Gaudete 2012

Rejoice!  “Rejoice in the Lord, always” says St. Paul.  It is a blessing to be joyful.

I am overjoyed with many wonderful experiences here at Sacred Heart Parish.  This past week I have been overjoyed with the experience of our parish celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  It was something I will never forget, with such an outpouring of simple faith.  The parish groups that planned and implemented the events before dawn and the Mass in the evening did a tasteful, masterful job.  In the morning we had an estimated 1,000 persons come for Mananitas and serenading by our own musicians, a beautiful rosary, Matachines and an abundance of hot chocolate and pan dulce for all.  To me the event was inspired, spirit-filled and delightful as a faith event.  Many memories were made Wednesday morning for men, women and children.

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Advent 2012

As Christians, we believe God came into our history.  First, we believe God came as a man, Jesus Christ, his son.  Second, we believe Jesus will come again, at the end of time.

As Christians we believe that Jesus is moving toward us from the future.  He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  Christ is the “Word”, the source of all creation.

History will have an end as will our own personal life story.  We don’t know when this end will occur.  The end will come in our personal lives.  The end will also come at the end of history, the end of the world, the time of Judgment.

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The End of Time

There are only 32 days left. That doesn’t mean shopping days to Christmas.

According to popular prophecies, there are only 32 days left until December 21, 2012, and the end of the world.  If that is true, then don’t worry about shopping for Christmas.

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William Francis Hamlet’s Baptism

Here is an important concept:  Eternal life is only possible with God.  Without God, away from God, there simply is no eternal life:  It doesn’t exist apart from God.  Apart from God there is only mortal life.  After mortal life, life on earth, there is only eternal death.  So the choices are eternal life with God, or Eternal death without God.

When I was a youngster, there was a game that taught trust.  Some of you may remember this.  A person had to close his eyes and allow himself to fall backwards into the arms of others.  Most of us would catch ourselves by stepping backward instead of just allowing ourselves to fall freely into the arms of others.  It is hard to give up our personal control and trust in another.

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Jesus Loves Marriage

Jesus loves weddings.  His first recorded miracle was at the wedding at Cana (John 2).  At the urging of his mother, Mary, he saved the marriage party from shame when they ran out of wine, turning water into wine for them.

Jesus loves marriage, and he defended marriage with a firm, clear teaching.  When asked about divorce he flatly rejected it.  Jesus explained that Moses had weakened in the face of public pressure when faced with this same question, and Moses allowed divorce.  Jesus does not back down, saying,
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Spiritual Maturity

Spiritually mature persons know that they must choose whom they will serve. Spiritually mature persons know they must serve someone. It is the spiritually immature who attempt to live as if they serve no one but themselves. This is key to today’s readings.

Joshua led the tribes of Israel back to the land of Israel, and told his people,

“If it does not please you to serve the LORD,
decide today whom you will serve,…
As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

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Assumption of Mary 2012

From the earliest centuries of the Church, the Assumption into Heaven of the Blessed Virgin Mary, body and soul, has been a subject of veneration and Christian doctrine.

However, there is no direct biblical source for this belief. There is no historical record. We don’t know the time or the place of the end of Mary’s life on earth. Our most faithful source is Apostolic Tradition. There are references to the Apostles’ belief in the Assumption in the writings of the early Fathers of the Church. Finally, after centuries of belief and veneration, just sixty years ago, in 1950, Pope Pius XII stated that Mary’s Assumption is Church dogma. Pope Pius XII wrote that Mary, “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” He merely stated as dogmatic truth what the Church has believed and taught from the beginning.
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First Mass Sacred Heart
I am in love. Deeply, madly, shamelessly in love.

I recognize the symptoms because I have fallen in love before. I have loved a woman. I was married for 37 years to Cynthia and we have six children. We lost Cynthia a few years ago to Cancer.

I’m not the only person here who has experienced love. Many of you know what it feels like to be deeply, hopelessly in love, and you know the joys, the demands and consequences of that love.
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The Mustard Seed

Thursday night I returned from a vacation in Italy. I prayed for you, my parish, at the tomb of St. Peter, and at the tombs of St. Francis and St. Clare in Assisi.

Two years ago, when I first arrived here at St. John’s, I told you that I was in love. Today, as I look forward to a new parish assignment from the Bishop, I want to reflect with you what it has meant to me to be your priest in this parish.
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