Second Sunday of Easter – Spirit is truth

Posted on April 6, 2024April 3, 2024 by Deacon Joe

Acts 4:32-35; Ps. 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24; 1 Jn. 5:1-6; Jn. 20:19-31

From fear to the Spirit of truth. The disciples were locked in spiritual fear that they were next to be arrested and killed after seeing how they crucified Jesus. They were also physically locked in the upper room when Jesus appears to them with the words of courage “Peace be with you”. Jesus frees them from their spiritual fear as he breathes on them the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. Are we locked in our fears in need of the Spirit of truth to set us free. The Lord is here, he is risen ready to set the captives free.

As parents we fear for our children anxious about many things yet our children belong to God. Our children are a gift to raise up in the Spirit of truth and to set them free to serve their God given purpose. We fear illness and disease as we age recognizing our own mortality yet even Jesus had to suffer a mortal death to rise again giving us the evidence of victory over death and the hope of eternity.

We fear the powers of this world that seek to take our freedom and burden our lives claiming authority to rule over us. Jesus tells Pontius Pilate he has no power over him reminding us that our kingdom is not of this world but resides in the Spirit of truth within and that freedom cannot be taken away. We fear the evil that prowls about the world seeking the ruin of souls. We have the power over evil, we are covered by the Spirit of truth, we live the sacramental life that receives Jesus body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist and in the Holy Spirit. Fear not!

When Jesus breathed on the disciples giving them the Holy Spirit it came with a mandate. It wasn’t a gift for their indulgence or self adulation. It was a gift of power and authority to serve God in the person of Christ with the sacramental duty to forgive sins in the name of Jesus. As we recall Jesus had already instituted the Eucharist and the priesthood on Holy Thursday to be done in remembrance of the Lord but the disciples did not fully understand what their “call” to duty included.

This was and is the new beginning of the people of God to be of one body that is of one Church. This did not deny the past history of the law of Moses and the call to obey the commandments, it fulfilled it in a more perfect way. It did not deny the priesthood but renewed it with Jesus as our high priest. Jesus also did not write down one word but was the Word made flesh and by the gift of the Holy Spirit gave the disciples the spirit of truth so that his Church would carry his authority to forgive and retain.

Why do we go to a priest to confess our sins? It is the Jesus way in which having already recognized we have sinned we must now present ourselves in an act of obedience and humility to receive confirmation of the Lord’s forgiveness and complete the sacrament with act of penance to wipe away our sins. The Spirit of truth if we are fully sorry for our sins is confirmed in not only in our words but also in our actions. As Jesus said to the Leper in Mathew 8:4 who had been healed of the Leprosy to go and present himself to the priest to be examined of his healing and make an offering. In forgiveness of our sins through the sacrament of confession we too must go and present ourselves to the priest to be examined and in our penance make a spiritual offering.

Thomas came to believe because he saw with his own eyes and so today our world is filled with many who walk in the shoes of Thomas unable to believe but more sadly unwilling to seek in order to believe. The world is filled with people whose life is based on their mortal senses and have no desire to discover the God of their creation. Instead, many turn to their own inner spirituality believing in their own creative thoughts, the human potential, and dismissing the Godly potential and promises of the divine.

This is the day to receive the mercy of God and in his divine mercy to separate ourselves from the sin of the past and rise with Christ in the spirit of truth. His is risen indeed so let us also rise with him to new life.

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Homily

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

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – One in God

Posted on June 10, 2022June 10, 2022 by Deacon Joe

Prov. 8:22-31; Ps. 8:4-9; Rom. 5:1-5; Jn. 16:12-15

One in God and three in one we celebrate this Most Holy Trinity. The mystery of faith is this unity to be one in God united to the Most Holy Trinity. Called to be children of God can we say, “The Lord possessed me”? From the beginning who is this “I” poured forth “before the earth”? “The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” and through the blood of the Lamb in Jesus Christ. God is love thus God has poured out himself throughout the earth giving of himself to us. The Son of God “was his delight day by day, playing before him…When the Lord established the heavens” he was there. Father, Son and Holy Spirit is there and there is now here with us and for us to be one in God.

The “Spirt of truth” brings us the voice of God in the Son to guide us and strengthen us that we may even “boast of our afflictions in hope of the glory of God”. The Lord finds “delight in the human race”. We are his delight as a son is to his father who in his fatherly wisdom is guiding us through our afflictions to grow in sanctity that we may be perfect in faith, hope and love. The struggle of humanity is recognizing when we fall from our sinfulness we may rise again by the mercy of a Father’s love. When the world drives us to follow our own way limited by what little we know the Father sent us his Son to follow his way by the revelation of truth and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. God is truth in its undefiled and unblemished totality coming to us in the Spirit.

We pray “I believe in one God” Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and in “one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church”. The Church is the bride of Christ who has received the revelation through the Spirit of truth in its holy servants who by tradition and word have given us “the Word of God”. Before the word was written down as scripture, before Word was made flesh in the Son of God, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God one in being and was poured forth “beside him as his craftsman”.

One in God the Lord takes delight in us partakers of his creation. Belonging to creative matter still “little less than the angels” we are to have “rule over the works of your hands” as trusted caretakers of creation. The Spirit of truth comes that we may begin by taking care of our bodies to be kept holy as the temple of the Lord. The Spirit of truth comes that we may care for the environment of whose elements our bodies are formed and sustained. The Spirit of truth comes into our souls that we may be prepared to receive the gifts of the Spirit to be transformed even further into the image of God.

Let us lift our voices up and proclaim “the Lord possessed me”, I am his and he is mine. The Lord’s possession is one of love not as slaves. We belong to a kingdom of love where treasures are there for us to possess as gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts are the power to bring down other kingdoms of evil, to overcome spirits of darkness, to lift up others from their fallen state of death. Possessed by the Lord we have the Spirit of truth, the power of love, and the victory over death. Here lies the human dilemma none of this is possible by any act of our will but by our surrender to God that we may be possessed by him. As we surrender to God we no longer live for ourselves but for his will to be done in us, we no longer seek our way but his way by having a true relationship of love with God, and we no longer belong to the kingdom of this world but to the kingdom of heaven one with God we remain in his presence.

Most Holy Trinity come to us and remain with us as we rise up to the reality of the eternal kingdom among us for the glory of heaven, here I am.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

14th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on July 4, 2020July 3, 2020 by Deacon Joe

Zech. 9:9-10; Ps. 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14; Rom. 8:9, 11-13; Mt. 11:25-30

Jesus says, “Come to me…Take my yoke and learn from me”. Come, take, learn is the process of discipleship. All baptized are called to come, take, and learn as his disciples. First “come” is an invitation, a choice of the free will to come and believe, come and take the “yoke” of the cross and learn how to follow in his steps. Jesus provides the way for us to come and follow.

Coming also means leaving behind what is in the “flesh”. In the flesh is sin, passion for indulgence, and works for self-gratification. Coming is coming into the Spirit of truth in the Trinity, meaning “God First”. Passion is not evil, misdirected passion is sin. Did not Jesus suffer his own passion for love of the Father in carrying the cross and a redemptive passion for love of humanity? Passion is ordered to the greater good to be the best we were created to be for God. Passion for indulgence is toxic to the Spirit and creates debt to the flesh until both body and spirit is dead.

“Take my yoke” is the yoke of obedience to the will of God the Father as Jesus did. It is accepting the authority given to the Church as an instrument of God’s mercy in our world. It is the yoke of sacrifice for a purpose of greater good that ourselves. The yoke is not punishment it unites us to his cross as a witness of our love to bear not as an end to itself but as grace for salvation.

Learn what we are called to be as sons and daughters of Christ. Learn what God desires for our greater good in serving him by our daily life. Learn the meaning of life in Christ. Learn to follow the path of salvation through faith and works as two sides of the same coin. Unit our works for the purpose of salvation as an offering to God “and you will find rest for yourselves” and the peace of Christ.

Come, take, and learn what God desires to reveal to each of us in our pilgrimage through this world. The works of the Lord are holy and we are to become the work of the Lord, holy in all our being, in the flesh and in the spirit be holy.

The world speaks of global warming, hurricanes, and viruses that can create fear of crisis and even death. The tribulations of the world are disruptive and a threat to humanity. They stand as a reminder of our mortality in the world and question our purpose of existence. Purpose cannot be found in what the world offers that is transitory. Purpose is God given and until we turn to God we remain lost wandering in the desert of the soul. Seek first the kingdom of God and pray for the grace to come, take and learn what God is calling of us.

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Homily

12th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on June 20, 2020June 17, 2020 by Deacon Joe

Jer. 20:10-13; Ps. 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35; Rom. 5:12-15; Mt. 10:26-33

“Fear no one.” What unites us under God is greater than anything that seeks to divide us. Sing and praise the Lord “for he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!” In times of “Terror” and efforts to “Denounce!” what is good and just is denounced in an effort to justify what is evil in hate and violence. We fail to see in this hate the truth denounced by the Deceiver. The Deceiver is Satan working in the hearts of those seeking to destroy culture, society, the “law” and natural law. Jesus answer is simple, “Fear no one.”

It is the spirit of evil spread throughout the world recognized by the intent to create confusion and chaos. “Law and order” are not a human construct but given by divine revelation throughout salvation history. Just as the Ten Commandments from the Old Testament and Jesus proclamation to love God with all your heart and might and your neighbor as yourself are not “feel good” options but calls to obedience. In these times we are to proclaim what unites us as a people created in the image of God creator of all. As the church closed its’ doors in fear of a virus the evil one opened the gates of hell to reign in chaos. As the doors of the church begin to reopen it is our time now to exorcise the demons and rescue souls in the name of Jesus Christ.

We are called to testify through “the Spirit of truth” and “proclaim in the housetops”. These “housetops” go outside the walls of the church through the highways of modern communication resources and down to the streets of our neighbors and friends. These are spiritual wars calling for the sons and daughters of God to fear not “those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” attempting to shame and silence the voices of God’s truth. When others speak in error of God’s truth, we face the test of faith to acknowledge God before others with a message of truth or to deny God before others with our silence, avoidance of conflict and fear of shame.

Jeremiah reminds us, “All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine” and what was true then is true of today’s society. As long as we follow in submission giving power to those who seek to take over the streets for the purpose of anti-God, anti-law, and anti-order we are free to roam in silence but speak of God, justice through law, or respect for order then the attack will be swift and vengeful. Under the guise of justice is the search for power in the “us-them” force of division. “Us-them” has the only ending possible which is destruction of all that is good, truth, goodness, beauty and unity. It is to deny God.

Fearlessness requires overcoming our own prejudices, that is our prejudgment of others and learned biases because of our differences and having the courage to encounter people where they are at in their lives sharing the good news of Jesus’ love, mercy, and justice. Fearlessness is relational in seeking to understand and overcome division for a greater good. Fearlessness is knowing there is no difference or similarity among us that God does not know created for a purpose that can serve a greater good so be not afraid God is with us.

If we are to testify in the “Spirit of truth” and are to be ready to respond to the test then we must be a people of prayer, of celebration of life in communion with the church, and of union with Jesus’ body and blood in the Eucharist. These are our weapons to fear not and reflect the light in this darkness of sin and evil. Let us constantly pray, “Lord, in your great love, answer me” in every moment and challenge before us and he will give us the words of eternal life and the word at the moment of truth.

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Second Sunday of Easter – Spirit is truth

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6th Sunday of Easter – Spirit of truth!

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Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – One in God

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14th Sunday Ordinary Time

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12th Sunday Ordinary Time

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