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Homily

Fourth Sunday of Easter – The Good Shepherd

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 4:8-12; Ps. 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29; 1 Jn. 3:1-2; Jn. 10:1-18

The Good Shepherd has come, laid down his life for his sheep and raised it up again but not only his own life but his own people who died with him in faith and obedience to his word.  This is the good news of our Easter season that Jesus is the good shepherd and the God of the resurrection of the dead.  Recall how immediately after Jesus died “the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two…The earth quaked, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised…they entered the holy city and appeared to many (Mt. 27:51-53)”. Jesus is raised indeed and so are his saintly people.  Jesus is the good shepherd of the dead who have come to life and of the living awaiting their mortal death.

Jesus is the good shepherd of those who hear his voice and turn to follow him.  Unlike sheep who are simply human creatures of this world, in the name of Jesus we are now called the children of God.  Often the question is raised to Catholics asking “why do Catholics baptize infants since they have no knowledge, cannot repent and no free will in the decision?”  In the early church baptism was given to complete families so if the head of the home accepted Christ not only was he baptized but so was his family and his slaves so this practice goes back to early Church history and tradition.  Baptism comes with the free gift of the Holy Spirit, that is the grace of God to enter the soul and be the light of truth, the good shepherd of the soul towards salvation. 

With the gift of the Holy Spirit comes the virtues including to grow in faith, hope, and love.  Who would deny their child this gift to get their life started in perfect sanctity open to hear the voice of the good shepherd as it faces the temptations of the world.  Without baptism the voice of the good shepherd is being drowned out by all the other voices of this world competing for its soul.  

As Jesus said to his disciples “allow the children to come to me for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these (Lk. 18:16).”  The good shepherd wants to enter our souls from the beginning of our life and remain with us all the days we are given.  The test of the good shepherd is less about us coming to him as it is to see if we can remain in him, something to ponder.  In the days that Jesus walked the earth many came to him but few remained with him because his teaching was hard to accept.  The good shepherd proved he was faithful unto death on a cross as he prophesized “I will lay down my life for the sheep”. 

Jesus gives us a tease in today’s gospel.  He speaks of having “other sheep that do not belong to this fold” but drops the topic only to proclaim that in the end “there will be one flock, one shepherd.”  Who are these other sheep?  One question that gets asked of Catholic Christians is whether only Catholics will go to heaven. It is also asked of other Christian denominations who profess to be the “true religion”.  Who belongs to the other flock is a mystery the Lord chose not to reveal.  

Consider first that for centuries the people of God were not “Christian”, they were not baptized in the name of Jesus yet in the transfiguration we see Elijah and Moses next to Jesus.  Consider also how many Christian denominations are now in existence becoming more divided than unified.   Recall what Jesus said his disciples, “For whoever is not against us is for us.  Anyone who gives you a cup of water…will surely not lose his reward (Mk. 9:40-41).  The mercy and love of God came that all may be saved but salvation is a process of purification of souls and God is not done with us yet, not with this world, not with all sinners, not with Christian believers as we struggle to carry the cross of our calling. 

What we carry with us is the promise that “what we shall be has not yet been revealed” but “we shall be like him”.  Today we are already called to live in the image of Christ the good shepherd, caring for those little ones, for the hungry and the poor, for our neighbor and the stranger.  Each according to our state in life has a cause given in which we serve the Lord transformed into the image of the good shepherd, Jesus the cornerstone by which we are saved. 

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Homily

2nd Sunday of Easter – Divine Mercy Sunday

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 5:12-16; Ps. 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24; Rev. 1:911a, 12-13, 17-19; Jn. 20:19-31

Divine Mercy Sunday proclaims the Lord’s “mercy endures forever” open to all but received by those who share in the “distress, the kingdom, and the endurance we have in Jesus”.  We all like to receive gifts but if the gift comes with an expectation, then we become hesitant to receive the gift and fail to recognize the value of the gift.  We can understand why even something as important as the gift of mercy is not sought after because the expectation is that something in us is expected to change and we resist change of self more than perhaps anything else. 

The expectation of the Lord is that we share in the “distress, the kingdom, the endurance we have in Jesus”.   This “distress…kingdom, and endurance” is the call to come and follow the path of perfection through the love of God and neighbor, and the sacrifice of mercy to forgive and be forgiven and to persevere in our faith, hope and love.  Simply stated the gift of mercy is by sharing in the sacrifice of the Lord to live and die for each other.  It is a covenant of mercy to be merciful for the mercy we have received by passing it on in a world known more for its “dog eat dog” mentality than for the lion to lay next to the lamb.   

Do we share in this struggle for the sake of the kingdom or have we become habitual in religion showing up on Sundays and special celebrations and lost throughout the week in ourselves?  Before the Lord we proclaim we believe but outside of the Mass our lives are lived as St. Tomas doubting his presence is with us.  St. Tomas hesitancy to believe lives on in us when we fail to recognize the hand of God in our lives, when faith does not overcome the test of distress, and when we trust ourselves more than trust in God. 

The reflection of how we live our lives outside of Mass speaks louder of how we keep our baptismal promises.  It is not a heavy yoke but a joyful sacrifice of love for God.  The struggle for the kingdom is because evil remains in this world seeking to ruin our souls, tempting us to deny what we believe in practice and persecuting the faithful for rejecting the teaching norms of the world.   The gift of divine mercy is also the power of endurance that we will not be overcome by the world but overcome the world with mercy. 

We hear, see, and experience a world filled with evil, distress, and fear of persecution and the Lord is calling us to his mercy through repentance of our sins and acts of mercy.  Just this week there is an intent to remove “conscience objection on religious grounds” from medical/health practice intended to force health professionals to perform legal medical procedures such as abortion, euthanasia, body mutilation for gender change or risk losing their right to their practice of medicine and/or health care.  Mercy is not about “going along to get along” or “not rock the boat” as is commonly described.  Mercy is about giving testimony to the truth of the gospel by giving the warning of Jonah to Nineveh to repent while there is still time and proclaiming the mercy of God when we turn to him. 

Mercy is not for the weak in faith but for the courage to stand for what we believe for the good of the other even when we know we will be rejected as Jesus was rejected.  This is sharing in the distress for the kingdom with endurance. The power to endure comes from the word of Jesus “Peace be with you.”  It is his peace that lives in us that can look at the world not in fear but with the love of Christ is us.  

The resurrection of Jesus brings us God’s reconciliation of love.  Forgiveness takes on the dimension of mercy.  In forgiveness there is the cancelation of debt that “you owe me” but in mercy there is a reconciliation of love.  When a child does wrong and is corrected there is a need for justice often equal to the wrong done such as “because you hit your little sister you have to say you’re sorry (seek forgiveness) and be nice to her (justice) and give her a hug and tell her you love her (mercy)”.  Mercy is beyond forgiveness and restorative justice it is reconciliation of love.  Are we ready to love our enemies?  We pray “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive”.  Divine mercy is recalling the Lord’s call to forgive is to reconcile with love. 

The resurrection of Jesus brings about the great commissioning of now his apostles “Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  The Father sent Jesus to bring his gift of mercy through forgiveness of sins and Jesus now commissions the apostles to “Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”  This gift of mercy comes to us through the sacramental act of Reconciliation in our confession of sin to a priest to be absolved by the mercy of God.  Think of the penance a priest gives in the confessional and consider the alternative of restorative justice in purgatory, which would you desire most? Fear not the confessional but believe and be healed.  The mercy of God comes to us through the authority given to the priesthood to forgive sins that we may hear the words of absolution and believe. 

John was told by Jesus “Do not be afraid” and Jesus told Tomas “…do not be unbelieving, but believe”.  Are we a believing people unafraid to come to Jesus for mercy or simply following a religious cultural practice out of habit?  This Jesus who was once crucified and died is now “alive forever and ever…and hold(s) the keys to death and the netherworld.”  Let us believe in his divine mercy and be healed of our sins in confession.

Let us not be afraid of what we have seen and is happening in this world but be ready for “what will happen afterwards”.  Jesus is coming for us and he makes all things new. 

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Homily

5th Sunday of Lent

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Ez. 37:12-14; Ps. 130:1-8; Jn. 11:1-45

“I will open your graves…I will put my spirit in you that you may love…”  In the mercy and fullness of redemption “whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?”  O death where is your sting!   The sting of the serpent is lost in the power of the resurrection for the just.  Who are the just?  The just believe in him, receive the spirit, live in the spirit and are righteous.  Faith is the first act of salvation to believe by our free will we humble ourselves to the mystery of faith.  “Living” our faith is the fruit of believing. 

Lazarus is raised from the dead “so that you may believe” in the power of Jesus, in the resurrection and in the “glory of God”.   Lazarus however remains in the flesh subject to a mortal death.  Jesus resurrection is the victory over death itself.  Only the foolish see death as an end but our hope is in immortality.  You shall know the just by their love for God is love and our love unites us to God in immortality.  Jesus provides us a window into the immortality to come in four visible signs. 

The first sign of immortality is an “impassability” in which there is no more death, suffering and disease.  The mortality of this body is all that perishes but the soul and spirit are alive for eternity.  “He is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Mt. 22:32).  The power of this impassability is seen in the transfiguration as Jesus in transfigured by the light of heaven seen next to Moses and Elijah.  Moses and Elijah are the visible sign of life after a mortal death of the body. 

The second sign of immortality is “sotility” meaning a freedom from the material world.  The visible sign is Jesus appearance to the disciples through the doors after his resurrection.  Physically present he asks his disciple Thomas to touch his wounds and believe.  Even before his resurrection he already demonstrated his divinity and walked on water towards his disciples.  This is also seen in documented cases where souls are permitted to appear after the death of the body to holy souls and ask for prayers, masses, and penance to end their purgatory. 

The third sign of immortality is “agility” to move through space at the speed of thought for the soul obeys the will.  The visible sign is Jesus appearance on the road to Emmaus, on the shores of the sea, and in the room where the disciples were.  This was his freedom to be present wherever his will desired.  The souls of the just receive this gift to be present to God and to us most especially at the celebration of the Mass.  The Mass opens the gates of heaven for the sacrificial offering we celebrate for our salvation and the redemption of souls. 

The fourth sign of immortality is “clarity” meaning free from imperfections by being in the light of love, mercy, truth and the beatific vision.  The only death is the death to lies.  The visible sign we share of this clarity is the Word of God as he gave to the disciples and becomes our reality when we believe and follow the word made flesh, Jesus Christ.  The reality of the word is made present when we believe, receive the Spirit and become the temple of the Lord.  We are called to be the visible sign of immortality.  Do you believe this? 

O death where is your sting!  We can think of death as coming to destroy life but it is Christ who comes to save us from evil, sin, sickness and darkness.  We can think of death as an ending to a life as we know it and this is a reality, for we cannot reenter this existence again; let us also think of the new beginning into the immortal promises of God, the beatific vision of love itself.  We can think of death as losing a part of ourselves when a loved one passes on left with the memories and treasures in our hearts; let us also think of gaining an intercessor for us whose love remains at our side as a worker for Christ in heaven.  We can think of saying “goodbye” with tears in our eyes as the last breath of our loved one nears or we approach our final breath; let us also think of the reunion in heaven welcoming the souls of the just into the light of love and immortality.  We can think of a “going away”; let us also reflect on the welcoming home into heaven.  Finally, we can think of death whispering “you must go now”; let us listen to the voice of God calling us “Child of mine, arise!” 

This is our Easter we celebrate each year, each time mortal death arrives, each time a soul is saved in baptism we are a recreation into immortality.  In fact, our own mortal body passes through a death throughout our years of life as our cells die away and new cells are created so that every five years we live in a new body.  Have we not left behind the child for the adolescent, the adolescent for the young adult, the young adult for the middle-aged person, and finally arrived at the elderly stage?  The gift of the spirit also takes our soul through a journey of faith when we die to the old attachments to sin and are recreated into the image of our creator in greater holiness. 

We are called to perfection and we cannot live out our perfection in isolation.  It is in unity and fellowship with the church we come into immortality.  We do not save ourselves, Jesus saves!  Jesus saves by following him, his word, and his church.  This Lenten season is as time to conversion while mortal death surrounds us in this COVID-19 pandemic.  We are being called to repentance and conversion as children of the faith.  The world does not recognize him but the faithful recognize him and our trust is in Jesus.  Let us continue to pray, fast, and be charitable.  It is to the degree of charity that we gain our perfection for immortality.  What we do now matters!  We are called to holiness, an unconditional love, sacrificial love, and purposeful living in love.  Do you believe this?  Believe and be saved!

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Homily

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Deacon Joe

2 Mac. 7:1-2, 9-14; Ps. 17: 1, 5-6, 8, 15; 2 Thes. 2:16-3:5; Lk. 20:27-38

“…he is not God of the dead, but of the living”.  The Sadducees denied the resurrection and today the world is full of deniers in the resurrection “for not all have faith” placing their trust in themselves for this time only.  No faith in the resurrection is no hope for a future and without hope the darkness of despair covers the light of truth in the present.  “If this is all there is” as some proclaim then the present is but an experience in search of a purpose.  Where is the meaning of life beyond the emotions of the moment?  It becomes a search for the “feel good” pleasure principle.  Sacrifice and suffering for a greater good is meaningless.  It is all about “me and now”. 

Contrast the belief in denying the resurrection with the story of the seven brothers and their mother from Maccabees. The conviction of these boys in the resurrection shows great courage to accept the evil of their world for the greater good of life eternal.  In the gospel today the Sadducees challenge the belief in the resurrection with their own story of seven brothers with one wife questioning whose wife will she be after death.  Both stories profess a God of the living after mortal death.  In each story there are seven brothers and one woman.  The woman has a different role as mother or spouse.  The seven brothers and the women in each story are a sign of salvation history. 

In Catholic study there is more than the literal understanding of scripture there is also the spiritual sense.  These include the historical context, language and prophetic meaning in what is called the “exegesis” the fullness of truth.  The fact that there are seven brothers in both stories has its own significance.  Seven is a sign of perfection thus the seven brothers who surrender their life for their faith is the perfection of love of God and a foretelling of the perfect sacrifice to come in Jesus Christ. 

For the seven brothers it is “with the hope God gives of being raised up by him” and in Jesus that hope becomes fulfilled.  The seven along with their mother are tortured “with whips and scourges” as Jesus is to suffer for our sin.  There is also the proclamation of one brother, “It is my choice to die at the hands of men” and it is Jesus proclamation to lay down his life freely as he tells Pontius Pilate he has no power if not given by God himself.  Then we have the mother of these brothers in the story.  She is not only a silent witness but a participant in the suffering and death “for the laws of our ancestors”.  In Jesus he also has his mother at his side as a witness to his passion and death suffering in body and soul until the day of her ascension.  In her ascension she becomes our universal mother, mother of the Church, at our side in our sacrifice for her son. 

In Luke’s story we have seven brothers and one woman given in marriage.  Who is the bride of Christ?  It is the Church united to our High Priest and to all the brothers of the priesthood in persona Christi.  Each brother takes in marriage the woman as Christ gives his bride the Church to the priesthood to continue into perpetuity his bride to the world.   Christ through the woman, that is the church gives birth to her sons in the priesthood to remain as signs of Christ to the world in sacrifice of themselves for Christ’s bride, the church. 

These stories speak to the truth of Jesus in the resurrection already “to him all are alive”.  The only question left is in what state of living.  Is it before the glory of God, in purgatory, or in hell?  In the glory of God “my joy will be full…I shall be content in your presence”.  In purgatory we suffer our purification awaiting the glory to come longing for atonement especially through the prayers of the church.  In hell “there will be no resurrection to life” only a continuous agony of pain.  The great mercy of God is waiting.  What is our response to him today?  Lord “keep me as the apple of your eye.” 

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Reflection

He is risen indeed!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Victory over death in an age of terrorism, innocent martyrs killed daily, and millions seeking freedom from persecution is the hope of the resurrection.  Hope comes not by escape from suffering, nor is one called to embrace misery as inevitable but from the risen Lord.  We embrace hope and claim our victory over death in redemptive suffering as we offer ourselves to our Lord, our whole being to live according to his will.  Death is not foreign to life for each day there is a sense of an ending with the hope of a new beginning with the sun rise.  With each five years of life there is a physiological transformation with an ending to one stage of life and a new experience in our physical and spiritual growth and maturation.  Life stages are not a drama we pass through onto another stage but a meaningful journey of purification of mind, heart, and will for the sanctity of the soul.

Jesus is risen and he appears to his disciples with the greeting “Peace be with you”.  He breaks bread, eats fish, and appears to many.  The joy of this peace is the witness of victory over death that brings peace to live the truth with courage.  Jesus is now sending his disciples to go forth and live the truth with courage in the face of what will lead to their persecution.  Our victory comes in living the truth found in the risen Lord.  Embrace life in its goodness and in service of the greater good of humanity and the environment.  It begins with our home environment, our families, friends, and our state of life called to be holy.   Our sacred space is given within through our baptism not to be kept hidden but to shine light upon the world. 

The difference a life makes is in the embrace of love we are willing to offer to one another. It is the embrace of generosity, compassion, forgiveness, understanding, and charity to the needs of others.  The sting of death is in the seduction of a world’s relativity in action of self-justification.  Our freedom is our justification by the blood of the lamb in Christ.  Because he lives, we live the light of eternity.  Hope in the unseen is now seen through the eyes of faith and the will to embrace love with courage.  Go forth,  He is risen indeed! 

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