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!

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Holy Family

Audio (11:30am Mass) - Click Here!

The family structure is probably the most important element that upholds tradition in a society.  It keeps us from changing with the whims of a time and place, and allows us stability.  For this reason the family is always under attack, and in our society there unique elements of that attack.

Alexis de Tocqueville "I do not know of any country where, in general, less of independence mind and genuine freedom of discussion reign than in America."  We have a lot of groupthink.  Democracy in some ways shuns the people who have "out-of-bounds" ideas.  If it's not popular, it's considered illegitimate.

One of the deep-seated ideas in our culture that fights the family is American Individualism (often stretching to the point of "anything goes" libertarianism) causes an anti-family mentality, Anti-marriage mentality, anti-child mentality.  True Freedom requires maturity, and maturity, which is based on clear thinking and self-discipline, is not likely to happen where there is not a healthy foundation in family life.  We are created to always grow and develop, but we do that best when we have a sense of stability, of foundation, of roots.  You notice how people who know their culture (whether italian, irish, indian, filipino, mexican, or anything else) truly can thrive in the world because of that reference point.  That's what the family is meant to be.

We are fighting for family in our society.  Perhaps the best way to promote the family is to be like the Holy Family, to be a family ourselves.

For Abraham, for Mary & Joseph, for all holy families: God is the first priority.  Obedience to God's will is the main thing they want, no matter the sacrifices.

"I love you" needs to be lived and not just said every once in a while.  (but saying it is still important).

City on a Hill,  Light on a lampstand.  The world needs to see families committed to common living, sharing crosses, rejoicing together - witnesses of the Resurrection.

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Christmas!


Audio: click here!

Children: who made us? Why did He make us? Are we supposed to live on earth forever?
Then heaven is our home.
My aunt and uncle lost their home and all that they had, except one car, in the California wildfires.  I just talked with them on the phone on Christmas Eve.  They were told in the middle of the night to leave if they wanted to survive.  It reminds me of Joseph when He was told to flee to Egypt.  They are very fortunate.  No one died or got hurt.  They are also grateful for all the love and support from so many good people - their neighbors and family and friends.  They will be able to rebuild, and they are happy to have that opportunity.  
We lost our home.  We lost heaven and have been waiting for a way home.
What makes today special? God left His home to lead us to our home, which is with Him. To make a way for us to go back, He came down to earth and became one of us.

Not just for the homeless in California or the millions of refugees throughout the world.  None of us are “at home” on this earth, for we were made for heaven.

Jesus shows us the human face of God and the divine face of man.

This church is your home.  You know when I go to my parents house or visit with my friends or drive far away for some priestly duty, I always can find my way back with that GPS.  It's simple, I just tell it to take me home.  This church is not just my home, it's everyone's home.  It's yours.

The House of Christmas
G.K. Chesterton




By: G. K. Chesterton
There fared a mother driven forthOut of an inn to roam;In the place where she was homelessAll men are at home.The crazy stable close at hand,With shaking timber and shifting sand,Grew a stronger thing to abide and standThan the square stones of Rome.
For men are homesick in their homes,And strangers under the sun,And they lay on their heads in a foreign landWhenever the day is done.Here we have battle and blazing eyes,And chance and honour and high surprise,But our homes are under miraculous skiesWhere the yule tale was begun.
A Child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost - how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky's dome.
This world is wild as an old wives' tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.
To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.
x


4th Sunday of Advent!



Audio: Click here!

1. Mary is the core of Christian life and discipleship. We all need to be like her. 

2. You can never get too close to Mary. 

3. Our yes to God effects so many others. Will I carry the cross of love as God requests? Or will I live life for my own desires, my own profit?



Sunday, December 17, 2017



Audio: Click here!

While still in a time of preparation during Advent, this third Sunday anticipates the coming feast.  The readings every year (whether cycle A, B, or C of our 3 year Sunday cycle) always bear the theme of joy.  Today it is heard in the first reading from the prophet Isaiah and the second reading ("rejoice always!") as well as the responsorial verse today, Mary's Magnificat (not from the Old Testament book of Psalms as it almost always is).  The Gospel about John the Baptist doesn't focus so strictly on it, and the stories we hear about him might not seem to outward appearances to be very joyful, but the person of John the Baptist could be considered a man of joy even before his birth.
Remember that when Mary visited Elizabeth (just before Mary's words of the Magnificat) the infant John the Baptist leaps in Elizabeth's womb, which E. takes as a sign that the Lord is near - that Jesus has drawn close.
John is an example if the joy we are called to bear.  It is a joy that all of us are capable of, because Joy, brothers and sisters, is the response to God's presence.  It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit that we receive when we notice something amazing.
Abp. Chaput speaks about Pope Francis' emphasis on joy in the Christian life:
Joy is the exhilaration we find in being overcome by great beauty, or in the discovery of some great truth or gift, and the passion that drives us to share this exhilaration with others, even if we suffer in the process. In effect, we don’t possess joy; joy possesses us. - Archbishop Charles Chaput - Strangers in a Strange Land (about Catholics is the USA, - we indeed are kind of strangers who don't fit into this strange land, this sort of "foreign country" that is not our true homeland of heaven).  Indeed, we are called to be a little different.  
John the Baptist was a great example of being "possessed" by the joy of knowing that the Lord is near to his life.  All he did was very intentionally focused on that truth, and oriented toward it.  He was born and raised at the same time as Christ, and probably saw Jesus every once in a while growing up, but eventually the joy of Jesus' kingdom being so close at hand led him to the desert, to live differently, and to call people to something greater: to get ready for God's reign in our midst.
And so we as Christians need to be like John the Baptist: 1. we don't conform to the culture. 2. we intrigue, draw, and lead people to an encounter with Christ.
Have you ever noticed how joy drives us to share what we have discovered with others?  It's contagious: when we experience something amazingly beautiful, we wish to share it - whether food (you gotta try this), or a movie (you gotta watch this) or a book (you gotta read this) or a even a friend (you gotta meet this person).  We don't want to keep it for ourselves, except maybe when we selfishly want to horde things that we 

Our faith should be joyful.  Evangelii Gaudium.  Pope Francis makes it clear that joy is a sort of requirement for the Christian life, and a fruit of the relationship with God - knowing that He is near in our lives.
Maybe not in the flashy bubbly way we see in our world today.  Joy doesn't have to be that, but rather it could be more a quiet, peaceful delight in life even in the midst of suffering.
Christmas joy,  should build up others.
This brings us to next Sunday/Monday with Christmas Masses.  Many guest will be here, many people on the fringes of the faith, whose connection with God and the Church is real, but has lots of room for growth.  It is fragile.  And we need to strengthen that, and support each other in living the Christian life.
So when our routine is thrown off because we are at a different Mass time and we find a packed parking lot and we see someone in what we think is our seat, let us remember that it's God's house, not ours, and the new faces you see around you need this Christmas Mass as much if not more that you and I.  They need our witness that God wants them here and to draw closer to Him through the Church.  May this Eucharist help us to be like John the Baptist and create a space in our culture for an encounter with Jesus, especially around Christmas.

Saturday, December 9, 2017

A Voice in My Desert



Audio - click here!

The Gospel of Mark begins with these words we heard today.  In these first words, he makes it clear that Jesus is the Messiah, long-awaited (literally centuries, even since Adam & Eve).  1) "Christ." 2) "Son of God"  3) Isaiah's prophecy (messianic)  4) Elijah's "appearance" in John the Baptist

The Gospel starts for us in the scene of the desert.

The desert refers to the wilderness, the place that is uninhabited, "deserted," and thus is free from distraction.  In the spiritual life we all have deserted areas - places that we have not spent much time cultivating and creating God's kingdom there - areas where things are truly out of order and chaotic, fallen into disarray.  With the ministry of Saint John the Baptist, we are invited to enter into that desert and prepare a way for the Lord there.  For the people of Jerusalem and the countryside of Judea that were going to see John the Baptist, the journey could have taken anywhere from 1-3 days, perhaps even more from areas farther west.  Jerusalem was about 20 miles from the river.  That journey into the wilderness truly allowed one to disconnect from their daily life, to get quiet, to refocus.  They could leave their sins behind, and then "turn back to the Lord" (who dwelt in the Temple) and "return" to their daily lives with a new perspective and a lighter load.

The snow we see around us now gives us a chance, a sort of invitation, to enter into that desert.  The snow first quiets the world around us (a symbol of removing distractions), and it also makes us slower - we walk slower; we drive slower; things take longer.  Slow down! the world says, sending us God's message.  All of this is an invitation to enter into that desert where we can truly hear God's voice - to disconnect like the Jews did on their journey to the Jordan River.  And what is God saying to us if we allow our lives to enter into in that quiet space?  Prepare a way...  “Prepare a way for Christmas presents”?  “Prepare a way for Christmas dinner and Christmas parties"? No, that is the world's voice.  But God’s voice calls us to get ready Not for an event but for a person. “Prepare a way for the LORD.”

The Messiah, the Christ, is coming.  The Gospel is beginning again in our lives this Advent.  And it begins in the desert, with this call to repentance.  God, in His great love for us, isn't waiting for you or I to fix ourselves.  No, he is coming to meet us and heal us Himself.  But he needs us to cooperate with that healing process by confessing our need for a Savior, by admitting we need Jesus.

Baptism - 2nd Baptism that is Confession.

Conversion is a life-long journey for us as Christians.  We can always go deeper.  Let us journey into the quiet desert of our hearts, and through repentance, prepare a way for Christ to meet us once again.