Homily for Twenty-fourth Sunday Cycle A, 9/13/26 - We can only forgive like God if we rely on him to help.

         Today we hear in our readings about the mercy and compassion of God in forgiving us. To forgive others who have harmed us is to be like God and this is not easy. Forgiveness is one of the greatest gifts God had given us. He initiates forgiveness. We can choose to humbly ask for and accept his forgiveness.  In doing so it helps us to be like him and extend His mercy to others. I’d like to share a few stories about how forgiveness can impact our lives.

My first memory about compassion and forgiveness was when I was young boy. Does anyone here remember the toy airplanes made of balsa wood we used to get as kids? These toy airplanes didn’t always fly very well, but I had one that just really soared to great heights.  I wanted to show off my airplane, so I went across the street to play with my friend to show how high it could fly. I tossed it up in the air and a tailwind caused it to soar high enough to land on the second story roof of our neighbor’s house.  It was barely stuck, with half of it hanging over the edge of the roof’s gutter. A thought came to me that if I could throw a rock at the airplane, it would come tumbling back to the ground. Well, the first two rocks landed very close to the airplane and bounced off the roof. With precision aim I launched a third rock at the airplane and propelled it directly into the window just below the airplane & smashed it to smithereens. Struck with fear, I started running away as fast as I could to hide from being caught for this serious offence. After about 15 minutes my mom and her neighbor finally found me hiding in the bushes behind the neighbor’s house profusely sobbing. They were both so glad they found me and asked me what was wrong. Fearing the worst I fessed up that I had broken the window trying to rescue my toy airplane and said I was sorry for breaking the window. I thought for sure I was going to be severely punished, but that was not the case. My neighbor gave me a big hug and said she forgave me for breaking the window.  She told me her husband would be able to fix it.  Her compassionate response relieved my fears. I had a few extras chores assigned to me at home to make up for the broken window, but these helped me to appreciate my neighbor be so forgiving.

As an adult, I experienced an incident with several family members, who seriously hurt me and my immediate family. My initial response was to severely limit any interaction with these family members, to prevent any further harm from occurring.   This was needed for the safety of me and my family. But the one thing that I did not do, was to forgive the parties who had offended me. I held on to the anger from this experience, replaying the incident in my mind over a long period of time, and it had a negative effect on me. I was letting this incident create a wedge between myself and God, because I was not extending forgiveness.  My prayer life and relationship with God really suffered consequently. Some words from Sirach really resonated with me from this experience:

“Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. 

Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the Lord?”

I was nourishing my anger, feeding it with constant attention. By not forgiving others who had hurt me, I was hurting myself in letting it consume me.  The only way I was able to forgive was to ask the Lord for his help. The ways of the world told me I was justified in withholding forgiveness, because I was harmed by another. But through grace of the Holy Spirit, I was able to forgive others in my heart, and it finally gave me peace and renewed my relationship with God.  I really learned about the need about to forgive others through this experience.

        There was an article in this week’s Criterion, the Archdiocese weekly newspaper, about Jack Grandcolas, who lost his wife, Lauren and their unborn child in the plane that crashed in Shanksville, PA in the September 11 attacks 25 years ago. Jack really struggled with how a merciful God could allow his wife and child to be taken from him. He really questioned God and the plan he had for him since the 9/11 incident.  A few years after the incident, Jack attended a U2 concert and was a big fan of the lead singer Bono. Bono, who was raised by a Catholic father & a Protestant mother, and later in life developed a deep faith in God and Christ. Jack unexpectantly met Bono after the show and told him, “I worry that I may have screwed up in this life and mortgaged my opportunity to see my wife again” Bono’s response to Jack moved him, “You’ll see her again. I know it.  We all screw up in life.  That’s why God grants us forgiveness.  It’s his most powerful gift. Bono’s words changed Jack and his faith.  Jack wrote, “The night of the concert was a tribute to Lauren, but in a very important way it set me free, allowing me to be more forgiving of myself and my belief in God’s mercy.” This was a good example that we also need to forgive ourselves for the times we have hurt others and turned from God. 

In the Gospel today Peter asks Jesus if forgiving seven times is enough. Jesus responds, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Jesus is telling Peter; to be like God,

our mercy should have no limits. The parable that Jesus told us about the servant who was forgiven but did not forgive the servant who owed him much less, reminds us that our mercy needs like the mercy God extends to us. How can we become loving, compassionate, and merciful like God? On our own, it’s impossible. But, by relying on God to help us, we can become forgiving like him.

Each time we come Mass, we have a reminder of the forgiveness that God offers each of us. At the beginning of Mass, we recall when we have failed to love God and our neighbor and to ask God for his forgiveness. We may recite a general confession, or we may ask for the Lord’s forgiveness by praying: Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. After this the priest says, “May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life” At each Mass we call on God mercy, we listen to forgiveness he gives us, and with the grace of the sacraments it helps us to forgive others as He has us. As we continue with the Eucharist, pray that the grace to help us to change our hearts to be loving, merciful and compassion as He is.

Twenty second Sunday Ordinary Time - Cycle A, Take up our cross and unite our sacrifices with Jesus

In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ impression of Peter is a drastic turnabout, when says, “Get behind me Satan, you are an obstacle to me.” What a change from last week, when we heard Jesus tell Peter,  “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.  And so, I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”  Peter goes from being the foundation of the Church, to a stumbling block. How can this be?  Jesus has chosen Peter to lead his Church, and he probably knew that Peter had some rough edges that needed polishing. Peter has a way to go to fully understand who Jesus is, both fully human and fully divine.

This is the first time in Matthew’s Gospel that Jesus reveals his death to his disciples, and that he would be raised after three days. Peter thought Jesus was going to be the long-awaited Messiah who was going to save the Jewish people by conquering the Romans through worldly power.  But Jesus was teaching the disciples that he would be a Messiah who would  conquer the world through sacrificial love in giving his life on the cross. So, when Peter responded to the revelation of Jesus death, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”  He needs some correction in understanding the type of Messiah that Jesus was.

To be Jesus’ disciple Peter would need to deny himself and take up his cross to follow him. Taking up his cross would have seemed strange for Peter to hear, as it was the instrument of torture that the Romans use to control the people. This wouldn’t make sense to Peter in his human reason. He needed to see the death of Jesus through the divine lens of a suffering servant establishing a new covenant through sacrificial love of giving up his life for all of us.

What do I mean by a new covenant? God had established covenants with the Jewish people before, through Noah, Abraham, and Moses.  A covenant is a special relationship entered in between persons, in this case the people of Israel and God, where they pledge to give themselves fully, faithfully, and forever, like a marriage, until death do us part. When covenants were entered into in the Old Testament an animal was sacrificed to God as symbol of what would happen if the covenant was broken. God always kept his covenant, but the Jewish people did not keep theirs, as they turned to worship other gods.  Jesus became human to to restore the covenant once and for all with humanity in a new way, by offering his life as the ultimate sacrifice. He takes on the sin of humanity, so we no longer have suffer the consequence if we don’t keep the covenant.  We can now be restored to our relationship with God when we sin through the new covenant established by Jesus through the Church and the Sacraments.

So, Jesus is teaching his disciples that he is a Messiah who is going to lead them to God’s eternal glory, where they will live forever with him in heaven.  The way they will get there, is through the cross. St. Rose of Lima said, “apart from the cross, there is no ladder that will get us to heaven.” Jesus teaches his disciples in taking up their cross, they will find their life, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

So how do we take up the cross in our own lives? There are some ways we can intentionally sacrifice by giving our time, talents, and treasure to serve others.  One I just did yesterday is giving blood.  I used to be extremely scared of needles, but I united my fear with Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and got the courage to now give blood regularly. I also visit inmates in the Heritage Trail Correction Facility to provide a communion service monthly. Some examples of other ways we sacrifice for others is by visiting them in a care facility.   Many of us have friends or relatives, who are in full time care, and a visit will really lift their spirits.   There are many other activities that we can do by sacrificing over what we would prefer to be doing. But by sacrificing for other we may find it’s what we prefer to do as it brings us closer to Christ.

But we don’t necessarily need to look for sacrifices.  We can embrace those that come up in our lives as our own cross.  We may be suffering from an illness, or a loved one may be and we become their caregiver.   We may have a broken relationship with a family member that causes us to despair. When we encounter these, it may seem unfair that we are going through difficulties and we may be angry at God. We don’t want to experience pain or suffering and desire for God to take it away. But if we enter our suffering united with Jesus, it can give us some meaning because he’s been there too. I recently read a reflection by Vaneetha Rendal Reether that expresses this well: So where can you identify with Jesus in your suffering? If you have ever been betrayed by a friend, someone you loved and trusted, you can know a little of Christ’s fellowship in suffering. Or if you have ever begged God to remove your anguish, and God denied your desperate request, you can know a little of Christ’s fellowship in suffering. Or if you have experienced tormenting, all-consuming physical pain with no relief, you can know a little of Christ’s fellowship in suffering. Suffering brings an intimacy with God, a mysterious fellowship that cannot be captured by words.

To give us hope, when need to keep in mind that the other side of suffering, is resurrection.We may still bear the scars to remind us of what we went through, but so does the resurrected Jesus in the scars on his hands, feet, and side. He accompanied us and we’ve grown closer to him.

As we continue, please remember the Mass is a sacrifice, where Jesus is made present to us through his suffering death on the cross. The priest offers up the bread

and wine, which become Christ’s Body and Blood, sacrificed and presented to God the Father. In the Mass Christ is also resurrected to new life.

The Eucharist that we receive spiritually nourishes us through the graces to help us endure suffering in our life. We are not alone.  Jesus has been there too and wants us to be united with him through our crosses and raised with him when we get through them in this life and in eternal life to come. 

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Cycle A, June 7, 2026

 Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This is a celebration of how we are truly united with Jesus through the real presence of his body and blood in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in the second reading gives us a challenge to think about: 

The cup of blessing that we bless is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?

 

The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

 

What does he mean by “a participation”? In the original Greek the word is koinonia, which means a communion in a reality and not merely a feeling. St. Paul is trying to convey is that the Eucharist is not only a remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice that we are far removed from. It is a reality that we are brought into communion with Christ in a real way through the Sacrament of the Eucharist. By receiving the body and blood of Christ we are united with Jesus, because he is in us and we are in him. All of us are distinct persons with our own unique talents and gifts, but through the Eucharist, we are united and make up the one Body of Christ.

 

What does being united in the Body of Christ mean for us and the world that we live in? That we can participate with Jesus in bringing about what he promised in the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is the only gospel that does not contain the institution of the Eucharist by Jesus in the last supper. But the gospel clearly expresses what the sacrament of the Eucharist is and what it does for us. Jesus starts out with a claim that challenged any practicing Jew at the time: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven”. This is reminder of what we heard about in the first reading where God sent manna down to feed the Jewish people who were journeying through the desert in their exodus from captivity. Manna was like bread that miraculously appeared in the desert each day to feed the Jewish people who were starving. This food was sent by God to sustain their daily hunger.

 

But Jesus is giving them much more than bread for the day. He says, “I am the “living” bread from heaven that will allow them to live forever”. The bread Jesus was referring to, was his flesh: his body to eat and blood to drink. But the body and blood he was referring to was not his actual flesh. It was bread and wine miraculously changed into his body and blood by his priests through the Holy Spirit. We have hindsight to understand what Jesus meant, but for the Jews at the time this was very difficult to accept. If we take Jesus by his word, what will eating this living bread, mean for us? That will live forever, have eternal life, and be raised on the last day. We will also remain in him and he in us, participating in his sacrificial love, by partaking in the sacrament of the Eucharist. This is truly incredible that the God who created the universe, has freely given us out of his great love a way for Jesus to be truly present to us in the humble simplicity of bread and wine. The God of the universe becomes our food to nourish us spiritually so we can be united with him.

 

Do we really believe that Jesus really is present in the Eucharist and that we are in communion in him? A core belief of our Catholic faith is the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.   A story I heard from Matthew Kelly really brings home the strong belief in Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist.  We may take Christ’s presence in the Eucharist for granted as it is so readily available, but I hope this story enkindles your heart’s desire to be in His presence as often as possible.

 

There was a priest who formerly was a lay missionary in China decades ago.  He longed to a return to visit the village he served in.  There were many priests and bishops in China who were imprisoned by the communist government in this area of the country. So, he traveled in plain clothes prevent any trouble among the people he visited.  He figured that no one knew he was a priest since he was a lay missionary when he was there in the past.  

On the second night of his stay, he was awakened by a commotion in the house.  He got up to find out what was going on and was told, “We are going to the wall”.  He asked an old woman there what “the wall” was.   She smiled as said, “come and see for yourself”. The priest dressed quickly and left with about a dozen people.  As they walked to a remote wooded area deep in the surrounding hills several others joined them along the way.  By the time they arrived there were about 120 men, woman, and children.  The priest noticed there were men up in trees around the perimeter and they appeared to be on the lookout.   In the clearing there were remains of an old decaying building.  The old women who invited him to come was filled with joy and were the other people, but the priest very was scared.  As they approached the wall everyone knelt.  An old man got up, went to the wall, pulled out a brick and reached for vessel with glass window and inside was the Eucharist.  All the people knelt in prayer silently for an hour in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.  An hour later the old man returned the Eucharist, and all went back quietly to their homes. The old women told him there had not been a Mass in their village in over 10 years.   She told them they went to the wall each week in the middle of night risking their lives, so they be with Jesus.  Later that day the priest secretly celebrated a Mass for them and the entire community was able to receive the Eucharist. In his later years the priest said this experience was the highlight of his priesthood.

Today when you come up to receive the Eucharist, imagine it’s been ten years since you last received the Eucharist.  Imagine that you risked your life to receive Jesus body and blood. So therefore, remember how blessed we are to receive the Eucharist daily if we choose to do so. Eucharist makes it possible for Jesus to remain in us so we can love our neighbor and live out our faith and draw others to our faith in Jesus. The Eucharist is only possible through the ministry of the priesthood, whom Christ gave the power to change the bread and wine into his body and blood. We are grateful to have our priests Fr. Steve over these past 13 years and Fr. Anthony the last two years. Please thank them for the gift of their ministry and keep them in prayer in their new assignments. May the Eucharist unite us with Christ to bring about his gift of eternal life by sharing our faith with others. 

Today we celebrate Pentecost, the sending of the Holy Spirit, by our Lord Jesus, which is something to be joyful about. It’s a birthday celebration of the Church! Last week in the Lord’s Ascension he gave his disciples the commission to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and of the Holy Spirit” and then told them, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”  How would he always be with them?   Through the Holy Spirit!Jesus had told his disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”   If Jesus remained with the disciples, they would be physically dependent on him to lead them. But for them to carry out the mission of the Church, they needed the power to enable them to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world, which is only possible through the Holy Spirit.

            In the two accounts of the Holy Spirit being sent upon the disciples each has unique aspect of faith.  In Acts the disciples are gathered and experienced a loud noise coming from the sky which filled the entire house they were in. The Holy Spirit appeared as tongues of fire resting upon them, enabling them to speak in many languages to proclaim the Gospel. There were Jews from many nations there that heard the sound and were able to understand the disciples preaching in their own language of all that Jesus accomplished through his life, passion, death and resurrection by following the will of the Father. Through the Holy Spirit it spoke to their hearts, to enable them to come to faith.

       I’ve experienced a similar work of the Holy Spirit through my preaching. The words that I preached were heard by others, but they heard it in a way that spoke to their hearts.  Whenever I prepare to preach, I pray to the following prayer: Lord our God, open my heart and my mind as I prepare to preach to your holy people.  May the words I speak be your words, the insights I bring your insights, the spirit I call upon, your Spirit. Give me the words that will build up the Church and give glory to you, who live and reign forever and ever. 

        I’ve had people who thanked me for my homily telling me it was exactly what they needed to hear. I give thanks to the Holy Spirt and ask what it was that touched them.  The response of the person many times was not anything that I preached on, but what the Holy Spirit provided for them to hear.

         In the Gospel Jesus breathes on the disciples to give life to the Church through them. They were locked away for fear of the Jews as they thought what happened to

Jesus, could happen to them. Jesus appears in his resurrected glorified body and offers them consolation showing his wounds, so they knew it was really him and saying to them, “Peace be with you.”Their fear was turned into joy at seeing the risen Lord. Jesus not only turns their fear to joy, but he also gives them new life saying, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you”.  He then breathes on them saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”As the Father gave life to man breathing into Adam, Jesus gives life breathing on the disciples sending them on a mission to establish his Church and bestowing his grace to make disciples through the power of the Sacraments.  

         I’ve experienced the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in my own life. While I received the Holy Spirit in baptism and confirmation, in my early adult years I was not fully cooperating with the gift I had received.  I had let other things have priority over my relationship with Jesus.  When I finally took some time to go on a retreat, the Holy Spirit had a powerful effect that renewed my relationship with Jesus.  I was overcome with God’s love by those who presented the retreat which opened me up to return to the Sacrament of reconciliation after many years. I was transformed in receiving the God’s grace of forgiveness through the Holy Spirit’s power given to the priest to forgive my sins.  Without the Holy Spirit, I would not be the person I am today. 

         The Holy Spirit empowers each of us to make up the Body of Christ. We receive the Holy Spirit’s power through our baptism and confirmation providing us gifts and fruits, so we can uniquely benefit the life of the Church. There are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord, and twelve fruits, charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity. 

You’ll find these all listed in Catechism of the Catholic Church if you want to refer back to them. These help us to grow in virtue so we can live as Christ’s disciples to build up his Church.

         Each of us may have gifts or fruits of the Holy Spirit that we live out quite well. But we may struggle with some of these. For me patience is the one fruit of the Spirit that I am constantly challenged to live out. When I experience this, it reminds me that I really need to rely on the Holy Spirit. A way to invoke the Holy Spirit’s power to help is to pray this simple prayer: Come Holy Spirit, Come. By doing so, it will help us to strengthen our relationship with the Holy Spirit, so together, we can build up the body of Christ to bring about unity, peace, and love.

 

When walking the wrong direction, look to Jesus to point the way, Third Sunday of Easter - April 19, 2026

Have you ever been in a place in your life that you felt like you were going in the wrong direction?  I was there about 23 years ago in a high-pressure sales job that was totally consuming my life.  I was under a lot of pressure and was thinking about this job every waking moment.  The only time I found peace was maybe for a few minutes during the Sunday Mass when I received the Eucharist.  I wanted that peace to last longer, but I just didn’t know how it was possible.  During this time, I was invited multiple times to attend a parish retreat but just couldn’t see how I could afford any time away from work and family responsibilities.  After a third personal invitation I finally decided to reluctantly go on the retreat.  When the day came for the retreat, I had already made up my mind to leave early.  I felt that I just couldn’t commit the time as my job was more important that my relationship with God.  I was on my own walk to Emmaus but doing it alone, or at least I thought so.

In the Gospel today we hear about the disciples on their way to Emmaus.  Where was Emmaus and why were they going there?   The exact location of Emmaus is unknown, but it was thought to be a Roman military outpost, about seven miles away from Jerusalem.  Why would they be going there?  They were grieving the death of Jesus who they believed to be the Messiah who was going to rescue them from the Roman occupiers.  They were leaving Jerusalem because they were depressed about the suffering and death of their friend and were afraid the same would happen to them.  So, with troubled hearts and lost hope, they walked away from Jerusalem, the center of their faith where they worshipped God in the temple and turned toward the forces of world. 

 

But while they were walking the wrong way, Jesus walks along with them, although they didn’t recognize him.  Their troubled hearts clouded their ability to see Jesus was with them.  But Jesus wanted them to see, so he asks, “what were you discussing as you walked along the way”?  At this point they did something significant: They engaged in a conversation with Jesus.   

 

So, they tell Jesus everything that happened the last few days: that Jesus, who they thought to be the Messiah to redeem Israel, was condemned to death by crucifixion and died.  Now after three days some women from their group who went to his tomb reported that Jesus’ body was gone, and an angel told them that he was alive. How could this be possible? They were confused, fearful, and did not know what to believe. 

 

Jesus desired to help them understand all that happened to him, the suffering on the cross, death, and resurrection was foretold by the prophets in Scripture of the Old Testament.  The disciples knew the Scriptures, but they needed a new way of interpreting them, through the lens of Jesus’ as a suffering Messiah.   He fulfilled the prophecies through suffering love.  

 

But what finally opened the disciple’s eyes was when they asked Jesus to stay with them, where he took the bread, blessed it, and gave it to them.  

They recognized who Jesus was through his presence of his Body and Blood in the Eucharist but then he vanished from their sight.  They acknowledged their hearts were burning as Jesus spoke with them and interpreted Scripture for them.  They returned to Jerusalem with a newfound faith of hope and joy in the risen Christ.

 

How often do we go in the wrong direction because we have not engaged with Jesus in our struggles?  We may have our own troubles that cause us to travel in the wrong direction, away from God.  We may be suffering due to a broken relationship, job loss, a serious illness, or loss of a loved one.  These issues may cause us to turn to the world for pleasure and entertainment to distract us from our own suffering.  But this worldly pleasure also distracts us from seeing Jesus in the midst of our suffering. 

 

Jesus is always there in our suffering and stays with us even when we are traveling in the wrong direction.  God doesn’t abandon us. He seeks us out.   He is always right there for us, just like he was for his disciples.  He is ready to bear the cross with us, because he knows about suffering and the redemption it can bring.   His own suffering through love brought resurrection and new life.   How can our eyes be opened and recognize Jesus when we’re troubled? By engaging with Jesus when we are on our own journey to Emmaus so he can help us return to Jerusalem.   We do this by turning to him in prayer and through the Church. We may be just like the disciples and unable to see Jesus, but even if we don’t recognize him right away it’s ok.  At least we are traveling in the right direction.   

Through the Church we can encounter Christ who will be there to walk with us on the journey.  We can do so at Mass where we will experience what the disciple did on the way to Emmaus. We will hear the Scriptures, have them interpreted to us, and feed on Jesus’ Body and Blood in the Eucharist. We will also have the body of Christ in the church to rely on, to walk with us when we’re troubled. Our priests, deacons, lay ministers, and parish friends are there to listen and provide support.  We also have parish and diocese support services such as food pantries, emergency assistance, counseling services, bereavement ministry, caregiver and divorce support groups, which can provide ongoing help. But most of all we have help through our brothers and sisters in Christ to help support us. We just need to let them know we need help and recognize Jesus in them as they help us.

 

Returning to my own story about the parish retreat.   After a few hours of being there, I decided to stay.  I heard Scripture and brothers in Christ sharing how prayer and relationship with Jesus helped them in their struggles, which was a turning point for me.   One of the highlights of the retreat was a walk to Emmaus, but I wasn’t alone as I previously thought.  I shared my troubles with another brother in Christ who helped me see that Jesus was there with me. It opened my eyes to recognize Jesus’ presence with me on my journey through life, and to turn to him in prayer and the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist.  Through this experience it helped me build a personal relationship with Jesus and men who are like brothers to me, and see the Church is there for me when I am in need. 

 

Our troubles may still be with us just like the disciples on their way to Emmaus, but we’ll have the hope in knowing that through Jesus’s suffering, death, and resurrection that he’s there with us in our struggles and leads us to return Jerusalem, through his Church. 

 

 

 

Palm Sunday: He became like us, so we could be like him

 Today, Palm Sunday, we recall our Lord’s passion and death.  It starts out with what seems to be a triumphant entry of our Lord into Jerusalem.   He comes in riding on an ass and a colt, to fulfill prophecy, and is welcomed as royalty, with the people throwing down their cloaks, waiving palms, and crying out, “Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest”. But after all the hype comes the question: Who is this? It’s just Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth of Galilee. And the doubting starts, how could anyone from the backwater town of Galilee be anything more than a man, little, long a king?

It was hard to believe that Jesus could be anything more than a simple humble man, like us, and indeed he was. He was fully human, like each of us, so we could relate to him. He had the same feelings, emotions, and struggles like each of us, even being fearful of death. We know this because he asked his Father in prayer, “If it is possible, let this cup pass by me.” But while Jesus was fully human like us, he was different in one way, in that he was fully God as well. By being fully God, this gave him the power to say yes in obedience to his Father, “Not as I will, but as you will”, by accepting his death on a cross in love for each of us.  For this the Father raised Jesus from death and exalted his name above every other name in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, because of his great love for us in giving his life for our sins to conquer death, so we could have eternal life. 

Let us take this next week to reflect on the passion and death that our Lord suffered for us.  He

did this to be united with us in our own pain, sorrow, and suffering in this life. He has been there too. Suffering in this world, just doesn’t make sense, unless we look at it through the lens of Jesus on the cross, the ultimate act of Love. If he had not come into the world like each of us, suffered for us, and with us, it would be hard for us to relate with him. But he chose to be like us, so we could become like him and be united with him in glory with the Father, to live with him eternally in peace and love, if we have faith in him. 

I invite you to be with Jesus through this week in the Triduum, by coming to services Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil, to join him in his love for us in his sacrifice and triumph over death for our salvation.

Make your Lenten Fasting more meaningful - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

 As we begin Lent, we hear in Genesis that God had given the first man life, in giving him the breath of life, so man could become a living being.   We are different from all creatures of the earth, because we have the breath of God in us.    God then places man in the Garden of Eden with trees that were delightful to look at and good for food.  They have all that they need to live.  What more could they want? 

Then the serpent enters the scene, placing doubt of God’s loving care for Eve tempting her to eat what God had forbidden by asking her, “Did God really tell you not to eat of the trees in the middle of the Garden?”.  She acknowledges that God told her not to eat or even touch the tree, she would die.  The tempter then tells her the great lie, “you will certainly not die if you

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eat from the tree. You will have your eyes opened and be like gods to know what is good and what is evil.”    She acknowledges all God has given her, the beauty and food from all the other trees in the garden, but now she desires to gain wisdom from the trees in the middle of the garden.  These are the tree of life represents eternal life, which only God can give and the tree of knowledge of good & evil represents God’s way for us to live to be communion with Him, if we choose. The alternative is to choose another way that separates her from God.  Eve desires the power to determine what is good and evil for herself, rather than God. This is what the tempter desires, as he has made this choice to be apart from God. 

There is nothing wrong for Eve to have desires, as these fulfill her wants and needs.  She needs food to sustain life and beauty for joy. These are rightly ordered desires.   But she also has a disordered desire, to decide for herself what is good and evil.  God has given her all that she needs, including the ways to live her life.  This desire leads Adam and Eve to disobey God and sin, which results in their separation from God for a time. 

In today’s Gospel we hear of Jesus being led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil.   In his humanity Jesus battles temptations just like Adam and Eve.  But he enters the battle in a different way.  While Adam and Eve had everything they needed, Jesus goes out into the desert, a place of nothingness, quite the opposite of the Garden of Eden.  After Jesus’s forty day fast, he is hungry and encounters the devil, tempting him to satisfy his human needs though his divine power by saying, “If you are the Son of God”.   Jesus is first tempted to satisfy his hunger, by turning the stones into bread.  Then Jesus is tempted to force God’s to rescue him, by throwing himself down from the top of the Temple. Finally, the devil takes Jesus up the mountain offering worldly, if prostrates to worship him.   

The devil attempts to get Jesus to use his divine power, but he would not be following his Father’s will.  Responding in power would be what the devil and the world expected of the Messiah. But Jesus responds in his humanity to conquer sin, and defeats the devil, at least for a time.  Christ chose to overcome the devil’s temptation in unity with us, in human weakness and humility like each one of us, but without sinning. Jesus will again encounter the devil in his Passion, where he will win the battle over death.    

I’d like to focus on the Lenten discipline of fasting.  Why do we fast for Lent, and what does it mean to us.? First, through our Lenten fast we are united with Jesus in the battle against the devil’s temptation we heard In today’s Gospel.  Jesus resisted the devil in his humanity which encourages us to do the same. Most of us know that there are two days that we are obligated to fast during Lent, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.   That doesn’t sound too difficult.   On Fridays we are asked to refrain from eating meat. This is a type of fast as well, which is another six days. But we can choose to fast more, to unite us more closely with Jesus. 

When we fast, it may be more meaningful if we united our fasting to something we are trying to repent of.  On Ash Wednesday one of the options the minister can say when placing ashes on the forehead, “Repent and believe in the Gospel”.   The definition of repent is to turn from sin and to dedicate oneself to amendment of one’s life. Lent is a time for repentance.  So, when we fast, unite in mind and heart what you are repenting for.    

An example of something that I am repenting of during Lent is a desire for seeking wisdom that we heard about in the first reading. How many people have one of these (hold up my phone).  If you cannot see, it is a smart phone.  I enjoy learning and seeking information.  But over the past few years I’ve fell into a habit of looking up information because it’s so easy to do.  It may start innocently looking information about a movie actor wondering what other movies they’ve acted in.  Then 15 minutes later I am reading about the social activism their involved in that’s contrary to my faith and decide I no longer like the actor.    I’ve now missed 15 minutes of the movie and was not present with my wife.  Social media results in much of the same wasted time and induces jealousy and anger.  Now for many of us who have Smart Phones, think about the image on the back of it: a piece fruit with a bite out of it.  It’s reminiscent of what led Eve’s to fall for in the serpent’s temptation.   

So, for this Lent, I have removed many applications phone that lead to this temptation and turning it off much of the time.  When I am tempted to look up information or use social media on my phone, I am keeping handy a version of the pocket Gospels, about the size of a phone and keeping in mind Jesus what Jesus said the devil, “It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”    

As I was finishing my homily, I took a break for lunch and read the article, “Advocates sound alarm on dangers of technology for teens”, on front page of the February 20 issue of the Criterion.   It was the Indiana Catholic Conference report legislation to reduce use of technology and social media in schools.  In the article was a quote from a parent who recently lost a child due to social media, “We are in the midst of the greatest crisis of our time. We are losing the fight to protect our children. The internet and social media are the devil’s playground and it’s on this front we must fight. “  As a grandfather and father of children, I’m glad that I chose to fast from technology this Lent.  

So, as you practice fasting this Lent, try to unite fasting with overcoming a temptation in your life that separates you from God.  Keep in your mind and heart that Jesus is united with you through his power to overcome this temptation.    And remember if you fail don’t give up.  Jesus overcame the power of sin and is there for each of us to forgive our sins through the sacrament of reconciliation to give us the grace to begin a new and lead us to salvation.