As Christians, baptized, believing Christians, Jesus Christ has been born into our hearts and has given us life. St. Paul tells us,
“See to it that no one deceives you through any empty, seductive philosophy that follows mere human tradition, a philosophy based upon cosmic powers rather than on Christ.” Col 2:4
“He cancelled that bond that stood against us with all its claims, snatching it up and nailing it to the Cross. Thus did God disarm the principalities and powers.” Col 2:15
On the day of your baptism you became a missionary, called by the Lord to share your faith with those around you, and to be part of the Church’s mission to the world.
Why? The day before your baptism you were not fully human. You were mortal, separate from God. Eternal life is only with God. There is no eternal life apart from God, but only with Him. Jesus said,
“No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.”
Today I wish to revisit some of the issues we spoke about on Ash Wednesday, and business as usual.
How is your Lent going? Sometimes we simply cannot continue with “business as usual”. Our “business as usual” is our accommodation with the world. The Church knows that we cannot simply continue with “business as usual”. That is why we have always had Lent. [Read more…]
Sometimes we simply cannot continue with “business as usual”. Our “business as usual” is our accommodation with the world. The Church knows that we cannot simply continue with “business as usual”. That is why we have always had Lent.
Something has to give. Something has to change. Our faith cannot simply be an external practice. The words of Ash Wednesday are always,
“Remember man that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” [Read more…]
Recently a Catholic gentleman asked me about my calling to the priesthood. The question struck me as strange. He was obviously curious with a good question. I don’t question his motives. He was actually thinking about his teenage son who had told him he was thinking about the priesthood. However, the man’s language struck me as strange. I don’t think in terms of a “call” to priesthood.
We have all heard the word, “calling”, with respect to a religious vocation. It is very common in today’s language. [Read more…]
We are initiating a new Liturgical Year. We are also initiating a new cycle of biblical readings in the Mass. This year we will explore the Gospel of Mark, which may have been one of the first Gospels written, shortly before the year 70 AD, probably in Rome.
Mark gets right down to business in the first chapter. Jesus had already been baptized by John in the Jordan. John has been arrested. We heard that, [Read more…]
Jesus’ birth was not a “surprise party”. God did not sneak up on men when he became a man. There had been prophecies of the Messiah from long before. The problem was that many Jews, especially their leaders, had ceased to care whether God would come among them or not.
Look what happened when the three “Magi” appeared in Jerusalem. There had long been prophecies that God would send his Messiah, his “anointed one”. [Read more…]
The Church today celebrates “Gaudete Sunday”, the third Sunday of Advent. “Gaudete” in Latin means joy. St. Paul tells the Thessalonians,
“Rejoice Always!”
With all that is happening in the world, with all the sadness and poverty around us, how can we rejoice? [Read more…]
One of the greatest myths proclaimed by Protestants deals with reconciliation and forgiveness of sin. You have all heard it. Many Catholics even believe it. It goes something like this: “Why confess your sins to a man?”, or “I don’t have to go through a man to confess my sins. I go directly to God.”
This is myth! This is hogwash! It is false. But even worse, this myth does so much damage because it prevents people from confessing and reconciling with God. This myth is evil.
[Read more…]
A most unusual thing happened in human history. Almighty God, the God of all creation, creator of heaven and earth, creator of mankind, became man. The God of Gods became a small baby, born of the Virgin Mary. This only happened once in all of history. We are preparing to celebrate that fact again with the season of Advent.
The word “Advent” comes from the Latin, “advinio”, for “the coming”, or “He comes”. [Read more…]
Do you believe in Hell? Do you believe in it enough? Does the existence of Hell guide and instruct your life and your moral decisions? There is an old American expression for living as if there were no consequences to our immoral actions. We say it is like “whistling past the graveyard”.
We don’t speak about Hell very often. Many prefer to think and act as if Hell does not exist. However, Jesus has spoken about it frequently. At least five times in the Gospels, Jesus is quoted as saying that a person will be judged and thrown outside the gates of the Kingdom of God where there will be darkness and “wailing and gnashing of teeth”. [Read more…]
Today’s feast of All Souls, and yesterday’s feast of all Saints, could not be more different. Yesterday, we acknowledged how happy we are that some of our race have made it to heaven and received the Promises God promised to the Just, the “poor in Spirit”. Today, we acknowledge that it is not that easy to get in, given our attachments to property, money and habits and lifestyles.
If there were no Purgatory, we would have to invent one. We can’t walk into our Grandparent’s living room, onto their clean, white carpets, with muddy feet. And, let there be no mistake, we all have muddy feet.
[Read more…]
A deacon friend of mine, Deacon Willie Cortez had a ministry in East Austin, working among the poorest of the poor. At Our Lady’s Family Center, he created several youth programs for different ages of children and youth, including help with schoolwork. Deacon Willie wanted to get the kids off the streets and out of gangs. At every meeting they always learned something about Jesus and the Gospel.
One of his primary tools was a bowl of hard candies. At the opening of every meeting the bowl of hard candies, which was always full, would be passed around. [Read more…]
Why should our praise and glorification, or even the celebration of this feast day mean anything to the saints? What do they care about earthly honors when their heavenly Father honors them by fulfilling the faithful promise of the Son? What does our commendation mean to them? The saints have no need of honor from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs. Clearly, if we venerate their memory, it serves us, not them. But I tell you, when I think of them, I feel myself inflamed by a tremendous yearning. [Read more…]
Although we believe we are Christian, sometimes we discover some really deep-seated pagan beliefs among us. Pagan beliefs die hard. For example the popular belief that heaven begins after death, after the cemetery. That is wrong, and very pagan. For Christians, heaven begins with our baptism. That is our Christian faith. Listen carefully with me to the words of the prayer Jesus taught us, “The Our Father”.
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be they name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
And, Jesus said frequently, [Read more…]
In the Gospel Jesus is showing us that love is a commandment, when he says, “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” If we learn about love from our culture we may think love is something we feel, or something we deserve to receive. If we learn from Jesus, we learn that love is something we choose, no matter how we feel. It is not something you receive, but it is something you give. In the wedding ceremony you will promise to one another: “I will love you and honor you all the days of my life”, in good times and in bad.
[Read more…]
Can you believe it has been a year since Fr. Victor and I were first assigned to our parish? In my first homily to you last July, I told you that I was a widower, and that I knew what it feels like to “fall in love.” I am in love and growing more in love with you, this parish.
In that first sermon, I told you, that as we are learning to fall in love with one another, we would gradually lose our fear and hesitancy to have those conversations which lovers must have as we grow in intimacy and common purpose. I promised to speak earnestly with you about how to inherit eternal life. And that we would speak about fidelity and obedience to Holy Mother Church and to one another, chastity and the way we will respect life and one another, and about the simplicity of life with which we will live our lives together, sharing our gifts for the common good. [Read more…]
Have you ever watched people enter the Church and cross themselves? One of my favorite images involves a father with his arms full of children, while the mother puts her hand into the Holy Water and blesses him and then the children. The lesson is that because of our baptism we can bless each other.
The image of blessing ourselves is very Catholic. Some people are very careful to touch their foreheads, their chest and then their shoulders, making the sign of the Cross. Why do we do it? [Read more…]
“When they had gathered together they asked him,
‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’”
The apostles still did not get it. They were still seeking a political solution for Israel. Think about how many people today might say something similar about the USA: “Lord are you going to continue to bless the USA? And protect us from our international enemies?”
In a theatrical play or a movie or a TV program there are actors. The actors in the play represent people, or the characters in the play. The play tells the stories of the characters. Sometimes the characters are not people, but may be things. Nevertheless these things still represent characters in the play. Often in some movies, like Walt Disney movies, a clock or a teapot may be characters. In the movie 2001 a Space Odyssey, it was a computer, named “Hal”.
[Read more…]