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Homily

Pentecost – Solemnity “If only!” 

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 2:1-11; Ps. 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34; 1 Cor. 12:3b-7, 12-13; Jn. 20:19-23

“If only the Spirit of God dwells in you” then we are alive because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ who brought death to sin in the flesh.  Are we alive in the Spirit?  Surely in baptism we received the gift of the Holy Spirit and were confirmed in the same Spirit in Confirmation.  If alive in the Spirit, then sin cannot reign in our life for good and evil cannot share in the one body.  Temptation to do good or evil can enter the mind but the Spirit of love has one choice to follow.  Yet we are a sinful people in need of redemption called to return to the Lord through the sacrament of confession.  How is it for us to be in the Spirit and not fully there yet?  Called to be perfect the stain of sin can also rise again by our free will and enter to ruin the soul. 

“If only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”  Here lays the human dilemma to take up our cross and follow him in our suffering.  Such was the faith of the early church Fathers and martyrs to suffer and die for their faith in the risen Lord.  Such is our calling to accept that which we cannot change and make it an offering to the Lord.  Suffering does not come from the Lord as Jesus gave witness to bring healing to the suffering.  Suffering is from the world where disease, violence, hate, evil, and tragedy enter and the evil one waits to see if we will weaken in faith and pounce upon the souls of the vulnerable.  It is in offering our suffering up that we become glorified in him. 

If only we believe willing to follow all that we have been commanded and keep his word out of fire of our love for him.  Fear is not to be the source of obedience to the law of God but love is.  Love is a relationship of knowledge where we come to know the three persons in one God and desire to be united to God doing his will out of love for him.   This is the sign of faith when we proclaim we believe we also follow our proclamation with the right action under the law of love for God.  If we say we believe only to follow our own way we only deceive ourselves.  And what about following our conscience?  Conscience is always associated with unity of thinking “con” meaning “with” someone.  Who is our thinking united to?  Is it with God, our friends, the norms of the world?  Our thinking is not our invention it is our alliance to something or someone? 

If only we can say “Jesus is Lord” to receive his spiritual gifts.  We say it in word and deed coming from the spiritual gifts, baptized and united to the one body of Christ.  “There are different kinds of gifts…different forms of service…different workings but the same God”.  Do we recognize the gift(s) we have received and practice the service that God is working through us? We are to be aware of the Holy Spirit at work in us and through us bearing fruit for the kingdom of God.  Otherwise, we may be like those who Jesus described as saying “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy…drive out demons…do mighty deeds in your name?  Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never know you.  Depart from me, you evildoers.’” (Mt. 7:22-23) Lesson learned, doing the will of the Father is not “window dressing”, looking the part and going through the motions of being called “Christian”.  Doing the will of the Father is a conversion into his very likeness. 

If only we were doing the will of the Father, then the words Jesus spoke “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” would be fulfilled.  To the disciples who he instituted as the priesthood “he breathed on them and said to them ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”  The gift to act in the person of Christ and forgive sins was given as a primordial commandment to the disciples with the Holy Spirit.  This came after the institution of the Eucharist when he said to the disciples at the Last Supper “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” (Lk. 22:19).  These foundation stones of the church in the body of Christ are what many followers who say “Lord, Lord” have left behind. 

Many may say “if only I can pick and choose at will and still be saved” but that is not doing the will of the Father.  God said to Moses, say that “I Am has sent me to you.”  Am I living the “I Am” that is doing the will of the Father?  Is the Father in me and I in the Father as Jesus was in the Father and the Father in him?  The Holy Spirit comes as the Advocate that we may know he is in us and we are in him doing his will. 

Did you know that the words “I am” appears over 300 times in the Bible from Genesis to Revelations?  Jesus made seven profound “I am” statements “I am the bread of life…I am the light of the world…I am the gate…I am the Good Shepherd…I am the resurrection and the life…I am the way, the truth, and the life…I am the true vine” (google search).  In what way am I now able to claim I am living the gifts of the Holy Spirit by doing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy?  This is not a mystery but a divine revelation given to us to follow. 

If only we would “fear not” to do the will of the Father.  Did you know the words “Fear not” appear in the Bible 365 times” (google search)?   Essentially one for every day of the year, we are to fear not answering the call to holiness.  When we fear not, we walk in faith.  Where does our faith lie?  It lies in the mind of Christ being outward focused.  Where does our fear lie?  It lies in our mind being inward focused.  The more we focus away from ourself we put fears to rest in the hands of God and go forth.

“If only” implies not there yet.  We cannot get there on our own but the Advocate is given to transform us from a people of waiting upon the Lord to receiving the Lord and acting upon the Lord.  Let us eliminate the “ifs” in our lives and stay focused on “only”.  Only in God we trust.  Only in the gifts of the Holy Spirit does the fire of love come to know and serve our God.  Only in Jesus Christ and his seven “I am” proclamations does salvation come to us.  Only I can accept salvation by going from the fear of “am I?” to the transformation into “I am” a child of God come to do his will.  Peace be with you.  And with your Spirit.  As the Father has sent us Jesus, Jesus now sends us forth.  Amen. 

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Homily

6th Sunday of Easter – The Advocate

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Ps. 67:2-3, 5,6,8; Rev. 21:10-14, 22-23; Jn. 14:23-29

“The Advocate, the Holy Spirit…will teach you everything”.  The Advocate is here to remind us that the Word made flesh in Jesus is to incarnate in us as the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Just as in Revelation, John sees no temple in the holy city of Jerusalem “for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb” is Jesus.  The word incarnate in us gives us the peace of Jesus “not as the world gives” peace but through the Holy Spirit as he comes to dwell in us.  Do we invoke the Holy Spirit regularly to be our Advocate in prayer?  The Holy Spirit is the gift received at baptism through who we receive the graces and virtues to know and understand the will of God in our lives.

Until the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost the disciples were sheep still failing to understand all that Jesus was instructing them.  Then came the Advocate and they became as one in the Spirit guided to make the right decision as apostles and shepherds to the Gentiles and to all the followers to come after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.  Pontius Pilate asked Jesus “what is truth?”  Jesus says to his disciples at the Last Supper discourse “I am the way and the truth and the life.”  Jesus is the truth being revealed to us through the Advocate in our daily encounter with life.  If we were to consider Jesus is the truth of theology then the Holy Spirit is the applied theology as the Advocate that makes all thing work for the greater good. 

In the first reading there is a dilemma as the early church is still struggling with the applied theology and some leaders were calling upon the Gentiles to be circumcised following the Jewish tradition and law going as far as to say, “Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved.”  By what authority were these leaders relying on?  It was the historical authority and practices of the people of God.  Everything that Jesus instructed had not been written down and in what is written down Jesus says nothing about circumcision.  To have unity authority matters.  The final human authority rested on the apostles whom Jesus appointed and called Peter to be the “rock” to build his church.  The divine authority as spoken by the apostles and elders “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities”. 

What a great gift given to the apostles and to us to receive the Holy Spirit as the Advocate in discerning “doing what is right”.  We cannot lose sight in recognizing that as we all share in the gift of the Holy Spirit there remains the wisdom of God in providing the church an authority for the applied theology that we may all be one in faith and practice.  We cannot be a church unto ourselves and each simply believe they are doing what is their “right” when it goes against the church authority, something to reflect on.  Through the centuries many have tried and failed from Arianism, the belief that Jesus was not fully divine one with the Father to Luther’s Reformation and the revolt into Protestantism, the church has prevailed by remaining faithful to the authority and working of the Holy Spirit. 

In our times, Protestantism is failing because it continues to divide itself into more and more denominations and they break from each other because there is not one authority in the applied theology of what is “right”.  Still, we cannot cast stones within the Catholic church for we share a history of schisms when some choose to break from authority.  In the past it was Luther and today the church in Germany is at risk of doing the same with what it is calling the “synodal way” to reintroduce ideas that church authority has already addressed like female priesthood and acceptance of homosexuality.    

Have a dilemma pray to God the Father to receive his glory, pray to Jesus to be our lamp and light the way and pray to the Holy Spirit to reveal the word of truth and understanding for the answer we need to receive.  Try to remember a moment when faced with a dilemma where a difficult decision needed to be made and finding ourselves unsure how to discern the right or best decision.  Who do we turn to our parents, a spouse, our friends, or even a priest?  Do we take it to prayer and do we call upon the Advocate? 

One day as a young adolescent, I had a dilemma and needed to make what was to me a major decision at the time.  The dilemma was whether to play football or take band in school since at the time you could not take both.  I wanted both but it was not allowed and could not make the choice.  I asked my mother for guidance expecting her to help me decide.  I was quite surprised when she quickly and simply said, “You will have to decide.”  Did not see that coming.  It was not the response I expected and only later came to understand that I had to take ownership of the decision that would impact my life for the next several years and longer.  So, I prayed and asked God that I was making the right choice and was at peace with my decision.  This is the working of the Holy Spirit.  God was going to use whatever decision to help me grow as a person and in my faith.  God works through our free will when we call upon the Advocate to remain with us and lead us to the will of the Father. 

Are we ready to trust God with our life choices?  When we offer our decisions up to the Father for his glory, trust in Jesus to open the way for us, and call upon the Advocate to give us the wisdom to be at peace we are truly entering into the providential life of the Spirit.  In the Trinity God works for those who love him.  The Advocate is coming and is already here from the day of our baptism if we only turn to call upon the Holy Spirit and pray then we will hear his voice and know God is with us. 

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Homily

3rd Sunday of Easter – Jesus Christ, Advocate!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 3:13-15, 17-19; Ps. 4:2, 4, 7-9; 1 Jn. 2:1-5; Lk. 24:35-48

Jesus Christ, Advocate to the Father who is “expiation for our sins” that we may keep his word and “truly be perfected in him”.  We are perfected in him when we “keep his commandments”.  We are perfected in him when the Scriptures are opened to us to make our hearts “burn” in transformation to avoid the near temptation to sin.  We are perfected in him when Jesus is made known to us “in the breaking of bread” as we celebrate his coming in the Eucharist.  This is our Advocate who suffered, died, and rose again in victory. 

As Jesus appears once again to the disciples he asks “Have you anything here to eat?”.  Jesus not only rose from the dead but he has “flesh and bones” and an appetite.  The sting of death is transformed into the glory of the resurrected human body perfected in love.  The greatest hunger of the Lord is for souls to repent, to be converted and to return to holiness.  He is waiting for us to take that first step and seek that we should find our Advocate.  Why is it difficult for us to “ask” of him what he is waiting to give us?  Perhaps we know not how to ask.  Could it be that we ask for the wrong thing or that we simply cannot put aside our pride and have yet to repent? 

“Ask” for the Lord to reveal to us what we are to seek and to reveal if we ask wrongly.  We are to approach him with prayers and supplications. Jesus performed many miracles of healing to those who approached him in supplication.  If those who were lost knew to seek, find, and ask how much more has the path been opened to the believers to approach our Advocate to God the Father who cannot be denied.  It is time for us to rise up as believers and come to the table of the Lord in supplication for our needs and the needs of the world.  We come not with wishful thinking but with the faith to believe our Advocate can do all things in us and in the world for his glory. 

As baptized children of God we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit with the infusion of spiritual virtues of holiness to know to ask.  It begins with faith, hope, and love to unite us to the Advocate.  Ask our Advocate to increase our faith to believe in the mystery of our salvation, our hope to expect a revelation of truth, and our love to make an offering our ourselves.  “Ask” for an increase in the gift of the moral virtues of justice for right judgment, fortitude for the courage to act rightly, prudence to choose wisely and temperance to live in moderation and abstinence according to his commands of life with all its temptations.  The Lord is waiting for our “Ask”. 

Perhaps then in asking for our Advocate to reveal his will for us we discover we have yet to repent of our sin out of our pride.  We have judged incorrectly, having failed to respond courageously in the face of the attack from the enemy, and have to admit we have “acted out of ignorance” in our choices. We are now living the instability of our intemperance through the indulgence of our natural appetites and falling into the pit of darkness.  Why wait for the casualty of death to come because we have held on to our pride and denied the Lord his place as Advocate for our sins.  He stands at our side ready to give us forgiveness as he did to the thief on the cross by his side.

Jesus Christ, Advocate of mercy on the cross amends for our sins and
those of the whole world” if we but believe and repent.  “If” is the barrier between our sins and his mercy.  If first we “believe” what we profess that is that Jesus Christ is present to us and not a “ghost” of spiritualism.  He is physically present in the Eucharist!  This is a stumbling block to many, even those who profess to be believers of Christianity.  He is the food of salvation we are to hunger for as he hungers for us.  He multiplies himself to feed the world but the world does not accept him.  His mercy returns to him for it finds few places to make its dwelling place a home in the souls of the professed believers and nonbelievers also known as “None”.   Who are these who profess to be “None”? 

“None” is the modern-day identity of those who follow no religious affiliation.  They walk a journey of faith in themselves, as their own advocate of right and wrong professing their own righteousness.  Their righteousness stands while things remain in control but when a power greater than themselves shakes their foundation of faith in themselves, they crumble and fall in despair alone to suffer in their own body and soul the weakness of a godless existence.  There is “none” to advocate for them in their sins because they reach out to none.  If the “None” cannot accept our mother Church as the visible sign of Jesus Christ how can they welcome him in the invisible mystery of his presence? 

Jesus Christ, Advocate is a reminder we were created to be in unity and not in isolation.  We don’t reach out to none we reach out to Jesus Christ, King of glory.  We require the human touch to confirm our belief and strengthen our faith.  Our seven sacraments provide us the physical presence of the invisible grace being manifested in our lives.  Unity in physical presence is a “game changer” as it was when Jesus physically appeared to the disciples.  Imagine having only a vision of a loved one but without the ability to touch and experience the warmth and nature of another in our presence.  The sacramental life provides us a physical unity to be transformative.  Without touch, unity becomes an exercise of mental exchange short of perfection.

In baptism the child is touched with the sign of the cross by the priest, parents, and godparents.  The child is touched by the waters of baptism.  The child is touched in the Ephphetha on the ears to receive the word of God and on the lips to proclaim their faith as believers and they are to see in the light of the candle the light of Christ which they receive and is held before them.  The human touch is the sign and validation of unity. 

Jesus Christ, Advocate is present for our touch.  The world fears a pandemic from spreading by the closeness of our physical presence and our touch.  It seeks to create the isolation that is worse than the disease separated by clear barriers and virtual worlds.  Those who turn to the Advocate have the virtues to not fall prey to fears of the enemy under the guise of a “greater good” but moved by the spirit of the Advocate embrace each other with love and charity.  Just as a vaccine is created to protect against a virus so is the Advocate there to protect against the near occasion of sin. 

Recently having traveled into another diocese it was announced in Sunday Mass that the bishop of this diocese had earlier in the week issued a letter stating the Church of the Diocese would continue with maintaining the mask and social distancing mandates even if the State no longer was enforcing them.  Then later in the week a new letter was issued stating the Church of this Diocese would no long require any mandates and each person and family was free to determine what measures to take.  The only request was to respect the decisions of each parishioner.  The day is coming when each bishop will issue a similar letter to the faithful and we are to trust in our Advocate to guide us in spirit and truth. 

We live in times where “shaming” is a powerful weapon in the identified “cancel culture” which comes from the evil one.  It is time to rise from the dead of “cancel culture” to the truth of the “Resurrected Culture” of everlasting life.  It is time to fear not and determine personal risk factors with prudence in our decisions.  Jesus Christ, Advocate is the source of life in our “Resurrected Culture”.  There is a Spanish saying “El respeto al derercho ajeno es la paz” meaning the respect to others rights is the peace.  Jesus was, is and always will be the truth, the way, and the life to the peace he brings us as faithful servants. 

This is our Easter to rejoice and be glad.  We belong to him, we belong to the “Resurrected Culture” and it is time to rise again in faith, hope, and love and go forth to live in the kingdom of God! 

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Homily

6th Sunday of Easter

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 8:5-8, 14-17; Ps. 66:1-7, 16, 20; 1Peter 3:15-18; Jn. 14:15-21

Faith and works unite love and justice into the one body of Christ.  It is the works of the will that reveal faith as the visible sign of invisible grace given to us who seek and ask.  This is the testimony of Philip in today’s reading (Acts) who proclaim Christ to the people of Samaria with visible power in the miracles he performed.  How do we demonstrate the power of Christ in our daily lives? 

1st Peter in his letter calls us to testify to God’s power in us when we “suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God.”  The “if” reminds us not all suffering is the will of God when evil remains in this world.  The will of God comes in suffering from keeping his commandments.  These works of our will call upon the “Spirit of truth” to be our Advocate when we respond with “gentleness and reverence, keeping our conscience clear”.  This is our challenge to call upon the Advocate in our struggle faced with adversity. 

How easy it is to fall into a battle of wills with those we love most.  The impulse is to return “fire with fire” sometimes aggressively getting loud and demanding or sometimes very passive aggressive with rejection through silence and denial of our love.  The human “battlefield” is what the disciples of Jesus hoped for yet Christ followed the righteous path for the sake of the unrighteous”.  Our human battlefield begins within for the sake off a greater good. 

Let not the peace of Christ be disturbed by what comes from without but from within for the evil one is always baiting our souls to fall again into temptation.  What is from without is “dis-ease” meaning a lack of ease about what we cannot control and what wants to control us.  Our power is to reject all dis-ease as from the evil one and claiming the peace of Christ he offered his disciples at his at his appearance after the resurrection when his first words were “Peace be with you”.  Let our hearts not be troubled by pandemics that rise and fall taking innocent lives for even if this suffering comes into our lives the promise of the resurrection is waiting to rescue us.  

In listening to a Catholic radio program, the guest was giving his conversion story from Protestant to Catholic.  He concluded his story recalling how his father a Baptist “died” from a heart attack but was brought back to life in the ambulance.  Later that year he asked his Father what his death experience was like.  His father said it was not what he expected.  To his surprise instead of seeing heaven he went to this “intermediary” place where he had to give account of his life.  As Catholics we identify this intermediary place as purgatory and also the Church suffering.  It suffers as it waits for justice and heaven.  We fail to speak more on purgatory as is needed in our call to repentance while we battle in our time as the Church militant.  This is our battlefield for justice in heaven and earth. 

The battlefield is fought and won within our souls with the help of the Advocate bringing us the spirit of truth.  Our battle is a sacrificial offering of our day living in the Spirit of truth called to pick up our cross and follow the spirit in faith to victory.  Jesus is waiting to claim victory for us when we unite our will to his we become one body in Christ with the power of the unseen God. 

In the human existence we often confuse love as forgiveness with an avoidance of consequence.  Love and justice in God are both present and justice is his.  A child says “I’m sorry” and expects the parent to not impose justice.  Children don’t understand the value of justice and if it is not fair justice may even lose faith in love.  As children of God we often come to expect forgiveness without justice but justice belongs to God and it comes with love.  Dante described purgatory as the place we go to wash our baptismal robes.  The “place” is a process of cleansing of sin that remains as we leave our mortal bodies and claim our promise of heaven.  It is not a denial of God’s love but a perfection of our love to receive his glory as an unblemished tabernacle of our souls.  It is the unity of love and justice as one.  Faith unites to love as works unites to justice for faith without works is a call to death eternal.  We are a people of the resurrection in faith and works for the greater good. 

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