Contemplate What God Has Done for Us - Homily 5th Sunday of Lent

(Readings)

Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote this from an Alabama jail cell, “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.”

We know despair. Despair from injustice heaped upon people by failure to respect human life. Despair from fear of war, terrorism, and civil violence. Despair is thrown at us by television, radio, and the internet. Every day, abysses of despair are experienced in work, family, and personal crises.

Despite all this despair in the world, people still love -families, friends, and communities. Yet, they wonder - Why?

“There comes a time when men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.” The opposite of despair is hope and as God’s servant, Dr. King knew the importance of hope.

No one can live without hope.

People look for hope in their communities, support groups, or something that promises peace and refuge from a chaotic world. They look for hope in worldly techniques and secular personalities. They don’t think they need God, or Christ, or his Church. People turn to Oprah Winfrey for hope instead of God.

Catholics and Christians know hope is found in Jesus Christ.  Pope Francis said “Jesus made Himself like the grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies to give life. Our hope springs from that love-filled life.”

Some Greeks came to Philip and asked him, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

I don’t think these Greeks were looking for the savior of Israel; they were looking for the savior of all the world, the messiah of hope.

Today, we are Christ disciples in the world. We are to bring people to Jesus. We are the Church. For those searching for hope, we bring a fountain of hope, the source of eternal life, Jesus Christ.

So this Easter as we welcome new believers and converts to our family, the Church will offer the world a message not its own.  It is the message of God's self-revelation in Jesus Christ.

A message written on hearts…... A message forever new and renewing; a message received, celebrated, and lived today.

It is the message that from despair can come hope in an encounter with the living God - “When I am lifted up, I will draw everyone to myself."

God speaks to the world through the Church’s message that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the true message of hope. We proclaimed by Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ is the source of eternal salvation.

God brings us together by the Holy Spirit as his Church. God is present in his Church that lives the example and teaching of Jesus. God is present in his Church as “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

During RCIA, the priest asked my son-in-law what coming into the Church meant to him. He said the Church is like a hospital. We all have times that we are sick and need healing, so we go to the best doctors.

That young man recognizes that the Church is the healing messenger of hope in Jesus Christ. The Church is where we find our great physician, Jesus Christ and come for his healing.

“Whoever serves me must follow me….” So, contemplate what God has done for us. He gives us hope.

My brothers and sisters, hope heals.

Hope heals the despair of personal crises the substance and wisdom of the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. Hope heals the despair of violence as we find the face of Christ in every life.

In the abyss of despair of war, injustice and disrespect for the dignity of human life, the healing of hope is the promise of Jesus Christ who makes all peoples one with him.

Jesus said - for this purpose I came …. the salvation of the world, truly a source of hope.  

Be good, be holy and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ that brings hope to the world by the way you live and love. Amen.

Jesus Understood It Well - Homily Friday Mass/Way of the Cross

(Readings)

In this time of preparation for the LORD, ask: What holds me back from doing God’s will? What keeps me from taking it on?

Maybe it’s fear. Jesus understood it well.

St. Paul tells Timothy “…if we want to live a Godly life we will be persecuted….” The Book of Wisdom says this is how we will be persecuted–

• Let us beset them, because they are obnoxious to us and against our doings
• Let us put them to revilement and torture testing their gentleness and trying their patience.
• Let us see whether their words are true and find what will happen...
• Let us condemn them; their own words are that God will take care of them.

Maybe, we think our voice will not be heard. Jesus understood it well.

• Jesus cried out in the temple as he was teaching, "… I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, I am from him, and he sent me."

Maybe the thing, which holds us back, is the reality of human nature. Jesus understood it well.

• Jesus traveled within Galilee but he didn’t want to go to Judea; the Jews were trying to kill him.
• Jesus would not trust himself to them; he knew them all and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.
• They tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, his hour had not yet come.

What holds us back from doing God’s will?  Christ Jesus knew and experienced the same.

Yet, He did God's will. He took it on for us? - AMEN.

Here's Your Sign - Homily 4th Sunday of Lent

(Readings)

Lynn Malone of First United Methodist in Monroe, LA, tells this perspective – “If I could kick the behind of the person who gives me the most trouble, I couldn’t sit down for a week.” It is a good thing to remember.

Lord, let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget you!

Before cell phones….

Before  Facebook….

Before social media….

Before people ranted to the world on the Internet.....

There was this (Hold up sign) - This sign and the guy waving it seemed to show up, everywhere.

He showed up at ball games both college and professional games. If it was a televised event - golf tournaments, World Series, NBA championships, and even the Super Bowl. He and the sign showed up.

The television cameras always found the John 3:16 guy. It may have been because he usually had on a rainbow colored wig. This was way before people actually wanted their hair to be those colors.

Tim Tebow, as a college football player and Heisman Trophy winner, wore eye black that proclaimed - John 3:16.

And the words of John 3:16 are “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.”

Now instead of this cardboard sign….. (Hold up sign)

The messages the world gives are abominations polluting God’s people. Abominations of the world keep us from loving God and loving our neighbor. In the absence of that love, we fail to listen to God’s word and God’s message. And, we do wrong. 

Many ignore the word of God. Many forget the message of John 3:16. Many want to forget God

In these, enemies are still attacking God. The enemies of God are attacking the house of God. The enemies of God are attacking the temple made up of true believers.

In the modern world, the enemy is not some distant king; but, it is the people around us who have become the enemies of God. They reject His love and His mercy. They choose exile from him - instead of eternity with him.

In our world the physical defines who we are, what we are, what we believe. It can be difficult to believe anything else. People will say this-  that I can touch and feel - that I can see -  that I can smell or taste – that makes me feel this way - is the most important thing to me. This is my god.

In the wickedness of their god, they cannot believe in the goodness and love of God.  Jesus said whoever does not believe has already been condemned. God the father does not condemn. The Son does not condemn. Those who choose the darkness condemn themselves.

Light has come into the world; but, people preferred darkness to light….

Look around. How many people do you see holding up the message of God? How many are holding up the sign that says I believe. (Hold up sign)

Instead you will probably see other agendas. Abominations that are a perverse understanding of God that is not about love. These scandals can exist even in those who call themselves Christians.

Those who worship the things of the world add infidelity to infidelity. Everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light. Those who choose the darkness condemn themselves.

I am not pointing fingers at any one person, because we are all always just one choice away from darkness. The line that divides the light from the darkness passes right through the middle of our heart. Every choice we make moves us closer to heaven or to hell. Every choice is either for the light of the world or for darkness.

For those who have problems with belief, for those fighting darkness, and for all of us in middle – Here’s your sign. (Hold up sign)

Remember - We are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus. God is always open to our change: ready for our repentance in His kindness to us in Jesus Christ. It is by grace we are saved.

Lord, let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget you!

Be good, be holy and preach this Gospel. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.” Amen.

Barber Shop Preaching - Homily Reflection 3rd Sunday of Lent

(Readings)

We know the 10 commandments. We’ve learned them since childhood. Most of the commandments are the moral compass of humanity. I say most, one commandment troubles many people, I, the LORD, am your God. You shall not have other gods besides me.

We talked about this at the barber shop, Friday.

My barber is a good barber. He went to barber school not beauty school. His barber shop is a haven of manly discussion: sports, hunting, fishing, the garden, family and acquaintances, and politics.

His barber shop has a television, the daily newspaper, and old magazines; but, next to the barber’s chair is a worn and well-read bible. On the occasion I am the only customer, the discussion turns to the Bible and I experience this man’s passion for God, salvation, and his interpretation of scripture.

Raised Catholic, he has not been to mass in quite some time. He has problems with Church, with all churches; yet, he passionately seeks God. Under-neath his rebellion against the Church, his catechism still shows; so, I invite him to mass.

Friday, the conclusion he arrived at in our discussion was the Church doesn’t preach about Hell enough. I didn’t want to disagree; he had scissors in one hand and a razor in the other.

It’s hard to preach hell in a short homily; but, the Catholic Church has never stopped and will never stop preaching the perils of sin, which is hell.

Hell is real. God predestines no one to go to hell - in freedom they make the choice to willfully turn away from God. It is there in the commandments. I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for wickedness of those who hate me.... Mercy for those who love me.

We freely choose to love God and to be united with God. We cannot love God in sin against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves. To die without repenting and accepting God's merciful love is to remain separated from him forever by our free choice. This self-exclusion from God is "hell."(CCC1033)  Gehenna, the unquenchable fire, reserved for those who refuse to believe. (CCC1034)

Our sin is idols; the things other than God, we bow down and worship. Even the Bible can be an idol.  

The Bible is a great tool. It is the story of salvation history. The Old Testament points us to Christ. The New Testament is the explanation of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ. Many forget it’s a tool, a book of inspired writings meant as instructions, and make it an idol to worship. 

It is the same of the rosary, the image of the cross, and the corpus. They are great tools to reflect on the mystery of God; but, people tend to make them idols.

Friday night, as we experienced mass, prayed and reflected during Stations of the Cross and Adoration, the Holy Spirit put this in my heart.

After three days, Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the temple. His mother said to him - Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

So, I will disagree with my barber. The problem is not preaching Hell. The problem is not preaching Jesus Christ. Too many have transposed the temple of God onto the Bible.

It is a product of our world. It’s a problem of television with superstar preachers that preach their interpretation of the Bible. If they preach that God’s will is their need for a jet pane - send money. They do not preach Christ crucified.

Jesus found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, and he said, "Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace."

We must know the consequences of sin. But, we need the Church. Many don not understand the importance of God’s the temple. This Church is a temple of God. It was built to house the throne of our Lord, the tabernacle. 

We look for Jesus in so many places, but in his own words: Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? 

Christ is in the temple. It is the same Jesus Christ who sends believers out to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord.

We proclaim “Mercy for those who love him. We proclaim Christ crucified. We proclaim the Lord is our God; and, that is a stumbling block for so many.

My brothers and sisters go out into the world, the market place, the barbershop, beauty shop, and proclaim the good news. Invite them to Our Father’s house and the real presence of Christ. Invite them to mass.

Do this by being good and being holy.

Each of us is called to preach the power and wisdom of God, the gospel of Christ by the way we live and love. Amen.