He Cares for You - Healing Prayer Serivce

He Cares for You (Reflections of the Healing Prayer Service)

Thanks Dan for Inspiration

God provides great words to touch those who open their hearts. From scripture come these words: Bow humbly under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time he may lift you high. Cast all your cares on him because he cares for you. (1 Ptr 5:6-7)

We come here tonight to pray for healing. In these prayers and words are healing. They tell us of God’s love which is the most awesome healing power there is.

We just need to take that love into our heart’s and return it to God.

It is the fire of God’s love that frees us from our suffering and purges us of our sins. In the fire of God’s love, the light of his grace brings us the strength of hope and the peace of his presence.

It is a fire that burns hot and strong, so we tend to keep at a distance; even those who think we’re religious. Because, the  truth is we try to control everything.

We forget to open ourselves to God’s love and return it. We forget God is our loving Father who cares for each and every one of us. Because we’ve neglected God, we think God has forgotten about us.  

We forget to bow before Him. We forget to praise Him. We forget His mercy. We forget to return His love.

Then we come to a crisis. We get angry and in that anger shout at God. It’s alright to be angry. It’s alright to shout and ask God why. It’s alright because He cares. He loves. He forgives.

It’s alright. Because, in this anger, shouting, and questioning, we recognize that we don’t control everything. Everything is in God’s control.

 From Psalms 62

• In God is my safety and glory the rock of my strength
• In God alone is my soul at rest, my help comes from him. 
• In God alone be at rest my soul, for my hope comes from him

Pray to God and offer him your suffering, your illness, your crisis. Pray to our Heavenly Father for his mercy. Pray to Lord Jesus Christ, the Divine Physician for strength, hope and healing.  Pray to the Holy Spirit to know the peace and joy of God’s presence. Pray for forgiveness. Pray often.

I am filled with joyed when my wife, children or someone tells me “I love you.” I never get tired of hearing those words. That’s our prayers to God, the “I love you” from us to God.

Praise God, offer Him all our suffering. Give our pain to the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered for us. Our Heavenly Father brings grace, peace and joy, because as the scripture tells, He cares for you.

Where That Came From - Reflection 26th Sunday OT

Where That Came From   

26^th Sunday OT

Being a preacher’s son, one Sunday a month we'd go to a member of the church’s home for Sunday dinner. My mother would give out instruction: mind your manners, eat one bite of everything on your plate, and never ask for seconds.

My brothers had problems with the first two, my problem was the third. It never failed that the chubby little boy would be asked. "Would you like seconds? There’s plenty were that came from." I would stare longingly at a second piece of fried chicken and say “No mam, I'm full.”

Later, we would go to my grandparents’ house. My grandfather always had a pack of Wrigley's gum in his shirt pocket. If there were more grandchildren than gum, he would tear the sticks so everyone would have a piece. He would give it all out and say “That's all I have, there’s no more where that came from.” No matter how many times he divided a stick of gum, it was more than enough. We’d be happy with all he had. 

“There’s more where that came from,” is a modern phrase. When Jesus preached his parables, people believed abundance and good things were limited. They only knew, “There’s no more where that came from.” People who had things were favored by God.

The only thing in abundance for the poor was misery. Illness and suffering were thought to be divine punishment. To improve one’s stations in life was unthinkable. If a person gained something they were suspected of taking it from someone else. That’s why the shepherd looked for his one lost sheep and the woman searched for her one lost coin.

In this world of rich and poor, the rich controlled everything. The rich were blessed by God and the poor and suffering received divine justice for a sin they or their ancestors had committed. The poor survived on the generosity of the rich. The Law of Moses instructed the rich to share their good fortune by alms to help the less fortunate.

This brings us to the story of the rich man and Lazarus. In a world about the powerful, wealthy, and beautiful people, it is a story with great irony. To see only beauty, the world ignores the people it considers unimportant or nameless like the poor and suffering.

The irony of this story, it is the successful we don’t know; but, we learn the name of the poor and suffering, Lazarus. Christ is the paradox that puts a name to the nameless and brings beauty to those the world has thrown away. Though He was rich, he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. Rich and abundant is His grace, mercy, and love.

God did not condemn the rich man. The world saw him as a favored by God. The rich man condemned himself by forgetting his God given responsibility of caring for the poor. He created an abyss between himself and the poor and suffering.

He lived in opulence all his earthly days. In that, he created a chasm between himself and Lazarus. He ignored the poor and suffering man not even offering scraps from his table. His destiny of torment began at the door that separated the two on earth and grew to a great abyss in the next.

The difference was who stood on the favored side.

In life Lazarus was a forgotten person. No one even cared enough to “shoo” the dogs away. He lived on the poor side of the door; yet, he never begged or asked the rich man for anything. After death, Lazarus was received in the bosom of Abraham, a table of righteousness filled with God’s love, grace, and mercy. 

After death and in torment, the rich man begged. 'Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.'

Lazarus is a precursor image for Christ raised from the dead; but, Lazarus did not preach repentance. Christ preached repentance and sends his disciples with the same message.

The message for us is don’t chase the riches of the world. Instead, “Pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith.”

This is mercy. This is love. Rich and abundant is His grace, mercy, and love. Like my grandfather's piece of gum, in his grace He gives us all.

Pursue Christ’s abundance. “Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called…” We are his disciples. As Christians, we took his name. Go out to learn the name of the poor and suffering. With great love, bring His riches. The Lord will give us all. If your goal is to love, give all that you have.

Yall be good, yall be holy; preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen.

Put Your Feet in the Right Place - Reflection 25th Sunday OT

Put Your Feet in the Right Place  
25^th Sunday OT

On vacation with my parents this week, I visited the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park in Hodgenville, Ky.  At this park is a large monument at the place of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. A grand set of stairs in the hillside leads to a large granite and marble structure. Inside is a humble cabin not much more than an arm’s span wide and three arm’s spans long.

The only problem, scientist have discovered it's not old enough to be Lincoln’s birth cabin. Yes, it sits on the spot of the original cabin; the land belonged to Thomas Lincoln, Abe’s father, but it is not the cabin. 

The National Park Service calls it a symbolic birth cabin. It all started with plan to make money. Visit the park to learn the whole story. It's kind of like the stories we hear today.

In the first reading, greedy people take advantage of the poor by cheating them out of their wages, out of food, and even take advantage of their lives. We will diminish the ephah (a bushel) add to the shekel (used as balance of scales) and fix our scales for cheating! We will buy the lowly for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals; even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!”

They wanted the Lord’s Day to be over so they could continue their cheating. They wanted the festivals of the Lord to end to continue their dishonest ways. They are just going through the motions of prayer and worship.

The gospel parable asks if we are doing the same. Are we honest stewards of God’s mercy? Do we share from our bounty with those less fortunate or are we cheating God?

Jesus came to teach us to love, to care for the poor, the less fortunate, and those in need. Paul re-enforces Jesus’ message by bringing this ideal of a new life. We are to offer supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings for everyone. This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.

I like the fact that St. Paul asks us to pray for the poor and lowly sinners who are Kings and those in authority. These are poor for the love of Christ.

This is a great idea in our time's of politics and issues. It is a great idea when political platforms are built on legalized killing of the unborn and rail against Christ and His church. Our countries founding ideals and thoughts are not understood and twisted to become a rallying cry for unrest. The messages we hear are poor for the love of Christ.

Abraham Lincoln said, “Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” I think that is what God is asking us to do. Put our feet in the right place and stand firm. Stand firm in God’s mercy and be good stewards.

This week the USCCB posted “As we prepare for our national and local elections, may our political engagement be guided by our Catholic faith.” Don’t just go through the motions. Don’t be symbolic Catholics. “Put your feet in the right place and stand firm!”

Pray for the poor and lowly who are our country’s leaders. Pray our leaders are not greedy people. Pray they are not just trying to take advantage of us. Pray they become good stewards of all that they are entrusted with in positions of authority. Pray for those poor for the love of Christ.

Abraham Lincoln wrote “I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”

Pray for everyone. Lift up the less fortunate, the lowly, and the outcasts. Be good stewards of God’s mercy, which is the grace and love in Christ we share. 

Yall be good, Yall be holy and always preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen. 

Lost! A Reflection 24th Sunday OT-C

Lost!   (Link - 24^TH Sunday OT)

Many people watched the TV show “Lost.” According to one of the show’s creators, it was about “people who are lost in their lives. Then, they get on an airplane, crash on an island, and become physically lost.” (Lost)

Sounds like Exodus. The Israelites' lives were lost. They left Egypt, crashed into God, and then got lost in the desert. Moses left the people for just a little while and they crashed into God. They got lost. They turned from the way pointed out to them; they made a molten calf and worshiped it.

God tells Moses “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are.” God said the people were stiff necked, stubborn, and obstinate. In the narrative of Exodus, God was upset with the people; He was broken-hearted. Did they get what they deserved? No, they got what God gives: Forgiveness. 

You would think they learned a lesson. Not so. They continued to be this way; refusing to change. They continued to get lost, a stiff-necked people sinning against God. God forgave them again and again and again.

I think Jesus parables are about stiff-neck people. Look at these parables in a different way; see the lost from a different perspective. They tell of those who turned aside from the path shown to them.

We know the parable of the lost sheep. But, the shepherd is lost, stubborn, and foolish to leave 99 sheep unprotected to go after one stray. The sheep becomes the false god the shepherd chases. The greater good of 99 are left behind.  

We know the parable of the lost coin. Yet, tear apart your house and forget others for a single coin, you’re lost, stubborn, and on the wrong path. The coin becomes the false god the woman worships forgetting all else.

Both, shepherd and woman turned aside from the way pointed out to them. Their molten calf is worldly things like the sheep and coin. Jesus words hint that something has become lost, yet God the Father, welcomes and forgives. The grace of our Lord is abundant. They return to the right path; there is a great party.

The Israelites, shepherd, and woman were lost worshiping things of this world, things of men. We have the same in our houses, cars, clothes, and our things. We can be a stiff-necked people, worshipping man-made things in this world  that turn us from the path and purpose God has revealed.

The prodigal son worshiped the things of this world.  The son demanded his inheritance, left home, and the love of his father. He chose the things of the world, which he saw as “freedom.”  But “freedom” is not what he found. He found lost.

Defeated, the son returns to his father’s house. The father runs to meet his son. He embraces him and prepares a feast of welcome. Did the son get what he deserved? No. He got what his father gave: Forgiveness. 

We can become lost in our lives; physically lost in the sin of the everyday world. Lost in our stiff-necked stubbornness and sin, do we get what we deserve? No, we receive what God our Father gives us: forgiveness.  We are reconciled to Him in Christ.

St. Paul writes, “Christ Jesus came to save sinners.  Of these I am the foremost…. so that in me …, Christ Jesus might display all his patience for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life.”  God saves us and calls us to him despite what we have done according to His own purpose and grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus. (2 Tim 1:9)

Heavenly Father may all who are lost chasing things of this world return to you, know your abundant grace and forgiveness, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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

Jesus' 4 letter Word - Hate - Homily Reflection 23rd Sunday OT

Jesus said Hate – 23^rd WeeK  OT

My grandson turned three Saturday. I watch him learn about Jesus and how to say his prayers. He loves to dip in fingers in the fount and make the sign of the cross. I am so proud of him and his parents for their faith.

I love that little boy. I love my children, both my daughters, son-in-law and future son-in-law. God blessed me with a beautiful wife that I love so much. I love my parents, my mother- in-law, my brothers, brother-in-law, and all my extended family. I thank God for such a wonderful family.

God has given me another family, all of you. I am blessed. I love my church family. Every week, I try to write a reflection or preach a homily that expresses Christ’s love. 

This week these are the words of the Gospel: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

How am I supposed to understand such a hard thing?  It takes a lot of praying.

During my praying and reflection, I realized some things.

First, I’m not a theologian. Another is that in a perfect world, those words would go away. They make me, the weak Christian disciple, uncomfortable.  But, comfort was not why Jesus came. That’s why he said those words.

I realized both love and hate are forms of passion. They are the opposite ends of the spectrum, but both are passion. The absence of passions of love or hate is indifference not caring at all.

Love is the passion for everything that you consider good and beautiful. Hate is the passion for the things you do not consider good and beautiful.

The sin in most of us is that good and beautiful is found in ourselves, our thoughts and beliefs. We love what we consider to be like us and hate what we consider not like us. And in these “We love to hate!”

Look around us. Conservative, progressive, and liberal politicians are at each other’s throat. If a representative of one says something, the others attack with hate. They attack with passion detesting everything the other represents.

During a psychological evaluation in Deacon Formation, you’re asked your thoughts on repulsive situations. I asked, “Who could find those outrages acceptable?”  The answer, “For some there is no wrong in these situations. They would boast of them.”

I want to make this clear, I am not saying that conservative, progressives, and liberals are all wrong, but what is their passion? Wisdom tells us, “the corruptible body burdens the soul.”

That is why we are to look deeper when Jesus said hate. What is within our grasp we find with difficulty….”

Think of the parable. What kind of builder starts to build a tower without a good foundation and supplies to finish the work?  What kind of leader goes to battle without making sure his forces are strong enough?

Jesus’ teachings are culture changing. He was against the status quo. He was against what were the normal expectations of the world. Jesus calls his disciples to a passion against the worldly thinking represented by father, mother, spouse and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life.

Jesus is calling those who follow him to be more. He asks his disciples to have a strong foundation and the stamina to battle against those who will oppose them.

Jesus' disciples are to be a tower standing true and tall for others to see like their family, community, and all of society. The disciples are to be an example and have the strength and stamina to denounce self and proclaim Christ. To be an example so the paths of those on earth can be made straight.

St. Paul is a true disciple of Christ. He writes as true disciples, we change. This was his message to Philimon and Onesimus. St. Paul tells them to have passion for what is of Christ not the norms of the culture and society of the times.  

What are the norms of our times: hate speech, prejudice, bigotry, attacking the dignity of others, and even violence. Jesus is none of these things. These deny the image of God in other human beings. Do not fall to these passions!

One of my favorite verses is from the first letter to the Corinthians:  The kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power.

Jesus asks us to have a passion against worldly things. To have passion for all that is good and all that is good is Jesus. This passion is not found in talk, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This Sunday, Mother Teresa is recognized by the Church as a saint. Once, Mother was asked, “How did she continue?

In my words, she was asked: How did she remain a disciple; how did she stand tall; how did she have the strength and stamina to denounce self and proclaim Christ?

She answered “Just Pray.”

I am not a theologian but I like that answer. I am a disciple. I try to be the tower but I often fail. It is by Christ Jesus, my redeemer, that in spite of my weaknesses I have strength.

Then, it came to me. I have so many people I love so much because I love him so much.

Yall be good, yall be holy and preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen.