Audio on Soundcloud!

Audio on Soundcloud.

Now my recordings will be uploaded to the parish Soundcloud account. Here is the address: https://soundcloud.com/stthereselittleflowersb


Also, see what else is happening at our parish: https://littleflowerchurch.org/

Finally, look to the right for links to Audio from other good resources!

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Homily 12-30-2012 Our Holy Families


 When we celebrate the Holy Family of Nazareth, we meet them first in Bethlehem. This is why it is so appropriate to have this Solemnity today and not some other time of the year: because when God decided to become a member of the human family, he took a human mother, Mary, and a foster father, Joseph, and thus Himself experienced the ups and downs of family life and the subordination of being a child below one's parents. Because of this, God knew what it was like to obey imperfect creatures other than the Father. Let this be a reminder for all you children out there (regardless of your age): whenever we want to dismiss our parents, we should recall that we can't possibly be in a better position than the obedient Son of God, who had every reason to disregard His parents and do things His own way because “He knew better,” but He still obeyed them, so should do our best to fulfill the fourth commandment, except when it means to directly disobey God. If we do this, Sirach offers quite a list of promises for obedience to parents: Atonement from sin. Preservation from sin. Prayers heard. Stores up riches. Long life. Comfort to mother. House raised in justice against the debt of your sins.
Why do we call this family “holy”? This unique trio of Bethlehem and Nazareth, these three persons which were able to bring such abundant blessing to the entire human family regardless of the separation of time and place, is not “holy” by default. Our first instinct is wrong: having Jesus in your family doesn't make it a holy family. Every single Christian family has, by its very nature, Jesus present within the family because of their baptism. However, many parts of our family life can fail to be holy. So what makes us Holy? What makes these three holy? It is that we seek to carry out the Will of the Father by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, all through, with, and in the Son. In fact, the more we are devoted to the Father's Will, the better off the family is.
This makes more sense to us when we think of the contrast. Of course the possibilities are endless, but let us imagine a family where every person has a different goal in life: money, success, fame, absence of pain... you name it. Obviously this would cause the family to run in different and ultimately contrary directions, leading to misunderstanding, and potential distaste or even disdain for each other. Since God who is the triple-holy “Lord, God of Hosts” shows us that holiness is a communion of persons, the last word to be able to describe this fragmented family would be “holy.”
However, if there is a family where everyone is devoted to God's Will above all else, they could be homeless (financial failures), fugitives from the government, misunderstood and mocked by all their neighbors (social shame), and even perhaps publicly executed (all kinds of suffering), and still be a holy family. That is indeed what we find in the Holy Family, who by God's Will fled to Egypt, were rejected by their local townies, and later on were met with crucifixion. Although it may mean suffering, going against the current, or distress, the holiness that comes from following God's Will outweighs all of this: as St. Paul says, “the sufferings of this present life are as nothing compared to the glory that is to be revealed in us” on the day of Jesus Christ, that is, the Resurrection from the Dead.
What is God's Will for you? That you receive His Son, that you treasure His Son, that you follow, listen to, and obey His Son. Mary and Joseph, in their own unrepeatable way, did exactly this. Look at any artwork of the Holy Family and you will see them doing all these things, not to mention showing and sharing their Son with the world.  God is calling you to know Christ and his cross as the center of your life, and thus find the source of blessings that the world cannot offer: deep peace, everlasting joy, and the holiness that sanctifies ourselves, our families, and our world. Mary and Joseph lived entirely for the Savior. May we do the same, and sanctify the world by our holy families.

Monday, December 24, 2012

12-25-2012 Surprises in a Cave


Christmas forces us to rethink things, to reconsider the most basic things. Maybe what makes it so amazing is how simple the story is, even though it has its paradoxes.
One of my favorite authors is G.K. Chesterton. In his work The Everlasting Man he recalls that the mystery of Christmas surprises us from behind, in ways we would never have expected. It is as if, Chesterton says, man had found an inner room in the very heart of his house, which he had never suspected, and seen a light from within. It is as if he found something in the back of his heart that betrayed Him into good.
On Christmas, God draws close, but He also hides. He comes right up to you, but almost always just out of your vision. He shows us so much of Himself, but never everything. This is why God wasn't born in Jerusalem, in the temple, on a mountain. No, he was born in Bethlehem (well, actually outside of the city) in a cave used as a stable.
The infinite God - eternal, all knowing, who every moment holds the entire universe in its place - cannot hold up His own head. He who cannot be caught, He cannot be controlled, He cannot be subdued – has his arms wrapped up by His mother Mary. The one who created the drama of history steps into it as a character, the hero of the story.
The cave of Christ's Nativity, being born in a sense underground, shows us how humble Jesus is. He is a man for everyone. But the cave shows us much more, according to Chesterton. The cave helps us to see that everything we had thought about the universe turns inside out, that theology is put on its head. The cave represents darkness and coldness, the sorrowful state of humanity after centuries of sinfulness – there comes Christ with the light of his truth and the warmth of his loving forgiveness.
But the cave also symbolizes protection and privacy from the dangers of the world. For Chesterton, the cave is a stronghold, a fortress. He says we announce peace on earth because of a war in heaven. The victory of that war is foreshadowed here in the cave, which is the bookend to the Gospel: the empty tomb hewn out of the rock, where the battle is won. For Chesterton, the wooden manger is fulfilled in the wood of the Cross, that he pictures as the sword of heaven driving the mortal blow into the earthly reign of sin. And the spoils of war are a relationship with that God, a love affair with Him forever in heaven.
Yes for Chesterton, Christmas is a revolution and the cave an outpost in a battlefield for humanity. Do we ourselves join in this battle? Do we struggle like the early Christians who found themselves so often in the caves of the catacombs?
Lastly, that cave is the Church. We come to the Church to find that God is so very close to us, yet He continues to conceal His mystery. We come to church to wonder at the paradoxes of our faith. We come to Church to remember that God is a humble God, a God for everyone, even our sinful selves. We come to the church to find protection from the dangers of this world. Here God surrounds us with His infinite strength. We come to the Church to find ourselves in a stronghold in the midst of the great battle of good and evil that continues in our souls.
We come to Church to find Jesus, to find God. We find Jesus in unexpected ways. He surprises us with Himself, and yet he continues to elude our grasp. He allures us. Do not be afraid to let Him close. Let yourself be drawn into that cave. Let yourself be wooed by the Lord of Heaven and Earth who fought the war you could not win, and who invites you to share the joys of victory in Heaven, in this Mass, in the Eucharist.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Homily 12-23-2012 Fear of the God who Comes So Close


 Are you afraid of God? Are you afraid of His presence? How close will you let God get to you? How much of your life, of your heart, will you share with God?
Do you know how King David answered these questions? David feared God with holy reverence, but was never afraid of Him coming too close. David, after he took his throne and established peace, actually went out to bring God to Jerusalem. David travelled to the hill-country of Judah, for the Ark of the Covenant, the concrete sign of God's presence with His people, containing the Ten Commandments, some manna, and the staff of Aaron, which dwelt in a tent and was with the Hebrews those 40 years throughout the desert and led them into the Promised Land. This one and only Ark David ceremonially brought into the new capital city, Jerusalem, as a sign of God's blessing and approval of David. No he wasn't afraid at all; rather, David lets God come as close as possible, and he rejoices to the point of dancing before the Lord.
Mary wasn't afraid of God either, though she also showed a great reverence, what we call “fear of the Lord,” or a respect for who God is, and it shows itself in a submissive posture to God's revelation, as well as a desire to hear God. Mary shows these qualities perfectly when God comes close to her, as she also shows her extreme courage in accepting a dangerous proposal along with making the journey (presumably alone) across the wilderness to see Elizabeth.
Micah tells us that the Messiah will come from Bethlehem, the city where David grew up as a shepherd boy before God made him a king. This small town of Judah is also near where Mary comes to find her cousin Elizabeth. And so God Himself comes close to Elizabeth, “in the midst” or in the “womb” (same Hebrew word) of Mary, who has now become the true Ark of the Covenant, bearing within her the Word of God which brings to fulfillment the Ten Commandments and the Bread of Life which fulfills the manna of the desert. Does Elizabeth cower in fear? No. When the ark is brought to her, Elizabeth rejoices; even John the Baptist rejoices, dancing before the Lord Jesus. They are not afraid. Why should they be? They know God to be a merciful, loving Lord who has delivered them from bondage, who has showered them with blessings. They know the Messiah will make true the promises of old, summarized in CCC 64, which says Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of salvation, in the expectation of a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts. The prophets proclaim a radical redemption of the People of God, purification from all their infidelities, a salvation which will include all the nations. Above all, the poor and humble of the Lord will bear this hope.
Mary and Elizabeth bear this hope. Mary, as the Ark of the Covenant, bears it quite literally in her midst, in her womb.
Are you afraid of God coming too close? King David, Mary, Elizabeth, and John the Baptist were not. They bore in their hearts a fear of the Lord, but were not filled with any terror at his coming so close. The fear of the Lord, one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, gave them a reverence for God, a respect for who He is and for His words, a desire to find His Will and carry it out.
Whether God coming too close scares you or not, He is upon you. Christmas is two days away, and God visits you. Here in this Mass, God visits you. Mary is also a symbol of the Church, and here in the womb of the Church, here in your midst, comes the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist. Approach Him with a Holy fear, let Him come closer than you ever have before, and experience the joy and peace that King David hoped for, that Elizabeth and John the Baptist saw, that Mary knew every moment after Gabriel's words. Come Lord Jesus!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Homily 12-19-2012 Joy in Midst of National Pain


 On Friday morning a small, quiet town met evil and the hearts of all in the United States were pierced to their depths with the pain of another horrendous tragedy. We all respond differently to such pieces of news: my first reaction was to be very angry. Slowly that turned to pain, and to tears. Yet in the midst of this suffering, God has once again in His Providence ordered things to bring good out of evil. Let us hope this will draw the hearts of all toward a greater vigilance against the evil in their own hearts, no matter how small it may seem. Let us hope it will strengthen us all to continue with greater perseverance the healing and unity of all peoples, especially those who are seemingly suffering in silence, estranged from others.
Today we celebrate particularly the virtue of hope. Paul is commanding the Philippians to rejoice. This is not a suggestion, but rather a demand, just as he would demand they be holy, just, and compassionate to the needy. They must rejoice, regardless of the circumstances. Paul's emphasis is certainly connected to the prophet Nehemiah's urging that “rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength” (Neh. 8:10), as well as Zephaniah's words of encouragement.
What is joy? Is joy an emotional high or some other nice feeling? Is joy a lack of pain? Is joy what we have when everything in life goes as we would want, or as we feel it should? No, joy must be something bigger than this, since Paul himself is writing to the Philippians from prison. And from that shameful and paralyzing experience he sees ever more clearly that Christians can bear joy quietly, at a deeper level of their soul, even when their feelings are contrary, even in the midst of deep pain, even when there is in this life is a tragedy or a disaster.
Joy, essentially, is delight in the goodness of God's providence that has conquered evil and given eternal meaning to human suffering, given glory to humanity. Joy is linked to the Cross and Resurrection of Christ. Joy is remembering the whole story: that God redeems us, that God is with us. Joy is the knowledge that the all-powerful God loves us. “The Lord is near!” is the source of Christian joy. This is why it is possible for us even now to have joy.
John Paul II says that “In a Christian's heart, peace is inseparable from joy....When the joy that is in a Christian heart is poured out on others, it gives them hope and optimism; it spurns them to be generous in their daily toil and infects the entire society. My children, only if you have in you this divine grace which is joy and peace, will you be able to do anything useful for others.”
Thus Paul encourages us also to prayer, for prayer is critical for maintaining this peace that bears joy. St. Bernard of Clairvoux reminds us that prayer prevents things from robbing us of peace, since prayer “regulates our affections, directs our actions, corrects our faults, guides our conduct, gives beauty and order to our life. Prayer brings with it the knowledge of things divine and also things human. It determines what we ought to do and reflects on what we have done, in such a way that prayerful hearts never become restless or in need of discipline.” Without prayer, we expose ourselves to worry and anxiety, which can eat up our joy like a cancer. And the more we live in joy instead of in worry, the more we will realize that worry in fact always makes everything we do worse, because it sucks up our strength. Anxiety makes us to focus on our self-preservation rather than on the good of others, turning inward rather than outward, thus closing off the demands of love.

Monday, December 10, 2012

The O Antiphons

This post may be polished up more later, but for now, here you go:

THE GREAT ANTIPHONS or the O ANTIPHONS are used from December 17-23 to recall the fulfillment of all Old Testament hopes in Jesus Christ.  In fact, you already know them!, since they are also in our favorite Advent hymn, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"

See the following link for more information on them:

http://catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/Advent-O-Antiphons.htm

And some good reflections on each antiphon specifically:

http://www.liturgy.co.nz/reflection/oantr2.html

The traditional antiphon text (from the Graduale Simplex / Liber Usualis) with the chant music and audio:
http://www.fisheaters.com/customsadvent10.html



~FT

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Homily 12-9-2012 God outworks human powers from a desert


 Today we are reminded that God outworks human powers, often from a desert. The Jews remember this particularly from their historical deliverance from Egypt and into the promised land. Those powers are thwarted not by their own hand, but by God's, right before their eyes in the desert.
When you hear desert in the Bible, do not think of Arizona. Think of the Dakota Badlands. The desert, more of a semi-mountainous and very bleak wilderness, is a symbol of powerlessness and stripping bare. It is the desert more specifically where God, on a mountain, formed a covenant with his people through Moses. Centuries later, the people needed another wake-up call, since they had abandoned their hearts from that covenant. They needed the silence of the wilderness; they needed a reminder of their powerlessness; they needed to be robbed of all those things that take their attention away from God.
This is where our reading from Baruch comes in. The fall of Jerusalem in 587BC was the most devastating even in Jewish history. The Temple of Solomon was destroyed, the leaders were bound and enslaved, the inhabitants were either likewise taken captive or their lifeless bodies were left under the open sky. And it is right then (after such great devastation) and right there (in the desert on the journey to slavery) where the prophet Baruch speaks today's words: Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God foreverUp, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God. That “east” to which they look is taken up by the Church in her liturgy, where churches were built facing the east so that we could pray with our hope set on the rising sun, the perfect symbol of Christ's resurrection and God's divine action in our world. This is also why Catholic cemeteries bury their dead so as to rise facing the East. None of those people at that time felt particularly “remembered by God.” Yet the prophets words of hope prove true, for both Babylon and Jerusalem both fail under the power of God. God alone changes those hearts, and in that desert and that captivity in Babylon, the people recommit themselves to the Lord. His word pierces us, converts us, brings us to change ourselves and our world. God outworks our human powers, often from a desert.
The same reality is found in the Gospel. Luke puts the ministry of John the Baptist in a stark contrast with the big names of his day: the emperor Tiberius, his local administrator Pontius Pilate, the tetrarch Herod (a ruthless Jewish sell-out to the empire) and the high priests. All these big powers of the world, the ambition-driven movers and shakers who do all they can to bring people and daily affairs under their own influence, are ultimately silenced by God. They are shown to be nothing, both by their inability to change hearts and by God's choice to work through an apparent nobody. Even the high-priest fails to be the source of God's message, because God's primary work is done in the midst of a desert, de-void of any semblance of human power.
Advent is a reminder that God outworks our human powers, and often needs to call us back to Himself from a desert. Let us heed the call of the Baptist to the desert, to strip ourselves of all unnecessary things, so that we can return to the Lord with a clearer sense of what is important in life: our salvation, our redemption, and God's work before our own. Here in this Mass, God's power to change hearts is at its greatest height, even to make saints of us. Here, today, we ask God to change us and to prepare a way for His Son.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Homily 12-2-2012 STAYING AWAKE IN ADVENT


The season of Advent is a double preparation: we get ready for Christ's return at the end of time while we prepare for His coming into our world in the Incarnation. This is why we have the Gospel that describes what appears to be a time of turmoil and distress for many.
1st Thessalonians is a response. Paul writes to address issues, and in this letter the Church of Thessalonika are concerned about Christ's return. Paul encourages, instructs. He reminds them of what he has already taught, and calls them to fix what isn't right, and to go further in what they have already been doing well.
Advent – do something! Like a mini-Lent, prepare means more than setting up decorations and organizing parties. The spiritual life, like the cozy fireplace fires that I remember so well from the winters of my childhood, easily goes out if we ignore it. Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life,and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. The Son of Man comes to us all the time, whether it is at Mass or in our prayers, in our consciences or in the demands of our vocation, in our family and friends or even in absolute strangers who speak God's Word to us. But so often we fail to notice it, to hear it, to respond with love to God who is Love, simply because our hearts have become drowsy.
Hearts become drowsy when we need ignore the fire of our faith, and spend our time elsewhere. Do we visit our hearts often? or is our time filled to the brim with the noise of the senses: television, radio, food, news, shopping, busy-work and unimportant fretting? If God's Holy Spirit has been poured into our hearts, then we need to go there to visit Him. Being vigilant, or staying awake like Christ and Saint Paul call us to in today's readings, means doing something, including perseverance in prayer. This is not easy, especially as the next weeks become more franctic for all of us. But Jesus knew what it meant to battle in the spiritual life. He gives us a great example of how to continue through the struggle of keeping our fire of faith kindled, as we are reminded in CCC 2849 Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter, both at the outset of his public mission and in the ultimate struggle of his agony. In this petition to our heavenly Father, Christ unites us to his battle and his agony. He urges us to vigilance of the heart in communion with his own.
Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Let us imitate Christ this Advent so we are ready to receive Him when He comes – both at the end of time and on Christmas Day. And let us visit our heart daily in prayer, so that the fire of our faith is always burning, so that we do not fall asleep and miss His visits to us in our everyday life.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Homily 11-25-2012 Christ's Kingdom and Our Lives


 Before he was martyred in 1927 in Mexico because he was a priest who administered the sacraments to the people of God against the will of the anti-religious government, the last words of Blessed Miguel Pro were, “Viva Cristo Rey! Long Live Christ the King!” This phrase was made more popular by the establishment of today's solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Pope Pius XI established it to remind the faithful that, despite the growing nationalism that demanded supreme authority and faithfulness to the state, it was indeed God alone who deserved our full service. It is a reminder that we obey God, and not man, even if, like Blessed Miguel Pro, we must suffer for it. (Miguel, by the way, held out his arms in the sign of the cross before the firing squad to remind us that his suffering was one with Christ's crucifixion).
We give total obedience to God alone because He alone is the one that will save us. It won't be educational systems, it won't be government programs, it won't be Woodstock, and it won't be saving the environment. The person on the cross alone saves us, so don't put your trust in anyone or anything else. Not only can He save us, He will. He already does, if we are open to the life of the Spirit.
No, in the end, Christ the King will reign over the entire universe. The power struggle that we all know so well will be no more. My Kingdom is not of this world means that it is not governed as this world governs. Herod, the tetrarch during Christ's birth had three of his own children put to death, whereas Pontius Pilate would not bat an eye to administer mass crucifixions in order to stop potential uprisings in the territory. This constant fight for domination will no longer be the state of affairs. God alone will rule, and his reign is of service and peace. This is why He distances himself from Pilate's questions.
When we say Thy Kingdom come, the fact is it will come, no matter what. We pray to conform our hearts to it now so that, when it comes, it is a joy for us and not a suffering. For that kingdom means freedom from selfishness, freedom from sin, freedom from the pain that sin brings upon us all; it means fullness of peace in our hearts and in our communities, fullness of joy, fulness of communion with God and with others. If we don't let go of our sins, our selfishness, the passing things of this world that never satisfy our deepest longings, then we will not be glad when the Lord returns and establishes his reign.
Thy Kingdom Come!” means more than “please return and fix all this,” but also is a promise that we will do our part (and a plea for help in doing it). Baptism in the threefold office of Christ. Under the office of king, we order our world under the kingship of Christ. Bringing this about requires religious freedom: which means not freedom from religion in the public sphere, but freedom for its genuine and full expression. The saints show us clearly, time and again, that religion is not against society, but indeed promotes it. What caused the creation of the hospital system, the various outreaches begun by St. Vincent de Paul, St. Marianne Cope, St. Katherine Drexel, St. Elizabeth Anne Seton, and so many others? It was clearly their deep conviction in their religious beliefs that God demands justice and love for every human being, no matter how small, weak, or different. Indeed, the saints show us that when Christ is King in our hearts and in our world, then we truly begin to experience the love and peace that He promises us.
Let us pray “Thy Kingdom Come!” every day in everything we do. With every breath may our lives exclaim “Viva Cristo Rey! Long Live Christ the King!” And as we prepare for his future kingdom, we make a throne in our souls for the Lord Jesus to reign this day, when we receive Him in Holy Communion.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Homily 11-18-2012 Prophecy of the End Times


Today we begin that part of every year when we as a Church recall the end. This is a statement of faith that the end (which is the end of the world, not of us) is not foreign to us, not unimportant for our lives right now. We have to live in a way that conforms to the end that, one way or another, we will all participate in. We don't know when, but we know for sure it is our common fate.

I just spent four days this week beginning a 1½ year process of continuing formation in the priesthood, and we spent these days mostly growing in self-understanding and self-growth so that I can be a better priest. No promises yet on that! But I can say that I saw somethings more clearly about myself. I don't like change, I don't like interruptions, I don't like taking huge risks. I can handle these things, but they are a little harder for me to do. Well, imagine that I was receiving phone calls and e-mails or text messages from my parents asking if they can visit a couple days up here before Thanksgiving. What would happen if I never responded to those calls or messages? How would I feel when I have to go see them on Thursday? I'd feel bad, embarrassed, ashamed for not giving them the time of day. They may even pull out the old wooden spoon again!

Well that is what God is calling us to now as we look forward to the end of our days. If we prepare for it, there is nothing to fear. If we ignore it, we will be embarrassed and ashamed.

The prophets we so often hear from are individuals whose main goal is to save us from that kind of shame in our relationship with God. Others may suffer from the terror of cosmic aloneness, but the prophet is overwhelmed by the grandeur of divine presence. He is incapable of isolating the world. There is an interaction between man and God which to disregard is an act of insolence. Isolation is a fairy tale. ...God came first, and the task is how to live in a way compatible with His presence. Man's coexistence with God determines the course of history. The prophet disdains those for whom God's presence is comfort and security; to him it is a challenge, an incessant demand. God is compassion, not compromise; justice, though not without clemency. The prophet's predictions can always be proved wrong by a change in man's conduct, but never the certainty that God is full of compassion. The prophet's word is a scream in the night. While the world is at ease and asleep, the prophet feels the blast from heaven. (The Prophets, vol I. A. J. Heschel, Hendrickson, 17)

That scream in the night at the world's injustice is supposed to be a wake-up call, a spark that ignites a blaze of transformation. If it doesn't, we can be sure our hearts are hard, our ears are deaf.

We hear today the various uses of apocalyptic language – which speaks of cosmic warfare and the intervention of God to set things right, even the acts of decreation like the stars falling from the sky in the Gospel. Although these extreme images are meant to be shocking, they need not be all that frightening for us. As we said, if (like the scenario with my parents) we respond to the wake-up call, and are in right relationship with God, there is nothing to fear. Because the great battle of heaven and earth has indeed already been fought on Calvary Hill; God has intervened in the world and conquered sin through the Resurrection; and we are baptized into that mystery, we are the body of Christ. Moreover, the archangel Michael is still with us to defend us in this battle for our salvation.
Furthermore, as scary as the end might seem, let us not forget that the end is not foreign to us, because the End is already here. Every Mass we see the last battle and the great victory of God's love. And in the Confessional we experience the judge whose mercy is great for those with sorrowful hearts and the resolve to change. May the Eucharistic Lord prepare our hearts anew to live in the present with the heaven always in our minds and hearts.

Homily 11-11-2012 Giving All for God - Zarephath and Lisieux


 How much does God ask of you to give? The answer is simple: everything; your entire self.
Today's story of the widow of Zarephath shows us the beauty of Jewish spirituality, which is so fully human: it is tragic and honest, it is comical, it is deeply spiritual at the same time. First, it's a human tragedy – a woman without anyone to provide for her and apparently without any help from her wider community is starving to death with her son. Yet, there is also a sort of comedy here, if the story itself wasn't such a terrible thing. Because into this scene comes the prophet who has caused the drought in the first place, and he asks for water and some piece of bread. Yet after he hears she is awaiting death, he only ups the ante: “Before you do that, please go make me a small cake!”
But this is more than just that, because the story is not about entertainment, it is a lesson about the ways of God. And this third level of the story is the most important: on a deeply spiritual level, God is teaching us something here. The Lord God meets these characters in a seemingly ordinary exchange. He tests this woman's faithfulness and her trust, and he rewards her for her generous response to His invitation. She doesn't starve; rather, she survives on the same oil and flour for a year.
So here we see the theme that I started with. How much does God ask you to give? Everything; your entire self.
The same thing is present in the Gospel today. God invites us to give and give until we feel like we cannot give any more, and then, to give whatever is still left. The widow today places her two small coins, her entire livelihood, all that she had, in the temple treasury. This is a symbolic act of giving everything over to God. And only when we give everything over to God does our faith truly manifest itself. When, in the end, we have nothing left to trust in, not our government or our job or our individual gifts and talents, but only God alone, then we can show our faith. Then, even the smallest actions like making a cake or giving 50 cents away, really are transformed into something beautiful and become a powerful act of faith in God. Therese of Lisieux affirms the important of these small acts of giving in her Little Way to Heaven, which simply says, by doing small things with great love, we are giving everything to God because we are placing ourselves in the gift, just like the two widows put themselves in their gifts today.
Why does God ask us to give, and give, and give? We give everything because God gives everything. (CCC) In the Cross, in this Eucharist which makes that Cross present to us, we see God give. Let us ask our Lord to help us give Him all, to put ourselves in our giving by the love we place in it, especially when it is difficult!
CCC 2011 – The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits before God. Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensure the supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merits before God and before men.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Homily 10-28-2012 Bartimaeus and Us!


Homily 10-28-2012 Bartimaeus and Us!
The very basic foundations of the life are presented before us in today's readings. Jeremiah reminds us of the Lord's restoration to Israel after they were captives in Babylon on account of their sins. Hebrews reminds us how important it is to have humility, especially as priests, since even Christ did not exalt Himself. However, I want to focus on the Gospel. Last week I spoke about how we should pray with Sacred Scripture, particularly through the ancient form of Lectio Divina. One of the best ways for making scripture prayerful is to follow the teaching of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits, and simply put ourselves in the story either as a bystander or as one of the characters. We see in the story of Bartimaeus a summary of our journey on earth, and this is perhaps why his story is remembered so vividly by the evangelist, Mark. And in this story, all of us are Bartimaeus. Here we see a fallen humanity left broken on the side of the road, unable to see and therefore incapable of moving forward, always stumbling along.
And into this sorrowful scene comes God Himself, God become man for us, a living image of the wholeness that our human nature was made for, the new Adam who will father a new people restored in Him. And the new Adam passes by the fallen, blind one, so close he is within reach, all that is required is a shout of faith! “Jesus, Son of David, Eleeyson me!” This same word which we cry three times at the beginning of Mass, modeling Bartimaeus' constant shouting even as other forces try to stifle him. What stifles our shouts to the Lord? The constant noise of a busy-body lifestyle; a sense of self-sufficiency and pride; our past sins which we feel are too grave to be forgiven; the allurements of wealth, success, worldly fame, or pleasure. Whatever they are, we all have them, and we all must name them for what they are: walls between us and Jesus whom we will miss if we don't shout through them. That is the first step of conversion – shouting out to God to be healed – and it can only be accomplished if we are humble enough to admit the fact that we are not whole, that we need help from God.
Then the Lord stops and summons the man, who is brought to Jesus with the help of the Church. As the man rises, he throws away his cloak and jumps to his feet, which symbolizes abandoning his former way of life. This is the second step of conversion – changing our ways and losing worldly things for higher gifts. Then through the help of the Church, Bartimaeus meets Jesus, expresses is deepest desires to Him, and receives from Him the healing he needs. Fallen humanity is restored into the image of the Redeemer; the son of the flesh made from clay is now changed into an adopted child of God born-again from water and the spirit.
And since he has encountered the fullness of truth in Christ, he can now see the truth of the both this life and the next. And even as the New Adam tells him, “Go on your way,” this new child of God can do nothing but follow Christ, saying through his deeds, “Lord, having been restored into Your image, my way is now your way.” This is the third step of conversion, and it takes our entire life to affirm it. Following Jesus all of our days, moving right into our crosses and embracing them in the faith of the Lord's Resurrection.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Homily 10-21-2012 Lectio Divina - To Know Christ and Pray in Him


 From today's readings we are reminded that like James and John, we can be so easily drawn into thinking that the way to get ahead in this life is through power, through domination. We see from Isaiah and from Christ Himself, that His absolute power and dominion is used to serve, is given freely and manifest in a form of apparent weakness. This apparent weakness unto a shameful death is turned into power and glory by the mysterious plan of the Father, who justifies many by the Cross.
From the Cross our loving God draws us to Himself, and we are transformed through our baptism into that mystery of salvation, which makes us confident as Hebrews says, to approach the throne of Grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help. Christ has taken our humanity to heaven, so we have courage to pray. However, courage is not. We must also know how to pray: with the mind of Christ. This is where James and John failed: They don't seem to know what the Messiah's mission is to be. When Jesus says He came “to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many,” those last words should echo in their hearts and remind them of what we heard today in Isaiah, the last of the four poetic sections that speak of the “Suffering Servant,” which the Church reads every year on Good Friday. The disciples will hear Christ allude to these again in the Last Supper, in the words that the priest prays at every Mass when holding the chalice: “poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ, says St. Jerome. We must be readers of the Word of God, who is Jesus, in order to pray with His heart and mind.
So today I encourage us all to pray with Sacred Scripture, particularly through the ancient practice of Lectio Divina, Latin for “Sacred Reading” or “Divine Reading.” Pope Benedict XVI spoke of this in his Exhortation Verbum Domini, written two years ago, after the closing of the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God. I wish to conclude with his summary of this practice, quoting at length from that text.
The reading of the word of God sustains us on our journey of penance and conversion, enables us to deepen our sense of belonging to the Church, and helps us to grow in familiarity with God. As Saint Ambrose puts it, “When we take up the sacred Scriptures in faith and read them with the Church, we walk once more with God in the Garden” ... the greatest [during the Synod] attention was paid to lectio divina, which is truly “capable of opening up to the faithful the treasures of God’s word, but also of bringing about an encounter with Christ, the living word of God”. I would like here to review the [four] basic steps of this procedure. It opens with the reading (lectio) of a text, which leads to a desire to understand its true content: what does the biblical text say in itself? Without this, there is always a risk that the text will become a pretext for never moving beyond our own ideas. Next comes meditation (meditatio), which asks: what does the biblical text say to us? Here, each person, individually but also as a member of the community, must let himself or herself be moved and challenged. Following this comes prayer (oratio), which asks the question: what do we say to the Lord in response to his word? Prayer, as petition, intercession, thanksgiving and praise, is the primary way by which the word transforms us. Finally, lectio divina concludes with contemplation (contemplatio), during which we take up, as a gift from God, his own way of seeing and judging reality, and ask ourselves what conversion of mind, heart and life is the Lord asking of us? In the Letter to the Romans, Saint Paul tells us: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (12:2). Contemplation aims at creating within us a truly wise and discerning vision of reality, as God sees it, and at forming within us “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16). The word of God appears here as a criterion for discernment: it is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). We do well also to remember that the process of lectio divina is not concluded until it arrives at action (actio), which moves the believer to make his or her life a gift for others in charity. (Verbum Domini, #87)

Thus Lectio Divina not only draws us into prayer with God who speaks to us in Scripture, but it also unites us to Christ the Word of God, who is our great high priest pleading before God on our behalf. And as we are absorbed into His mind and heart and will, our prayers are ever more effective and pleasing to God. Let us pray that as people of the New Evangelization in the midst of the Year of Faith, we may draw close to God through is Sacred Word and so be prepared for the transformation and renewal we encounter in the Mass and in the Eucharist.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Homily 10-14-2012 The Rich Young Man: New Evangelization and Circumcision of the Heart


 Today our first reading reminds us that Wisdom is the highest of things we can possess in this life. And since our fallen nature so often leads us astray, we only get wisdom if we know where to look: God is its source, and the cross shows that, as we hear in Corinthians, His folly is greater than our wisdom. To accept that kind of wisdom, we need to make a radical change. Not an external change, but an even harder one: a change in our heart.
Take, for example, our young man today. He has many, many external signs as he is introduced to us: he shows real enthusiasm by running to Christ as asking about eternal life, he has manifest righteousness in keeping the law, which is only emphasized by the abundant blessings God has given him in this life (for Jews, wealth was generally viewed as God blessing the righteous). But in his heart do we find any Wisdom? no. The Virtues? Not really, since his pious practices are only a soul-less exercise of habit.
“All of these [commandments] I have done since my youth,” he says. First, this is like me saying “I've been doing that since I was 25!” to which you “wiser” members of the parish might say, Fr. Terry, that was three years ago; are you kidding?!” Talk about a lack of perspective! Second, Pride? he is blithely saying he has perfected all 600+ commands in the Jewish tradition. Nonsense.
The Lord Jesus, the Word of God that Hebrews mentions is “living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword,” cuts between the soul and the spirit of this young man. His soul is laid bare to Christ, who knows exactly what the man needs to hear. Like a good doctor, he goes right to the core problem, not playing around with addressing only manifest symptoms, and finds the deep issue: his heart is in the wrong place: he only wants perfection, superiority, etc. Jesus offers him the wisdom of God, where power is made perfect in weakness and the self is fulfilled in self-gift (the Cross). He invites the man to the “Circumcision of the heart” that Hebrews alludes to.
When Hebrews mentions a two-edged sword, it is referring to the sword of circumcision which is the core of Jewish identity, an intensely radical physical sign that the people and their descendants belong to God and God alone! However, it is meant to be paralleled by a posture of the heart. This old testament theme is taken up by St. Paul in Romans 2:18-29, concluding that: “True circumcision is not outward, in the flesh. Rather one is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not the letter.” This image, then, is seen the core of the Christian life. It is conversion, which summarizes the Gospel that Christ came to preach: “Repent and believe the Gospel!” Unfortunately, the young man is not ready to accept that. He lowers his head, he takes his eyes off Christ, closing off the ability to see that Jesus is looking upon him with absolute, genuine love. It is no wonder, then, that he ends up going away sad.
Right now over 200 bishops are gathered with the Holy Father in Rome for a two-week Synod on the New Evangelization. Just like the Second Vatican Council which we celebrate 50 years ago by opening this Year of Faith, The are working together to discover how to best read the signs of our time and bring the Gospel message to us in a new way through a renewal of the Church. They are searching for how to, like Christ, speak to man's heart and call him to be perfect. And since the New Evangelization is particularly oriented toward baptized Christians who have already “heard all about Jesus,” the bishops are working on how best to reach the “lost sheep” of the house of Israel, of the Church. How can they foster the encounter of Christ with His people?
From what I have followed in their discussions so far, I have gathered two important points, both oriented towards conversion, towards this sort of “circumcision of the heart” that we all need so desparately: first, Timothy Cardinal Dolan has said that the sacrament of confession is the sacrament of the New Evangelization. The fact is, Catholics receive Communion way more frequently than they prepare for it by regularly making a sincere confession, which endangers turning the holiest of external acts into a soul-less exercise of habit. Secondly, the witness of a humble church of repentant sinners will certainly open hearts to the Gospel, because Christ came to find and redeem the lost and fallen, not congratulate those who were self-made and only in need of affirmation. The New Evangelization needs witnesses who have put aside everything in this life so as to have Christ.
As true Christians, we must put aside all our human wisdom, allow Christ to speak the Gospel to us even when it hurts, and “circumcise our hearts” for the renewal of the Church, which is only accomplished in a renewal of individuals within that Church.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Homily 10-7-2012 Marital Fidelity: A Witness to Something Greater


 Today I want to speak about the focus of our first and second reading, that is, the institution of Marriage and fidelity in it. However, I would like to start from our second reading, the letter to the Hebrews, which says that Christ was made lower than the angels according to the Father's Will so that he could be “made perfect through suffering.” In His faithfulness to the Cross, we see that Suffering is the path to perfection for Our Lord, and thus also the same path for all of us.
On Friday I was bringing Holy Communion to the homebound, and visited a couple celebrating sixty years of marital fidelity. “Thanks be to God! Congratulations!” I said to them. “I hope I can say the same about my own priesthood in 59 years!” Then they said, “Well, it wasn't always easy!” Then we discussed how as priests and married couples we have crosses of different types, but they are all exactly that: suffering which makes us perfect. If the cross is the Lord's instrument for our salvation, then how can we reject it in our own lives? Rejecting the Cross would be to reject our path to salvation.
This is what makes the permanence of the institution of marriage (and also priesthood) so beautiful. They are beautiful because they reflect God who is love, who shows us the fulness of love from the Cross, who loves us while we are still sinners so that we can love Him in return, and others for His sake. The cross, the Eucharist, marriage, and the priesthood are meant to witness by their permanence that God will never abandon us, no matter what. No matter what, God is there.
“Made perfect through suffering,” Hebrews says. For the Christian, whether married or dedicated to the Lord and service of the Bride of Christ, the Church, we can translate this simply as: “made holy through self-giving love!” This is the path to holiness, and anything that helps us to do that is going to lead to our salvation. Whatever fails to do so weakens that in our lives.
In our world, the institution of marriage is suffering some serious challenges under the shifting sands of our culture. Many are attempting to re-define it so that it no longer has the the crosses that come with it, those crosses that stretch our self, that turn our focus from our needs toward that of another. If we fail to learn to love here, where will it be taught? If children are raised without the witness of the loving fidelity between husband and wife, how can they prepare themselves for the same vocation as adults? Where will the faithfulness of God be modeled for them?
Yes, marriage isn't always easy. Priesthood isn't always easy. Being Christian and standing up for your faith isn't always easy, because loving God and following His Will is not always easy. Look at the Cross where our Lord was made perfect through suffering, where we are made holy through self-giving love. He has loved you so that you can do the same. Let us pray that in the Eucharist, where the love of the Cross comes into our world, we may be strengthened by God's faithfulness, so that we may never abandon Him in carrying the cross shaped for us and receiving the gift of eternal life.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Homily 9-30-2012


 Everything a Christian does should be able to answer the question, “What is your goal in doing that?,” with the resounding answer of “To Build up the Body of Christ.” There are various ways to do that, and Jesus focuses on two of them today: sin and scandal.
If you love someone, you tell them the hard truth they need to hear even when they will be unsettled by it. Parents know that very well, because they have to do this often to their children. This is what Jesus says to us today. He reminds us both of the ugliness of sin, and of the reality of eternal punishment for obstinate sin which is unrepented.
We see how ugly sin is through the intensity of the words Christ uses to encourage us to avoid it: it is better to chop off your hand or gouge out your eye than to be stuck with sin. Those aren't very pretty images, because sin is not pretty.
By the way, it is probably a good thing we don't take this literally (even the fundamentalists don't seem to do so), otherwise we would have lots of us walking around in pretty miserable state! But seriously, Jesus is speaking symbolically: it is never our members that cause us to sin, because sin always requires a human choice, a free rejection of God's Will for My Will. Every sin repeats the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden. And that is why our sins were redeemed by Christ's obedience to the Father's Will in going to the Cross and his death. The Cross shows us two things at the same time: how ugly sin is, and how much love God has for us.
If sin is ugly, then holiness is beautiful. To be Holy is to be like God, to be full of God who is Love. We resonate with that beauty. When we see love, we are drawn to it, we are enlivened by it, we are strengthened to do the same in our lives. Love encourages love, and selfishness or sin encourages the same spiritual atrocities.
This brings us to the next topic Jesus mentions, which is the problem of scandal. As Jesus has to address those who do some good while not being perfectly in communion with Him as His followers, he also has to speak out against the leaders (including teachers, parents, etc.) who draw others into sin. Now I am certain that God glorifies His Name even through weak, fallen instruments, such as myself and Fr. Bill, but we need to be on vigil to help each other live holy lives!

Where are we focusing our energy? Better to focus on removing SIN and SCANDAL than on JEALOUSY for "God's" (our) Will.
2284 - Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Homily 9-16-2012 // Sacrificial Love & Stewards of Treasure


Today, the Gospel of Mark reminds of Christ's clear-minded focus on doing God's Will no matter the difficulties, on despising the world for the greater treasure of the Love of the Heavenly Father, on going to the Cross to die and then be raised. This cross is the core of our parish's sense of stewardship.
What is this “Stewardship” stuff we always talk about? Why do we pray this stewardship prayer every week? Well, Stewardship is simply a part of the concrete response of Discipleship. We practice stewardship because we, like Peter today, say to that man on the cross, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” and that changes all we do. We follow Him, even to the Cross, because His words are life.
A steward is someone entrusted with a treasure of some kind, and along with that treasure they have been charged with a responsibility to use it wisely & well.
The Christian steward realizes that everything they have is a gift from God, never earned even if we cooperate in producing it. This encompasses one's entire life: whether it is time, talents & skills, or financial “treasures.”
Today we focus on renewing our commitment to discipleship in regards to those worldly treasures, in “Stewardship of sacrificial giving. We call it sacrificial giving because it returns our focus to the center of the Gospel, the Cross, where God made the ultimate Sacrificial Gift for our salvation. And as reconsider how we are to give to the Lord from what we have received, please hear to Scott N.'s story.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Homily 9-12-2012


 Today's account is more than a miracle. Jesus performed all kinds of wonders and signs that weren't recorded by the evangelists. This one was written down because it spoke to the audience, and it speaks to us today, as Christ says, “Today, these words are fulfilled in your hearing.”
So besides the clear interpretation that Christ still can heal us today in miraculous ways, let us read this spiritually: Sin makes us deaf, dumb/mute to the things of God, to the promptings of His Spirit and the love of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. Christ heals us of our sins through a personal encounter, in secret, away from the craziness of the world – in the soul, in prayer. (and in the confessional).
And just like this man was taken from the crowd, Has God ever used a situation in life to drag you out of your routine to listen to Him? Do you ever have silence in your day? In your week? (Our world has come to fear silence.) One lesson from today is certainly this: in order to be healed by Christ, we need to move ourselves out of the world to meet Him in prayer. Mass is part of this, but not all!
St. James reminds us today that God chose and chooses the poor. There are infinite examples of this in Scripture: think of Joseph and Mary, of shepherd-boy David, of the backwater men who are the Twelve disciples. It is the poor to whom the Lord reveals Himself, not because He has anything against the rich, but because they are deaf, dumb, and blind. They cannot take in God's message. Do we choose the poor, or put them aside for the rich, strong, and influential? Do we shun poverty and weakness because they remind us that we are not God and cannot control this world? That we are doomed to one day give an account to God for all we have done?
Solidarity, that is, unity as a human family, is kind of intimidating. It asks a lot of us to truly live as if everyone is my brother and my sister. If that is true, I should be like Christ, taking the suffering of every individual as in some way my own hurt. Their pain should make me 'groan' as Christ did in today's story. Where does Christ groan today? Where does He ask us to turn our eyes toward heaven and beg God's Mercy over the human family, both for our own sins and those of the whole world? We need only look to the newspaper to know what we must pray for.
Did Jesus need to go through this entire ordeal of leading away, looking up, groaning, touching his ears, his mouth, even spitting and finally saying “eph-phatha”? No, of course not. So why does he do it? Because these human actions show exactly the reason of God becoming man in the first place: he wants to relate to us directly, on our plane, so that he can lift us up higher. This is why he established His Church with Sacramental Signs. Each sacrament shows forth the two natures of Christ: the human element is the physical signs, the divine element is the word that is spoken.
Here in this Mass, as we step away from the crowd, we go to the Lord to be healed. And here in the Eucharist, He reaches out, touches us, and opens our Hearts to hear.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Homily 9-5-2012 St. Joe HS - Joseph and God's Work


What makes this school different? What makes it unique? I want to read you a one-page reflection by a modern saint, JoseMaria Escrivà in his book, Christ is Passing By (#129).
Let me tell you about an event of my own personal life which happened many years ago. One day I was with a friend of mine, a man with a good heart but who did not have faith. Pointing toward a globe he said, "Look, from North to South, from East to West." "What do you want me to look at?" I asked. His answer was: "The failure of Christ. For twenty centuries people have been trying to bring his doctrine to men's lives, and look at the result." I was filled with sadness. It is painful to think that many people still don't know our Lord, and that among those who do know him, many live as though they did not. But that feeling lasted only a moment. It was shortly overcome by love and thankfulness, because Jesus has wanted every man to cooperate freely in the work of redemption. He has not failed. His doctrine and life are effective in the world at all times. The redemption carried out by him is sufficient, and more than sufficient.
God does not want slaves, but children. He respects our freedom. The work of salvation is still going on, and each one of us has a part in it. It is Christ's will, St Paul tells us in impressive words, that we should fulfil in our flesh, in our life, what is lacking in his passion, "for the good of his body, which is the Church."
It is worthwhile putting our lives on the line, giving ourselves completely, so as to answer to the love and the confidence that God has placed in us. It is worth while, above all, to decide to take our christian life seriously. When we recite the creed, we state that we believe in God the Father Almighty, in his Son Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life. We affirm that the Church, one, holy, catholic and apostolic, is the body of Christ, enlivened by the Holy Spirit. We rejoice in the forgiveness of sins and in the hope of the resurrection. But do those words penetrate to the depths of our own heart? Or do they remain only on our lips? The divine message of victory, the joy and the peace of Pentecost, should be the unshakeable foundation for every Christian's way of thinking and acting and living.

Today Saint Paul describes the Church, the living Christian community, you and me, as a field. It's not easy growing a crop in a field, especially when all you have is an ox, a plow and a few other simple tools. Much is involved, and the difficult work relies on various talents and skills.
St. Paul is reminding the Corinthians, who are all jealously competing with each other, that no one is better than anyone else. All are equal, because all work is done in the service of the one great work: living and sharing the Gospel of Redemption in Christ.
There is no work more important than this: not Calculus, not History, not Literature or Art, nothing is more valuable to our life than the work of God. However, nothing that we do on earth needs to be separate from this work: not sports, not music, not Biology, nothing needs to be an obstacle from the work of God. As Paul reminds us, we all have work to do in God's field, only different works. Our daily life is exactly what St. Josemaria Ecrivà was focusing on, and we have his favorite and perfect example as the patron of our school.

Saint Joseph helps us see that any work can be God's work.
Escriva says that “St Joseph was an ordinary sort of man on whom God relied to do great things. He did exactly what the Lord wanted him to do, in each and every event that went to make up his life. The name Joseph, in Hebrew, means "God will add." God adds unsuspected dimensions to the holy lives of those who do his will. He adds the one important dimension which gives meaning to everything, the divine dimension

Doing this, however, requires our cooperation, and this is in fact very simple: we keep our mind's eye and our heart oriented toward heaven, toward God. If we invite God through our soul to be part of our work, we have made that work holy, we have added that divine dimension, and God will add the rest.

Let us pray that here at St. Joseph High School, through the helpful prayers of our patron Joseph, we will never do anything without that divine dimension. Rather, as all of us do our various work here as students, teachers, administration, volunteers, etc., we will all do our best to keep our eyes on the prize, on the mission of this school: to be, as Bishop Rhoades mentioned at our recent dedication, a city on a hill and a light to the nations.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Homily 9-2-2012 Externals and Internals


Externals vs. Internals??
Today there is presented before us one of the oldest dilemmas in the Christian faith: How do the Law and God's Grace coincide with each other. The Church has long stressed that holding these two in opposition is in fact a false dichotomy. Here's an example of a false dichotomy that will make sense to us all: when presented with the question of having pie or ice cream, I always take them both. Who says I can't, right? They really aren't mutually exclusive, and, in fact, they sure do complement each other quite nicely! The same thing with the Law and Grace. Just like pie is made perfect with ice cream, so God's Law supports His Grace, even bears Grace.
So it is a good thing that the Jews treasured the Law. They were proud of it, they held it up as their pride and joy! And Jesus does not abolish even one letter of the Law. What He does, however, is challenge his listeners to remember what is more important, what the reason for the Law's existence is: the Human person, the Human soul. The Law is meant to make us holy, not miserly. The Law is meant to teach us to relate to God as He desires us, out of love made concrete in action.
This is why Jesus takes the focus off of the external rituals meant to shape our heart and onto the internal workings of the soul that end up driving our actions. Both are good, in one way or another, and if we have one without the other, our life becomes a contradiction. Rituals devoid of true religion is an empty show, and religion without action is worth nothing, as St. James says, “faith without works is dead.”
The Catechism defines true religion as the virtue of justice with respect towards God, or giving to God what is His due. So in par. 2135, the CCC states Adoring God, praying to him, offering him the worship that belongs to him, fulfilling the promises and vows made to him are acts of the virtue of religion which fall under obedience to the first commandment.” However, we should also notice that James does not mention these things at all when he describes religion to his audience: For James, True Religion means 1)care for orphans and widows in their affliction (aka the poor) and 2) to keep oneself unstained by the world. Religion is action, because we need both external and internal.
So both Law and Grace are good, and are needed by us to order our lives properly toward God and neighbor. Indeed we can have our cake, and our ice cream too!
So here, today, as we pray externally in this the highest of all rituals, the Mass, we beg God through these actions purify our hearts. As we carry out the Law, offering Justice to God (by true religion) and to neighbor, may we receive an abundance of Grace so that our hearts bring forth the fruits of the Spirit and not the defilement of wickedness.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Homily 8/26/2012 Marriage and the Eucharist


 Joshua places before the people of Israel the honest dilemma they must address: they have to make a choice whether it is the Lord whom they will serve, or another.
This is exactly what Christ does is the Gospel today, he has check-mated those followers who wished to make him into a political hero or a wise teacher and commentator of Jewish Tradition. He leaves them to make a statement of faith in who He is, as the living God who has “the words of everlasting life.” Jesus turns and asks us, “Do you also go away?”
St. Pius X, with his papal motto of “to renew all things in Christ” made that choice for The Lord. Besides his dedication to the Sacred Liturgy and Sacred Music, one of the things St. Pius X is most well-known for is lowering the required age of reception of Holy Communion to children at the age of reason. If they know the Lord, they can choose the Lord, and can thus start to receive Him in Holy Communion.
Today, however, I would like to talk about our second reading and its connection to the Eucharist. In the second reading, we hear Saint Paul talk about marriage, telling wives to be subordinate to their husbands, and husbands to love their wives both as their own selves, and in the same way that Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her. Here Saint Paul makes clear that the Lord defines love for us, the Lord initiates love for us, the Lord teaches love to us. Love is not what we feel; it is not what the world says; not what the movies tell us. No; God is love and he defines it, and that definition is made public on Calvary. Love is defined by the cross.
The relationship between Christ and the Church is often expounded throughout Scripture as the love of Bridegroom and Bride. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, directly quoting a Vatican II document, summarizes this in paragraph 757: "The Church, further, which is called 'that Jerusalem which is above' and 'our mother', is described as the spotless spouse of the spotless lamb. It is she whom Christ 'loved and for whom he delivered himself up that he might sanctify her.' It is she whom he unites to himself by an unbreakable alliance, and whom he constantly 'nourishes and cherishes.'"(LG 6)
This is why the new edition of the Roman Missal prays after the Our Father for Christ to “look of upon the faith of [his] Church and be pleased to grant her peace and unity in accordance with [his] will.”

The great mystery of our life as a Christian people united in Christ is found in the mystery of marriage, of the love of bridegroom and bride. What a great and high calling! Husbands and wives are called to love with the radical love of the cross, they are meant to be an open book of the Gospel, making visible in our day and age the love of Christ for his people.
Could we ever love that intensely and perfectly on our own?? No way! Luckily, husbands and wives, God will not abandon you. In fact, He comes so close in the Eucharist precisely because He wants to strengthen us to love like this, whether we are married or not. And in fact, we must rely on God in our daily prayer and in reception of the Eucharist, which makes the cross present in our lives, which makes the source of all love, God Himself, present in our time and place and in our very souls when we receive him.
On this feast of our patron, let us pray for families to love like this, for people to be strengthened by the Eucharist, the source of love.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

8-19-2012 Faith in Christ is the key to unlocking eternal life


T. Coonan Homily 8-19-2012 Faith in Christ is the key to unlocking eternal life.
Jesus does not explain the entire theology of the Eucharist to the Jews. He is inviting them to faith - Faith in who He is. In fact, He is forcing them to make a choice about Him. Either He is crazy, or He's malicious and intending to lead them astray, or He is exactly who He says He is. If they have Faith who Christ is, they will believe what He is teaching (even without fully comprehending it) and will find the gift of eternal life. Faith in Christ is the key to unlocking eternal life.
Last week I went on retreat to a monastery near Dubuque, Iowa. The place was surrounded by endless fields of corn, with some occassional soybeans. Every day I went for a jog out in those open spaces, and longed to run in those fields along the winding trails. However, the corn was like almost 8-feet tall, too high for me to see out - it was like a maze, and going in would be foolishness. So, since I didn't want you all to mourn the loss of your beloved parochial vicar who managed to starved to death in a corn field, I did what any Generation-X'er would do: I got on a computer, opened Google Earth and studied those corn fields from an aerial view. Then, although I still couldn't see anything more while I was in those trails, I knew where I was headed because I had seen the whole truth of that field. Simple solution: yes. Wise solution: definitely.
That is a small example of the wisdom that we hear about in the first and second readings today.
The first reading, although we only hear one side of it, presents us with a sort of competition between Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly or Foolishness. Both set up a banquet before us and both invite us to freely come forward and take what they wish to give us. One generously offers to our fragile simplicity the gift of truth, goodness, and beauty, summed up as “life”. The other takes advantage of our ignorance by deceptively offering a cheap meal “stolen bread” founded lies, which (unawares to the misguided) veils is true reality: chains and death.
Wisdom is not easy to come by, because it means knowing deeply and intimately, by our own personal experiences, what is true, what is good and just, what is beautiful – and thus knowing Who is God, since He is the fulness of all these things. However, it is not beyond the grasp of anyone – we are all invited to partake from her table. The key to making that journey towards Wisdom is Faith in Christ. It is like having a map for that corn-field. Faith doesn't make us 10-feet tall so that we can always see exactly what is happening. No, faith lets us know where we will end up, because we see things from above, we look up and trust that God is there.
As we have said, it is Faith in Christ is the key to unlocking eternal life. We know this best here in the Mass. Trusting in Christ as God, as setting up a table for us that is full of truth, goodness, and beauty, we are thus filled with God Himself, given to us in this sacrament. And this is the foretaste of eternal life. May our Faith in the Son of God bring us to our goal as we share even now in a foretaste of that gift.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Homily 8-12-2012 Be Transformed in order to Bring others to the Eucharist

Homily 8-12-2012 Be Transformed in order to Bring others to the Eucharist

 The Jews are absolutely scandalized by what Christ was saying about the gift of the Eucharist. They cannot not believe it. This is present here in our own world: it is difficult for non-believers to understand this great mystery. In fact, we ourselves never fully comprehend what the Eucharist is, because it is the living God, and God in himself is absolutely inexhaustible to our minds. It's like looking at the sun, our eyes simply cannot take it all in. This doesn't mean we run from contemplating this gift; rather, we adore and honor the host and chalice even more as Our Lord reveals Himself to us slowly, as He makes our eyes more and more able to see Him.
However, like Christ, we need to help others where they are at, to meet them where they are, so that we can bring them closer to Jesus.
The first way of teaching others about the Eucharist is holding the Eucharist in the highest reverence, in our actions, our words, and our thoughts. Since actions speak louder than words, if we do not have reverence for the Eucharist, how can we expect others to understand what this great sacrament is?
The Jews could not believe what Jesus was telling them, because they didn't know who it was that was speaking to them. We have to know Jesus in order to understand the promises he makes for us, in order to share this great Gift.
The three theological virtues that are directly related to our relationship with God are faith, hope, and love. And virtues are like muscles, they need to be used or they will slowly weaken and disappear.
So, every day we should pray to God for an increase in these virtues and exercise them, saying: “Lord I love you so much; Lord I believe in you. Lord I hope in you!” We can also pray in reparation, or in intercession, for those who do not love the Lord, do not believe in the Lord, do not hope in the Lord and his promises.
Next, these prayers for ourselves and for others need to be backed up with real, concrete exercises and practices in our life! Faith is shown by coming to mass every Sunday; by setting time aside daily for prayer, and especially praying devoutly while we are here at mass for ourselves our families and everyone who is in need. Our Hope needs to show itself, also: if we truly trust that God has a home for us in heaven, we should show that by the way we live in this world, by how we treat each other and how we we use the goods that God has given us. Most importantly, our Love for God needs to be shown in our love for others, no matter who they are, as Saint John has said: “How can we love the God whom we cannot see, if we cannot love our brothers and sisters whom we can see?”
And if we persevere in these virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love, this will open us up to the greatest way to show others what and who this Eucharist is: by being transformed, by allowing others to see Jesus in our actions, by truly becoming “Christians,” little Christs.
The greatest vessel of God's transforming Grace is this Eucharist. If we come to Him and are open to what the Lord wants to do in our hearts we will be renewed just as Elijah was strengthened to journey for 40 days.
If someone we know, or we ourselves, are unable to receive the Eucharist for any reason, we can also pray a prayer of spiritual communion, asking our Lord Jesus, who knows our longing, to come and fill us with his Grace as if we had received him in the Sacrament of Communion. And this can be prayed many times daily!
As we continue our prayer, we give reverence to our God for this greatest of gifts, we pray for Faith Hope and Love, and we beg to be consumed and transformed into Our Lord.

Homily 8-5-2012 God Gives what we need for our Renewal in Christ


Fr. T. Coonan Homily 8-5-2012 God Gives what we need for our Renewal in Christ
The focus of today's readings is simple: God supplies our need for our Renewal in Christ. Yesterday I walked through our rectory's vegetable garden and was affirmed again in the truth that God is a giving God: after I gathered in the huge cucumbers and numerous tomatoes, I remembered that all we had to do was plant the seeds, pull the weeds, and water the soil (sometimes God did that for me). God provides the rest, and I reap his generous gifts.

The one need of ours that is the greatest is found in the second reading today from the letter to the Ephesians. We are all longing for Transformation in Christ, both for ourselves and for the world: we need, for our own good and the good of others, to put off the 'old self' in Adam and put on the 'new man' in Christ Jesus. Sin beats us up more than anything, it makes us who we never were created to be. In order for us to “accomplish the works of God” like the Jews ask of Jesus, we have to rely on Him and on His gifts. We have to become like Jesus. He will always provide.

As Jesus tells the Jews that He Himself is the Bread of Life, He is begging them: “Don't come to me for your physical needs alone...nor even primarily; come to me for eternal food, spiritual food which never perishes.” Pray for holiness: theological virtues, moral virtues, (strength of character), promptings of the Holy Spirit.

We must cooperate with God's grace. We must choose. We must show our devotion – choosing God for His own sake. Lastly, we must never grumble! The Israelites are believing the lie of the world – so easy to believe because of the ability of the physical realm to overcome our senses and absorb our attention. “Don't seek me for what I can give you, seek me for who I am myself.”

Eucharist is the pinnacle of God's gifts to provide our needs. In God's gifts of Himself to us He is essentially saying: “See, I am holding nothing back from you; I give you everything.” Indeed God is showing us that in God we have everything we need. May the Eucharist, the gift of Jesus Himself, transform us that we may have the Grace to put off the 'old self' and become a new creation in our Lord.