Pentecost and the Sacred Heart
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”
And with that, the Church that Jesus founded was born.
The first Christians were Jews first. Circumcised Jews. They wanted all new Gentile Christians to be circumcised Jews. The Apostles, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, opposed this teaching. It was enough to be Baptized to be Christian. The Gentiles didn’t have to become Jews, but just believe in Jesus Christ.
How do you know you are Christian? How do I know that I am Christian? It is a pretty important question. Today we heard in the Gospel.
I want to engage your imaginations. Let’s go back to the year 33. It is the week after Passover; the week after Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead.
What does the Church do now? There are no Missals or Catechisms. Nobody has ever seen or heard of a priest or a nun or a Pope or a Bishop. Nobody has ever seen a Church.
Easter changes things! Once you have experienced Easter things can never be the same. Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God cannot die. Yes, our machines wear out; our bodies die. But, people who love and follow Jesus realize they cannot die. They come to believe that human death is like “sleep”, as Jesus often said. Once you come to understand the reality of Easter, human history can never be the same. History itself is not cyclical. Instead, we know there is a “beginning”, a “middle” and an “end”. [Read more…]
God sent Jesus. Jesus chose twelve disciples. He formed them and shaped them into ministers. He ordained them to serve His Church. He appointed Simon as the head of the disciples and named him “Rock”, “Peter”, and told him he would build his Church upon him.
Today Fr. Uche and I concelebrated Mass with our Bishop and the other priests of our Diocese in the Chrism Mass, which is held every year during Holy Week.
The Chrism Mass is the primary celebration for the local Church when the Bishop gathers around the altar with his priests to share our commitment to serving the Lord, Jesus Christ. Fr. Uche and I don’t have our own priesthood, but share in the Bishop’s priesthood of Jesus Christ. Together with our brother priests we renewed the solemn promises we made at our ordinations to spend our lives serving Jesus Christ and you, the People of God.
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.
Cana and Our Lady of Guadalupe
They ran out of wine!
This story is highly symbolic. Our religion is highly symbolic. John recounts the story years after the event to a Christian community that well understood the symbolism of this story of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. The “Wedding at Cana” is Jesus’ first miracle in the Gospel of John, from the beginning of the second chapter. What was John doing, placing this story first?
He was reminding us that the Jewish religion was barren. It didn’t produce feast or wine, but was corrupt and bankrupt. Jesus was the only way out of the malaise in which they found themselves. John’s audience would not have missed the meaning of Mary’s comment to Jesus,
“They have no more wine.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
[Read more…]
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.”
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.
[Read more…]
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.
[Read more…]
Original Sin. Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Recorded at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Elgin,Texas.
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Drama Queens Have Received Their Reward
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Recorded Thursday at 12:05 Mass at St. John Catholic Church. Pastor, Fr. Victor Mayorga prepared the homily.
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Tuesday Weekday Mass, at St. John Catholic Church
There are tensions in the Church. Sometimes these can be painful. Let’s understand what is important? Tradition vs. Obedience. Reflections upon traditions preserved in Rome. Authenticity vs. Progress. Collars on chasubles.
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