lent, have we been set free from the captivity the world has bound us in and the slavery of our sins?

Today we pick up where yesterday’s gospel ended, with Jews wanting to stone Jesus. Who were these Jews? They were Pharisees and Sadducees who governed the people of God with fear and kept them captive with religious power. What made Jesus a threat calling him possessed? He called himself “I Am”, the name of God given to Moses. They see him as attempting to overthrow their power. They claim “you are making yourself God” a blasphemer for the Jews. Jesus response is very important for us. He reminds them that scripture says, “You are gods” and they cannot put this aside and ignore it. We cannot set scripture aside and ignore our godhead. Where does it come from? Jesus went back to the Jordan, the waters of baptism where our godhead comes from. From this we are consecrated “gods’ of the Father as his sons and daughters.

Easter is a celebration of our godhead in Christ coming from our baptism. It is also the call to live our consecrated lives for our God the Father. Today the movie Paul, Apostle of Christ opens in theatres. Jim Caviezel who played the role of Christ in the Passion of Christ plays the role of Luke in this movie. In an interview on ETWN with Raymond Arroyo he recalls in the Passion asking Christ to experience Him more and Christ asked him if he was sure, he said “yes”. In the movie he is hit by lightening, he gets a separated shoulder, becomes sick during the filming on the cross and afterwards suffered a heart attack. His experience then and now is to be Christ to others. He has chosen the path of godhead.

“Godhead” is used by Paul three times in scripture (Acts 17:29, Romans 1:20, Col. 2:9) in reference to the divine nature of Jesus. Our godhood of being divine as children of God comes by our baptism. Jesus professed his “Godhead” of God as perceived by his works today. He calls us to believe and live our godhead by our works consecrated to God. What good is it to be called Priest, prophet, king, mother, father, boss apart from the Godhead of Jesus? Paul lets us know in Col. 2:9 all the fullness of the godhead dwells in Christ and we are called to dwell in him. Just as in Christ we cannot separate the human from the divine in our calling to godhead we cannot separate the essence of our divine nature from the attributes that must produce our works. May our Lenten journey bring us closer to our consecrated godhead to be one with the Father, through the son, in the Spirit recognized by our works of faith, hope and charity.

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