22nd Sunday Ordinary Time – Doers of the Word!

Posted on August 31, 2024August 30, 2024 by Deacon Joe

Dt. 4: 1-2, 6-8; Ps. 15:2-5; Jas. 1:17-18, 21b-22,27; Mk. 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Called to be “doers of the word and not hearers only” give true testimony of our faith by taking right action. Doers of the word are united to the heart of Jesus to receive every good gift from above. The good gifts from above lead us to the service of others that we may taste and see the goodness of the Lord. A doer of the word does justice and justice is to care for the sick, the suffering, and the poor. We give without counting the cost because in the end if we belong to God then all we have and all we are is his blessing upon our life.

Moses gave the statues and decrees to go along with the commandments with a word of warning not to add or subtract from them. Over a thousand years later Jesus is calling out the Pharisees for “teaching as doctrines human precepts” meaning they raise their own traditions as a doctrine from God while disregarding the commandments from God. They not only added so many rules but they have raised their rules to be equal to God’s teaching. In doing so they make of themselves the god of authority and not the servant of the God of authority. They have become empty vessels of the truth of God filling themselves with evil thought, unchastity, theft, murder and every kind of sin including blasphemy.

In being a “doer of the word”, it begins with recognizing it is all about God and not about us. It is a surrender to the will of God. We empty ourselves of ourselves to receive the graces necessary to live the word of God. This is hard to do. It demands great trust in God and trust is not something that comes easy unless we have a deep relationship with the one, whom we trust.

Who do we trust? All our relationships of trust are based on conditional experience. We learn to trust and distrust as we grow in relationship with others. How much have we grown in our relationship with God? We may be a ship out in the deep waters waiting for the wind to send us in some direction without purpose or destiny. God is our destiny and he provides us our purpose in life as a doer of the word so let us be as people of action, doing what is right, just, and guided by our Lord and savior.

How good are we as doers of the word, that is living the word of God? To keep oneself “unstained by the world” is not easy when we want to belong to the world and receive every good gift from the world. We see what others have and we are tempted to desire it for ourselves. We enter into what the world offers and soon learn that there is a cost to what is described as a “rat race” to be first and a “dog eat dog” culture that in order to get ahead there will be a cost that demands we compromise our values, accept the world on its terms, and “play by their rules”. It does not have to be this way. When we trust in the Lord, he will provide the means and the way to remain in him and his righteousness.

It all begins with what is in the heart, the good and the evil that are constantly at battle. When the heart is burdened by every kind of evil temptation it does little good to simply ponder our weakness. Overcoming our weakness comes from taking right action and doing an act of justice, charity, humility and sacrifice. The act can be transformative to the heart giving life to the heart of love and God is love. Just “do it” and let God give birth to the virtues of love. A doer of the word is doing the will of God and it pleases our Lord to see the soul surrender in obedience to his word.

The Lord comes in glory to lift up the soul who is faithful to his word, not waiting for a sign, not waiting to receive the gift or a special calling. God does not send an email, a letter, or a messenger to move us into action. He has already sent us Jesus and given us the word to follow so now its up to us to respond.

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Homily

33rd Sunday Ordinary Time – Fear of the Lord

Posted on November 19, 2023November 19, 2023 by Deacon Joe

Prov. 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31; Ps. 128:1-5; 1 Thes. 5:1-6; Mt. 25:14-30

Fear of the Lord! Blessed are those who fear the Lord. Wisdom is given to them as children of the light. Fear of the Lord comes from receiving the Lord’s revelation of his truth and responding in love of God to his will. The Lord’s truth recognizes good and evil, mercy and justice, the blessings of obedience and accounting for sin. Fear of the Lord is a reality check when we realize our own mortality and God’s divinity, there is a God and we are not him.

In today’s time the world is filled with people who are led to believe they can be their own god. They can choose what sex they want to be, what child they want to give birth to or terminate, and what day they want to end their life. These choices come when there is no fear of the Lord. They are made in freedom but they do not set you free. The bondage of these choices come from the consequence of mortal sin against the love and the law of God. The day will come when faced with the truth of God and the understanding of “what have I done” that the soul can turn to God and his mercy and seek forgiveness but we must humble ourselves before God.

Fear of the Lord is what unites a worthy wife, brings prosperity to a man, makes for children of the light and comes with greater responsibilities in the kingdom of God. A worthy wife is the heart of the home in our domestic church who labors for the good of her family. The church is the worthy spouse of God who labors for the salvation of souls. The love of a wife is a compass in the mind of a man that brings prosperity to the home and together the children grow in faith, hope, and love. Together they face life challenges and serve the greater good. This is the kingdom of God with a call to greater responsibility.

Now who wants more responsibility? This is what God is seeking out of his people, to multiply the blessings that come from the call to love and serve the Lord. When we face a challenge, we can respond with “why me?” or “why not me!” Those who say “why me” seek to bury their “talent” that is the graces and gifts of the Spirit, and avoid the call from God. Those who say “why not me” are not fearful of the world but carry the fear of the Lord and courage to say “yes Lord”.

I retired five months ago from a career of 40 years and was looking forward to the idea of “slowing down”. In the first month there were so many funerals happening that I began to call myself the “deacon of the dead”. We all like predictability and before I could say my calendar dictated my day. Now my calendar can be completely open but by the end of the day I am completely tired because saying “yes Lord” is willing to die to oneself one good deed at a time. The word “retired” implies to become tired all over again. “Hello” that is not in the human plan for getting old but then God came calling on Abraham at a very old age. He calls on the young and old alike to serve in God’s time.

God does not want part of us, he created all of us for himself. This is where the parable of the “talents” is understood by the works we are too multiple from the gifts we receive. Here the parable a “talent” is unit of money equivalent to 6,000 denarii with one denarii equivalent to a day’s wages. In today’s terms that would equal 25 years of income for just one talent. Ten talents equal 250 years of wages to create from the gifts we receive from God. None of this is possible from human effort but then nothing is impossible when there is fear of the Lord willing to answer the call. After all, it is God who works through us.

God’s wealth is eternal and his gifts for us are to be multiplied to serve eternity. One good act of service to God for his people can have eternal blessings. The blessing we serve in one life can lead that one person to be a blessing to many others many times over. It is the multiplication of the loaves that keeps feeding everyone with plenty left for future generations to come. We will never know the good one act of charity can have in the transformation of many until we reach the glorified state and all things are revealed to us.

The parable emphasizes the great value that God is entrusting to us in our life. That value does not represent the wealth of this world but the importance of God’s gifts to his people. We are blessed! A blessing is the power of God and we are to exercise the power of God in our lives. From our baptism we are given the gifts of the Spirit and the power to reject sin, to make holy, and to bring others into his kingdom. When we were born, God gives us the gift of ourselves with a free will with his desire that our lives be lived as the gift of ourselves to him. Let us live the fear of the Lord without fear in our giving of ourselves for his greater glory. Amen.

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Homily

3^rd Sunday Ordinary Time – “Light has arisen!”

Posted on January 21, 2023January 20, 2023 by Deacon Joe

Is. 8:23-9:3; Ps. 27:1, 4, 13-14; 1 Cor. 1:10-13,17; Mt.4:12-23

“Light has arisen!” This is the light that consumes ordinary humanity and transforms it into something greater than ourselves. Light has arisen and this light is Jesus Christ. Jesus comes into the darkness of the world “curing every disease and illness”, the disease of sin, death, and the illness of body, mind and spirit. The light has arisen but only upon those who respond to the call “Come after me”. Apart from Jesus life is driven by emotions, reason, and our will not God’s will. God’s will that we receive the infused virtues of light to know truth, righteousness, and peace. The darkness of humanity is a vessel without the sail of faith in the one true God. Peter, Andrew, James and John saw in Jesus the risen light and believed.

Jesus saw in Peter, Andrew, James, John and the other apostles his church, his priestly descendancy with authority, his infallible teaching to be handed over to them to be taught before the whole world with the risen light of his gospel word made flesh as he institutes his church at the last supper, Holy Thursday. Thus, today is more of the apologetics of the Catholic church in the world called to be one, holy, universal, and apostolic church for the meaning of Catholic is “universal”. This is not to create separation from us and other believers who do not follow us but to remind us of the call to unity in the one body of Christ. Recall the “Jesus’ prayer” for unity, John 17:21 “I pray…so that they may all be one, as you Father, are in me and I in you…that the world may believe that you sent me.”

Jesus comes proclaiming “the Gospel of the kingdom”. It is one “Gospel” that holds the totality of his word and it begins with the word made flesh. Jesus is the “Gospel”, the good news and “Gospel” is the revelation of absolute truth. Jesus reveals to us the absolute truth of God the Father in his Son through the Spirit. The Spirit is within the Son and the Father and all give witness to being one. Without fulfilling the Jesus’ prayer for unity the world has not come to believe and a divided house cannot stand. What is the world to believe if even among believers there is such great disunity? It can only conclude what Pontius Pilates asked Jesus, “What is truth?”.

The call for unity is the preaching of St. Paul this day “that there be no divisions among you” Christians “but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.” Even in the early church history there are signs of division creating factions of different mindsets. History is the great “fact checker” that is given to us to discern the one true church. History has no partiality but records in itself and reveals to us Jesus’ kingdom coming through the call of his disciples. History tells us the will of Jesus was to ensure unity in his church by proclaiming Peter as the “rock” of authority, by recognizing in the early church priests, bishops, deacons, and respect for the chair of Peter in Rome.

Protestantism by its very name is a protest and rebellion against the chair of Peter and his appointed apostles. Protestantism follows the belief in “Sola scriptura” by scripture alone do we discover the truth and the Bible is the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice. Thus, each person should be able to pick up a bible and receive the risen light of truth and understanding without error. Vanity of vanities to presume each person’s interpretation of the bible by reason is absolute truth and if not absolute truth at least to hold it as “my truth” from the light of reason. This is the false truth of moral relativism leading those who follow to be their own God.

Moral relativism proclaims that there is no one truth. It allows each to live their truth based on their own reason without God? Thus, where two or three come together with their agreed upon conclusion they now proclaim it to be gospel truth and they establish their own church. However, if two or three disagree they can each go their own way with their own theology and doctrine, divided not united. This is what St. Paul is warning his people about and what we see in our world today. This is how the world operates with the view of “to each his own” and we can easily fall into the same false belief unless we believe that Jesus established his church and gave it authority, the keys to the kingdom to “bind and to loosen” in earth and in heaven. (Mt. 16:19, Mt. 18:19)

I have my truth from scripture and you have yours. If there are multiple truths from God then why the incarnation of Jesus and his sacrifice if in the end who are we really following? “Is Christ divided?” asks St. Paul, then why are we divided? History proves by evidence of all the denominations that the same gospel can arrive in many minds at many different doctrines unless there is one authority coming to us from the beginning of Jesus’ proclamation of the gospel. A divided church St. Paul warns results in the cross of Christ being “emptied of its meaning [JG1] ”.

In Jesus the light is risen from the darkness but like a virus each time it is divided and mutates into another version of itself it becomes weaker and darker and dies. Denominations rise and denominations fall but the fullness of truth of the gospel remains in the hands of the Catholic church and history proves who came first and remains with us to this day.

In Jesus the light is risen to be a new covenant with his people. But wait, does not the Lord speak of this new covenant stating, “I will put my laws in their minds and I will write them upon their hearts, I will be their God, and they shall be my people”. Is it not the same law that comes to each of us as believers then why the division? Why appoint twelve apostles designated to go out and teach what they have received? Humanity needs the visible guiding light to understand the call to the divine life. Just as a child needs his parents to become a mature adult the faithful need their earthly shepherd to enter into the Father’s house.

Once baptized the spirit of the law is received in the gift of the Holy Spirit, planted in our hearts but it cannot mature without the body of the law to guide it in this pilgrimage. This body is the Church, these apostles are the new priestly order, and through this order Christ reveals himself in the sacramental life of the church.

To follow Jesus through the church is a great gift for humanity because the church bears the cross of shepherding the faithful in the truth. “The Lord is my light and my salvation” received in the sacraments of the church to be the risen light to the world. Jesus also left us the law of the gift. The law of the gift says that it is in giving of ourselves that we find our true self. Jesus gave himself up on the cross for us and in dying he rose to the visible fullness of himself and appeared to many. The law of the gift is our calling, so let us remember it’s not about self but about self-giving that sets us free to become our true self, a child of God, a visible image of the light now risen in us.

[JG1]

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Homily

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Walk by faith not by sight

Posted on June 12, 2021June 14, 2021 by Deacon Joe

Ez. 17:22-24; Ps. 92:2-3, 13-16; 2 Cor. 5:6-10; Mk. 4:26-34

Walk by faith not by sight says the Lord. It is the sign of a Christian who trusts in God the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. The world would say have faith in yourself, look to the people and believe by sight in the science. Can faith in ourselves give us the answer to the question, “why do I exist?” Can people agree and tell me “what is truth?” Can science answer the question “what comes first the chicken or the egg?” Can faith in myself together with the people, and science tell us where we will spend eternity? Jesus came to give us the answer and was rejected and crucified. Jesus prays that we may all be one with the Father as he is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit calling us to be united as one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church as the people of God.

Jesus calls us to be one in faith, hope, and love. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables and “without parables he did not speak to them but to his own disciples he explained everything in private”? If there is an argument to be made for the magisterium of the Church this statement reveals to us that Jesus was establishing a structure of leadership for the people to walk by faith in the teachings of the church through those he called to be his disciples and explained everything to them. Thus, we are not to walk by the sight of our own interpretations of his word, create our own truth from our own conscience, follow the herd mentality, or expect science to be an end in itself.

Where is the authority in the interpretation of the word of God? We can all study scripture and when we do, we will come to understand more the teachings of the church but without the guidance of the church history, the writings of the Church Fathers and Tradition we can find ourselves spinning the wheel and going in the wrong direction. Today there are many wheels on the road spinning scripture and using the Bible to create their own dogmas. God’s call is to be one from the same seed and the same shoot of one faith.

What about following our own conscience? A child is born with the capacity to grow and learn. It develops its conscience beginning with the moral responsibility of its parents to teach right from wrong, to believe in something greater than themselves, to reciprocate love given unconditionally. A child is baptized to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit with all the gifts that the Spirit provides to grow in spirit and in truth with a well-formed conscience.

A conscience does not just exist it is nurtured by love and commandments into maturity. How many souls find no fear in harming others with a conscience that believes it is a dog-eat-dog world so take what you can while you can and too bad so sad for the other. In a time of so many broken homes, unfaithfulness in relationships, and distrust of institutions where does a child get a well-formed conscience? It begins in our domestic church at home teaching the faith that is being passed on to us from the church Jesus founded as we are to walk by faith.

A well-formed conscience in the domestic church at home is supported by the greater faith community when we come in fellowship to receive Christ in the Eucharist where he remains with us. Today Catholic schools are growing in numbers as families see the culture of death spreading in all the other institutions that seek to separate faith in God from the public square. These institutions will not prevail because ultimately the victory is won on the cross by Jesus but they will cause harm to our children who are seeking the truth and told to follow other ideologies against the teaching of the church.

If we ask the question “who founded the doctrine of the church you go to?” We can get answers like Augustine of Canterbury for the Church of England, Martin Luther for the Lutheran Church, or John Wesley for the Methodist Church, or John Calvin for Calvinism, or even “my neighbor who is Pastor of his own church”. Catholicism is traced back in history through all the Popes to Jesus Christ with Peter as the first Pope. We are living in a time where many are leaving religion behind becoming what is called “the None” to follow the science or their own spirituality

What about the truth of science? There is a rebirth of science as the new god of truth. Science is a medium of discovery to help us raise questions for every answer it proposes. All answers lead to more questions and end in the mystery of faith. What comes first the chicken or the egg? Neither does! God comes first, the prime mover of all creation. Even the mustard seed, by sight we see how it grows and we contribute to its growth with water, tilling, and fertilizing but its transformation is part of creation into what God has destined for its purpose. The kingdom of God has a divine purpose for those who accept the seed of faith in the word of God. If we trust in Jesus, we will live the transformation in our own lives and no science can explain it but we will know it.

Some social scientists want schools to go beyond academics and be the authority to teach social justice. Schools are being mandated to teach Critical Race Theory defining one race as oppressive above others and seeking retribution. Is this the teaching of a well-informed conscience or the ideology of one group over another? Does this follow the teaching of Jesus to be united as one or the teaching to divide one another by race and to distrust the other? Critical Race Theory seeks to have some form of retribution that is punishment by having the present society pay for past history but two wrongs don’t make it right. History proves that once you label a race as evil, evil comes from it and that is from the evil one.

The Church teaches we should make reparation for the sins of the world not retribution. Reparation is a voluntary act, retribution is a mandated act; reparation is an act of love for the other, retribution is an act of punishment to the other; reparation is through adoration, prayer, and sacrifice to bring the kingdom of God which is justice, peace and joy; but retribution is to follow the teaching of “an eye for an eye” for the sins of the past by your fathers, and your father’s father or there is no justice and no peace. This is the new norm to create a herd mentality that our children are being indoctrinated into. When Jesus spread his arms on the cross he voluntarily accepted to make reparation for our sins and those of the whole world giving us his sacred heart wounded for our transgressions.

What about the herd mentality, is there truth in numbers? One of the excuses parents hear from their children seeking approval is “everyone is doing it, has it, or believes it”. We know from scripture that not all seed falls on good ground and so not everyone is on the path to heaven. There are a large number of seeds that grow among the weeds and choke the plant before it can develop and give the fruit it was intended to produce. There also is seed that falls on the rock of death coming through abortion, euthanasia, and genetic manipulation and never is given the opportunity to sprout. The herd mentality is full of “rabbit holes” and death traps that claim to be truth and for a greater cause. Some have come to believe that the end justifies the means but scripture reminds us “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). Jesus tells us by the fruit you shall know who is a child of God.

Christ is the sower who can transform us when we live by faith in the word of God celebrated in the liturgy of the Mass. The Mass has two main parts, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist and together they are the revelation of God’s presence with us. The transformation by faith leads to justification and justification to salvation through the works of faith. “The just shall flourish…they shall bear fruit in old age” the fruit of salvation for the kingdom of God. The fruit of salvation begins as a mustard seed in the waters of baptism. How it sprouts and grows are the works of faith through the Holy Spirit. We are reminded that “Jesus saves” but he cannot save us without us. Jesus joined our humanity to raise us into his deity for a glorious eternity.

We are a creation of God not science and God has a purpose for each of us, a divine purpose. We should never grow tired of seeking our divine purpose for it does not come as a single act we check off as done. Our divine purpose is a daily call to be the difference through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit as our offering to God the Father. Our divine purpose this day, this hour is to make an offering of ourselves in the sacrifice of the Mass in our worship joined in fellowship with a community of faith “For where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them.” (Mt. 18:20)

Our divine purpose carries a daily cross but also joy and peace because God is with us. We are to trust more in God and fear less of the world. We are to love more and worry less what the world fears. We are to seek more the kingdom of God and seek less what the world wants to offer. We are to pray more “thy will be done” and demand less to have it our way. We are to wait more upon the Lord for the treasure from heaven than to go down every “rabbit hole” of worldly pleasure. There is God’s way to heaven and then there are endless ways to hell. The early Christians were known to follow “the way”. Are we living “the way of Jesus”?

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Homily

17th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on July 27, 2019July 26, 2019 by Deacon Joe

Gn. 18: 20-32; Ps. 138: 12-3, 6-8; Col. 2: 12-14; Lk. 11: 1-13

“Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?” “For the sake of those ten (innocent), I will not destroy it.” Thus history has proven the great mercy of God. Generation after generation each lives with the corruption of its time. Where is God, we ask? He is attentive to the outcry against the sins of this world that rise up to him and has sent us his son to spread his mercy. Jesus Christ comes to nail our sins to his cross that we be raised with him in glory. His mercy however must be won one soul at a time. The good harvest must remain among the weeds for now. Abraham of old spoke for the innocent as Jesus now speaks for those who turn to him.

The Lord is attentive to those who cry out to him for help but often we look to take things into our own hands before seeking the Lord’s justice and guidance in spirit and truth. We can be following our own truth and be truthfully in error. Turn to any news channel and you hear opposite positions from individual recognized for their knowledge and each holds to be true. Colossians reminds us we can be living a life of death in our transgressions and he will bring us back to life in him if we first recognize our sinfulness and in contrition turn back to him with a resolution to avoid the sin in our lives. As long as we hold onto our truth and not ask, seek, or knock on the door of God’s mercy we remain at risk of the grave sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. A godless nation cannot survive but its destruction will come from its own doing not God.

How are we to turn back to him? We are to say the prayer he gave us and then live it and proclaim it. Live the holiness of God’s name by seeking holy lives. Alone it cannot happen. It happens when we are in communion with God. We remain in communion when we come to Mass, we pray, we ask, seek, and knock in search of God’s will in our lives.

Call on the kingdom of righteousness to be lived in our actions. Being in the kingdom does not offer an easy road. The kingdom is a place of love and peace where we come to rest knowing we are not alone in this world. The world remains a Sodom and Gomorrah and evil brings about tragedy in the living dead who are far from the glory of God. God is with us in every moment we seek him, not simply because we are Christian but because we are Christ centered. The kingdom is a spiritual compass pointing the way to God.

Receive the daily bread in the Eucharist, in the Word of God, and in the Holy Spirit. Pray for forgiveness of our sins to the God of mercy with a contrite heart. Hope that we may overcome the daily test of battle for our souls from the evil one so that the final test at the hour of our death to a mortal life will have long been won in dying to ourselves and rising to Christ in our daily living. The victory will have been won as we pass into the eternal kingdom. Who desires not a peaceful death after a long journey of life? Those prepared will express the confidence of readiness to enter into life beyond this world. Can we say if death came like a thief in the night this day I am at peace and ready to meet my creator?

Finally, pray for the grace of perseverance. Persist in prayer and let prayer guide your perseverance along the way of the Lord. The Father is ready to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit in abundance to a soul well prepared to receive it. Are we prepared? Do we rise to prayer and does our prayer lead to right judgment in doing the will of God? Words are not enough. A well prepared soul has nailed their sins to the cross and is a new creation.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

16th Sunday Ordinary Time

Posted on July 20, 2019July 19, 2019 by Deacon Joe

Gn. 18: 1-10a; Ps. 15: 2-5; Col. 1: 24-28; Lk. 10: 38-42

“It is Christ in you, the hope for glory.” Christ is our blessing but we must do justice and persevere “with a generous heart” to live in his presence. The world demands “what have you done for me lately?” Our response is “Christ’s justice” not as the world demands but in his glory.

We live in an age of constant stimuli demanding our attention. We look at it as a challenge to be good at multitasking and take pride in doing more at once and in less time. The expectation is that we will have greater productivity and more outcome of success. If this is true then there should be more time in our day for silence, contemplation, prayer, and God. The balance and rebalance of our lifestyle should produce a harvest of time between our commitments to family, work, church, and to our personal growth in Christ. Does it? Temperance is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be in balance with our humanity and spirituality living in Christ and serving in justice for his glory.

“He who does justice” must “think the truth in his heart”. Where is this truth to be found? In the movie the “Passion” Pontius Pilate seemed lost in asking what was “truth” as he is pressured to do “justice” before those who called for Jesus death and the truth in his heart knowing the innocence of Jesus. His choice was to crucify the holy one for his own self-preservation in maintaining control of the crowd. The truth was in his presence and he failed to do justice. As Christians the truth has been placed in our hearts, we have either to respond in the presence of Christ in justice or once again crucify him in our hearts.

Today’s readings we have a contrast between Abraham, Martha and Mary. Abraham was so ready to serve the Lord who appeared to him by offering the three men water to bathe their feet, food to be refreshed giving of his fine flour, choice steer, curds and milk and waited on them as a favor. This is a generous heart in action out of love of God and neighbor and it yields a harvest. The desire to serve others brought Abraham a blessing from God when the men promised him that Sarah “will have a son.” The Lord’s presence moves the hearts of the believers into acts of love and the rewards are greater than we can imagine.

Martha is “burdened” thus her heart is not in her “serving” Jesus it is in her self-preservation. It is all about her. Jesus reminds Martha who is “anxious and worried about many things” taking time to listen to Jesus is “the better part and it will not be taken from” Mary. In fairness to Martha she acted in many ways as Abraham in responding to having a guest show up in the home. The difference was she did not recognize the Lord in her presence acting out of her burden not her love.

Mary is moved in her heart to be still before the presence of Jesus. She is attentive to the truth she witnessing acting out of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. These are the gifts of the Holy Spirit she was experiencing in the presence of Jesus. Prudence because she made a conscious choice to respond to the “need of only one thing…the better part” as Jesus states. Justice because the spirit called her to be a witness to Jesus teaching. Fortitude because she knew her sister wanted her help yet there are times when we must choose between several options of which there is no wrong but one is the better part and it takes courage to make that choice. Finally, temperance is finding that right balance in our lives to be still for God and to be active for God. The active contemplative seeks to do both by being mindful of God in all things for a greater good.

The lesson from Abraham is service is an opportunity to receive God’s blessing when we are generous in our giving of ourselves. From Martha we learn when we make service all about ourselves, we suffer our own burden and little is gained. In Mary we recognize the “better part” begins by being attentive to the Lord in our presence. We are all familiar with the expression “work is never done”. God’s work is never done either so whose work are we attentive to ours, the world’s or where God is calling us to serve?

I remember as a child visiting at my grandmother’s house in Mexico. She had dirt floors and in the winter season they used a tin basin to burn wood to keep warm. The morning routine was to water down the dirt floor to keep the dust down and pack the dirt. Today you buy a floor sweeper to run around the rooms. No sooner has it swept that dust begins to settle on the floor. The convenience of technology is not simplifying our lives unless we make a conscious decision to focus on our priorities. God is a priority in which we can be active through him, with him and in him.

Most of us live active if not overcommitted lives and the world is ready to push information overload and steal any time left. Even our vacations may be planned to fill every hour of the day and the downtime is for social media posting, likes, and following other peoples lives. In other words, we are continuously tempted to fill our minds and time with activities with little lasting value. The expression “what difference does it make?” is an important thought to ask ourselves. A better way to reframe the question is “what difference can I make in Christ?”

Christ will make a great difference in us if we allow him into our lives at every moment to be an instrument of his love, peace, justice, and wisdom. We will make a lasting difference for ourselves in heaven and an immediate difference in the lives of others. Christ in us is the difference for true justice. Invite him and you will be the difference he desires for this world.

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Homily The Deacon Joe

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Posted on May 12, 2019May 3, 2019 by Deacon Joe

Acts 13: 14, 43-52; Ps 100: 1-3, 5; Rev 7:9, 14b-17; Jn. 10:27-30

“All who were destined for eternal life came to believe”. Who is destined and how do we know? I have often asked the question in RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) who believes in predetermination or self-determination. Answers vary in the group with some feeling in the tradition of Calvinism that God has predetermined everything and we are living out the plan. Others go to the other side of feeling in the tradition of Gnostics that God created us and placed us here to work out our salvation but remains distant from interfering with our life. Then there are others who simply never considered the question and have no idea. Where would you stand as a believer?

The believer who does the will of the Father is destined for eternal life. This does not imply that God is simply an observer of our daily life waiting to determine our destiny simply by our actions. Jesus stands at the door of our hearts knocking ready to engage us in our daily life but our hearts must respond to receive him. Is there a plan of salvation written into our hearts for each of us? Absolutely, it is custom drawn to go with our personal state of life for us to follow. God also knows our inherent weakness and free will and will continue to knock on our hearts to return to his plan for us. The prodigal father and son remind us of this reality. No matter how much we turn away from him he cannot deny himself and his love is everlasting. Yet not all live to do the will of the Father. In predetermination there is an individualized plan but not all follow.

“Follow me” is the core message of last week meaning follow Jesus. Self-determination then is our journey of faith governed by our free will, intellect, and emotions that are the essence of our soul. To unite our free will, intellect, and emotions is to unite our soul in relationship with the Father’s will, the mind of God, and his love. The perfect union is the ecstasy of grace one in being with the Father in the Holy Trinity. Into this plan of truth, goodness, beauty, and unity we are a people of God. If this does not excite us then we are not ready to simply let go and let God be my Lord and savior. What is the resistance that keeps us from being glorified in the word of the Lord? We remain set on going “my own way”.

“No one can take them out of the Father’s hand”. This is not predetermination that “once saved is always saved.” We choose to take ourselves out of the Father’s hand in our self-determination. The word has been given to us since our baptism. God is waiting for what we choose to do now. Signs to awaken us to his presence surround us. We have Jesus life, death, resurrection, the descent of the Holy Spirit, his body and blood in the Eucharist, and the church to serve as his authority. Follow these signs and graces will pour out of his riches in glory.

“My way” does not listen for the voice of the Lord. It is not watchful and attentive to a God who is nearby. The soul wanders seeking to discover “the way” as the Israelites in the desert who were never far from the promise land but kept wandering within a region while God waited for the conversion of their hearts. In what ways are we wandering in search of truth, goodness, beauty and unity without turning to our God? God waits for our conversion and it begins with an act of the will to let go and receive him who is love. Jesus is the way to follow to the promise land “and they will never perish”. In God are truth, goodness, beauty and unity of love. Let us answer the call and follow the good shepherd and we will know we remain in his hands.

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Homily

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on October 14, 2018October 12, 2018 by Deacon Joe

1 Wis. 7: 7-11; Ps 90: 12-17; Heb. 4: 12-13; Mk 10: 17-30

Wisdom is naked truth! “Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away” wrote Antonine De Saint-Exupery. We have all grown up with “dichos” those sayings with one liners of wisdom that capture the essence of a teaching. They are easy to remember but serve to penetrate our minds and hearts “sharper than a two-edged sword” cutting “down to the bone” as we say and to our souls.

When Solomon prayed in the first reading prudence was given to him. Prudence as in having the ability to discern with right judgment was his reward. He could have prayed for victory over his enemies, his health and his wealth. He recognized the one priority as “wisdom greater than any priceless gem, silver or gold.” When Solomon set his priorities according to God’s order “all good things together came…and countless riches at her hand…” He was given the treasure of wisdom but also the earthly treasures of his kingdom with honor.

The Word of God cuts judicially “both ways”. One side cuts through to the prime rewards of obedience to God’s commands. We see this in the Gospel when the young man “with many possessions” testified to his obedience to the commandments Jesus presented to him saying, “Teacher, all these things I have observed from my youth.” His life has been blessed with many material possessions. It also cuts from the other edge where sin and reckless behavior gives rise to adversity and sorrow. Having entered my 60’s already I realize the sins of my youth have already started to be revealed in my aging problems. I have quite a bunch of friends. I wake up with Buddy Aches, spend the day with Arthritis, eat with Tummy Hurts, and go to bed with Ben Gay. These are the good guys to help me face my enemies. We pick our lifetime friends by the choices and lifestyle we live and they are very loyal in sickness and in health.

Hebrews however gives us God’s wisdom in his order to judicial process. In the world we normally have an inquiry that leads to judgment and ends with verdict for execution. In Hebrews we see the execution has already been set by the Word of God “living and effective”. Those who “follow me” receive the retribution of reward or suffering from the judgment of naked truth as our minds and hearts are revealed. At the end comes the inquiry “to render an account” no one escapes in the final opening of the seal revealing our life story. This revelation is the judgment set to be executed though our life journey “living and effective” in our days and the account will come beginning at the moment of death into our afterlife and the naked truth is revealed. It is said freedom is the right to choose what I want, when I want it, and how I want it. Sounds good until we recognize it comes like a two edge sword with the consequences of our choices. Wisdom recognizes freedom as the right to take responsibility for ourselves. Which way is cutting is in our hands.

In Mark’s gospel the young man calls Jesus “Good teacher”. His title for Jesus limits his view of Jesus as a prophet, a man of wisdom. Jesus wisdom is to pose a question and without waiting gives the answer. Indirectly the question is asking him ‘who do you say that I am?’ He cuts to his heart by responding “no one is good but God alone”. Hint, hint! The young man is to discern the divine nature of Jesus but apparently doesn’t get it since he continues to call him “teacher”. Jesus presents six commandments to follow to which the young man affirms “Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus looks at him with love to penetrate his heart like a two edged sword. It is always easy to look at an infant with love. Not so easy to look at our enemies, our friends, or sometimes even our family with love. It makes us vulnerable. Do it and people will question you, “What’s wrong or what do you want?” We don’t know how to accept love as easily.

Jesus is calling him to love God as the first priority noted in the top three commandments not stated but implied by the action he calls him to follow. He gives him two directives to fulfill his call to perfection. The first is the perfection of letting go to the degree there is “no more to take away”, no more to hinder his journey of faith to God. William of Ocam says, “It is vain to do with more what can be done with less.” We accumulate our “stuff” all with special meaning, stuffing our closets, garages, and even get a storage shed unwilling to let go. Every now and then we shuffle through it, forget how most of it ended up with us and then reorganize our stuff again.

The second directive was “follow me”. The message for us is “who is Jesus in my life?” If he is my Lord then our first priority is to follow him in our daily lives fulfilling the top three commandments. We then order our lives according to our relationships with others. Material treasure is not to hinder our priorities to God and neighbor. Jesus sets the record straight at the end regarding “wealth”. He does not condemn wealth it is a part of creation. We build wealth out of God’s creation. Jesus raises our awareness with wisdom to the truth wealth can have when we allow it to possess us and keep us from a right relationship with God. The drive for wealth can come at the expense and injustice to the poor when we don’t pay a living wage. It may promote greed not generosity, false witness not truth, stealing not integrity, adultery not chastity, and even murder not life. We allow it to become an obstacle to a right relationship with God.

Wisdom is personified as a woman while the commandments come from a Father. The wisdom of God comes to us through a woman who gave birth to a son, Jesus and his truth is given in the proclamation of the Word made flesh. Mary’s wisdom was her fiat entering into the universal plan of salvation. Her riches and glory came in raising her son, loving her husband, and being obedient. In Mary the execution was set for her life but she had to consent and live the judgment of the Lord’s passion. Mary followed the plan receiving the judgment awaiting her reward for her account on earth and now in heaven as Queen of Heaven and Earth.

The book of Wisdom* written by sages of the time we would consider as our contemporary prophets and theologians. Sages recognized a great truth in the order of the universe. The God of all creation has established natural laws of the universe. In this New Age movement some identify with these natural laws and try to tap into them with meditation, aroma therapies, mineral therapies, yoga meditation, and other Zen like approaches seeking peace, harmony, and well-being. They focus on the universal principles of the cosmos without recognizing the source of creation, the prime mover, the God of the universe. The problem is they stop short of making this connection to the source of life itself. These sages of the past in observing the world recognized each component in this world has a place in the overall plan of God’s design.

Today we would make comparisons of cause and effect, food chain, evolution of nature, and each person in life makes a difference in the larger plan of God. It is not just about you, it is about your contribution to the greater good and for the faithful our contribution to salvation history. Sages also believed if we disregard our calling we will bring about our own hardships. The dynamic of life is in constant motion like riding the rapids in a canoe, sometimes calm and other times fast, rough and rushing. Proverbs says, “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom” (Prov. 9:10) Fear of the Lord is the realization of the two edge sword created by the awesome creation of the natural law we are members of and of the consequences that come by rebelling away from our call to “follow” his plan for us.

We are headed into the holiday season secular and Christian. Some celebrate Halloween, or the Day of the Dead, All Souls Day and we get sugar overload. Then Thanksgiving comes with all kinds of carbs and dressings followed by Christmas and juicy fat tamales by the dozen, ending in New Year’s drinks, nachos, and guacamole. We indulge and rush to get more stuff we call our treasures in toys, shoes, electronic gadgets and there is always the next best phone or 4-D mega screen TV and more. We wake up and discover we just gained another 20 pounds of bondage in our “freedom”.

The knife cuts both ways as we can celebrate in fellowship with church festivals, Posadas, Holy Days of obligation, processions, adoration, rosaries, family reunions and yes some treats in moderation. Freedom is taking responsibility to the naked truth. Advent is coming and it is a good time to move in the direction of having no more to let go of. In Spanish we say, “el que mucho abarca poco aprieta” meaning “the more we try to squeeze into our life the less we gain”. Gain more with less and we will be on our way to perfection.

*The Paulist Biblical Commentary; “Wisdom Literature”; Paulist Press, New York/Mahwah, NJ, 2018. Pg. 423-425.

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