Pollution Warning - Reflection 12th Sunday OT - C

Readings

The spectacular view of the stars in the night sky is one of my favorite things. The awesome vastness of God’s creation can be experienced even if you never leave the little patch of ground where you were born.

But, something hurts the incredible beauty of the night sky; excessive and inappropriate artificial light (www.darkskiesawareness.org) It’s called light pollution. The invasion by artificial light into the skies; light that trespasses to where it is not wanted or needed; the excessive brightness of glare that decreases visibility; and, the clutter of excessive and confusing light sources that add to the pollution.

All of God’s creation benefits from the natural light of day and dark of night, both are good. Yet, our modern world pollutes the night sky. Creation has become confused with artificial light.

Light pollution touches all of us; but, there is other pollution in our life. It’s pollution of our faith. Faith pollution is from sin which grows a polluted artificial faith and includes: faith in God invaded by the draw of sin, self, and worldly views; worldly ideas that trespass into our faith so sin becomes acceptable; the glare of sinfulness and its acceptance by a worldly culture. It decreases our vision of truth; and, the clutter of confusing ideas and opinions of special groups that adds to the pollution of sin and artificial faith.

All of God’s people benefit from faith. The modern world pollutes with sin and artificial faith. Faith has become confused by artificial faith.

Sin obscures the truth. Faith becomes weak in worldly ideas, acceptance of sinfulness, and the confusing messages the world expects us to accept and normalize.

Sin kills hope. It pollutes and weakens the valor and strength of the human heart and spirit. Even reason fails when faith is displaced by the sinfulness of artificial faith.

The tainting of faith brings struggles to even those of true faith. We hear the whispering of others. “The world cries out terror on every side! Denounce! Denounce those who believe!” It is all around. It has been in all times.

Artificial faith glorifies arrogance, greediness and excess, materialism, immodesty, sex, idleness, and envy with bitterness and resentment. It promotes an abundance of anger in the world. It is the champion of pride, gluttony, avarice, lust, sloth, envy, and anger; seven deadly sins that are the source of artificial faith in self and the world.

The same sin puts our selfish needs in our path to God. It is sin that allows us to forget we are forgiven and that God asks us to sin no more.

The sin of the world moves to shame us, declaring us outcasts for our true faith and belief in God. We often just want to run and hide.

People of good faith, stand strong and bear insult. Even though those who disparage us have the ear of the world, Jesus tells us “Fear no one.” “The Spirit of Truth will testify to me and you also will testify.”

We should fear no one because we are a dwelling place for God and His love. We testify that the faith we have is greater than the faith in the world. It is the spirit of truth, the love from God we share with one another that makes us a people of true faith.

Our modern world pollutes our view of the night sky. The same world pollutes our faith. It began in sin and has been in the world since Adam.

Something extraordinary and outside of us is needed to clean up the pollution. In faith, we can pray and ask for God’s favor. God has not forsaken us. By His grace and the gracious gift of one man Jesus Christ - the pollution of sin is removed - our faith, our hearts, and our spirits revive.

Like the night sky, humanity’s faith in God will never go away. In times to come, the night sky will shine in the splendor of God’s vastness and creation; and, we will stand before God in awe.

Here is a pollution warning for all who live in this world.

Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known - God know us, God knows were our faith lives. Either our life will acknowledge God in a true and pure faith or it will be polluted with an artificial faith that denies God.

The pollution in our lives is cleaned up by surrendering self to God who knows we have fallen.

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

Do You Believe in Miracles? Homily Reflection -The Body and Blood of Christ

Readings

My grandson’s favorite meals are in this order – pizza, chicken nuggets, and hamburgers. He loves French fries but not with ketchup instead ranch dressing. These are not really the best foods for you and probably not a diet that adults should follow.

But there is one meal that each and every believer should eat. This meal is the body and blood of Christ found under the species of bread and wine in the Eucharist. Jesus left us a true meal, Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life…

Many Christians think these words of Jesus are a metaphor. He didn't really mean it. It was symbolic words he used to make a point. He really didn’t mean eat his body and drink his blood.

There are Catholics that think the same thing. They don’t understand that the bread and wine is changed by the Holy Spirit. They find it hard to believe in the miracle of transubstantiation; the miracle of the bread and wine becoming the body and blood of Christ.

Still, ask a Christian “Do they believe in Jesus’ miracles?”

They’ll say yes we believe. We believe the Bible.

·       He healed the leper, Lord if you choose, you can make me clean. Jesus touched his hand and said I so choose. 

·       He raised the dead, He told the Jarius’ daughter “Get up little girl!” He commanded Lazarus to “Come out” of the tomb.

·       He cast out demons, because even demons know his name.

·       He walked on water, he multiplied and loaves and fishes and fed thousands.

·       And, they believe He suffered, died, and was buried only to rise again on the 3^rd day.

They believe these miracles. They recognize them as gifts from heaven. Miracles that sustain belief like the manna from heaven and the water from rock which sustained the Israelites.

The miracles of Jesus are the manna He called down from heaven; the bread that changes disbelief to belief; water from the rock that sustains in us the promise of God’s love, God’s word, and God’s grace. Jesus is the manna from heaven and tells us in these words - I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord; whoever eats this bread will live forever

The one miracle Christians have problem believing is the miracle of the Eucharist. It is the miracle of our manna from heaven and our water from rock, the body and blood of Christ.

It was a miracle they could not believe when Jesus first spoke of it and one many cannot believe today. The Jews quarreled among themselves just as believers today disagree, how can He give us his flesh to eat?

Because they dispute this, the true body and blood of Christ is a food unknown to many. Some cannot believe Jesus’ words - Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day, for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  

When He said this, it offended many; they found it difficult. Many turned back and did not follow this teaching.

It is the same thing today. People don’t believe in the miracle of the altar. People leave the true Eucharist. They leave the promise of Jesus, Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.

It doesn’t fit their point of view. They don’t like the reference points, the morality, what is right and what is wrong, the admittance of sin, or having to answer to someone other than themselves.

Many are going to be disappointed when they find out God doesn’t need us as a reference point. God is God’s own reference point. God is true to God. That is why Jesus said - the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

With Jesus words and the writings of the evangelist and apostles, there is still a failure to believe in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, in the fact that it is His body and His blood. Instead of believing our Lord, we believe our selves. That’s a shame.

Even though people fail to believe Jesus’ own testimony, He still loves us. God still loves each and every one of us; because, His love is Divine Love. And Divine Love is not generated by our worthiness but by the total generosity of the God.

That is the secret of the Eucharist. It is the mystery of generosity of divine love of God by sharing in the body and blood of Christ. God so loves us that He gives himself to us over and over and over again in the sacrament of the altar.

About eating his body and drinking his blood, do you believe in miracles?

It brings us out of that place of slavery to this world. It is the manna that sustains us.

For some, pizza, chicken nuggets, and hamburgers are good food. For some grape juice and soda crackers in a plastic cup are a metaphor, a symbolic meal of the body and blood of Christ. It is not true food and it leaves you hungry.

The cup and bread that is blessed by the priest at the altar of God becomes the cup of blessing, the participation in the blood of Christ; the bread we break, becomes the participation in the body of Christ.

Brothers and sisters, true food and true drink are the body and blood of Christ at the Eucharist table.  We should never be afflicted with a hunger for God. Christ who gives his Divine Love to us in the Eucharist is always there for that hunger.

Do you believe in miracles?

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

A Teaspoon at a Time - Homily Reflection - Most Holy Trinity

Readings

The Holy Trinity is hard to explain. St. Patrick used the three leaf clover to explain the Holy Trinity. I've heard people use – ice, water, and steam; the same thing in three forms. These explanations fall short of the mystery of God, the Most Holy Trinity.

To understand the mystery of God is like trying to empty an ocean a teaspoon at a time. You can fill a bucket or maybe a swimming pool; but, in a lifetime you’ll never come close to capturing an ocean. In the same way, we will never come close to understanding the mystery of God.

Even more overwhelming is the fact that our modern world seems to prevent us from knowing God. And many of the voices trying to explain the mystery of the Trinity are lacking the most important things needed to know God - prayer, peace, love, and truth.

These things move a person closer to knowing the mystery of the Trinity. To have them many need to change their lives and their hearts.

This was the first message Jesus proclaimed after his baptism – REPENT. He called metanoia, mend your ways, change, and repent of things that are not of God. We come to the mystery of God, the Trinity, by making the change that Jesus proclaims.

But unfortunately, the words Moses proclaimed over the people of Israel apply to us today “These are indeed a stiff necked people.” Yet God remains with us and receives us as his own; this is the same God who is, who was, and is to come. Our God who so loved the world, he gave his only son so that everyone who believe in him might not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus did not come to change God the Father’s mind about us. It does not need changing. In his lovingkindness, God knows the goodness that He created in us. Jesus is changing our mind about what is real and what is not. Jesus says repent.

As the Father sent his Son, the Son promised the Holy Spirit. In the world today, the message of repentance comes from the Holy Spirit to fill the hearts of believers with love and passion to repeat the gospel to the entire world.

Repent and know that the God of Love and peace is with you. 

The Most Holy Trinity is love. It is love that exists in millions and millions of God’s people. It is the love of God the Father, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

The world doesn't want this. It seems to prevent us from repenting by making it difficult to hear Jesus’ message.

In May 2017, twenty-two young people died in a terrorist bombing in Manchester, England. It was all over the news for weeks; but no mention of God. God was not spoken about in the media, the newspaper, or on television. The media did have voices that deny God calling for peace in the world.  

Two days later, two buses of Christian pilgrims were attacked in Egypt. Passengers were taken one by one from the first bus and told to profess Mohammed and deny Christ, or be shot. Twenty-eight Christians were taken off that bus (men, women, and children as young as 2); and, each one refused to deny Christ. They died for Christ.  

These Christian martyrs know the mystery of God, the Trinity. They were able to pray, If we find favor with you, O Lord, come along in our company. 

This tragedy had only a brief mention in the media. There was no mention of their profession of faith. No mention of their peace and agreement with one another in their faith in God. There was no coverage of those who did not deny Christ; no coverage of their witness. 

To deny Christ is to deny God, the Holy Trinity.

In England or even these United States, terrorist do not ask victims to deny Christ. People would do it. “These are a stiff necked people.” They are too busy trying to capture the ocean a teaspoon at a time that they don’t know God.

Why do so many hold back from the love of God, the grace of Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit? Maybe, they don’t hear Jesus’ words – Repent, because we fail to proclaim those words.

We have failed to share the message that God is love. God is peace. God encourages agreement. We have not shared the love and truth that is the light of God. We can only do this, by trying to understand the mystery of God, the Holy Trinity by our life of prayer, peace, love, and truth. In us, these things are only the beginnings of the mystery of truth and love that is the Holy Trinity.

My brothers and sister, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

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

Experience Pentecost - Reflection Pentecost Sunday A

Everyone needs to experience Pentecost. Everyone should experience the coming of God’s spirit in your own particular way.

I had a man ask me when I was much younger, “Have you ever experienced the Holy Spirit?”

I was young at that time, so I didn’t know the answer. Instead, I said “I didn’t know if I had, had he?”

He said “Yes! The Holy Spirit is alive in my Church, you should come.”

I asked him then, “What it’s like to be in the presence of the Holy Spirit? How do you know?”

His answer “Our preacher can see the Spirit in you. He calls you forward and in front of the entire congregation lays hands upon you. You can hear the Holy Spirit Coming. It begins in a whisper and becomes a mighty wind.”

He continued, “I lose all control, fall to the ground, and speak in tongues.”

I’m telling you this story not to condemn him or his church. He shared with me his full gospel charismatic experience.

Don’t think it is not true because, scripture tells us, "No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God."

I was 26 years old and that story scared me.

Being told of his experience, I wondered about Pentecost; had I known the fulfillment Christ's promise in experiencing the Holy Spirit. Did I fall short?

As I have grown in my faith and my relationship to God through Christ Jesus, I have realized one thing, “God is Love.”

Our God by his love makes known to us Christ, his Word, his living Utterance. The same risen Christ who said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

I can answer that question now, “Have you ever experienced the Holy Spirit?” I can answer with, "God is Love."

God is Love and love is His gift. It is His love that is His grace. It is love that contains all His gifts. The gift of God's love is poured into us and our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

The gift of God’s love is forgiveness. As Catholic Christians, we believe it is our communion in the Holy Spirit that restores the baptized to grace as adopted sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father.

Each of us is filled with God’s Love; by this love, each of us can know the Holy Spirit. So my brothers and sisters, when asked have you been baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit, say yes!!!

Because, it’s not necessarily speaking in tongues that show we experience the Holy Spirit. It’s speaking in God’s love and God’s love that fills us with the Holy Spirit.  

Everyone should experience the coming of God’s spirit in your own particular way. Here is the truth from the scripture. There were people from every nation under heaven and each one heard them speaking in his own language. The Holy Spirit speaks to us in the language we need to hear, different working but the same God. 

The Holy Spirit is not generic. The Holy Spirit is not a one-size-fits-all force; but it’s a relationship, individual and specific to each one of us.

The Holy Spirit comes inimitably as our comfort in struggles. The Spirit helps us in our weakness. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Heal our wounds our strength renew.

The Catechism gives us this beautiful teaching; if we do not know how to pray as we should, the Spirit for us intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

Our Heavenly Father who loves us sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. When God sends his Son, He sends his Spirit. No one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.

Experience the Pentecost. Proclaim the Holy Spirit. Proclaim Jesus is Lord. Proclaim God’s love.

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