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, April 28, 2013

Homily 4-28-2013 Making things New: Living in His Love


Homily 4-28-2013 Making things New: Living in His Love
Life isn't meant to be boring. Boredom is a sign that something is wrong: our actions, our priorities, our perspective. In our society, which is driven by a constant search for entertainment, it is easy to be bored – except of course at Mass during Father Terry's homilies, which have only gotten better every single week these almost two years, right? Not exactly. So, we often experience the feeling of boredom, whenever we aren't entertained because we have trained ourselves to expect those feelings to come from outside us. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Do you think the apostles Paul and Barnabas were bored? These guys were travelling by land and sea all over the Mediterranean Middle East and bringing the Good News to their brothers and sisters of Jewish faith as well as the pagans, or Gentiles. They were not bored, they were driven, and driven by something very powerful, by an idea and a relationship that helped them to see the world with a new set of eyes. Life was not boring for them, it was an adventure that continually offered something different around every corner.

Paul and Barnabas, like John's vision in Revelation today, were able to see the world transformed by God. As John saw “a new heavens and a new earth,” so Paul and Barnabas realized that in Jesus, everything is transformed so to speak into what it never was before but was always meant to be.

Take, for example, the new law to “love one another as I love you” that Our Lord gives us today in the Gospel. Jesus' new commandment here is based on the OT passage of Leviticus 19:18 - “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If Jesus is pretty much repeating this old command, then what makes it new? Is it because He said it, and thus affirms it as more important than it was once understood? Perhaps it is because he extends the definition of “neighbor” as in the parable of the Good Samaritan? Or maybe it is because of the glory he is about to receive when he gives the commandment, now that Judas has departed to hand him over? Yes, this is the reason. What makes this commandment new, then, is not the call to love, but the as I have loved you. The cross, the place where Jesus' glory is made visible to the world, the source of our new life in His death – this shows us what love is: here we see what “as I have loved you” really means.

Love means sacrifice. Sacrifice means giving without counting the cost, giving when it hurts, giving because we are not thinking of ourselves but of another. Parents know this well. We don't have to teach you how to love your children, it just happens, it's natural.

However, even if it's natural at some times, at others it is absolutely unnatural. Case in point: love your enemies: this kind of love isn't easy. In fact, We can't fulfill this commandment on our own powers, from the outside looking at Jesus and trying to imitate the love we see on the Cross. It can only be possible because we are already united with Him by the Gift of the Holy Spirit. We have to be in Jesus already, so to speak, in order to love this way. This is why in the sacraments, we are united to Christ.

So loving as the Lord commanded us may sometimes be natural, is always a challenge, but above all it is never optional. Love is mandatory: commanded. Jesus doesn't say: “I give you a new suggestion.” We have to love. At the end of our life, God's examination will not be a pop quiz. We know what the questions are.

The Sacred Liturgy, especially its highest form in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is heaven on earth. Sacrament of Eucharist is the most perfect encounter with God that we can experience on this earth. This is where we get the strength to love as Christ loved us, unto the end with humble obedience and complete self-sacrifice. Beg our Lord today in the Eucharist to help you to love by first pledging to love Him and be loved by Him. Then the new commandment to love as He loves you – no matter how unnatural and difficult it may seem – will find root in your life. And that love will make all things new for you, and you will never be bored again.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Homily 4-21-2013 Conscience: The Voice of Truth's


 Since we are the flock of the Lord, the people that He shepherds, we must, like those good sheep, follow Him where He calls us.
In order to follow, we ourselves must be listening to the Good Shepherd, so that we can start to recognize His voice. One way a Christian must practice listening is in our daily prayer. Another is in Mass, especially in Sacred Scripture. Occasionally even the homily might say something useful and we hear Jesus speaking to us. Always, though, we have our conscience:
(Catechism of the Catholic Church) 1776 "Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment. . . . For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God. . . . His conscience is man's most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths." (GS 16)
1777 Moral conscience, present at the heart of the person, enjoins him at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil. It also judges particular choices, approving those that are good and denouncing those that are evil. It bears witness to the authority of truth in reference to the supreme Good to which the human person is drawn, and it welcomes the commandments. When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking.
This is the voice of Jesus speaking to you, call it the voice of Truth. God is Truth, so when we see Truth in our minds or our hearts, we must take it as God's voice.


HOOK On Wednesday I sat down for a little television before Fr. Bill and I said our prayers and found a movie my family had watched many times while growing up: Hook. Since the last time I watched Hook was a decade or more ago, I had a much keener sense of the values it was promoting (especially about fatherhood and committment) and I can really approve it even more! This movie retells Peter Pan as a middle-aged man whose children, Jack and Maggie, are kidnapped by the villainous Captain James Hook. As a way to get revenge on Peter Pan, Mr. Hook manipulates his son Jack to forget about his father and see the Captain as his new father. Jack is eventually worn out by the lies and allurements of Captain Hook's methods, and becomes convinced that he is better off in his new situation. It fits beautifully with today's Gospel about the sheep hearing the voice of the shepherd: If we are listening well, we will be able to know the words of the Lord Jesus, the One and Only Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. However, there are other voices out in the world, and we must not let ourselves be deceived. Radio, television, literature, all can be things that give us messages that are very destructive even though we may not notice (just like I didn't notice the value of Hook until re-watching some of it). If we aren't giving ourselves opportunities to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, Jesus, how long can we listen to those lies and allurements (as Jack listened to Hook) before we start to give in to them?

What happened in Boston will probably be seen, when facts are sorted out, as a combination of multiple evil forces and bad choices among many individuals. But certainly a part of it is the corruption of conscience: the Voice of Truth that beckons all of us to do good, avoid evil, and seek truth, was twisted, marred, and abused after listening to lie after lie, again and again. The best way to work against this evil and for good is to try our best to listen for and respond to the voice of Truth in our conscience.
And lastly, let us speak the Truth boldly as well. If our world only hears other voices of lies and distractions, then they will not get very far. We need to help the Good Shepherd's voice of Truth get out there. So speak the Truth and discover the power it has, not from you, but from Him.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Homily 4-14-2013 Vocation and Fidelity


Training is important, but it can only get you so far. Peter and the disciples with him, at least some of them, were trained fishermen. However, they were not able to catch any fish because our skills and techniques can only get us so far. There comes a point where we must rely on God's help, especially His Grace working in our hearts, to make our work fruitful. With Christ's words, “Children, cast out on the right side,” they are able to bear much fruit from their training. The same thing happens for the apostolic work of the 12, the mission that Christ has for them. They were trained for three years at his side, but that training and discipleship, although irreplaceable, is not everything.
Peter, called to be the head of the Church, the leader of Christ's flock, has already shown by his denial of Christ before his Passion that we need more than training to live our vocations: we need on-going support. Why else do you think AAA is such a successful business? It provides constant support – no matter what.
The vocation we are called to live is our way of sharing in Christ's mission. When Jesus tells Peter to “feed my sheep” and “tend my lambs” he is requiring all of us, in our own ways, to do the work set out for us: as spouses, as parents, as teachers in the faith, as role models, as Christian friends, as missionaries across the world and across the neighborhood. All of this is our work, and we all have received some training for it whether we noticed it or not – though not necessarily 3 years worth like the disciples.
And besides this training, we have God's daily support. If we aren't close to God, if we don't rely on His Providence to work through our lives, if our work is not dedicated to the mission He has given us, then everything we do in life is less effective. I don't mean less effective in the eyes of the world: a non-believer can cut a piece of wood just as good as Saint Joseph. A prayerful life, close to God, for His glory, will be more effective in what truly matters: salvation, sanctification and praise. Salvation for it will save ourselves and others. Sanctification because it will make us to be saints and help others along the same path. Praise because it will give glory to God with the words of the countless hosts of heaven in Revelation today: “blessing, honor, glory and might to the One (the Father) who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. Amen.” This is the fruitfulness of a prayerful life. If only we pray and listen to Christ's words to us, remaining docile to the activity of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we will be able to produce an effective ministry that serves the Church's mission and lifts up the world to His Grace.
Let us pray for each other to live well the vocations, the various missions and apostolates that God has prepared for us: in our families, our parishes, our local communities.
Jesus refers to the apostles as “children.” This is such a loving way of reminding us that we always need God to support, guide, and lead us to what is for our good and the good of others.
Today, in this Eucharist, we beg our Lord to help us work well in our mission, to “tend His flock” that He has entrusted to us, and to rely on His strength and guidance in that work.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Homily 4-6-2013 Wounded and Healed by Love – Hearing from Pope Francis



On this Divine Mercy Sunday, let us recall how the Mercy of God is shown most perfectly The Risen Lord Jesus maintains his wounds after the Resurrection. Although they may not still be hurting or pouring forth, they are there – and they are there for many reasons: first, they certify that it truly is the one and the same Lord Jesus who was crucified. They are perhaps the strongest testaments to the Lord's Resurrection, and perhaps this is why Thomas demands to touch them. But I think there is more to it than just that. The wounds of Jesus are wounds of love, and as St. Paul teaches us, “Faith, Hope, and Love endure, and the greatest of these is love.” Why should death wipe out love? Why should Resurrection make love irrelevant? They don't. Love endures, so the wounds of love endure.
Another reason this enduring love in the wounds of our Lord remains with his glorified body is because we need them to be made whole. As we hear from Isaiah on Good Friday, “By His wounds we were healed.” The wounds of Jesus' love unto the end are the healing of our wounded souls.
Now I want to share some words from our new Pope Francis about these topics. First, I want to say that I love this Pope just like the rest of us, but not for necessarily the same reasons that the media has been praising him: first pope out of Europe, speaking of the environment, talking off the cuff, and abandoning standard protocol. Rather, I admire his humility, his simple living, his natural preaching of the Gospel which so approachable, clear, and powerful. And that is what I share with you now three insights from four homilies he has recently given.
First, speaking to the city of Rome and the whole word in the Urbi et Orbi speech of March 31st, Pope Francis clearly stated that “the Mercy of God always triumphs!” In the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord, we see the Mercy of God in its highest form. This is why Jesus can bring new life to the darkness and death we experience in our lives and in our souls. As we recalled earlier, the wounds of love in Our Lord endure to be a constant source of healing for us.
Secondly, Pope Francis said very clearly that we need to trust in God's Mercy always in these words reflecting on the woman caught in adultery: God never tires of forgiving us, but sometimes we get tired of asking for forgiveness. Let us not allow our pride (in the form of shame) to keep us from God, let us seek His Mercy which is all the way to the end as we see on the Cross: He would rather die. He would rather die.
Thirdly, Pope Francis, speaking of Mary Magdalene at the tomb, noted that sometimes we need tears to be able to recognize Jesus – tears are like lenses, or glasses, through which we can see Christ. Perhaps this is another reason the wounds of our Lord remain: sorrow for our sins helps us to recognize Christ. Do we mourn the pain we cause Our Lord by our sins? Do we quickly, sincerely, and fully repent like Saint Peter after we have betrayed or denied our Lord? These tears are good, they are healthy, because they look at the truth of our situation: we need a Savior, we are broken and need healing. And from this, we can see Jesus, we can see His wounds.
The last reflection from our Pope: Despite the attempts of our world to present us with other solutions to our problems, there is really only one Savior: the Risen Jesus. “No other name under heaven by which we are saved” has been given to us, St. Peter tells us. Jesus alone is able to heal us because He is the God who Created us and the man who is with us, who shows us his wounds to call us to repentance and to give us the healing they offer.
And The Catechism tells us that this salvation is the greatest act of God. CCC 1994: Justification is the most excellent work of God's love made manifest in Christ Jesus and granted by the Holy Spirit. It is the opinion of St. Augustine that "the justification of the wicked is a greater work than the creation of heaven and earth," because "heaven and earth will pass away but the salvation and justification of the elect . . . will not pass away."43 He holds also that the justification of sinners surpasses the creation of the angels in justice, in that it bears witness to a greater mercy. All of Easter we will reflect on what the salvation and Justification mean for us who have been crucified, buried, and risen with Christ. Who have looked at His wounds, wept for our sins, and been healed.
So here's the challenge for this week: meditation on the meaning of Easter. Every day, we should reflect on one of the points of Saint Francis, or from the section of the Catechism on Grace and Justification, pars. 1987-1995. Easy way to remember that is to think of those years in your life: they were good years for me: no diapers, snap bracelets, Ninja Turtles. So look it up in your Catechism, and take one little paragraph a day to reflect on: write it down and keep it with you. Then pray. Let the Lord reveal Himself to you, and cry out with Thomas: “My Lord and My God!”

Click for Catechism on Grace and Justification