Love: Follow Me - Homily Reflection 5th Sunday Easter

Love: Follow Me

Acts 14:21-27; Psalm 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13; Revelation 21:1-5a; John 13:31-33a, 34-35

They will know you are my disciples; by the love you have for one another.

During formation, the Bishop asks each deacon candidate “What is your theology? What will you preach?” I gave the only answer I knew “God is Love.” That’s what my daddy told me and that’s what my momma told me.

It’s the motto of my ministry. Y’all be good. Y’all be holy. Preach the Gospel by the way you live and love.

Love is Jesus ministry. Love is glorifying God. It’s in the directions Jesus gives, “Follow me.”

To follow Jesus is to love. It is the identity at the core of our Christian faith. Love in the humanity of Jesus, son of Mary, and love in the divine relationship with God the Father.

This is Love that most people have not found yet; even those who say they are “saved.” They are not "saved" from themselves.

We live in the world that tells us what to love. It tells us success is the most important thing. So our pride and self-centeredness closes the door to God’s love and opens the door for sin. The world can even fool us to mistake sin as love. This is the worldliness we need to be saved from.

The greatness of God’s love is that He doesn’t give up on us. God seeks us even in our imperfections. God’s love is who and why we are.

God’s love is at the deepest core of our identity. It is the reason we were created. For many, our own ego hides this love.

But, God is dwelling in us; you are the temple of God and scripture promises God will always be present. The presence of God is love and grace. We know these following the commandment Christ gave us.

Love one another. --- Love is not about us.

To know love, we must change and grow by faith and love in Him that is something more than ourselves.

God opens the door to faith. To knowing that you belong to Christ and are in His love and grace; turning to the love in you and away from sin.

Christian singer Matthew West has a song “Do Something.”  He sings about troubled world. He knows there needs to be a change. He sees poverty, abuse, and hate in the world. Disgusted he shakes his fist at heaven. “God, why don’t You do something?” God answered, “I did, I created you”

He created us from love, He created us for love, and our destiny is his eternal love. (Ilia Delio, "Love at the Heart of the Universe," Oneing, Vol. 1 No. 1 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2013), 22.)

Fight the sin of our pride and open your hearts to the love of Christ.

Work hard to keep it, fight the distractions of the world. And the Holy Spirit and grace will bring us to heart, mind, and love beyond our own.

This is conversion. This is being saved. This is being born again. No matter what you call it, this is the love in which God makes all things new.

Jesus invites us to God that is love.

We’re created for God and his love. God’s there, love’s there; keep looking.

Tell everyone about God’s love. Go out to the world and make disciples.

Love others enough to want them to find the love of Christ.

Never give up God’s love, even when others are trying to pull you away.

The truth of our faith is sharing the love that is Christ and his words,

Follow me.   

Follow Jesus. We’re never going to change the world by standing still. (Do Something by Matthew West)

That’s love. 

Our Particular Way - Homily Reflection 4th Sunday Easter

Our Particular Way

Acts 13:14, 43-52; Psalm 100:1-2, 3, 5; Revelation 7:9, 14b-17; John 10:27-30

I’m telling on myself. Last week we had a visiting priest.  He said when he was growing up; the priest in his parish considered it a mortal sin to wear blue jeans to church. They were work clothes not church clothes.

I had blue jeans on under my vestments. I said “When the Lord calls us he takes us with all our particularities.”

Then this week, I found this wisdom in the Catechism. By our Baptism, we are incorporated into Christ and are made to be sharers in our particular way in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly office of Christ.

Jesus told us, “You are to be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.” We are called to witness our own particular way.

He calls us. He knows us. And we follow him as we are. Revelation describes “a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.”

This multitude is us; but, it’s everyone. It is the poor, hungry, and homeless. He loves the unloved, abused and neglected. His sacrifice was for victims of war and the masses of refugees.

How do they hear his voice? How do they know the Gospel? It’s up us to “go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel.”  

The apostles, the disciples, and those who followed Him would do as Jesus asked. Paul and Barnabas continued on to Antioch in Pisidia and almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 

Paul preached and people believed; but, things didn’t go well. Preaching the Good News upset the world view of the leaders. They argued against Paul and Barnabas. They stirred up a persecution against them. It was a messy situation for those preachers.

Life is messy. It is from the messiness of our own particular way we are called to proclaim the gospel.

It’s not going to be perfect. Preachers aren’t perfect. Preaching isn’t perfect words. Preaching is being good and it’s being holy. It’s the way we love others. Real preaching is done in the messy particulars of life.

We are called in our particular way, some to stand up to proclaim the gospel in front of the people; but, all are called by the way they live. We are to live and preach what we believe.

Share the good news in our particular way in this world. Live the gospel and people will hear His voice through our lives.

Every believer will witnesses to someone. Hearts are opened by love, even in the simplest way. Preachers have parents. Saints live in the world. Maybe your witness will be to a future saint.

Amen. We are all called to be preachers. We’re called to be an instrument of salvation; bringing His voice to the poor, the hungry, and the homeless; witnessing His love to the abused and the neglected; and speaking His peace to those who do not know peace.

Preach salvation and those who hear His voice will believe.

The world needs voices like St. John Paul II, Pope Francis, Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta, and Mother Angelica. They were called; lambs who heard His voice. Pray for those discerning vocation.

Pray we listen with joy to the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts. The world needs voices like yours and mine.

The word of the Lord continues to spread.

This week two laypeople stood before an audience including Bishop Duca, most of the priests, and many deacons from the Diocese. Two beautiful people proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ to a room full of preachers. This is one of the stories they shared.

A Bishop wished to have dinner with a Catechumen’s family before the Easter celebration. The Bishop arrived for dinner and was escorted to the dining room by the young son. Hanging on the wall was a painting of the Last Supper.

The Bishop complimented the painting. He tells the boy how the painting is a symbol of the family’s faith that preaches the gospel and witnesses to all who come to their table.

The boy says, “So you like the painting that’s going to make momma real happy. She brought it just for you when she heard you were coming for dinner.”

Preach the Gospel in our particular way.

The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. May each of you be filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit in preaching the good news of Jesus Christ in your own particular way.

Y’all be good, y’all be holy. Preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen.

Best Friends - Reflection for 3rd Sunday Easter

Best Friends

Acts 5:27-32,40b-41; Psalm 30:2,4, 5-6,11-12,13;Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19

I heard a preacher on the radio this week say, “Jesus is my best friend.”

It brought memories of Gorum Baptist Church where we sang, “What a friend we have in Jesus; all our sins and grief to bear! What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer!”

Alleluia and amen.

Every Christian should have Jesus as a best friend; but, how good of a friend are we?

Think about our lives and how good a friend we are to Jesus. It can be disheartening. We remember Jesus when we need. We pray when our sins become too great. We seek him in our grief. The rest of the time, most of us live our regular lives.

Peter and the apostles, they were Jesus best friends.

One betrayed him.

The others went fishing.

Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We also will come with you.”

After discovering the empty tomb, Peter and the apostles went fishing.

They knew he was the messiah and the Son of God. They heard him prophesy and found the tomb empty. Jesus was their best friend and they went back to everyday life.

Everyday life has a tendency to keep us from Jesus. It’s the same problem most of us have; life in this world!

We want so much. We want to make an impact on the world, friends, or family. But, the world sees us as points on the timeline of forever; a moment in history’s existence. 

That’s not how God sees us. He knows us and sees our greatness.

“Do you love me?” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”

Something happened at that point in the timeline of history by the Sea of Tiberias.

Maybe the apostles sang “I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me” as they rowed to the shore. This was a point of conversion.

Jesus said “Follow me,” Peter’s and the apostles’ lives changed. Later, at Pentecost embolden by the Holy Spirit, they left their lives as fisherman to become a fishers of men.

Being a point on the timeline of history is not a bad thing, if we do as Jesus asks “Follow me.” 

A line starts at a single point. The middle is a single point. The end is a single point. An arrow is shot from a single point on the bow. A moment is a single point. The single points make a difference. 

To make a difference, our point must point towards Jesus Christ.

Jesus consistently asks us "follow me.” Hearts are changed in those who say yes.

Follow Jesus and hearts are changed. They go from mourning to dancing. Changed men, led by Peter, stood up and said, “We must obey God rather than men.”

Get out of the boat. Stop being a non-discreet point in history. Be the point that is the arrow pointing to God.  Be one that shows the way to a divine relationship with Christ. Every point is a new beginning of something.

What happened on that seashore was the point the apostles opened themselves to a new relationship with Christ. It was the apex of a new friendship with Jesus and a union with God.

As Jesus’ friends, why do we only go to Him in grief and despair? Why are we afraid to be identified with his name? It’s easier to go back to our non-discreet timeline of everyday life in this world.

Jesus asks "Do you love me?" That's the point friendship with Jesus goes both ways. 

Our friendship with Jesus dances as part of everything in the universe that cries out: “To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb - blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever.”

Pointing others to God is the greatest point to make on the timeline of history. Our friendship with Jesus is what points to the divine.

Instead of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” a new song - “What a friend Jesus has in me; I sing his love and charity! I praise His salvation and redemption. What a friend Jesus has in me.”

Y’all be good, y’all be holy. Preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen.

"The Question" Reflection for 2nd Sunday of Easter - Divine Mercy Sunday

The Question

Acts 5:12-16;  Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19;  John 20:19-31

In the Acts of the Apostles we read, “Many signs and wonders were done among the people at the hands of the apostles.”

Signs and wonders are not things of the past.

A friend told me about his friend’s sister. His friend is a Baptist preacher; and, the preacher’s sister converted to Catholicism. It began with a question to a priest about the Catholic faith. Signs and wonders are still working through Christ’s apostles.

My friend then asked me the question, “What do Catholic’s believed?”

My reply, “I believe in God the Father….” He was amazed, it was what he believed.

He asked about the Blessed Virgin Mary, it's the question you’ve all heard in one way or another. “Do Catholics worship Mary?” Then we discussed the real presence. He liked my answers.

My greatest failure was that I didn't tell him about Mercy. This is the Year of Mercy. This is Divine Mercy Sunday and I failed to talk about mercy.

I should have explained how we are justified by faith through God’s Divine Mercy. This is grace. We do not receive Grace by our performance, works, or future plans. Grace is the source of mercy. Grace, the source of our faith which is a deep confidence in a loving God, comes to us as Divine Mercy from our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the truth of Jesus. This is the good news the apostles preached. It is the gospel that attracts believers like the sister of a friend of my friend. “More than ever, believers in the Lord, great numbers of men and women were added to them.”

Today believers have lost their way, but many returned to their faith and home to the Lord. 

Believers come from Christian churches outside our faith. These are believers who have discovered the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

There are believers who came to believe from unbelief. Think of the courage it takes to leave family and friends to follow Christ.

They come to believe because Christ has touched them. Their hearts have reached out to God, The Holy Spirit has thrust their hands into the side of Christ. They believe, “Do not be afraid…. I am alive forever and ever.”

They are believers. They no longer doubt, praying “My Lord and my God.”

Remember, I was hard pressed and was falling, but the LORD helped me, when someone asked you the question, “What do you believe?”

Have confidence in the Lord’s words, “Do not be afraid….” The nail marks of Christ are in the hearts of believers. It is our faith. Believe and testify with life; don’t hide behind locked doors. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and through this belief you have life in his name.

“Many signs and wonders will be done.” They are not things of the past. Live out loud in the signs and wonders of your faith and belief in Jesus Christ.

When someone comes with the question, by God’s grace and the Divine Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord speaks for us. He removes our fears and doubts with “Peace be with you....”

Y’all be good, y’all be holy. Preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen