Divine Mercy: The Infinite Mercy of our Lord Jesus - Homily for Divine Mercy Sunday

 Jesus gives his disciples another beatitude in today’s Gospel: Blessed are those who have not seen and believed.  Who here is blessed? We are all blessed for believing in the Risen Lord. Today we conclude the Octave of Easter with Divine Mercy Sunday. Last week on Easter Sunday, we heard about the empty tomb. Today Jesus appears to the disciples after his resurrection.

In the disciples first encounter with Jesus after the resurrection, they were together on Sunday locked away in hiding.   They just experienced the death of Jesus and were in fear for their own lives.  When Jesus appears to them, they were probably scared to death. Seeing someone risen from the dead was probably a shock to them. All of them except John, had abandoned Jesus and must have felt guilt for his death. They probably expected Jesus to be angry at them. But Jesus is not angry.   In fact, he greets them in an unexpected way: “Peace be with you”. What a tremendous gift! He greets them as friends embracing them with forgiveness and love, which is what they really needed to hear. 

            Jesus then does something amazing. He breathes on them saying: “Who sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained”.  

He sends his disciples to do His work of extending mercy through forgiveness of sins.    Where else do we hear about God’s breath?  In the second creation story in Genesis where God breathes life into the man formed out of clay.  Jesus gives His disciples the power to breathe life into those who are deadened by sin through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In this encounter Jesus offers peace to those who have offended him and then sends them on a mission to offer His peace to others by forgiving sins.

The disciple Thomas wasn’t at the first appearance of Jesus and refused to believe unless he could touch Jesus’ wounds himself.   Thomas is very much like people in our own culture who must experience something before they believe.  When Jesus appears a second time, he offers Thomas to see and touch his wounds.  We don’t know if he did, but we hear him proclaims his belief: “My Lord and My God”.   Jesus came to Thomas, so he’d experience his presence to help him believe.

Jesus comes to us as well and is present in so many ways. One of the most healing ways we encounter Jesus is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  The priest in the person of Christ extends His Mercy to us by saying, “I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Go in Peace.”  Whenever I hear these words of the priest I feel renewed and burden free.   My relationship with God has been restored and I’m embraced in his peace. It’s very healing.   It’s good to know that I can receive it again because I’m a sinner.   I do my best to keep from sinning but being a fallen human being, I’m going to sin again.   

It’s fitting that on Divine Mercy Sunday we hear about Jesus giving his disciples the power to extend His mercy.    Saint John Paul II decreed in May of 2000 that the Second Sunday of Easter be known as Divine Mercy Sunday.  

He was very familiar with the message of Divine Mercy from St. Faustina, a native of his homeland of Poland.    During the early part of the 20^th century there were many evils going on through expansion of Nazism, communism, and a deep disrespect for the dignity of life.  In the 1930s, Jesus chose a humble Polish nun, St. Faustina, to receive private revelations about Divine Mercy. In these private revelations Jesus requested that Divine Mercy Sunday be observed.   As recorded in St. Faustina’s Diary Jesus tell her:

 

“The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain 

 

complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. … Let no soul fear to draw near to 

 

Me. … It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after 

 

Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy. (Diary, no. 699)

Jesus also appeared to St. Faustina in a vision with his right hand raised in a blessing and his left touching his garment above his heart.  Red and white rays emanate from his heart, 

symbolizing the blood and water that was poured out for our salvation.   The Lord requested the words, “Jesus, I trust in You”, be inscribed under his image, and that it be venerated around the world. 

Jesus said about this image: 

 

“I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish” (Diary, no. 48).

 

The Divine Mercy image is located in front of the altar is usually located in the confessional.
  

Our Lord also gave a prayer, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, to St. Faustina with this promise: 

 

 “Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. … Even if 

 

there was a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, 

 

he would receive grace from My infinite mercy. I desire that the whole world 

 

know My infinite mercy” (Diary, no. 687). 

 

We’ll pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in the Church today at 10 am.  You’re invited to join, but if you’re not able please pick up a Divine Mercy Prayer card after Mass.   It’s easy to pray using a rosary.   The traditional time to pray the chaplet is 3 pm if possible, the hour of our Lord’s death, but you can pray it any time.  Please pray this often, especially for someone who is physically, mentally, or spiritually sick or in the process or dying. 

We may know someone whose been away from the Sacrament of Reconciliation for a long time.  They may feel that a sin they have committed is not able to be forgiven and are afraid to ask for Jesus’ mercy. This is a lie and what the devil wants them to think.  That’s why we pray the Divine Mercy chaplet for them to ask for God’s mercy. These unforgiven sins are wounds on their heart that need healing and God’s mercy heals. Jesus knows all our sins and took them on so we can be forgiven, but we have to ask for forgiveness. The wounds in his hands and feet are a sign of His love that he wants to forgive us. If you know someone who thinks their sins can’t be forgiven, please invite them to receive Jesus’ infinite mercy through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, share the Divine Mercy message, and pray the Divine Mercy chaplet for them.

 

If you would like to explore more about Divine Mercy, I’d recommend looking into the Marians of the Immaculate Conception Divine Mercy web site.  If you want to pray the Divine Mercy devotion, take it with you on the go and download an app to you Smartphone. 

 

            

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Relationship with Jesus in the New Covenant gives us Eternal life - Homily, 5th Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

 

 In Today’s first reading the prophet Jeremiah tells the people of Israel of a New Covenant.  They had been suffering for many years away from their homes exiled to Babylon. Their misfortune was due to breaking the covenant that God had made with them through the Law of the Ten Commandments given to Moses.

What is a covenant?   A covenant is a relationship entered into between persons who make a promise to each other.   It’s not like a contract where two parties make commitments in exchange for goods and services.  A marriage between a husband and wife is an example of a lifelong covenant to each other.

The covenant God made with the Jewish people was kept by God, but not by them. They did not understand the Law of the Ten Commandments as a relationship with God, but only a set of rules to be followed.

The New Covenant the Lord prophecies through Jeremiah is: “I will place my law within them and write it in their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people. All, from the least to the greatest, shall now me, say the Lord, for I will forgive their evil doing and remember their sin no more”. This was a prophecy of God’s mercy they had longed for.

How does this New Covenant come about? Through person of Jesus! Today’s Gospel tells us the time for New Covenant has come.Some of the Greeks had come to seek out Jesus having heard of the miraculous healings he had done.

Jesus tells them: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” The hour Jesus spoke of means that that now is the time for the New Covenant. He uses a familiar farming analogy of how this will come about: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit”. This is a sign predicting his death. The New Covenant will come about by Jesus loving self-sacrifice of dying for us to conquer sin and resurrection to new life, so we may have eternal life.       

Was this a struggle for Jesus? It was, as he tells us, “I am troubled now.” Jesus in his human nature had the same struggles we do in fearing death. He sympathizes with own struggle with death. But in his divinity, he is obedient to the Father and made perfect by his dying and rising, so we can live eternally if we believe in him and obey him.

How do we enter into this New Covenant where the law will be written in our own hearts? By being in relationship with the person of Jesus, believing in him, and living our life as his disciple loving God and neighbor. We participate in this New Covenant each time we come to Mass and hear the priest speak the words of Jesus.

 

“TAKE THIS ALL OF YOU AND DRINK FROM IT, FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD,  THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND EVERLASTING COVENANT, WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME”

 

Jesus gave us the New Covenant, to conquer death cause by sin so we could live eternally. When we receive the Eucharist, Jesus becomes part of us.  His Body and Blood nourishes us to grow in faith and virtue. By growing in virtue, we can overcome sin. The one who is God and gave use the law, now writes it in our hearts when we receive him.   In receiving Jesus, we enter into a deep relationship with him that helps us to live as his disciple being obedient to love God and neighbor.

How do we live as a disciple of Jesus? By spending time each day with Jesus in prayer talking and listening to him. By the sacrifices we make as parents, working to provide food and homes for our children, and educating them in the faith of our Lord. By giving of our time caring for family, friends, and neighbors who are lonely, ill, or of old age. By denying ourselves of favorite foods or activities so we can donate our resources to the Harvest Food Pantry, Johnson County Senior services,  and Catholic Relief Services. 

As we enter these last few weeks of Lent, lets us ask the Lord for the grace to live our lives as his disciple in gratitude for Christ’s New Covenant. These Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving help us to be in relationship with Jesus, so his law is written in our hearts. If it’s been a struggle keeping your Lenten promises don’t give up.    I’ve struggled myself. It’s hard to do it all on our own. Ask Jesus for help in prayer, calling on the Holy Spirit to give you a steadfast and willing spirit. Make the time each week to receive the Eucharist and go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Both will help us grow in virtue so we can be of humble service to each other.

            Dear Jesus, please help us accompany you on your journey to the Cross by writing your law in our hearts, so we can conquer sin and live lives of service as your disciples. 

First Sunday of Lent: Somewhere over the rainbow and the Kingdom of God

 Have you ever longed to be somewhere else to take you away from your cares and troubles?  With pandemic going on and all the cold and snow this may be something we are all hoping for. The rainbow in today’s first reading reminded me of favorite childhood movie, The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy longed to be taken away from her cares at the end of the rainbow.  Dorothy longed to be in a perfect land beyond the horizon.  She got her wish by being taken to the land of Oz. But Dorothy soon found out that her troubles only got worse in the land of Oz.  

We may yearn to escape and be taken somewhere else, but the rainbow is a reminder

that God is the one to rely on when we have troubles. In today’s first reading God makes a covenant with Noah to never again destroy all the men and creatures of the earth through a flood. God’s reminder of this covenant is the rainbow. It’s fulfilled through Jesus who brings about the Kingdom of God.  

Today’s Gospel is brief but has a powerful message.  In the first part we hear about Jesus overcoming the temptation by Satan in the desert.  There aren’t a lot of details about this encounter, but it gives us great hope.  We’re told: “The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert”.  Just prior to this John had just baptized Jesus, and the Holy Spirit had descended upon him.  Jesus’ immediate action after the baptism by John is to battle Satan for forty days in the desert.   Jesus resists the devil’s temptations to sin.  Jesus’ victory of the devil begins the process to reverse the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin, which brought about death. Jesus wasn’t in need of baptism as he is without sin, but by being baptized and tested in the desert, he united himself with our struggles to overcome sin.   His obedience in following God’s will triumphs over Satan and is also triumph for us.   This is Good News!

In the second part of the Gospel Jesus proclaims:  “Now is the time of fulfillment.  The Kingdom of God is at hand.” The Kingdom of God is a prominent theme of Jesus’ ministry.  In proclaiming the Kingdom He’s announces that God’s reign has come through himself.   The people of Israel had longed for God’s reign to come in a Messiah who would overcome the political powers to restore a rightful ruler to Israel. But Jesus was not the mighty ruler they were expecting.  He is a humble servant, who not only came for the people of Israel, but for everyone. 

Jesus continues John’s ministry of calling to repentance and baptism but adds a new dimension.  Jesus proclaims to “Repent AND believe in the Gospel.”  

Another word for Gospel is good news.  What is the good news:  The new covenant established by Jesus in his sacrifice in dying for us so we can have eternal life.  This new covenant makes salvation and eternal life for us by having faith in Jesus. This indeed is good news!

 

The season of Lent is an annual call to conversion to become more Christ like so we can bring about the Kingdom of God. Lent can be a challenging time for us   It’s a time that we deny ourselves through daily sacrifice.   It’s a time set apart by the Church to repent through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  These practices are meant to lead us to conversion to become for Christ like so we can help bring about the Kingdom of God and celebrate the Easter Joy of the Risen Lord.   If we keep this destination in mind and unite our sufferings with Jesus it can make the time of Lent one of joyful anticipation.  

We don’t need to go it alone during Lent. Through our baptism we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit to bring about the virtues to help us in our journey.   We can call on our guardian angel to help fight the temptations the devil puts in our way.  We also have our families and faith community who can support us.  But even with this help we may fail in keeping our Lenten observances and yield to our temptations. Don’t get discouraged by these failures.  These failures may not be all that bad, as they help us to realize our need a savior.  When we struggle with our temptations, we can recall that Jesus faced some of the same temptations and is united with us in our struggles.  He understands what we’re going through and has compassion for us.  If we fail in our Lenten disciplines or fall into sin don’t give up.  Ask Jesus for help and start over.  If you need to go to confession, there are plenty of times to receive Jesus’ forgiveness through the sacrament of reconciliation.

If you haven’t chosen what to do for the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving yet, I’d like to offer some for consideration.   The first is to slowly pray the Our Father daily and pick one section of the prayer to focus on.  Meditate on how you’re living out this prayer in your daily life.   Really focus is on, “thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”.  Think about how you are bringing about the Kingdom of God to those close to you and also to those most in need.  A great way to bring about the Kingdom of God is to actively practice almsgiving and fasting.  Consider whatever you give up and dedicating time or money to support the Lenten ministries of the Outreach or Johnson County Senior services that the parish is supporting this year.  A final suggestion is to read an entire Gospel from start to finish.   The shortest Gospel is Mark and is being read during this year for the Sunday readings.  One of the best ways to come to know the good news of Jesus is to read the story about him.    If you finish before the end of Lent is over, start another Gospel.  These practices will help you “Repent and believe in the Gospel.”

So, as we being this Lent remember the sign of rainbow of God’s covenant with us and set your sights on the Kingdom of God.   The new covenant of Jesus promises us eternal life if we have faith in him. Through God’s love the waters of baptism bring us new life in Christ.  Our baptism provides the  grace of the Holy Spirit to live a virtuous life and resist temptations to sin.  It also helps to make the Kingdom of God present to those around us through our acts of service to others.   As we prepare to receive the Eucharist let us all thank God for the Holy Spirit and his angels who help us on our Lenten journey.  

Homily: Third Sunday of Ordinary Time: The call of the fishermen to become fishers of men:

         Today we hear about the beginning of Jesus public ministry in the Gospel of Mark. He

proclaims: This is the time of fulfillment.  The Kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent and believe in the Gospel.  Mark’s Gospel moves swiftly with Jesus inviting fisherman to help in his mission of proclaiming this message. I really like Jesus’ choice of fishermen to help with catching people for His Kingdom.

    Fishing is something I realy enjoy. When you go fishing the right equipment is needed to catch the fish: poles, bait, hooks, lures, and nets. The main goal is to attract the fish so you can catch them. When you’re fishing you also need to go out to find them.   You don’t just wait on the shore for them to come to you. You need to know go out in order to catch them.    This may be going out in deep waters in the middle of a stormy night or to hidden coves amongst the brush early in the morning.  Fishing can be disappointing when you don’t catch any, but when you do it brings great joy. It takes perseverance and hard work to be a good fisherman. I think these qualities is what Jesus was looking for when he called Simon, Andrew, James and John to follow him in his mission.

How were the apostles supposed to catch people? By following the lead of Jesus in proclaiming the Good News to those who were most in need. The coming of the Kingdom of God gave hope to the Jewish people. It meant liberation from oppression by the Romans. But the Kingdom of God that Jesus was preaching meant something more: the joy of eternal life in the presence of the Lord.

How did Jesus show the apostles how to catch people for this Kingdom? By their actions of going out to show love for their neighbor, healing and restoring those who were isolated from the community.   This type of love is known as Agape. I read a quote this past week by Martin Luther King Jr that made this point very well: Agape is something of the understanding, creative redemptive goodwill for all men.   When you rise to love on this level, you begin to love men, no because they are likable, but because God loves them.   You look at every man, and you love him because you know God loves him. This type of love is something we really need in our world today given all the violence and division we’ve recently experienced in our nation.

The twofold proclamation of Jesus was to repent and believe in the Gospel. This repentance came about through an encounter with Jesus.  Jesus reached out to those who were isolated from the community due to an illness, possession, or a different culture. These people were isolated because it was thought that their affliction was due to their sins, and were excluded from being able to worship with their community. Jesus went out to encounter these people in their own environment, listening to them, and healing them so they could return to their community.  Through this encounter a conversion came about that led them to become his disciples.The story of the Samaritan woman at the well is a good example of an encounter with Jesus that led to repentance and becoming a disciple of Jesus.

We all know many people who are in need of conversion. Some have never encountered Jesus or heard the Good news in a positive way. They may have only heard of eternal punishment that would come their way if they didn’t make a change in their life.  A negative message like this is not the way to attract people to become a disciple of Jesus. If you want to catch people for Jesus it must be done with love. We can follow this same example of Jesus of encountering others to listen to their needs with love, and not judging or condemning them.    This is something we really need to bring about conversion in our world today.

We are all called to repentance as well so we can enter the Kingdom of God.  Each week we have an opportunity to do so for ourselves and also as a community when we come together at Mass. We join together in the penitential rite recalling our own sins as a worshipping community.   In the penitential rite the priest asks God for his mercy on us, that He forgive our sins and bring us to everlasting life.  Through the Mass we receive the mercy of God in the Eucharist. This is the Good news that we all hope for!

        The Eucharist along with the Sacrament of Reconciliation continually helps us repent so that we can be disciples of Jesus and enter his Kingdom. As you leave Mass today remember to persevere in loving others, even those you may not like, so you can help Jesus catch people for the Kingdom of God.

Homily, Fourth Sunday of Advent: Listening and saying yes to God

         Today starts the fourth week of Advent. We’ve all been preparing for the Lord’s coming at Christmas. We may have been busy getting ready for Christmas putting up decorations, buying presents, and figuring out how to celebrate the holiday safely. Some of us have had to cut back this year and won’t be able to be with our loved ones. Christmas this year seems a bit different from the past and may be a bit challenging.   With all the challenges we’ve gone through this year, it may be good to reflect on why God sent his Son to be with us, pondering in our hearts like Mary did. 

        In today’s Gospel the angel Gabriel is sent by God, to announce to Mary that she would

conceive a child.  The angels greeting, “Hail, full of Grace.  The Lord is with you.”, is troubling for Mary. This usual Hebrew greeting would be, shalom, meaning, “peace be with you”.    The greeting she hears, Hail, is in Greek and means rejoice or Joy.    The second part of the greeting: “full of grace!” is also related to joy.  Why would Gabriel use this greeting?  Because joy and grace belong together announcing the good news of the Gospel.  Mary ponders this greeting, reflecting on it in her heart on what it means.

The angel then tells her, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus” and “The Lord will give him the throne of David his father,  and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of this kingdom there will be no end”.  The angel is rejoicing in the gift of the Holy Spirit that brings about the conception of Jesus, a name that means: GOD SAVES.  This greeting is a sign that salvation is coming for all people, both Jews and Gentiles.  THIS is truly GOOD NEWS.  

Mary reflects in her heart on the angel’s greeting and seeks to understand what it means.  Mary was betrothed to Joseph, a step on the way to marriage. Having a child before marriage was definitely not in her plans. This could jeopardize her marriage plans and even be a threat to her own life. This would be troubling for Mary.  Gabriel consoles her by saying, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God”.   

Mary’s pondering leads to a question.   She’s in dialogue with God’s messenger and listening to him. This is a good model for us to follow, in our prayer life. Prayer is dialogue with God.  It’s not just about asking God for something, but also having a conversation and listening to God. We can learn from Mary to reflect in prayer when faced with troubling situations, and to try understanding them in God’s overall plan. 

Mary seeks to understand how it’s possible for her to conceive a child without being with a man.  The angel answers Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.   Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God”.  To reassure Mary the angel tells of her cousin, Elizabeth, who was childless, beyond childbearing age, and now is six months pregnant. He finishes with “nothing will be impossible for God.”

Mary pondered and chose to say YES: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word”.   Mary was free to say yes or no, just like we are.    It’s amazing that exalted God, who created humanity, would rely on a humble young woman’s response to restore humanity.   This yes set-in motion the reversal of Adam and Eve’s no to God and brought about the salvation of humanity through the birth of Jesus. 

It’s said that Mary’s yes to God allowed her to conceive through her ears.   What seemed to be a troubling situation for Mary, turned into the most joyful event for all of humanity. By pondering in her heart in dialogue with God she came to understand God’s will for her.

This year with the pandemic we’ve all had plans that did not turn out as expected. We all know people who have gotten sick or have died, many have lost jobs, and significant events in our lives have been canceled or postponed.   We’ve all struggled with isolation and being away from loved ones.     We definitely did not plan what we’re going through, and it’s been troubling for all of us. In this time of trouble, have we pondered in our hearts like Mary asking God what this all means? It may be a call for us to be in relationship with God listening his will for us, to be saved by his Son Jesus.  We will soon be celebrating the birth of our savior, Jesus, whose name means “God Saves”. The exalted God chose to be born humble that he might disclose majesty through this very humility.  He chose to be born as a baby to live among our imperfect humanity in order to save the world.

Let’s use the last few days of Advent to ponder in our hearts and have a dialogue with God just as Mary did. May we be open to God’s will and grace for each of us, especially to be saved by his Son. St. Augustine said that Mary first conceived Christ in her heart by faith before she conceived him in her womb.   As we approach the birth of Christ, may we seek to have this same faith and to say yes to follow God’s will.   May the Eucharist we are about to receive gives us the strength us to respond as Mary did. 

 

 

Homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe: Serving our Shepherd King by being his sheep who serves others

 Today we celebrate to Solemnity of Christ the King.  We are at the end of the Church year in a church calendar.  Next week starts the season of Advent.   As we get near the end of the year the readings are focused on the end times, when Christ returns.   Our Lord and Savior will come in Glory, which is something we should all look forward to.   When he comes the Kingdom of heaven will be fully realized.   Why was the Solemnity of Christ the King instituted?   It was done recently by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as a reminder of the spiritual loyalty of the Christian faithful of who their true King is, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He did so to battle the ideologies that were emerging at the times in Europe and Russia.   

The concept of a king may be foreign to us who live in the United States.  We battled for our independence from a King over two hundred years ago.  Our form of government is a republic, and we have the privilege to elect our leaders. We just recently went through that.  If we don’t like our leader, we can always vote to change them.  In a Kingdom the subjects are supposed to be loyal to their king, whether they like the king or not.  This can be a challenge for us in our American understanding of a leader.

The reading from Ezekiel give us an image of a king who cares for his people.  The image given to us is that of a shepherd king.   This was not what most of the Kings were like in Ezekiel’s time.   Many of the kings were self-serving and only concerned about themselves. The people of Israel needed hope of a leader who would be merciful and just. A shepherd is one who cares for his flock and will give his life to defend them.   The shepherd will rescue the sheep and seek out the lost that are scattered.  He will lead them to pastures to feed them.   The injured and sick he will heal.   This shepherd king surely cares for his people.   While this king cares for his people, he is also one who will pass judgement.   We’re told that shepherd king will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.   

This is a reminder that there will be a judgement by our Lord.

The image of the sheep and goats is a good one.  Have any of you ever been to a petting zoo?    I’ve taken my children their when they were young.   One of the common things to do is to feed the goats.  After you get some food from the dispenser the goats start coming over.  It starts with one, but usually ends up with many goats all trying to make their way in to get some food.  There is usually a bully who nudges his way in front of all the smaller ones, even chasing them away.  It kind of gets annoying after a while.  The image of the goats is that they only seem to want something and don’t want to give.

In contrast sheep are usually more docile and humbler. They follow the shepherd leads.   The sheep offer the shepherd their gift of wool that continually grows throughout their life. The wool is made into cloth for clothes and blankets.   This image of the sheep is that they are giving of themselves.  Jesus uses these images in the Gospel in comparing the subjects in the Kingdom.  

Jesus tells his disciples that there will be a judgement coming when the Son of comes.  

It will be like when a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, the right on the sheep and the goats on the left. Those on the right will be the sheep.  They were giving of themselves to the king living the Beatitudes.   They cared for the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, closed the naked, welcomed the stranger, cared for the sick, and visited the imprisoned.   When they cared for the King’s subjects, they cared for the King, Jesus, who came to them in each person who was cared for. The sheep would receive their eternal reward. The goats are the ones who did not care for the those in need in the Kingdom.  In their negligence they did not care for the King, and for this they would go off to eternal punishment.  

Our Lord, Christ the King, left us his Church to help us become the disciples that are the sheep that will be invited to the eternal reward.  We are fed by his Word and the Eucharist to give us Grace to serve as his disciples.  As his disciples we can serve those who are hungry, thirsty, sick and in prison through the ministries we have in our church.  The Harvest Food Pantry and Thanksgiving food distribution helps us feed the hungry and thirsty.  Our Care and Jail ministry volunteers visit those in sick and in prison.  Our donations to the Christmas store clothe the naked.  All our individual efforts in the little ways we show love to our neighbor help us care for our King, who we see in each person we help who is in need. 

So, as we celebrate Christ the King, our shepherd King, who cares and nourishes us, let us strive to serve as his loyal subjects in his Kingdom.  We can do so by caring for those in need, seeing the face of Jesus in each person we care for.  By doing so we can be like the sheep who received their eternal reward to be with our Lord and Savior.

 

 

Homily, Third Week of Ordinary Time: The law of love can change our troubled world

 We have all been through some challenging times over through past year. There has been the pandemic that has isolated many of us to keep us healthy.  Then there was the civil unrest due racial tensions in many communities including our own.   The leaders of our government are engaged in a contentious and uncivilized battle in national elections. There is quite a bit of division in our country and it can be discouraging. What are we to do?  St. Paul gives us some good advice: Receive the word in great affliction, with Joy from the Holy Spirt, so that you can become a model for all.

The Word we hear in the first reading from Exodus and Matthew’s Gospel are linked closely by showing love of neighbor.  In Exodus the people of Israel were given instructions by God of how to treat people who were in distress, aliens, widows, orphans, and the poor.   The people of Israel had all been aliens themselves in exile and had prayed to God to be restored to their homeland. God reminds them that he hears the cry of those in need and cares for them in his compassion. 

Jesus is challenged by the Pharisees in the Gospel.  There were 613 laws in the

Jewish faith and all were considered of equal importance.  It was impossible to keep them all. The Pharisee wanted to know which was most important.  Jesus boiled it down to two.   First to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.  The second was to love your neighbor.    Jesus told them this summed up the entire law and the prophets.   

The Pharisees made it so hard to be in good relationship with God by keeping so many laws.  Jesus made it simple, by showing love, which is what God is. How do we show our love for God?  By spending time with him.   Jesus instructed us to love God with all our hearts, souls, and our mind.   Matthew’s version is a little different than the other Gospels, in Jesus telling us to use our mind, rather than strength.   By using our mind spending time reading God’s word in Scripture we can come to know our Lord and how he calls us to live as his disciples.  When we really love someone we want to know everything about them.   We don’t just spend a few minutes every now and then.  We want to know what they like, how they think, and what make them happy so we can show our love for them.  The more time we spend with reading God’s word, the more we can come to love Jesus.

How do we show our love for our neighbor?  If we keep in mind that each of us is made in the image of God it can help us to love them.   By seeing Jesus in each person we can come to love them.   Jesus went through the same suffering and pain that many of us go through to save us. We all know that some people are a challenge and it may be hard to love them.   This is impossible in our human weakness, but we have received help to do so.  The grace of the Holy Spirit in baptism and confirmation gives us the strength to love as God does.   The Eucharist we receive as our spiritual food helps us to become like Jesus.   When we turn from Jesus in sin Confession helps us to return to a right relationship with God to be in union with him. Through the sacraments it helps us to love others as God loves us.  

God’s love is directed toward caring for the needs of others.   If we think of love as how we can be of service to others, we can love as God loves.    This is a love that brings about unity.    By being models of God’s love and doing it we joy we can help bring the change to help our troubled world in the place we have the most influence, in our families and with our friends.  By doing so we can spread this love and draw others to be disciples of our Lord Jesus showing our love for God and neighbor.