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Homily The Deacon Joe

4th Sunday Ordinary Time What is this?

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Dt. 18:15-20; Ps. 95:1-2, 7-9; 1 Cor. 7:32-35; Mk. 1:21-28

“What is this?  A new teaching with authority?”  This is the Word made flesh who has come into the world, the anointed one, Jesus of Nazareth.  This is the prophet like Moses when he said “the Lord, your God (will) raise up from among your own kin; to him you shall listen.”  This is the time for repentance, conversion, and to hear his voice in our lives calling us into his kingdom. 

Today Jesus is with us and we hear his voice in the proclamation of the Word, in the magisterium of the Church for “who hears you hears me” Jesus tells his disciples.  What is this but the coming of the Kingdom of God among us ready to welcome the sinner, the poor, the suffering, the sick in body and soul.  What is this but the power of God to bring healing, hope, joy, mercy, and salvation.  This is the kingdom come that we pray for and is already in our midst. 

What is this?  It is more than a teaching it is the authority itself that commands and it is done.  Jesus commands the unclean spirit to come out of a man and it is done.  Even the unclean spirit recognizes “the Holy One of God”.  It is the authority he gives his apostles to go and make disciples to the ends of the world.  When we come to receive Jesus in the sacraments of the Church, we become not only heirs to the kingdom but also participants in his redemptive mission for the salvation of souls.  This is a responsibility we carry to give witness and proclaim the gospel in the way we live, we love, and we worship the Lord. 

Today, St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians tries to give us some practical advice to decrease our anxiety. It is to live the celibate life.  Marriage creates the stress of supporting a family in the world while being single allows for worries of only pleasing God.  This practical advice was taken to heart by the Catholic Church in the call to the priesthood so that priestly vocation is a consecration to God without the stress of marriage.  The same is true for women who enter religious vocation.  It can also be true for single men who become deacons they no longer can marry.   A layperson can choose to become a monk or friar and remain celibate as can a layperson who desires to serve God through their professional vocation. 

Marriage is also a gift and calling to build up the kingdom of God in the domestic church of a home.  It is a call to holiness in the sacramental vows of a man and a woman.  Marriage is the blessing of the union as designed by God thus civil unions are not valid “marriages” for the church whether between a man and a woman or as in today’s environment between same sex couples.  Those who choose to separate themselves from this teaching are not listening to the Word of God and the voice of Jesus.  Many to stand by the Word of God are being persecuted by the will of the State, in courts, and by a culture of death.  This is a time of trial and we are to prepare for the battle growing in our culture and even within the Church. 

Who is this that speaks with authority and even the unclean spirits obey?  This is our redeemer and our judge.  How we choose to respond to his authority in obedience or by following our own way will determine how we come to face the king of glory on the day judgment in exultation or in misery.  Now is the time of atonement for the hour is near and our days are numbered.  Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. 

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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 The Deacon Joe

21st Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 22:19-23; Ps. 138:1-3, 6, 8; Rom.11:33-36; Mt. 16:13-20

Jesus the key to heaven!  “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus speaks to Peter these words which have since been a “key” and the cross of division not unity for the Christian people.  For Catholicism “you” represents a person, Peter, the Vicar of Christ and his successors and to Protestantism represents the church self-governed by the people.  Where the truth lies holds the key to authority and the cross in responding to the resistance. 

In the first reading, the Lord’s servant Eliakim is given the “robe” of authority by the Lord, the “key to the House of David”.  The “key” has the power to “open and shut” and Eliakim is “fixed…like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family”.  Here we see a person not only given the “key” but a sign of the “key” to come in Jesus.  Old Testament history from Abraham to Jesus is a succession of leadership for the people of God who hold the place of honor, responsibility and accountability that is the cross in serving our God the Father. 

Jesus is the “key” to heaven.  He entrusts Peter with himself to remain with us in the Eucharist, body, soul, and divinity and in the priesthood in “persona Christi”.  Peter and his successors are the “rock” to sustain the church where the key lies.  We pray, “do not forsake the work of your hands”.  The work is the church with Jesus as the cornerstone of this foundation of faith.  The fruit of this work is the people of God for the harvest is plentiful but laborers are few as scripture reminds us.  In this we recognize the call to the priesthood is not being heard while the population continues to increase. 

We are also reminded, “For who has known the mind of the Lord…”, only what comes “from him and through him and for him are all things” revealed.  The church then is the deposit of faith coming from Jesus and through him to all the Fathers, Doctors, saints, and people of our God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Jesus divinity is working through our humanity when we call upon him, invite him into our presence, and respond in acceptance of his will in our lives.  The mind of the Lord speaks to our mind, his love to our hearts, and his will to our will for courage to proclaim our faith in him and come and follow. 

Jesus, the key to heaven is the way, the truth, and the power “and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it”.  The power to “bind and loose” comes from Jesus through the church and not apart from it.  We all share through our baptism a role as priest, prophet, and king in the church of God.  In this role we share the cross to serve under authority in the body of Christ.  Our obedience in the church is to Christ himself and woe to those who would open the gates of the netherworld inside the church to sin and bring judgment upon themselves.  Even if the attempt happened, we have the power of exorcism to reject Satan and renew the church in times of crisis. 

These are times of crisis as we witness scandals in the church and in the world seeking to divide the people of God as wolves in sheep’s clothing.  While professing inclusiveness, tolerance, and diversity we witness an attack on tradition, symbols of faith, and violence for restitution of past sins in the world.  How did we get here and how do we recover from this? 

It began with an attack on the family.  Divorce and abortion were the first divide to bring division in the covenant of love facilitating disposable relationships.  Children were the next divide superseding the values of home with the values of the institutions of learning to plant the seeds of agnosticism.  The new harvest of individuation murdered the belief of a universal truth for the logic of separatism in identity, no longer male or female, good or bad, right or wrong, only self-justified.  Once self-justified the next step of attacking other political, economic and civil institutions out of self-righteousness falls into the world of acceptable tolerance. What remains is to bring down the institutions of faith and that has already begun.  This is the culture of death and many are being lost and few are responding to this attack. 

We recover from a culture of death by returning to the source of all life and unity, God in the Trinity.  Jesus holds the keys to the kingdom in all Christianity.  The Church is the bride of Jesus as a mother to “bind and to loosen” with the authority of Jesus guided by the Spirit in the Vicar of Christ.  The God of love is also the God of the laws of heaven and we are to follow the source of all truth as we profess, “Jesus saves!” 

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Homily

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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