We are “Christmas people”. This is not our club or association, it is our identity. This is our Truth. This is our Hope. There are no realistic, alternative choices for us. This is our true citizenship. We are children of God. That is who we are because of our Baptism.

We hear a great deal about Christian martyrs. A Christian martyr is someone who suffers and dies unjustly, simply because they believe in Jesus Christ and will not renounce Jesus, or accept to worship any other God, even in the face of death. Worldly death for a Christian is preferred to eternal death. This is the witness of Christmas people.

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Our Lady of Guadalupe
Pastoral Center December 11, 2015

I want to introduce you to the greatest evangelist in the history of the Americas. No other person has brought more people to Jesus Christ than Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe. This is why she is the symbol of the New Evangelization.

Almost 500 years ago the Spanish Conquistadors entered Mexico and the priests followed. They arrived at the shores of Mexico in 1519, and conquered the Capital of Mexico, known as Tenochtitlan, in 1521.

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We are here this evening to thank God for the priesthood of Fr. Victor Mayorga.

When Fr. Victor asked me to be here this evening to celebrate his 20^th anniversary as a priest, I was honored. First, because I want to be here for this event for my brother and friend. Second, because Fr. Victor was my first pastor as a newly ordained priest. He taught me how to be a priest.

One of the truths about seminary is that seminary only prepares you to be ordained. But, you don’t learn very much about how to be a priest in the seminary. The only way to learn how to be a priest is to become a priest and do the work a priest does, and to have a good mentor to show you how to do it. Fr. Victor was my first mentor. He is a good mentor. A lot of what I do today as a pastor, I learned from him here at St. John’s.

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Jack Gilgun lived for this day.

Jack prepared for this day. Jack Gilgun was not afraid of death. Jack Gilgun lived his faith.

Don’t accuse me of making Jack into a Saint! Only God can do that.

Jack believed Jesus’ promise of eternal life.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.… the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven…, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

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Jesus’ Passion and Crucifixion was not a surprise for those who paid attention. His Passion and Crucifixion were predicted in prophesies throughout the Old Testament, and even by Jesus himself. The Gospel reading from St. Mark today was Jesus’ second prediction of his Passion. But the world did not pay attention.

He was teaching his disciples and telling them,

“The Son of Man is to be handed over to men

and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.”

In the first reading from the Old Testament book of Wisdom, we hear a foreshadowing of Jesus’ Passion.

“With revilement and torture let us put the just one to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness

and try his patience. Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”

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Say to those whose hearts are frightened:

Be strong, fear not!

Here is your God, ….

Frequently a parent will come up to me with their young child and ask me to pray for that child. They will explain to me that the child is afraid. In Spanish they may say to me, “Padre, mi niño está asustado,” or, “Father, my child is afraid.”

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A gynecologist went to teach a Pre-Cana class to a group of couples preparing for marriage. He began by saying, “Ladies, before I get started I want you to turn and look into the eyes of your fiancé.”

The doctor waited a minute and then said, “Ladies, you are looking into the eyes of the biggest baby you will ever have.” Giggles all over the room.

He continued, “You may have other babies, but you must never forget who is ‘Baby Number One’. If you do, that is when trouble often begins in marriage. If you keep him as ‘Baby Number One’, your love for one another will overflow onto all of your children.” And he added, “Gentlemen, the same goes for you.”

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Sometimes, when I am saying Mass, consecrating the bread and the wine to become the Body and Blood of Christ, I look at myself inwardly and say, “Who do you think you are?” And, I look at the people and wonder how on earth can I provide for you what all of you need?

Other times, like when I am anointing someone who is sick or dying, I look at myself inwardly and wonder if such a ritual can possibly help the person who is facing serious consequences or death. What hope am I bringing to them?

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One of the most challenging tasks facing a Pastor is how to create unity in a parish. There are so many forces pulling apart or dividing the community. However, this is so very human. People tend to remain within the groups that make them comfortable. They gather in their favorite groups. Often it is difficult for them to move into other groups of people with whom they are unfamiliar.

In parishes this happens with Mass time communities, with language groups and with ministries.

In other worldly pursuits this happens also with groups like neighborhoods, professional societies, labor unions, political parties and even gangs.

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Someone dies. Someone really close to us is no longer here with us because they died.

It is not unusual that the response of the loving survivor is anger at God: “How could a loving God do this?”

We have to be reminded constantly about our Judeo-Christian beliefs as written by the author of the Old Testament book of Wisdom.

God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living….
For God formed man to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature….

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Confirmation. We are in the season of Confirmation. However, something seems to be missing, especially when so many disappear from the Church after receiving the Sacrament.

What appears to be missing is the experience and the miracles of the Holy Spirit working within us. The Spirit really does work within us, doing wonderful things. We can’t see them with the eyes of the world. Only with the eyes of Faith can we see the miracles of the Holy Spirit. But that can’t happen until we actively, consciously invite the Spirit to live in us. It must be a conscious, frequent invitation, when we say with truth and sincerity, “Come Holy Spirit!”

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The Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. What does it mean for us?

It means that Jesus, who shared our humanity, has entered into the inner life of God. There is a human being dwelling within the Holy Trinity. The second person of the Holy Trinity is totally human. Pope Benedict has said that, “… man has found an everlasting place in God.”

So where do we go when we die? For baptized believers, we are already in Christ. We go to heaven because we are already in Christ because of our Baptism.

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My first professor for preaching sermons told us he would teach us strictly according to official Church theology as taught in the great Council of Vatican II from the 1960’s, but he said he would use a “baseball analogy”.

He told us to imagine the preacher like a pitcher in baseball. The big game is coming when the pitcher will pitch the game. Like a pitcher, the preacher also prepares. He should pray. He should read the scriptures and study them carefully; and then, pray some more. Good preaching comes out of scripture and prayer and reflection.
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The Resurrection. How would we describe it to someone? No one saw Jesus rise from the dead. So where does our information about the Resurrection come from if nobody saw Jesus emerge from the tomb?

This is where we begin to grow in faith. The various testimonies of the witnesses are consistent, with multiple authors as witnesses, including Peter and John and Matthew. There is Paul who experienced the Risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. We trust the witnesses.
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God Cannot Die

It is not possible for God to die. The Word of God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, was not able to die. He had to take from us our mortal flesh. This is the only way he was able to die. This was the only way he could give us eternal life.

Of ourselves we had no power to live, nor did He have the power to die.

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In all three readings today, we hear prophecies of the successful outcome of God’s plan of salvation for the human race. Jeremiah, writing 600 years before Jesus’ birth, wrote,

The days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and the house of Judah. (Jer 31:31)

This passage is one of the most important passages in all of Scripture, and it is the clearest foundation for division of the Bible into two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament.

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In spiritual counseling, one of the most difficult spiritual errors to correct regarding Christianity is the error of a “Gospel of Plenty”. Sometimes it is referred to as the “Gospel of Prosperity” or the “Health and Wealth Gospel”.

Here is the core of the error: Many believe that if we are good Christians, God should reward us in this life. The opposite also occurs, with the belief that God is punishing us when bad things happen. [Read more…]