6th Sunday of Easter – Spirit of truth!

Posted on May 13, 2023May 12, 2023 by Deacon Joe

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

Spirit of truth is alive through the Holy Spirit. It is our Advocate who remains with us if we keep his commandments. If we keep the commandments, we validate our love for God. Keeping the word of God is the key to unlocking the mysteries of faith. Do we want to see God? Keep his commandments and allow him to reveal himself to us for he desires to give even more of himself to us. In our humanity we resist him who is the fulfillment of love itself not because we don’t desire him, in fact our hearts are restless because we were created for him. We resist him because by our own free will we resist obedience to another but not all.

History gives us many a witness that it is possible to live and die for another. This is the witness of Jesus on the cross. This is the witness of many saints who fulfilled the call to “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts”. They did it though obedience to God’s will. Just as Jesus was obedient to the Father through the cross many saints sanctify Christ as Lord through their obedience to be servants of the Lord or even slaves to his love.

If the Lord came calling for us today, would we meet him with a “clear conscience” for having kept his commandments or would we hide our face for having offended him by our sins. Praise God for his sacramental gift of confession to wipe away our sins for I suspect we would literally die before the face of God without it. We sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts by keeping his commandments. This is the Spirit of truth Christ came to once again make clear to us.

Keeping his commandments is not new, from Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit, to Moses and the Ten Commandments, and then the Jewish laws, in all of salvation history obedience to God’s law is the road to salvation. Yet in all salvation history we see the resistance to obedience and many are lost by the same rebellion of Lucifer whose pride desired to be his own god. Is our pride still desire to be our own god, have our own kingdom, conquer the world or do we surrender it all to the true God creator of all?

There is a new birth in the family and everyone is drawn to the innocence and tenderness of a child who desires to be held and nurtured. How long before the child grows and by his own free will begins to rebel? Resistance to being dressed, to being fed vegetables, having a sleep schedule, and that is just the beginning. Then comes “concupiscense” from the Latin “concupiscentia” meaning ‘with intense desire’”. What are our intense desires? They begin with the desire to satisfy the flesh but also grow into the desire of the mind for power, prestige, and profit or as the common expression says, “what is in it for me”. This is our sin as we rebel against God and the devil knows how to play on it to tempt us to fall just as he did Adam and Eve.

The Spirit of truth cannot be deceived. Recall the adage “you can fool some of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time”. Well, you can never fool the Spirit of truth at any time and keep a conscience clear. When the Spirit of truth resides in us then we can still try to deceive others by our concupiscense but we cannot deceive ourselves and believe it. The truth that resides in us will not rest until we bring reconciliation with God and others. This is a blessing though some may consider it a curse, the moral conscience to do right. A moral conscience comes from God’s law of serving a greater good.

Keeping his commandments gets tested not only from within but also from without by a world that does not know him and lives not by a Spirit justified by God’s truth but by the spirit of self-justification. The spirit of self-justification follows the principle that “it’s all about me”. Because it is all about me then if you disagree with me, you are the enemy that must be eliminated. That is the lesson seen in the crucified Christ and the experience we live with in a culture of cancellation and death. If they could crucify Christ who walked doing what is good and spoke of Godly truth then we can see how easily the world can finds ways to silence, cancel, and if needed destroy a person for holding onto their faith in practice. From bakers to Little Sisters of the Poor no one is exempt from the evil one.

Thus, “it is better to suffer for doing good” than to follow in the “evil” that this world calls its good. Self-justification lives by the false teaching under the title “my truth”. Someone’s truth no matter how justified if it is in opposition to God, to his commandments, his revelation of truth in Jesus Christ is the danger of self-condemnation. It is a slippery road of darkness of the soul caught in the trap of lies to justify the past. Having to say “I’m sorry for my sins” is an act of humility and the first right step to forgiveness and healing.

It is a false teaching when some say your freedom of religion means you can keep your faith as long as you don’t act on your faith. Faith is a practice of daily living to be expressed “with gentleness and reverence keeping your conscience clear”. Faith lives, walks, talks, and acts out of obedience to God convenient or inconvenient, within the walls of worship and outside the walls in the public square. It is more than something we do it is who we are as Christians. Faith and love are one bound together by our actions. Love is not a feeling but an act of the will for the one we love.

We love God, then we unite our will to the will of God by obedience to his commandments. We love the other, family, friend, stranger then we will to do for the good of the other. We love ourselves well, then we will to take care of our mind, body, and soul by listening to the interior life coming from the spirit of truth. This is God’s will that we may all be one. This is the purpose of the incarnation, Jesus coming from the Father to be one with us that we may receive him in body, blood, soul and divinity in order to go forth alive in the spirit of truth, without fear, trusting God by our obedience to his will. His will is our good that we may enter the gates of heaven.

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Homily

2nd Sunday Ordinary Time – Here am I, Lord!

Posted on January 14, 2023January 14, 2023 by Deacon Joe

Is. 49:3, 5-6; Ps. 40:2, 7-10; 1 Cor. 1:1-3; Jn.1:29-34

“Here am I, Lord…who formed me as his servant from the womb” to do his will. We are created to love, know and serve God, not generally as a human race but individually in a personal relationship with Christ from the moment of conception until death, from the womb to the tomb and beyond. From the womb God is already granting us his love with the gift of the soul to be in union with him. Life has meaning and purpose and God wants to reveal to us what that is for each of us. We have a calling in this world and each day we are to discover and uncover more and more how we have been formed to love and serve the Lord.

Some may ask, “If all are formed in the womb to be servants of God then why so much evil, division and chaos in this world?” This question is more frequently asked as “If God is good why is there evil in this world?” Formed to be servant recognizes the freedom to choose good or evil, right or wrong, obedience or rebellion. Thus, the history of the world and of salvation history is filled with story upon story of who responded according to God’s will and who rejected his command to do his will, deceived by the evil one and by our own free will. “Here am I Lord, I come to do your will is to be obedient whether convenient or inconvenient because you call upon me and you will it. This is where the expression “the rubber meets the road” becomes our test. Do we will to do his will or our own?

To do God’s will is beyond obedience simply because he is God and we are not. Obedience to God’s will does not make us slaves as puppets on a string. Obedience to God is freedom, joy, peace, and love because the blessings, graces, and gifts from God are multiplied and continue to form us according to his image to be great saints. When we obey and follow God’s commandments our lives are guided and protected and we grow in sanctity becoming our true self, perfected by his love we are free indeed.

In Exodus, Moses asks God, “Who am I? What do I tell them?” God replies “I AM has sent me to you”. The I AM is calling us to respond “Here am I, Lord” but often we remain doubtful still wondering “who am I to accept the call?” “I AM” in Hebrew meaning is “I will be” as in becoming for the God of creation who is seeking us to become according to his will. He becomes in us what is needed for us to be his servant and fulfill a divine purpose if we open ourselves to his becoming in us, with us, and for us. God is waiting for our response “Here am I, Lord” for a transformation to go forth from our humanity to his divine calling yet we are more ready to question “Who am I? Not I, Lord.”

Last week was the Epiphany of the Lord marking the end of the Christmas liturgical season and the beginning of Ordinary Time with the celebration of the baptism of the Lord. Little history is revealed to us of the life of Jesus over a period of thirty years. Was the Lord simply living and growing in his humanity or was something else happening to prepare himself for the purpose he had come into the world. In the finding of Jesus in the temple he tells his parents in Luke 2:49 “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? He…was obedient to them; and Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.” This was not idle time this was formation time in his divine call. There is a time to plant, a time to grow and a time to harvest yet every moment is also a time to respond “Here am I, Lord” open to your call.

God is planting and growing in us his Word but he also calls on his harvest at the right time. We are to be vigilant so that in every moment we are called we are ready to say, “Here am I, Lord”. This is not about me feeling ready, worthy, or strong enough for the challenge. “God is now my strength!” To do the will of the Lord is beyond our strength. He is the strength we need, he alone parts the waters, and raises the dead. We are to trust in him to receive power “to become children of God” and do the ordinary will of God that is extraordinary for our being.

When the church makes the call for volunteers to be involved in music ministry, lectors, extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, catechism teachers or support fellowship activities do we ask “who am I” or do we say “here am I”? The Church is not waiting for professionals to step up but for faithful servants to respond and contribute as a sign of love of God and love of neighbor. John the Baptist in the gospel of Mathew tries to tell Jesus “Who am, I” to baptize Jesus with the words, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Jesus’ response was “Allow it now”. God’s call is not about our readiness but about his will calling us to “allow it now”.

The Lord has spoken who formed Jesus as his servant from the womb of Mary. We are born into this world from the womb of a woman but in the waters of baptism we are reborn in spirit from the womb of Mary to be our mother.

John the Baptist recognizes Jesus as the man to come who “existed before me” and to testify “he is the Son of God.” John’s testimony came from the spirit himself to reveal himself upon Jesus coming down “like a dove from heaven”. The Spirit is the one who sent John to baptize with water in order to reveal himself upon Jesus and testify Jesus is the Son of God. For this John came to be into this world, to grow and to become a servant of the Lord in life and in death.

The story is also true for you and I, we are born to be and become in the image of God, to wait upon the call of the Lord and to respond to the call as his servant “Here am I, Lord. Do with me according to your will.” It is a call to surrender in order to be free, to be weak in order to be given power, to trust in order to see, to love in order to serve. “Allow it now!”

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Homily

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Posted on January 3, 2020January 3, 2020 by Deacon Joe

Num. 6:22-27; Ps. 67:2-3,5,6,8; Gal. 4:4-7; Lk. 2:16-21

The Blessing! The Church brings in the “New Year” with “The Blessing”, a revelation to the world, “Mary, Mother of God” in Greek “Theotokos”. In these few words blood has been shed, people become divided, and theologians debate. The conflict is not Mary but her title as Mother of God because she points to Jesus Christ as God. We are in the Christmas time of celebrating Emmanuel God is with us. He is with us in Jesus Christ. The argument is framed that Mary in her humanity in time cannot be the Mother of God who is eternal from the beginning in his divinity. Yet that is exactly who Jesus is the Word made flesh to be among us. Mary’s title is not to draw attention to herself but to who Jesus is as the second person of the Trinity.

In the Abrahamic religions Jews, Christians, and Muslims have no consensus on this core belief. Muslims venerate Mary but see Jesus as another prophet. Jews rejected Jesus as an anathema for claiming to be equal to God demanding his death. Even in some Protestant Christian churches Mary is simply the woman who gave birth to Jesus without any veneration. The central point is not Mary but who is Jesus? In Christology, the study of Jesus Christ the early church debated this issue. Was he fully human called to rise to a divine life, was he fully divine simply appearing as human or was he part humanity and part divinity? The answer comes in his name Emmanuel, God is with us, God in the second Person of the Trinity, the Word made flesh fully human and fully divine.

The Child Jesus in his humanity received from his parents two witnesses of holiness, Mary’s humility and Joseph’s obedience. Three times an angel appears to Joseph and he was obedient. First the angel tells Joseph to take Mary with child as his wife and he obeyed. The second to take Mary and child to Egypt and he obeyed. The third to return to Israel after Herod’s death and he obeyed. Jesus was an obedient child to his parents and to the divine purpose for which he came. Mary humbled herself at the annunciation giving her fiat to be with child. Mary remained by Jesus side in humility with the words “do as he says”. Jesus, fully divine, Christ the King humbled himself in humanity going forth proclaiming the Word.

Imagine a New Year’s resolution to practice humility and obedience. It would be awesome and terrible at the same time. Awesome to seek the ideal of love in Jesus Christ and terrible to experience our constant bruising from falling from the ideal repeatedly. The barrier to living the ideal is pride. Pride not in the ordinary acceptance of being a child of God but in the disordered desire to impose our will onto other including God. God says “come follow” and our pride says “God follow me”. Mary and Joseph provide us the ordered way to follow in humility and obedience to sanctity. The Blessing of the Lord is to “keep you” for his love, to let his face give us the light of truth that we shine with holiness, that he see us with his kindly mercy and receive peace as we invoke his name Emmanuel, God is with us and venerate his mother Mary the Mother of God.

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Homily

21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Posted on August 24, 2019August 22, 2019 by Deacon Joe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Homily

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on November 3, 2018November 2, 2018 by Deacon Joe

Dt. 6: 2-6; Ps. 18: 2-4, 47, 51; Heb. 7: 23-28; Mk. 12: 28b-34

Who is this unnamed scribe in the gospel who is not far from the kingdom of God and where did he get this understanding? First we must recognize the context on which he speaks. This is not a high priest with special graces from God. Second, he is living in a Jewish culture where “burnt offerings and sacrifices” were part of the Law of great importance for righteousness before God. For the scribe to be politically incorrect and dare devalue the merits of burn offerings and sacrifices could have been an offense to the Jewish institution, sacrilegious or even worthy of stoning. Again, who is this scribe with courage to question the norms, speak with authority and judge for himself?

He is a scribe and scribes were educated men who could read, write, and discern the scriptures. Most people were not literate but they developed the capacity to memorize long passages of scripture. Today we have an educational system that offers us a great opportunity to study and learn that we may discern with wisdom. The internet search engines are the “go to” to simply ask the question and get information in an instant from the accumulated knowledge of the world. With all this information at our fingertips how do we use these tools to gain our understanding of our faith? I have three Catholic apps on my phone, the Missal, the Breviary, and ETWN. I confess there are five game apps also my grandson downloaded that he plays when he is with us so we have to be on alert what he is trying to download. Outside of Mass what scripture reading do we study? If the goal is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength then our heart must be in prayer with God, our soul in union with God, our mind I the knowledge of God and our strength in service of God. There we fulfill the great commandment and are not far from the kingdom of God.

Moses links the love of God with “Fear the Lord and…keep…all his statutes and commandments”. This call to obedience was a way of demonstrating love but it did not capture the hearts, minds, and souls of the people as seen by the continuous rebellion against God in the desert. This is also a people who came out of slavery where obedience meant survival not love. I remember a young couple coming in for marriage counseling many years ago. I asked them to complete the sentence, “I feel you love me when__”. The young man stated, “I feel you love me when you are obedient to me.” In today’s world that brings charges of sexist, macho, and abusive language.” Scripture says, “Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ…wives should be subordinate to their husbands…husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.” (Eph. 5: 21-28) There is a mutual sacrifice for each other.

The development of the behavioral sciences tells us the cognitive-behavioral relationship is a form of being subordinate to each other. Cognitively we reason to believe and change behavioral patterns and behaviorally we modify our behavior in obedience and discipline to bring about the understanding that can only come by doing. God the Father gave us the commandments of doing to come to understanding and Jesus the Son gives us the spirit of understanding that we may grow in relationship of love a covenant relationship with him.

Jesus did the ultimate sacrifice for us to bring us understanding of the Father’s love. Mass is our time to offer our gifts of self to him, our joys, sorrows, our sacrifices. It is not a love from obedience to rules but commandments that build loving relationships. The commandments foster love, unity, fellowship, peace, and justice the visible signs of invisible love.

The search for the “fountain of youth” has captured the human psyche throughout history. There is the mud from the Dead Sea to make you look years younger; the anti-aging science of cell regeneration for tissue and organs, the life-style changes of diet and exercise; and finally going back to ancient times the cover-up of makeup and dress-up in style. Today we are reminded of the life-style commandments of God to realize our growth, prosperity, and having the “long life”. It comes from Jesus teaching, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” If we abide in him he will abide in us and our riches in Jesus will be multiplied.

One of the biggest factors in aging, sickness, and poor health is stress. What fosters stress in our life cognitively is the thinking, “I need to be in control” and the behavior of being in a hurry in life. The anti-aging formula from God is summed up in the Serenity Prayer, “God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.” As the commercial says, “Stay young my friend” not with beer but with prayer. Beer only adds more wrinkles to life.

The world keeps racing with the next faster internet speed and automation inventions. We have gone from camp fire cooking to wood stoves, gas and electric heating, microwave and now fast drive through windows all to get more done in less time. The result is we create more to do but are we more fulfilled? We have created an imbalance of lifestyle.

Here is an alternative called Lectio Divina. It is a balance of heart, mind, body and spirit. We open our hearts to God by reading scripture called “Lectio”; we reflect in our minds on the meaning of God word with “Meditatio”; we then try to simply rest in silence in God’s presence to listen what word of knowledge he conveys to us in “Contemplatio”; and we respond in spirit to the revelation God gives us in prayer called “Oratio”.

If Jesus priesthood is forever then our priesthood through baptism is forever. What our ministry in heaven will be God will determine but one thing we know from living and from scriptures is that life is in constant motion fulfilling a purpose greater than ourselves.

Jesus makes it clear, “The Lord our God is Lord alone!” The scribe adds the exclamation point, “He is One and there is no other than he”. Focus on him on the cross, focus on him in our neighbor, and focus on him in all creation the source of life, love, freedom and justice. Focus on heaven in the communion of saints, angels, and our Blessed Mother and then go forth to love him in our neighbor. The commandments are the means to the end. The Lord our God is the beginning and the end there is no other. The scribe is right in saying, “He is One and there is no other than he”. The One who has created us as one-being and there is no other like us just like out of his love. Who is this scribe given such wisdom? He is a testimony of what God does with a soul who fulfills the greatest commandment. Be THAT one!

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Homily

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on September 2, 2018September 2, 2018 by Deacon Joe

Dt. 4: 1-2, 6-8; Ps. 15; Jas 1: 17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mk 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23

“From within…they defile”. Today’s call is for purity of heart, of body, and of faith. Perhaps we can say that we have come a long way in wisdom and intelligence. We understand our humanity more from a psychological and behavioral approach or have we? What about from a spiritual awareness? From an applied perspective everyone starts from ground zero to learn the lesson for themselves. What is the lesson? It is the lesson of how obedience, chastity, truth, faith, and love are living the good life. We all like the good life but we do not always see the good God in his creation. In fact some tend to focus on the “cup half empty”. The Catechism of the Church summarizes it well:

“The faithful must believe the articles of the Creed so that by believing they may obey God, by obeying may live well, by living well may purify their hearts, and with pure hearts may understand what they believe.” (CCC 2518)

Our first reading is the call to obedience. As a parent would say to a child, “Do it” and you will come to understand the good that comes from it. The child’s natural inclination is to believe only what it sees with a limited understanding but God who sees the end result takes the behavioral approach in its commands. Do it, then you will see the goodness of the Lord. Do it then you will discover a greater truth that you can only see by following these “statutes and decrees”. Behaviorist would say trust the process, don’t wait to understand or feel ready to change from within. Change the behavior and you will accomplish the change from within you seek.

In the same way, God the Father is saying observe the commandments “carefully” and you will be wise and it will purify your heart. He is also saying don’t add nor subtract from them, follow my plan. Here is where we struggle. We want to change the plan to meet our comfort zone. The Doctor says, “Take this pill for 14 days” and we start to feel better in 7 so we stop taking it without understanding the consequence of not allowing the full benefit to take effect or we start skipping days or taking only half. Do we know the physiological and pharmacological relationship between the medication and our body? No, but we take away or we add sometimes when we like the benefits like pain pills that become abused. The Old Testament says, “Follow God’s plan”. We tell our children “eat your breakfast”. The response, “I’m not hungry”. God says, “Eat my word”. We say, “I’m too busy.” Then we become malnourished spiritually.

Jesus comes into the world speaking truth to the mind and love to the heart. This is a huge paradigm shift in God’s revelation to humanity. He does not take away from the obedience of the commands but enriches the understanding of the commands through the gifts of the spirit. Jesus tells the Pharisees that they have created their own “human tradition” the laws on top of the law of God and failed to live God’s law in spirit and in truth. We run the same risk if we use Canon Law, the “Big Book of Rules” in judgment and not in mercy to serve God’s commands.

What is this human tradition? In our times we have different customs from region to region and across the continent such as the selection of music, when we kneel and how long we kneel, or whether people hold hands or not or liturgical dance in some countries. Many of these customs develop regionally and the church allow for adaptations to integrate itself into the culture without compromising the essential rites of the General Instructions of the Roman Missal (GIRM). The human tradition is to battle over the little “t” observations and lose sight of the big “T” purpose of the gospel.

Perhaps the question we must ask ourselves is “Does this fulfill the gospel proclamation of salvation?” What is “this”? “This” is our hearts, this is our actions, this is our rules, and this is our voice. It is what comes out of our mouth that defiles not what comes into it unless it becomes the poison of alcohol, drugs, or if we become consumed with pornography, certain video gaming, and even ideologies the world creates separating us from God.

Through obedience to the commands in our external behavior and purity of hearts in our internal beliefs of faith we will act in justice and live in the presence of the Lord. We often say, “God is love and God is mercy” but we don’t say enough of “God is righteous”. Love, mercy, goodness and holiness are feel good attributes of God however “Righteousness” is also an attribute that calls for justice and justice means obedience to God’s law. Injustice comes from within. Seeds of anger lead to evil thoughts and acts of revenge; lustful thoughts to unchastity as sexuality begins in the mind; selfish desires to theft remember that candy bar you grabbed as a child at the store; rejection in the heart to murder, once you objectify a person it becomes easy to kill them in your heart and actions; sexual drives to adultery blaming “hormones made me do it”; greed to lack of charity and loss of generosity the source of love; jealousy to malice with emotional hijacking causing acts of violence; deceit to manipulation, once you buy the lie yourself lying to others comes easy; licentiousness to immorality, the license to sin with euthanasia and killing the unborn; envy to covetousness, worshiping the material god; contempt to blasphemy, using the name of Jesus to cuss or “G-O-D-damn” as if God has anything to do with our anger; arrogance to overbearing, otherwise called “full of it”; and imprudence to folly without the guidance of the spirit poor judgment results. In summary, impurity leads to injustice and apart from the Lord.

Religion that is pure and undefiled is two parts, the giving of self to others and the guarding of self from the sins of others. The world is very creative in coming up with new ways to defile the mind under the cover of “entertainment”. The serpents promise has not changed to “be like gods”. What enters the mind defiles the heart and it manipulates the will to sin. Jesus came with the gift of the Spirit to wash us clean. We are called to be servants, servants to God who chose the cross and remained undefiled. Let us pray to our Blessed Mother in our weakness recognizing the strength of her love to endure suffering at the side of Jesus. Let us be ready to answer the call. We are all called to be saints. Jesus is the way.

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Homily

29th Week Ordinary Time Wednesday 25th

Posted on October 28, 2017October 28, 2017 by Deacon Joe

Rom 6: 12-18; Lk 12:39-48
The first reading reminds me of the mind and heart of a small child. They know so well that their parents are an authority to be obedient and listen to. They also know so well that if some other adult tries to give commands they are quick to point out, “you are not the boss of me”. The idea that ultimately we will choose to be “obedient slaves” to either sin or righteousness, slaves none the less but there is a difference. The person who is a slave to sin becomes powerless in their free will and without free will become puppets to the passions of sin. There is a personality change and they will often say, “It wasn’t I anymore.” Thoughts, emotions, interests and behaviors become slaves to the sin and the person becomes dead to themselves. In contrast the person who is a slave to righteousness discovers their true identity through obedience but they must be the drivers of their free will. In sin you figuratively speaking “turn over the wheel” to be driven to death. In righteousness you discover greater responsibility and need to be vigilant. It also build’s our spiritual muscle because we invest all of ourselves, our senses both corporal and spiritual as we overcome life’s challenges and dangers. We gain the power of virtues through grace and experience the freedom of our true nature, our calling, our life in Christ.
The gospel lets us know that as slaves of righteousness our concern is not the hour or day when the Master will come. We are already doing the work of heaven. We welcome his coming because greater will be our freedom. Padre Pio and many other saints recognized their limitations as servants of God on earth and looked forward to the day of departure from this world because they would be able to do more from heaven. Death was a homecoming celebration. In contrast the person who is slave to sin is being warned that even a greater punishment is ahead after death of the flesh. Here the gospel draws a distinction between the sinner who know his Master’s will and the sinner who was “ignorant of his Master’s will, but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating”. Who are those in each of these groups? I am reminded of St. Paul. As Saul, he earned in ignorance a “severe beating” in persecuting the early Christians. In his conversion Paul still suffered a “beating” as the one persecuted and more was expected of him. In obedience to righteousness more was also given to him. Paul is recognized for the spread of the early church more than any of the other Apostles and he shares his hardships in his writings. The question to ask ourselves is “where am I in the Saul to Paul conversion?” What are my blind spots to the will of God in my life? Am I living under assumptions that as a good person I am obedience enough or is God asking more of me and I am resisting him. It can be said that in the life of the saints many resisted God’s call. They had to overcome their doubts, put aside their own thinking, listen to the will of God and even then tried God’s patience when there were clear signs and visions of God’s will. Truly if they found it difficult to say “yes” we too have much to overcome to know, love, and serve God. Our comfort is in the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to enlighten our spirit, to open the path to God’s mercy and to strengthen us in our resolve to make this day, God’s day in our life. For yesterday we pray for mercy, for today we pray for the strength to say “yes Lord”, and for tomorrow we seek the knowledge, and confirmation of being a servant of God. This we recognize in the fruits of God’s love and blessings we receive. In this we recognize our inheritance, a kingdom made for heaven ready to receive him at the moment of his coming. “Who is the boss of you?”

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