Today’s feast of All Souls, and yesterday’s feast of all Saints are connected by the same promise of eternal life with God. Yesterday, we acknowledged how happy we are that some of our race, the “Saints”, have been assured that they made it to heaven and received the Promises Jesus made to the Just, the “poor in Spirit”. We venerate the Saints because they are looking upon the “Face of God” for all eternity. We know they are saved. The Church holds them up as excellent models for us to follow.
Repay to Caesar What Belongs to Caesar
From the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we hear,
God created mankind in his image;
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
We are made in the image of God. We are made to share divinity with God. We were made, like Adam and Eve, to live forever with God, sharing eternal life with Him. This is God’s plan of Salvation for us.
Making Disciples
A father tells his two sons to do their chores. The first refuses, but later does what his father asked him to do. This son had a change of heart, and the change was to be obedient to his father.
The second son replies, “Yes, sir”, but then does not do what his father asked him. This son was rebellious. His answer to his father was just to look good.
This happens all the time in some parishes. We prepare the children to be disciples of Jesus Christ, their First Communion, their First Confession and Confirmation. They all say, “Yes”. Then they disappear. But it is not the children who disappear. It is their parents who do not believe that attendance at Mass is important, even though God, the Father, has told us in his commandment to keep holy the Sabbath, Sunday, and to worship Him on Sunday.
Stop Stealing Paperclips!
We heard in the first reading,
Thus says the LORD:
Observe what is right, do what is just;
for my salvation is about to come,
my justice, about to be revealed. (Is 56:1)
Each year as school starts, I become very concerned for the students returning to school; it is a concern for their honor and virtue, for their faith and their souls. They will be faced with new temptations and challenges. My hope for them is that they will do as their faith instructs them, to “Observe what is right and do what is just.” But this concern is not just for the children, but also for their parents.
[Read more…]
Priorities
In the world there is chaos. It is up to us to bring order out of chaos. In order to have order and peace we must mature in our priorities, get our act together, and learn to control the chaos in our lives, with the Grace of God. This is wisdom. We need wisdom.
It is easy to discover and measure the maturity of a person by their values and priorities, and how well defined these are; Which ones are more important? Perhaps it is their faith and their hope for eternal life. Perhaps it is their family. Perhaps it is their work. Maybe it is sports. Perhaps it is simply pleasure.
It is a tragic situation when a person has no demonstrable or defined values or priorities to guide them through the chaos of their lives. In their immaturity they are lost, living in chaos. They lack wisdom.
The Seven Deadly Sins: Lust
Last year, about this time, we initiated a series of homilies to examine the Seven Deadly Sins. We have already done five of these: Anger, Envy, Avarice, Gluttony and Sloth. (You may listen to or read these homilies by clicking on the homily link on the parish website.) We still have two more to examine: Lust and Pride. Today we will examine the Deadly Sin of Lust.
Sin is almost always a personal, selfish decision that separates us from God. All sin is serious, but some sins are more deadly than others, the Mortal and Capital sins that kill our souls, separating us from eternal life with God.
Confession and Excommunication
God wants very much that we come to share the divine life of the Trinity. St. Paul states boldly: “You are in the spirit if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.” But not all choose to be in the spirit, or in the divine life with God.
A couple of weeks ago, it was reported in the press that Pope Francis excommunicated the mafia, its leaders and those who support their activities.
Corpus Christi 2014
How do you like the Sanctuary now? The Tabernacle is now restored and in place behind the Altar. Our Lady of Guadalupe is no longer covered with a reflecting glass. And, as a community, we chose together our primary image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and it is now permanently hung behind the altar.
Now, I have a challenge for all parishioners. We are not here to be entertained, but to become disciples. Each of you has a personal faith story, probably related in some way to the Holy Eucharist. We need to become comfortable sharing our faith story with others, our own children and family members and friends. There is no “right” way to do this. No two stories would be alike, and we would probably surprise each other with our personal stories. Our symbols are meant to help us communicate our faith. We would simply ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in our faith story, and for the courage to tell it.
Holy Trinity and The Sacred Heart of Jesus
One of my favorite experiences is to watch families entering the Church. Who knows what was going on before they came in. However, a beautiful reverence comes over them when they enter. Upon entering the Church, parents often take the time to teach their children how to put their hands into the Holy Water font and then bless themselves making the sign of the Cross. Once in a while I will see a father with both arms full of children, who doesn’t have a hand free to bless himself. Frequently, his wife may have a free hand and she will put her hand into the Holy Water font and then make the sign of the Cross over her husband, first, then over her children in his arms, and lastly over herself. Sometimes I see the same thing with a person being pushed in a wheel chair, when their family member and caregiver crosses them with Holy Water.
The Exaltation of Jesus
That Gospel from Matthew is the last paragraph, in the last chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. The entire Gospel of Matthew has been aiming toward this paragraph, the commissioning of the Apostles and the sending of the Church.
Were all the disciples on board? What we hear is this,
The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Easter Perspective
Easter is such a grand and overwhelming mystery! It takes time, meditation and prayer to begin to grasp the mystery of Easter. Even an entire lifetime cannot grasp all of the mystery. Easter is the mystery of Life. Easter needs to be seen from God’s perspective, a Father’s perspective.
The Tabernacle and the Shepherd
Jesus shows himself as both the Shepherd and the Lamb. Remember how, at Mass, we say of Jesus’ Body and Blood, “Behold the Lamb of God”. He is the sacrificial lamb offered for our sins.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us he is the shepherd and the sheep know his voice. He is also the gate, the gate of heaven and eternal life.
“Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep.”
Jesus wants to lead us and guide us to eternal life.
Palm Sunday 2014
In Holy Week we celebrate mystery NOT history. These liturgies do not take us back in time but into what is happening now in our lives, today. We are invited to enter into the mystery and anticipate our own Resurrection with the Lord. We are reminded to keep the paschal fast on Good Friday and Holy Saturday until the Easter Vigil. Fast and pray and give alms. In Holy Week we unite ourselves to Jesus, our sufferings to his, so that we might also join with him in the Resurrection.
How to Live in the Kingdom of God
Do you want to live in the Kingdom of God? I have a simple rule of thumb for assuring our lives in the kingdom of God. There are three steps:
First: Don’t miss Mass.
Second: Receive Holy Eucharist every Sunday and as often as you can.
Third: Go to frequent Confession.
It is that simple.
Tithing and Generosity
Today I want to speak to you about generosity and tithing. Over the years I have become convinced that tithing and generosity are keys to understanding the maturity of my personal relationship with Jesus and His Church. In fact, I believe that the way we tithe is a test of our relationship with God. If I don’t tithe my relationship with God is not sound, it is naïve, immature. If I don’t tithe my relationship with the Church is on shaky ground.
Pope Francis said last year, “It is an absurd dichotomy to think of living with Jesus but without the church, of following Jesus outside of the church, of loving Jesus without loving the church.”
Superstition vs Christianity
What is darker? The night? Or, Death?
What is brighter? Light? Or, Life?
We all live in fear of darkness, real darkness. Few things are as frightening as total darkness, like the darkness of the grave. And there is nothing darker than death and sin.
We live in the hope of life. There is no greater hope than Eternal Life. There is no light brighter than the Hope of life.
Can Dogs Go to Heaven?
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
That was Jesus’ preaching. Jesus is God. Heaven is where God is present. God became man and called us to Himself, in heaven. But we cannot have heaven unless we repent.
In many people’s thinking, if there is a heaven, then we should all be going there, regardless of our relationship with God. Perhaps you have heard the child’s question, “Can dogs go to heaven?” It is an innocent child’s question. We should know how to respond. It is a wonderful, teachable moment.
What is a Parishioner?
What is a parishioner? The Psalm says,
“Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.”
Before we were baptized, we were under a death sentence. Without baptism we cannot hope for eternal life. Eternal life is only possible with God. Adam and Eve rejected God, and as a result, their children were shut out of Heaven. Because of our baptism our sins have been forgiven and we are admitted to life with God, life with the Sacraments, eternal life. Baptism makes us citizens of God’s Kingdom, citizens of Heaven; citizens of His Church. [Read more…]
Epiphany
Jesus’ birth was the greatest event in the history of mankind. The event was so great that all historical time is now counted as time before Jesus’ birth (“B.C”) and after Jesus’ birth (A.D., or “anno domini”, year of our Lord. The time before was when Death ruled the world. In the time after Jesus’ coming, Death was defeated. What other human event could be the center of our time?
Jesus’ birth was not a “surprise party”. God did not sneak up on men when he became a man. [Read more…]
Mary, Mother of God
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary. For thousands of years our faith has recognized that some feasts are of a higher order than others. We use the word solemnity today to indicate the fact that the feast of the Motherhood of Mary, Mother of God, is of the highest rank for the entire Church. Easter Sunday is announced as the solemnity of solemnities, as it is the feast that has the highest rank over all other Sundays and feast days.
Today is a major solemnity. [Read more…]