Spy Wednesday - Homily for OLF Elementary School

We all want to make God happy, but sometimes, we do things we should not. Sometimes we listen to other people and lose our way. Sometimes things happen and we ask why did God let that happen?

Have you ever heard the story of the little tree that wanted to grow tall and point to God in heaven?

The tree and its friends would talk about what they wanted to be. Some said they wanted to be made into a treasure chest that held the king’s wealth. Others said, they would like to be great ships that sailed the sea and showed the kings strength.

But the tree said, it was happy to grow tall and point towards God in heaven.

One day, men with axes cut the trees down. Some were made into treasure chests and great ships. Some became garbage cans or fishing poles.

The tree that wanted to point towards God was cut into beams and thrown into a pile. the tree was sad, it no longer pointed to God in heaven. 

One Friday, soldiers pulled the tree cut into beams out of the pile. They placed them on the back of a man who was forced to carried them through the streets. 

People laughed and pointed and spit. The soldiers nailed the man’s hands and feet to the beams. The tree felt ugly, harsh, and cruel. That man died hanging on its wood.

However, on Sunday morning, God’s love changed everything. The tree stood there as a cross strong enough to point the whole world towards God and heaven.

Sometimes when bad things happen, God uses them for his glory.

Today is SPY Wednesday. The day Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. Judas betrayed Jesus by selling information about him for 30 pieces of silver.  

As they ate the Passover meal, Jesus told his disciples one of them would betray him. All the disciples said they would not do anything like that, "Not me, Lord."  Judas denied it even more strongly, “Surely, it is not I.”  

Jesus knew Judas and answered, “that is what you say.” Judas did betray Jesus. 

We betray Jesus too, even if we don't mean to, by not being good, by not loving God, and not loving our neighbor. We betray Jesus in the things we say and do that doesn’t point towards God and heaven. We betray Jesus with sin.

Have you ever wondered why, some people are bad and some people are good; some people do good things then bad things then good things.  Why is that? Surely, Jesus only wants us to be good. 

We can be good or bad because God gives us freedom to be good or bad. God wants us as we are. He wants a real relationship with us, not just good deeds.

That is why our freedom allows us to be good or bad. Freedom allows us to choose to sin and ask for forgiveness. It is why we love Jesus or betray Jesus. 

Each and everyone of us is born with freedom to make choices everyday. God wants you as the person that you are. Every choice is our own not what God makes us do. God knows us, loves us, and knows what we will choose.

God loves you in all the choices you make. He loves you in all the good things and bad things that happen. 

Jesus knew Judas would betray him. Judas made his own choices, and God used them as part of His plan to save the world.

Even if we do bad things, God can use it for his glory.

God used the bad thing Judas did for the salvation of the world. Because of that salvation, Jesus is always ready to forgive us if we turn back to Him. 

We have a choice to turn back to Jesus and seek forgiveness when we fail. Freedom would have allowed Judas to repent and turned back to Jesus, but he did not. 

This doesn't mean we should sin on purpose, but it's comforting to know we can be forgiven. By God’s love, we are made strong enough to point towards God and heaven. By freedom, we can chose to do so.

“Roller-coaster” Homily Palm Sunday - Passion Sunday

Praise God. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice and passion.

You notice I began my homily a little different today. But today is different. Today is a day of contrast. It is a day we realize the emotional roller-coaster of our life and the life of Jesus. It is a ride we all must experience as Pilgrims of Hope on our journey to eternity.

 Do you like roller coasters? I do. I have been on several. I've been on small ones, big ones, ones that are fun to ride and ones that are scary. 

There was a small one at the City Park in Alexandria where I grew up. My bothers and I would love to go and ride, when it was working. The fair will usually have a kiddie coaster when it comes to town. Those are not scary or unexpected.

 I've been on big ones like the Space Mountain at Disney World. It was dark, there were flashing lights, and music was blasting. It was fun because you couldn't see what was coming. I’ve been on several roller coasters with no anxiety or worry and I enjoyed it.

 But, I was scared when I rode the Arkansas Twister at Magic Springs in Arkansas. That was a wooden roller coaster hat shook and groan as you rode on it. I rode it with my then 9-year-old daughter. I wasn't scared for the ride. I was scared that my 320 lb self was going to be thrown against my 65 lb daughter and she would be hurt.

 My wife said she could see the fear in my eyes.

 Today, on this Palm - Passion Sunday, we brief experience of the emotional roller-coaster that was part Jesus' life here on earth. It began at his birth when the angels in a song of praise proclaimed “Glory to God in the highest.” 

It started slow. There was no room in the inn. He was born in the stable and laid in a manger beside sheep, oxen, and beasts of burden. Only later to be visited by wise men and declared a king. In danger for their lives, his family fled to Egypt. 

At one moment he healed the sick and cast out demons. In the next moment, the scribes and Pharisees accused him of being a demon. Other times they tried to throw him off the cliffs. Thousands followed him to hear him preach or receive a miracle. He fed them all with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. He walked on water, calmed the storm, and raised the dead.

His earthly life was full of ups and downs. It was filled with rushes of excitement and danger? His family, his friends, and the community were on the ride with him. You could see the fear in their eyes. That is why the scribes and Pharisees accused him. That is why his family said he was crazy and his friends denied him.

But, there was no fear in Jesus’ eyes.

Because he had no fear, people saw him as something they wanted. They saw him as a political and military savior. But they did not know Jesus. He did not come to usher in a kingdom of man; Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God. The Lord called for a revolution of the heart not the sword.

But that is not the way people are. They see what they want to see. Some saw a political king. Some saw a miracle worker. Some saw a free meal.

As this emotional roller-coaster of Jesus’ earthly life comes near to the end, again we hear the exclamation, “Glory to God in the highest.” The people were caught up in the excitement of the moment. They lined the streets to welcome him. They laid down their cloaks and cut branches from the trees. They praised God with joy, shouting Hosanna - “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.” Hosanna in the highest.

But people are a fickle bunch. 

Before the end of the week, it all changed. Some decided that Jesus wasn't the messiah the people wanted. Jesus did not come to conquer an empire; he came to transform hearts. That is not what the masses wanted. So, at the end of the week, instead of shouting praise, they shouted - crucify him, crucify him.

One moment they hailed him king with “Hosanna” but after they demanded his crucifixion. Instead of a crown of gold, they crowned him with thorns. Instead of placing a royal cloak on his back, they scarred his back with scourges and beat him. Instead of a throne of silver, they gave him a cross of wood.

From shouts of hosanna to demands to crucify him shows the complex relationship between Jesus and the people around him. It is also a mirror of our relationship with Jesus.

Just like the people who lined the streets almost 2000 years ago, we are fickle and erratic in our life of faith. Sometimes we love Jesus. Sometimes we are mad at God. Sometimes we run to him. Other times we run away. We either seek Jesus crying Hosanna or seek Jesus to see what we can get from him. If we don't get what we want, we cry out crucify him. This is the emotional roller-coaster that is our life in this world. 

No matter our faults – no matter how sidetracked and preoccupied by up and downs, dullness or excitement, joy or anguish of life we become. Jesus remains unwavering. When we feel the most forsaken and abandoned that is when the Lord is closest of all. He is beside us without any fear in His eyes, only love. Not just to us - but to all people. Even those who would crucify him.

Even the hymn Paul gave the Philippians reminds us of the ups and downs Christ went through. “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself… and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.”

Palm Sunday / Passion Sunday is an emotional roller-coaster ride. Life is an emotional roller-coaster ride; and, even our faith is part of that emotional roller-coaster ride - ups and down, slow crawls, sharp curves, and rushes of excitement. No matter where our life journey with its twists and turns may take us, as followers of Christ our voyage of faith leads us to the one who will be next to us with no fear in His eyes.

That is the message of Jesus’ Passion and death.

My fellow Pilgrims of Hope be good, be holy and preach the gospel on the emotional roller-coaster of life we experience on our journey to eternity.

Praise God, Thank you Jesus for being beside with no fear in your eyes. Amen

In Christ Every Sinner has a Future - Reflection 5th Sunday of Lent "C"

Praise God, Praise be to Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen.

Can we all be saints?  Yes, of course…we can!

WE CAN ALL BE SAINTS. WE ARE PILGRIMS OF HOPE. WE ARE BELIEVERS. WE ARE SAINTS. We are all called to be holy; but, we must acknowledge we are sinners on a path toward eternity. We must admit the need for God’s mercy and that we need Jesus. And, God in his mercy and love makes a way.

I have had many people tell me that “God could never forgive them for the things they have done.” Those are words without hope. They are an excuse given for misery. They are an excuse for not coming to mass. Soon, they believe their excuse.

Every saint has a past and in Christ every sinner has a future. (Oscar Wilde) Friends we all have the capacity to become saints.  No one is so good that he hasn’t failed at some point, and no one is so bad that he cannot be saved. 

 In our gospel today, Jesus would show us that his mercy is greater than our sins.

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. But they were not really concerned about this woman. They were concerned on how to bring Jesus down.

So they took advantage of the woman’s vulnerability and weakness in order to further their self-interest and their plot to get rid of Jesus.

They thought in their case about the woman Jesus would certainly be trapped. If, Jesus gave either a “YES or NO;” they already have an accusation against him.

If Jesus said “NO”, they would accuse him of breaking the law of Moses which commanded that a woman committing the sin of adultery had to be stoned to death. If He said “YES, stone her to death”, then they would accuse him of not living out what he preached, (forgiving 70 times 7 times, or that God is loving and forgiving God.”

If that would have been someone else there would probably be no way out of that situation.

Jesus knew better. He could see the bigger picture. If the path ended, Jesus blazes a new trail. By his answer, Jesus showed he is the Way. By his answer, Jesus’ truth and holiness was shown to be above the law.

Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. The original Greek word used translates that Jesus was writing accusation in the dirts. Instead of writing with a stick, he was pointing at them with his finger.

Yet, they continued to ask.  He stood up to answer them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. Jesus does not only comfort the afflicted, he would also afflicts the comfortable.

Sometimes to become Saints, we have become uncomfortable. Paul tells us that in his letter to the Philippians,

”For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God,… I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.”

Never say, never let a friend say, “God will never forgive me for the things I have done.” Those are words without hope. We are Pilgrims of Hope. We bring that hope to many.

God tells us through the words of the prophet Isaiah, “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new! “The Lord has done great things for me.

Friends, sinners we may be, but we have the capacity to become saints. Paul attest that with and through Jesus we can achieve this potential. “Holiness is a gift, sharing in Christ is utter trust.“

Every saint has a past, but in Christ every sinner has a future. Friends we all have the capacity to become saints. Pilgrims of Hope on our journey to eternity.

Can we all be saints? Yes, and that is the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. We are pilgrims of hope. We are believers.

Be good, be holy, and always preach the Gospel of God’s mercy and hope by the way you live your life and love one another.

Praise God, Praise be to Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen.

Twinkle Twnkle Little Star - Be Proud of who you are - OLF Elementary Service 4-2-2025

The first reading this morning said “Sing out Heavens and let the earth rejoice. Mountains break forth in song!”

Does everyone know “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?” Can everyone sing it with me?

Twinkle Twinkle little star, 

How I wonder what you are?

Up above the world so high, 

Like a diamond in the sky

Twinkle Twinkle little star, 

How I wonder what you are?

This song was written many years ago. People would look at the stars and not know what they were. A lot of people were not able to go to school. People could not read. So, they looked at the stars and would say “I wonder what they are?”

People asked the same question about Jesus.

In times when there was no hospitals and few doctors, He healed the sick. People who could not see, he touched them and they could see. People who could not walk, he told to stand up and they walked.

He fed thousands of people with just a few loaves of bread and fishes from a little boys lunch. He did many many amazing things.

People saw all these and thought - Jesus, Jesus how I wonder who you are?

He knew people were asking his question and Jesus asked his friends “who do people say I am?” They had a lot of guesses. Peter answered correctly, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.”

People did not like this. Especially, the people who thought they knew everything about God. These were the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Priests. They thought they were the only ones who knew what God wanted.

These people asked Jesus, “Who are you to do all these things you do?”

Jesus says “I do nothing on my own, I do the will of the one who sent me. The son does the will of the Father. The Father loves the Son.”

Jesus was telling them he was the Son of God. He was God.

And, they he says, “They should believe in Him.” Because, “You think what you have seen is special, wait you will something greater and be amazed.”

If Jesus is in us, we are something greater and amazing. We love like Jesus. We bring something greater to the world. We do the will of God’s work. 

Our dignity, our goodness, our love, and all the gifts we share with others are diamonds for the world to see.  

Jesus is the light that shines in each one of us. Twinkle Twinkle little stars. We give thanks to God for all that you are.

Amen