Advent, 4th Sunday, Cycle A - Joseph's faith and yes to God

 

Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent.  Christmas is just one week away. I suspect that many of us are still busy preparing for the Christmas holidays with family and friends.  There are gifts to buy. Cards and presents to send. Food to prepare and parties to attend. On top of all this activity, we may have worries and concerns about rising costs, health issues, and keeping peace within our families during the holidays. All this activity, worry, and concern can give us stress and anxiety.

 

With so much going we’re distracted from what’s most important, that very soon we will celebrate God coming among us as a tiny little baby. Taking some quiet time in prayer to be with and listen to God can help bring some peace amid our worldly cares. Saint Joseph faced some of the same struggles that we do and is a good model for us in listening to and having faith in God. 

 

In today’s readings we have of two contrasts faith, Ahaz and Joseph. In the first reading we hear God speaking to Ahaz, a king of Israel.  Ahaz had secured a political alliance with the Assyrians to protect Israel. In doing so he had to construct altars dedicated to the Assyrian gods in Jerusalem’s Holy Temple. This was the most sacred place of the Jewish people, now compromised by Ahaz actions. The Lord asked Ahaz to request a sign from God so he would have faith in him. But Ahaz refused to do so, as he put this faith in the political alliance with Assyria. Ahaz put his faith in the powers of the world rather than God. The prophet Isaiah revealed the sign to Ahaz, a virgin would conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel, which meant God with us. This prophecy would be fulfilled 700 years later with the birth of Jesus.

 

‌          Joseph was struggling with his own worldly concerns. He and Mary were in their first stage of marriage but did not yet live together. He had come to learn that Mary was pregnant, which caused great concern.  If she had unfaithful, she could be subject to being to death under Jewish law.Joseph had another option he could exercise in the case of infidelity, which was to quietly divorce Mary.

          Joseph must have been distressed with the news of Mary’s pregnancy. Being a righteous men Joseph was open to listening to God, even in his

dreams.  He received his answer that it was by power of God, through the Holy Spirit, that Mary conceived the child. By his courage and faith in God, Joseph was able to understand how Mary’s pregnancy came about and could now to take her into his home.  Not one word was spoken by Joseph in any of the Gospels. His faith in God, rather than the world, spoke much louder than any words could do.

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Some key passages in Matthew’s Gospel indicate how Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled. With the angel referring to Joseph as a Son of David, it links the lineage of Messiah as a descendent of King David’s. In asking Joseph to name the child Jesus, it clearly established his role as his father in the Jewish tradition.

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Jesus’ name means God saves. God freely chose to come into the world as a tiny little baby just like each of us. He comes as Emmanuel, which means “God with us”, to save us from our sins. He has a human mother, Mary, who answered yes to God to divinely conceive God’s Son. He has a human stepfather, Joseph, who said yes to take Mary as his wife and care for him as his own son. Jesus became one with us to experience the joys and triumphs, pains, and sufferings, so we could personally come know God and have faith in him as our savior.

 

          This final week of Advent let’s take some time away from our worldly cares to be with God. Saint Joseph did so and got the answer he needed to say yes to his faith in God. I’d like to suggest a quiet way to pray and be with Jesus in his humblest humanity as a tiny infant. Find a quiet place and close your eyes and think about the first time you held your own child, grandchild, or a child of a family member or friend. Think of how much joy this precious little baby child brought to you,  

asleep in your arms totally dependent on you. Rest in the peace of this memory and then place the child in a crib. Now imagine Mary joyfully coming to you to give her own infant son Jesus to hold. Now just rest a while holding the infant Jesus and reflecting how grateful you are for his coming into the world like one of us. After a time give him back to Joseph and Mary thanking them for their faith in God and asking for their prayers for your faith in God to be as strong as theirs.

 

 

 

Our Servant King who saves us - Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King, cycle C

      Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. We are at the end of the Church year and start next Sunday with Advent. We’ve been on a journey with Jesus since the summer following him from Galilee to Jerusalem.  Along the way Jesus has taught us about the virtues of charity, mercy, and humility through the parables of the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, and the Pharisee and tax collector are a few that we heard.  We’ve learned of Jesus’ encounter with people and how he changed their lives such as the tree climbing Zacchaeus who Jesus came to dine with.  We heard of Jesus’ miracles in curing the man withered hand, healing the woman who touched his garment, and raising the only son of the widow from Nain, revealing his divine powers. Today we find Jesus at his final destination in Jerusalem: The Cross, where He shows us the type of king he is. A servant who offers his life to redeem us.                      

        In this closing scene of the crucifixion we hear the rulers, soldiers, and criminals sneering, jeering, and reviling him. They ridicule him with a sign above cross for the crime he

was crucified: “This is the King of the Jews.”  The soldiers and criminal mock his kingship asking, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself”.   They had no idea what kind of King he was. Jesus didn’t come to Jerusalem to save himself, he came to save us.    Jesus leads by sacrificing himself for the sake of his flock, each one of us, and even those who mock and despise him. 

In his most vulnerable state dying on the cross Jesus exercises his Kingship in showing mercy to the repentant thief, who repents for his crimes, “we have been condemned justly”.  In faith he trusts Jesus asking him, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Jesus exercises his power granting him mercy, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”.  

In today’s opening prayer we heard, “Almighty ever-living God, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of the universe, grant, we pray, that the whole creation, set free from slavery, may render your majesty service, and ceaselessly proclaim your praise.”   What is the slavery we are set free from? The evil of sin, which brought death into the world by the devil. Jesus conquers the kingdom of the world by his saving death. He wants us to have eternal life in his everlasting Kingdom. We just need to ask for his mercy.

When I think of how evil of sin is overcome by following Christ the King in showing love and Mercy, Saint John Paul II comes to mind. Many of us recall Saint John Paul II as he was lived during our lifetimes. One of the main evils during his reign as Pope was the Soviet Union and communism throughout the eastern Europe.   The threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union weighed heavy on many of us during this time. Pope John Paul was instrumental in the efforts that eventually led to the breakup of the Soviet Union. He did role was not by political power, but spiritual.   The spark that started the breakup was his first pilgrimage to Poland in 1979. He addressed the Polish people reminding them of who they were, children of God, created with dignity and a responsibility, and that they were meant to be free in him.  He said that in resisting communism they had to do so responsibly, peacefully and overcoming evil with good. The Soviet Union eventually collapsed 13 years after this visit. I never thought that would be a reality in my lifetime. Another image etched in my mind is the meeting of Saint John Paul II to forgive his would-be assassin, sitting together in intimate conversation two years after the incident.  Saint John Paul II was unafraid of the vulnerability created by living in forgiveness, of sitting in total love with the enemy.  He truly followed the model of Christ, the Servant King ruling with mercy and love.

When we come together each week to receive the Eucharist we receive a foretaste of God’s kingdom where, we are set free.   At each Mass Christ’s sacrifice on the altar is re-presented to us.  The Eucharist brings us together to worship our King and recall his gift of mercy to enter into his glorious kingdom.   What kind of kingdom will it be?   A kingdom of truth and life.  A kingdom of holiness and grace.  A kingdom of justice, love, and peace.  

As we now participate in Christ’s Kingdom now through the Eucharist, let’s thank him.   Let’s pray that the grace we’ll receive helps to make his Kingdom present in the world by showing our love to God and our neighbor.

We’ll be doing this Sunday afternoon by sharing all the food we’ve given to our neighbors at our Thanksgiving food distribution. I’m sure there are many other ways that each of us makes Christ’s kingdom present in the world showing love and mercy, empowered by the Eucharist. In doing so we hope that others will be attracted to join us as loyal subjects serving in Christ’s kingdom.

 

Pray with the heart of a tax collector, Homily 30th Sunday Ordinary Time, cycle C

   This week’s Gospel focuses where our heart needs to be when we pray to God, and our dependence on God. We have two very contrasting figures, a Pharisee and a tax collector.  The Pharisees were the religious leaders at the time of Jesus.  They went to great lengths abiding by the Jewish law, going above and beyond what was called for.  They were revered in the community for their religious piety. The tax collector was a Jew who worked for the occupying Romans.   He made his money from his fellow Jews by collecting above the required taxes for the Romans.   Tax collectors were despised by the Jews as they were considered traitors.  Pharisee and tax collectors were viewed as complete opposites in the culture, the righteous versus sinner. 

    Their prayers were quite different as well, but not what the culture expected. The Pharisee’s prayer was to himself, citing his accomplishments in following the law and not being like others

who were sinful like the tax collector.  He was justifying himself based on His own actions and did not seem to have a need for God.  His heart was closed in on himself and had little mercy for others. The tax collector was far off with his eyes cast down and beat his breast praying: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner”.   He was humbly requesting for God’s mercy in his poverty of spirit, aware of his sinfulness and his need for God’s mercy. The tax collector depended on God and the Pharisee depended on himself. Jesus tells us that the tax collector was the one who went away justified. This is exactly the opposite of what the Jewish culture perceived. God’s ways are not our ways.

We all need God no matter what our state is in the world, because we are all poor sinners, and need God’s mercy. If we humbly approach God in our poverty with a contrite heart humbly admitting our sins, our prayers are powerful. As we heard in Sirach,  “The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds;  it does not rest till it reaches its goal,  nor will it withdraw till the Most High responds.” Approaching God with humility is where our heart should be when we come to God in prayer.  

        The Catechism of the Catholic Church refers to the tax collector as the model of righteous and pure prayer.  I’ve recently added this prayer to my own prayer at the end of the day. I begin with an examination of conscience of how the day went and recall the events of the day where I failed, and realize I may forget or not recognize somethings I did as being sinful. And sometimes I just too tired to a good examination as surrender with the prayer: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner”.

Each time we come to Mass we are given the opportunity to come humbly before God to admit our sin.  After we pray sign of the cross and the priest greets us, he then calls us to acknowledge our sinfulness and need for God’s forgiveness, Before we come to Mass it’s a good idea reflect on when we have not been loving to God and our neighbor. Where we failed to with our family, friends, work or school, or in our own relationship with Christ, during the week:  What were the  things we thought about, acts we committed, or things we failed to do that were not loving?When we recall our sins we confessing what has gone on throughout the week that has hurt our relationship with God. Part of what we’re experiencing in the Mass is a sacrifice The Mass requires the priest purifies his hands, as any priest would in the Old Testament before a sacrifice. When we confess our sins at the start of Mass we perform a similar action to cleans our hearts before receiving the Eucharist. This act forgives our venial sin in our lives, which weakens our relationship with Christ. If we have mortal sin, which is a serious sin that breaks our relationship with God, we need go to confession to be forgiven, before receiving communion. As Communion we are fed with Christ’s, Body and Blood which provides us the grace we need to love and overcome sin. Isn’t it beautiful that at every Mass we can ask for and receive God’s to deal with the sin in our life?        

We need God and His tender mercy. We can’t do it alone. So when we pray have a humble heart like the tax collector remembering that the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds for God to grant us His mercy.

Are you a fan or following? Twenty Third Sunday, cycle C

     Who here has every binged watched a TV series? If you are not familiar with the term, it has to do with watching multiple episodes of a TV series in one sitting. My wife and I have been binge watching a series called the Chosen. It’s about the life of Jesus and the call of his disciples to follow Him. The one thing I like about the series is that it really brings to life the character of the disciples and their struggles they had in following Jesus. They try and do their best, and fail many times, but Jesus keeps welcoming them to follow him. If you have not watched the series I’d encourage you to check it out.     

    The are several scenes from the Chosen that remind me of today’s Gospel where Jesus is

surrounded by a large crowd so they can witness Jesus perform miracles.   I would call these crowds fans of Jesus, and not really his disciples. Being a fan is easy and can be an escape from our daily routine. You can go to a show, concert, or game to be in the crowd to cheer on your favorite celebrity, music group, or team and then go home and then get back to your daily routine.   You don’t need to make a change in your life, to be a fan..

Being a true follower, a disciple, is hard as it comes at a cost. It requires a commitment that requires hard work on a daily basis. I think Jesus wanted to challenge the crowds to see if they were ready to accept the call to follow his way as a disciple.

Jesus challenged them with three conditions to be His disciple. The first sounds quite harsh, hating your family and even your own life. In the Hebrew culture of the time the word hate had a different meaning than it does today.  Hate meant to give lesser priority. So Jesus is requiring to put family relationships and even their own lives, behind him. By having a relationship Jesus as first priority our family relationship and lives will be richer.

The second condition is to be willing to suffer for Jesus, by carrying your own cross. How can we do this? By being willing to live as a Christian witness in the world. It may be a doctor, nurse, or other health care worker refusing to participate in procedures related to abortion, sterilization, or assisted suicide, at risk loss of their jobs. It could be standing up for racial justice or non-violence with co-workers during your conversations at lunch, were you might be ridiculed. It may be giving up a Saturday morning once a month to volunteer at a food pantry instead of going to the gym.

If we live as a Christian in the world we will suffer, but we will gain in peace of the hope of eternal life promised by Jesus. The third condition to follow Jesus is to renounce all your possessions. This sounds extremely difficult as we need certain things to live: our home, cars, and money to buy food and medical care.  Do we really need to give all of those up all in order to be a disciple of Jesus? Maybe a few who join religious communities that make a vow of poverty to follow Jesus. May need to do that. But most of us still need some of those possessions in order to live our lives. Jesus is asking us to surrender from those possessions from possessing us, and being satisfied with just enough to sustain our lives.

About twenty years ago I was more of a fan than a follower of Jesus.  I would come to Mass almost every Sunday, but it just one of the activities in my busy life. My top priority was my job so I could make a lot of money to buy all the latest things and engage in experiences for me and my family.

But I had no peace in my life, because I was always striving for more, and I had little time for a relationship with Jesus. A friend from Church invited me to attend a Welcome retreat, but I had little interest as cost me time from my job and family. I reluctantly went on the retreat and it opened me up to listen to the Jesus and to follow as his disciple  After the retreat I made Jesus first priority in my life and found that peace that was lacking. I began a daily relationship with Jesus in prayer and trying to follow his way of being His disciple.    I dedicated time to serving others going on a parish mission trips to Appalachia and serving at Saint Vincent DePaul. I eventually left my job and found one that more compatible with being a disciple of Jesus. This eventually led me to be open to the call to serve in the diaconate. I was no longer just a fan of Jesus, I was dedicated to being a follower as his disciple.

In choosing to be a disciple of Jesus it requires assess the cost of doing so, just like the person who calculated the cost to build the tower in the Gospel in order to finish the job I’ve had to reassess my own life over the years to make sure I’m keeping Jesus first priority in my life  It’s not just a one-time decision to follow Jesus as his disciple. I’ve had to make some adjustments multiple times over the years to keep Jesus first in my life.   

If we want to be more than just a fan of Jesus, we can ask for God’s wisdom in prayer to help in listening of how to keep Jesus as top priority so we can live more intentionally as his disciples.   We might be called to do something new in our lives that may come at a cost.  It might be to volunteer our time in such as serving in ministry as a youth catechist or helping feed the hungry in the food pantry. It may be a call to be more loving to our spouse, to more fully live out our vocation of Christian marriage It may require us to be open to consider a call to the diaconate, priesthood, or serving in a religious community. It may be to have the courage to be a more Christian witness to defending the poor and social justice with those you work or go to school.  All these examples may come at a cost, but will give us a greater sense of peace in having Jesus first priority in living as His disciples.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving behind to make God first, Homily 13th Sunday Ordinary Time, Cycle C

He was a young man who was the life of the party.    Everyone loved being around him. He was a leader of a group called the “Merrymakers”. As the son of a wealthy businessman from an upper middle-class family, he had the means to buy the best wines for he and his friends to frolic late into the night. After getting bored with all the partying after a few, his interest turned to great military adventures, to win battles against the foes threatening his country. This adventure didn’t turn out as he planned and resulted in imprisonment, sickness, and disillusionment.   He had a dream that led him to follow a new way of life, to serve the “great King”.  It was an encounter in least unexpected way that would lead him to the King he was seeking.

Elisha today has an unexpected encounter with the prophet Elijah.  Elijah was a great prophet to the Kings of Judah leading them to follow the true God. He heard from the Lord that

he was to anoint Elisha to succeed him. Elisha was most likely from a wealthy family as he was in the field plowing a field with twelve oxen. He was probably content, living well, going about his family business when Elijah comes over and places his cloak on him. This action signified Elijah’s passing on his role as God’s prophet to the younger Elisha. 

Elijah was well known as the prophet of God in the community, and this probably caught Elisha off guard that he was being called to serve God. His response was to leave his oxen, his family livelihood, which showed his willingness to serve God, but he wanted to say goodbye to his family. The prophet Elijah rebukes him. Elisha then commits to serving God by slaughtering the oxen and burning yokes as fuel to cook them for a feast for the people. Elisha left behind his old way of life, so he could serve God as Elijah’s attendant, and eventually becoming his successor.  Sometimes God calls us when we least expect it. When that call comes, will we be ready to leave behind what keeps us from making God first priority in our life?

Elisha’s call elicited a total commitment to serve God.   He gave up everything, his livelihood and family, to follow the call of Elisha This is a great example of putting God first above everything else in his life. Are we called to do the same?

As Christians we are called to live as disciples of Jesus. We are empowered to do so by the grace of our Baptism where we first became adopted children of God and received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Through Confirmation we received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. These two sacraments provide the grace giving us freedom to live as Jesus Disciples by loving your neighbor as yourself.  We know how hard it can be to love our neighbor, who many times are not that loving to us.

Especially when they cut us off while driving on the freeway, gossip about us to hurt our reputation, or cheat their way into getting a promotion.

They are acting in ways of the culture, putting me first, rather than thinking about others. When these things happen, we may want to respond in anger, to get back at them. But as Christian disciples we are called to love rather than to retaliate, and the Holy Spirit make it possible to be loving. 

To live as Jesus’ disciples showing love for our neighbor, we need to listen to the call like Elisha did to make God first priority in our life.   We do this by leaving behind the things in our lives that keep us from following God first in our life.  What are the things that hinder us from doing so? The culture we live in pushes us to prioritize things over a relationship with God. Our time is consumed by entertainment and pleasure, so we don’t have time to pray. We’re enticed to want things that are bigger, better, and newer so we’re consumed to buy more things, and we’re never satisfied. We may be bored in our relationships, so we see out others to make life more interesting. But all of these things take us away from our top priority, a relationship with God. What are the things in our lives that we can leave behind, so we can hear the call of God?

Returning to the story of the young man, he was traveling across town to visit his friends and was contemplating his life with the King. He took the long way around the leper hospital to encountering them, for fear of catching the disease.

The young man was particularly repulsed by lepers and avoided them at all costs. 

The horse the young man rode suddenly veered off the path, and there a few steps before him appeared a leper.  The young man was horrified at first, but something came over him. He sprang from his horse, placed the alms he was carrying in the leper’s hand, and kissed his hand.  When he got back on the horse to ride away, he was filled with excitement. The young man was St. Francis who had encountered the Lord his King, in the leper. He did so by showing love to his neighbor, as Christ’s disciple.

Both Elisha and St. Francis left behind things so they could put God first in their lives. Pray to be open to hear the call of God and make him first in your life to live as a Disciple of Jesus, loving God and neighbor. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Peace of Jesus, Homily for 6th Sunday of Easter, Cycle

 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus told his disciples, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. This is something the disciples needed to hear, because Jesus just told them he was going away. In fact, Jesus told his disciples that they should be rejoicing that he’s going away. Why would Jesus tell his disciples to rejoice that he was leaving them? Because the gift of the Holy Spirit was being sent to them after Jesus to ascends to be with his Father. This was something they didn’t fully understand at the time, but it would be something they’d remember later with the help of the Holy Spirit.

We’ve been hearing a lot about the Holy Spirit throughout the Easter season in the Acts of the Apostles. In today’s first reading we hear about the Holy Spirit at work among the

Christian leaders at the council of Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas had been preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles with much success. But there were some Jewish converts to Christianity from Judea who were trying to impose the circumcision on the Gentiles in order to become Christian. They were placing a significant burden on the Gentiles to become members of the Christian faith.  Paul and Barnabas opposed this practice and decided to go to Jerusalem and address these issues with the leaders. It came to pass through the decision of the Holy Spirit and the leaders of the Church not to impose circumcision on the Gentile, but only some limited dietary and marriage restrictions. This decision removed a major hurdle for the Gentiles to become members of the Church and helped foster the growth to nations throughout the world. This is a great witness of how the Holy Spirit can bring unity and peace for the good of those who have faith in Jesus to come into the Church.

In the Gospel Jesus tells the disciples that the Father will be sending the Holy Spirit to them.  The Holy Spirit will teach them everything and remind them of everything Jesus told them.  Jesus also extends them his peace, telling them, “Peace I leave you, my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.”

The world defines peace as an absence of strife, trials, and tribulations. While this type of peace is something we all desire, it won’t be fully realized because we live in a broken world, until Christ returns in his Glory,  A Jesus’ disciples we will experience the challenges of living in this broken world. But through our faith in Christ, we have the peace he gives us through the hope of eternal life that he gained for us by his sacrifice of love.

While we are still waiting for the Kingdom of God to be fully ushered in, we can help to bring about peace by loving God and our neighbor.  We’re empowered to do this through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Most of us here have received the Holy Spirit through Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. The Holy Spirit helps us to cooperate in following God’s will though the gifts of the wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and respect for the Lord.   The Holy Spirit enables us to be loving through our acts of charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity.  The Holy Spirit also helps us to love Jesus by keeping the his word. Jesus tells us that if we love him, that he and the Father will make his dwelling in us.  What a beautiful image this is that the Father and Jesus are in us by keeping his word! When we’re tempted do things that separate us from the love of Jesus why not call on the Holy Spirit in prayer for the strength to keep us in his love.  And if we fail to love God, don’t hesitate to return to his love by asking for forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  On our own it can be impossible for us to fully love God and our neighbor as we should, but with the help of the Holy Spirit we have the gifts that make it possible. 

One thing that we all can do to help bring about the peace that Jesus gives us is to call on the Holy Spirit in prayer. I’ve found that praying for the Holy Spirit’s help in difficult situations helps things go much better than if I didn’t. There is a simple prayer that I’ll offer you to pray: Come Holy Spirit Come. This prayer has helped me, and I hope it helps you.

So don’t let your heart be troubled because of Jesus is going away! Rejoice and be glad for the gift of the Holy Spirit, to help us in being loving disciples of Jesus to bring his peace to the world.

Homily for 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time: Strive to enter the narrow gate with JOY!

 In today’s readings there seems be a contrasting message about salvation. The first reading from the end of the prophet Isaiah is a prophecy about some very good news, the gathering all of nations to the see the glory of the Lord. Today’s Psalm response proclaims this joy, “Go out to all the world and tell the good news.”

But we hear in the Gospel Jesus being asked: “Lord, will only a few people be saved?”     Jesus responds: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you will attempt to enter, but will not be strong enough”.     Will everyone be saved or only a few?  

 

So what does Jesus mean by entering through the “narrow gate”? The cities and towns during Jesus time had a main gate that was a high and wide so people could get through with

all their animals and carts packed with all their worldly possessions.  Most of the people would wait in long lines to go through the wide gates so they could take in all their possessions. There was also were narrow gates on each side of the main gate, that only one person could go through at a time.   In order to go through the gate, you had to leave everything behind, and trust you were going to be ok. Jesus’s answer, was not so much about how many would be saved, but in order to be saved required having complete trust in him rather than things of the world.

 

By placing our trust in Jesus, we are going through the narrow gate.  We are all offered the gift of salvation through Jesus’ death on the cross and triumph of resurrection. Faith in Jesus as our Savior is essential to receiving this gift. We are free to accept this gift by following Jesus as his disciples, or rejecting it and following world’s ways. The baggage of the world, of power, pleasure, and comfort distracts us from what’s most important: eternal life with our Lord. By leaving this baggage behind, we can go through the narrow gate that leads us to Jesus, and the receive salvation He offers us. In order to fully trust in Jesus, we need a conversion of heart, to respond in love to live as his disciple. This conversion calls us to put love of God and neighbor as the top priority in our lives. Jesus told the man to be saved, he must strive to enter through the narrow gate. The definition of strive is “to make a great effort to achieve something.” Are we making a great effort to respond to the gift of salvation by  our hearts conversion to love God and neighbor?

 

Salvation requires more than just being a member of a group. It a conversion of heart as well, to be in relationship with Jesus so he knows us by our love.  To make this point Jesus tells the parable about a master of a household who doesn’t recognize the person knocking at the door.  In this parable Jesus is the master of the household. The person who questioned Jesus about salvation was a Jew and assumed only  Jews would be saved.  Even though the person knocking  “ate and drank in the master’s company”, and “was taught by him”, he’s not recognized by the master. Why was he not recognized? Because the master never spoke to him; saw him feeding the hungry; caring for the sick; visiting the imprison; or clothing the naked. The master replies twice, “I don’t know where you are from” and to, “depart from me you evil doer”. Jesus tells him many others will be with the master, so it’s not just the Jews who are saved. Being a member of a group doesn’t bring salvation, but faith in Jesus and showing love for God and others. Would Jesus recognize us as one of his disciples if we were knocking at His door asking to be let in?

 

The last line of the Gospel tells how to get through the narrow gate: “For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” Mark’s Gospel says this another way that may be more clear “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all, and the servant of all. “ If we are striving to be first in God’s kingdom, we need the strength to be of service others done with the power of Christ’s love. A good way to remember this is to live life with joy and remember what the three letters of joy stands for.

 

J is for Jesus, reminding us to keep him first in our life through daily prayer, and frequent reception of the Sacraments.    

 

O reminds us to love our neighbor through our words and actions.

 

Y is for you, reminding to serve God and others, so we can be first in God’s kingdom.

 

Living with joy gives us the strength we need to enter the narrow gate with the help of Jesus. His joy gives us the strength to do so. By spending time daily in prayer, receiving His mercy in the sacraments, and loving God and our neighbors we have the hope of the many nations of being welcomed into the salvation of God’s kingdom.

 

Jesus' Obedience and Mercy for the Love of Us: Homily for Palm Sunday, Cycle C

     
As we enter into Holy Week Luke’s Passion of the Lord provides us with a beautiful model of Christian discipleship:  being a humble servant, in  obedience to God’s will, and extending mercy and forgiveness.    

    As I reflected on the Passion, Jesus’ obedience acts of mercy really stood out to me.    In obedience Jesus prayed at the Mount of Olives, ”Father, If you willing, take this cup away from me, still not my will, but yours be done”.  Jesus final words before his death on the cross was, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” In obedience with the Father he died to save us. In union with our humanity he suffered a painful death.

    In his mercy, Jesus healed the servant’s ear that was injured by Peter’s sword.  Jesus also forgave his executioners stating, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”.    Jesus was offering his mercy to others as he was being persecuted by them.

As Jesus was dying on the cross, he continued to extend his mercy.The repentant criminal, known as Saint Dismas, asks Jesus, “Remember me when you comes into your kingdom.” Jesus responds to his request, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”.    Jesus extends his mercy to a man who admitted he was justly condemned

What a beautiful example of Jesus obedience to the Father’s will, giving his life to take on our sins, and extending mercy so we can be reconciled with the Father.   Jesus didn’t come to condemn us.  He came to save us by through his mercy and love.  We just need to humbly ask for his mercy.

As we enter into Holy Week let’s be instruments of God’s mercy.  

We all know people who have been away from the Church because of something they did in the past. They don’t feel worthy of God’s mercy.  Pray for those who don’t feel worthy of God’s mercy that they be open to return to him.  He loved them so much that gave his life to free them from the sins by forgiving them.

Why not be an instrument of God’s love and invite them to join us for Holy week services or to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Holy Thursday’s foot washing is a beautiful witness of Jesus humble service extending his love and mercy.   Let’s ask for the grace to be merciful to others, as Jesus was, as we continue to receive the Eucharist.

 

Repent with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving and bear fruit to please God - Homily for 3rd Sunday of Lent

Today we heard about Moses and his encounter withGod in the burning bush on Mount Horeb.         This story seems a bit unrelated to the Gospel call to repent and bear fruit.  How was it, that Moses came to Mount Horeb to encounter God?    A little background may help.

The people of Israel were enslaved by Egyptians, and they had grown so numerous that Pharoah ordered all first-born Hebrew males to be killed. Moses’ mother feared for her child so she put him in a basket to float down the river hoping he would be rescued.  Pharaoh’s daughter found him, and she raised him as her own child in Pharoah’s house.  When Moses reached adulthood, he experienced the cruelty of an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave and in anger killed the Egyptian thinking no one would find out.  But the act became known, and Pharoah ordered Moses to be killed. Moses fled from Egypt and went to Midian as a fugitive in fear of punishment for the crime of murder.

Moses was an outlaw, but God gave him a second chance and revealed himself on Mount Horeb in the land of Midian.  God chose Moses to bear fruit in leading the people of Israel to freedom out of slavery from the Egyptians.  God was patient and merciful to Moses trusting him to redeem himself and carry out God’s commands to rescue the people of Israel.

Don’t we all need second chances in our own?     The season of Lent helps us to do so.       The practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving helps us to make changes so repent and bear fruit for God.

In the Gospel today the people asked Jesus about two tragedies, Galileans killed by Pilate and the tower of Siloam falling that killed 18 people. These misfortunes were thought to be judgement by God for these people due their sinfulness.  But this was not the case.   Jesus was warning them that they should not be worried judging others sinfulness, but rather their own sins and lest the same thing happen to them.

Jesus then used the parable of the fig tree to make the point of their own need to

repent with the help of God’s patience and mercy.         In the parable we’re told a person has been coming for three years and the fig tree still had not yielded any fruit, so he wanted it cut down.        But it was nine years of waiting since it takes three years of growth before a fig tree bears fruit and the next three years of fruits are dedicated to God.   The gardener wants a second change for the fig tree to see if it responds with patience and the proper care to bear fruit but agrees that it could be cut down if it does not do so.

The gardener in the parable is Jesus and we are the fig trees. There may be seasons in our lives that we aren’t bearing fruit. The annual season of Lent gives to help us to bear the fruit that pleases God. The tools to cultivate and fertilize us are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These practices help us to focus on others rather than ourselves. As we pray and fast, we can offer intentions to overcome evils in the world. Many times, we hear in the Bible of prayer and fasting in repentance for wrongs that has been done, such as when King David repented for his actions with Bathsheba.  

An evil occurring in our world we can offer intentions of our Lenten practices is the war on Ukraine. Sometimes we can feel like there isn’t anything we can do for terrible situations like this. But our prayer and fasting can be powerful if we do them for the sake of others. Consider praying a rosary and giving up meat on Fridays for Ukraine.We can of course give alms to help those in Ukraine. While we are offering these intentions, we are also making changes in our own lives focusing on other so we can bear fruit, in being loving and merciful like our Lord.

I went through a time myself about 20 years ago where I was not bearing fruit and was solely focused on myself. I was caught up in the world of corporate success that was yielding financial gain and recognition, but I was emotionally drained and stressed. I did not have much of a relationship with Jesus at the time. During Lent I was invited to attend a Welcome retreat multiple times, but I did not want to take the time away from my job or family.

I finally received a personal invitation to attend and signed up for the retreat since I had not done anything for Lent. Reluctantly I went on the retreat with the plan of only staying a few hours. I just did not have the time for God, but God had the time for me. He gave me the second chance to make changes I needed to repent and help put Jesus first in my life and bear the fruit he called me to bear.  This helped lead me a daily relationship with Jesus in prayer, strengthened my marriage and family, and eventually led to discerning the diaconate.

I pray that this Lent that we are all open to a second chance from God, and that the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving help us bear fruit that pleases God. 

 

 

 

 

Love your enemies to build the Kingdom of God - Homily, 7th Sunday, Cycle C

 The first reading from the Book of Samuel today is a good example of loving our enemies.  A little background on Samuel may help.  Saul had been anointed by Samuel as the King of Israel, but Saul had lost God’s favor in not following his commands. Samuel was then sent at the Lord’s direction to anoint another future King and David had found favor with God. David served under Saul, killing Goliath, and leading his armies with great success.  The people of Israel held David in high esteem causing Saul to become so jealous he decided to kill David. Saul’s army of three thousand men were sent to pursue and kill David. 

This brings us to the today’s reading where David encounters Saul along with all his soldiers asleep. This would be the perfect opportunity for David get rid of his enemy and, Abishai, encourages David to use Saul’s own spear to kill him. But David refuses as his heart was turned to God.  David knew that Saul was God’s anointed and would not harm him What appeared to be a victory in the eyes of David’s troops, was an injustice in his own heart threat. He wanted to follow the Lord, who is kind and merciful as we heard in today’s Psalm.

This does not sound like the plot of a movie would play out in today’s world.

If an enemy is trying to kill someone, they would surely kill the enemy if delivered into their hands.  Our culture calls us to take justice into our own hands.

Don’t get mad, get even. Take revenge on your enemies. 

Jesus is giving us a different message from the world. He wants us to bring about His kingdom to conquer the world. The way we do this is to love. Love our enemies.  Turn the other check if someone strikes you. If someone takes your cloak, also give them your tunic. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

This sounds impossible, but if we recall the Beatitudes, we heard last week we will be blessed if we follow Jesus’ ways. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.

I recently watched a movie called a “Father’s Legacy” that had an unexpected theme of loving your enemies. A young man down on his luck gets fired from his job and then finds out

his fiancé’ is pregnant.  He doesn’t know how he is going to support his new child and decides to rob his former employer out of revenge. During the crime, he is shot by a security guard, but escapes with the money. He drives off to an isolated house deep in the woods seeking help. He breaks into the house and holds the old man living in the house at gunpoint demanding help or he will kill him. The old man provides some first aid supplies for the young man, and he eventually passes out. So, what does the old man do? After taking his gun away, he washes the man’s wound, bandages him, and puts a blanket over him to sleep. He doesn’t call the police. The scene of the next morning finds the old man cooking breakfast for him. The old man senses there is something going on with the young man beyond the crime he committed.  You’ll have to watch the movie yourself to find out the rest of the story. I found it to be an interesting story of how loving your enemy can change a person’s life.

So how is it possible to counter the way of the world? It’s impossible to do this on our own. If we rely on our human nature alone it would truly be a struggle. But through the Church we’re given the power of Jesus’s Spirit, the last Adam, to overcome our human nature. We receive the grace of the Holy Spirit through baptism and confirmation. The power of Jesus in the Eucharist nourishes us to become like Him. We’re healed in the Sacrament of Reconciliation when we’ve failed to love, so we can again love again as Jesus disciples.

We all know people who are hard to love. Even the greatest Saints struggled with this. Saint Therese of Lisieux, also known as Little Flower, was one of them. She is a doctor of the Church who lived in the 20^th century and is known for her little way of love.  She struggled immensely with one older sister who was always mean to her.  Therese would always respond to her with a smile, kind word, or at worst case just turning the other way. Therese said she was able to love this sister by being attracted to Jesus who was hidden in the depth of her soul.

            Through these gifts of the Church sacraments, we’re given the grace to love as God loves. So, let’s all be counter cultural loving our enemies, turning the other check, and doing to others as we would like, to bring about God’s Kingdom into the world

The ultimate recreation: Hearing the Word of God! Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

 We come to Church for many reasons.    To receive Jesus in the Eucharist. To come together as a community as the Body of Christ. And also, to hear of the Word of God.

Hearing is a gift from God that we are given that provides us many capabilities.            We can communicate with others.  It can protects us from danger. We can learn new things.  We are entertained. It can be relaxing.  Hearing is a form of recreation as we listen to music, stories, and shows. Many of us listen to the radio, computer, and phone for recreation. Recreation is something we need in our lives I looked up the definition of recreation which is to create a new, refresh and restore. I like to think of hearing the Word of God as the ultimate form of recreation, because it creates a new. Because when God speaks, he creates.

The closing words of the Jesus in the Gospel today was: “Today this Scripture Passage is fulfilled in your hearing”. This is the beginning of Jesus public ministry in the Gospel of Luke.

Jesus was announcing the Kingdom of God had arrived. We are now in Ordinary time which will focus on learning about who Jesus is and how to be his disciple. His announcement to the people in the synagogue in Nazareth was extremely good news. Jesus reads from the Prophet Isaiah which states that he will Bring glad tidings to the poor. Liberty to captives. Sight to the blind.  Let the oppressed go free. Proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”

This was the announcement of a Jubilee Year, something that occurred every 50 years in Jewish tradition as proclaimed by God. During a Jubilee year slaves were set free.    Land that was taken by others was returned to their original owners.  Debts were forgiven.  Those who were oppressed were vindicated.  This should have been joyful news to those who heard those words from Jesus that he was fulfilling the Scripture. This was a familiar scripture passage to the Jewish people that heard it.  They were awaiting for a Messiah to rescue them from oppression. Did the people who heard the word receive it with joy and gratitude? Some may have, but many did not.  We’ll hear more about that next week.  

As we follow Jesus throughout the year we’ll hear about his miracles, healing, and casting out demons. Jesus means what he says. When we come to Mass each week we will have an opportunity for recreation as we hear the Word of God. If we listen carefully to the Word of God receive it with joy and gratitude, reflect on it, and let it penetrate our heart we can help recreate our world.  Jesus came in the Spirit of the Lord and was anointed to bring glad tidings to the poor.  We share in the same Spirit of the Lord in our Baptism and can help bring the Kingdom of God in sharing in Jesus ministry of priest, prophet, and king.  We are baptized into the Body of Christ, and each of us has a part to play. 

How can we do this? In letting the oppressed go free, especially the unborn, by standing up to protect life from conception.  By proclaiming liberty to captives, especially those enslaved by sin, by sharing God’s mercy and forgiveness by inviting others to a relationship with Jesus.  By opening up the eyes to those blind to injustices of poverty, human trafficking, and euthanasia that threatens the dignity of the human person. So many of the injustices in the culture we live in can be changed if we hear the Word of God, understand it, and take action to bring about the Kingdom of God.

In order to do this we need to hear the Word of God and let it change us.  We can of course hear the Word of God at Mass, but we have many opportunities to hear the Word before we come to Mass. The more we hear it, the more it will become familiar with it. When I was younger I did not spend much time with the Word of God. When my wife and I were first married we visited her grandparents, Grandpa and Grandma Munson, in Decatur, IL. I had on met them once or twice previously. After visiting for a few minutes together, Linda went to help her grandma in the kitchen to make dinner.    I visited with Grandpa Munson and he asked me if I liked to read stories that were filled with all kinds of excitement: murders, wars, infidelity, family strife, and love affairs. I told him of course I did.   We went inside and he took me to a bookcase and pulled out the Holy Bible. He told me to read this and I would read all he told me, but I would also learn about loving God who was always there to offer his mercy and forgiveness. That was the start of me starting to read the Bible.

There are so many opportunities we have to hear to the Word of God today. We can access to it on our phones, computers, and TV in so many ways. We can read the readings or listen to a video reflection on the US Bishops Web site. The parish has subscribed to a service called Formed from Augustine Institute that all parish members have access to.  It has a great weekly reflection on the Sunday readings called “Opening the Word”. There’s also a free app from Augustine Institute called Amen that you can download to your phone and listen to the daily readings. And if you don’t like technology most Catholic Bibles have a list of the readings for each Sunday. By taking time to hear the Word of God at Mass before Sunday, you’ll be able to receive it with gratitude and joy.

We can take action to help the oppressed go free, the blind see, and bring liberty to the captives, by understating the injustices in our world and where the Church stands on them. A great resource for this is the Archbishop’s Pastoral Letter, “We are One in Christ”, which is located on the Archdiocese website.   By hearing what injustices exist in our world, especially or local diocese, and acting upon them to build up the Body of Christ. If we receive God’s word with joy, understand it, and act upon it, we can help recreate the world to bring about a year acceptable to the Lord.

   

Stand erect and be prepared for the Lord! 28th Sunday, Cycle B

             Happy New Year!   We are beginning a new year in the Church.   We just lit the first purple Advent Candle.   The priest and deacon are now wearing purple vestments.  These are signs of the Lord’s coming.     We are of course anticipating Jesus’ arrival as a little baby, but early in Advent we focus on the Lord’s second coming at the final judgment. 

             In today’s Gospel Jesus speaks of signs.  He references the sky:  the sun, moon, and stars that the people of His time relied on for guidance in their travels.   If these changed the people of the time would be lost.  These were their GPS.  He also spoke of nations in distress and being perplexed by the roaring of seas and the waves. These were disorienting situations where control and order was lost. The is a world in chaos and people are in fear anticipating what is coming next.    They don’t know what to rely on because the signs they trusted are passing away.

            People today like to reference these signs of uncertainty to predict the coming of the end times.   When they see these signs of chaos in the world they predict the end is coming causing people to be afraid.  But throughout history there have been many of these signs that have come and gone.   Nobody knows the day or the hour when the Lord will come again.  So what are we to do?   

            Jesus tells us, “When these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads, because your redemption is at hand.”  By living as faithful Christians, loving God and neighbor, we look forward to the coming of the Lord, because we have the hope that the justice of the Lord will be ours.   Our hope is that He will find us worthy to join him in His heavenly Kingdom.   

            In order for us to anticipate His coming we need to stay awake.    Jesus tells us not to let our hearts be drowsy from carousing, drunkenness, and anxieties of daily life.    When we are focused on these things we’re focused on ourself and not loving God or others.    We know the Lord will come again, but we don’t know exactly when.   To be ready we can listen the Lord’s advice: “be vigilant and pray for the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”   We need to always be ready to meet the Lord when he comes again.  Saint Paul offers us some insight on how to do this, to grow in love.   He tells us, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, and be blameless in holiness before our God and Father.”  This is possible by conducting ourselves to please God, showing our love for Him and our neighbor, walking in the Way of the Lord.

            There have definitely been signs in our faith community showing this love for one another.   The hundreds of people in need that showed up for the Thanksgiving food distribution last weekend.  The thousands of items donated and service to the Thanksgiving food distribution, food pantry, Christmas store, Pro-vida toy drive, and Gabriel project baby showers over the past year.  The many volunteers who prepared and served food at funeral meals throughout the year.  The hundreds of visits by Eucharistic ministers to bringing the life giving food of Jesus in Communion to the sick and homebound.  The numerous volunteers and teachers of the faith in RCIA, religious education, school and athletic ministries. There are of course countless signs seen only by the Lord himself in acts of love serving others in the name of Jesus.

            So as the New Year in the Church begins, it’s a good time to reflect on spiritual resolutions to work on so we can grow in love and be ready when the Lord comes again. Try to find some quiet time to pray for the strength to grow in love and listen to the Lord of any changes He’s calling you to.  By striving to live a life of loving of God and neighbor we can be ready to stand erect and raise our heads with joy when the Lord comes again.