A Family Affair - Homily Christmas Vigil 2020

 Praise be Jesus Christ, Forever and ever. Amen

Today’ is a little different from our Christmas vigil masses of the past.  COVID 19 restrictions have limited how many can be here and what we as a community can offer up in celebration today.

As long as I can remember we had a Children’s celebration before mass. Our children and young people would share the good news of Jesus’ birth through a narrative. The younger children would be Mary, Joseph, the Magi, King Herrod, Angels, and shepherds. If their talent was music, we would have songs or they would play something special.

In this short play, the children would teach us the real meaning of Christmas. Children give what they receive.

Yet, if I had went to the mall yesterday and been allowed to ask children and even adults “why we celebrate Christmas?” You’d get a lot of different answers.

“It’s the holiday for giving gifts…” “It’s about family...” “Santa Clause, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,  Frosty the Snowman…”   Less and less is heard, it’s about the birth of Jesus.

For many, the story of Bethlehem is just a fairytale, an old time Disney movie.    

In this time of quarantine and isolation, it’s even more important to this gospel with each other and children especially. Parent or a grandparent watching at home, if your children and grandchildren are not around you, reach out to them to share the good news found in the story of Jesus’ birth. Our first sharing of the Gospel should be fa family affair.

It’s important that this good news is shared by family. Children give what they receive. We are all children.

Tonight’s gospel begins with family. That long list of names is Jesus’s family. It is great-great grandfathers and great-great grandmothers. It is his ancestry from Abraham to Joseph. They are all part of God’s chosen people.

God’s chosen people shared God’s promise that was given to Abraham, given to David, and kept alive in that long list of family. Even in this special relationship, many would tend to forget God’s promise.

Years passed, everyday life happened, and people put worldly things before God. People lived through wars and famine and plagues and bondage.  In those generation and generation of peoples and Kings, God’s chosen people would forget to follow God’s wishes.

People forgot God’s gifts to them and his promise to them. But, God didn’t forget His promise.

Every time history got to the point where it looked upon God’s chosen people as “Forsaken,” or “Desolate,” peoples, God made something happen.  It may have been a great leader or prophet that brought about a revival of faith. It may have even been some trial they had to endure to strengthen their faith.

When needed most, God sent the perfect gift, Jesus. God sent his word, mercy, and forgiveness incarnate into our midst, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.

They named him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” They will call him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.”

Sadly, today just like through all the generations of Jesus’ ancestors, everyday life happens, we experienced wars, famine, bondage, and even plagues in this world. It has led more and more to fall asleep and forget God’s promise.

That is why it is so important to remember the narrative of Jesus birth. It reminds us who we are supposed to be and who we are supposed to place our trust in. Believing the truths of this story can bring change. It changed Mary. It changed Joseph. It changed the world.

When we know the story it changes us.  It gives us hope.

Pope Francis tweeted this week, “Those who fail to view a crisis in the light of the Gospel … see the crisis, but not the hope and the light brought by the Gospel.”

The gospel is the truth that Jesus was born into the world where everyday life happens. It is the truth for all who say they are Christians, a story written a day after day, year after year, generation after generation as we bring Christ to the world.

It is an important part of God’s narrative of us. Share it because both children and adults give what they receive. It begins as a family affair.

Merry Christmas everyone; be good, be holy, and share this good news of Jesus with the world.

Praise be Jesus Christ, Forever and ever. Amen

Camel's Hair - Homily 2nd Sunday of Advent - B

 Praise be Jesus Christ, forever and ever.  

Friends, today we come together for the 2^nd Sunday of Advent. We light the second candle to contemplate peace and our scripture readings tell the story of a voice crying out in the desert.

Since Advent is a time of contemplation, reflection, preparation, and silence,  I’d like to share a children’s story.

There were three friends who find a treasure map and on that map an “X” marks the spot of the treasure in the middle of the dry dusty desert. So the friends prepare for their journey with plenty of water for their thirst and big floppy shady hats for protection from the sun. They set off on their adventure. Soon, the water is gone. And a storm blows away the big floppy hats.  

They were thirsty and hot when across the desert comes a wandering camel. They ask the camel to help them find something to drink. From look in the camels eyes they know they are to follow him. The friends follow the camel up and down the dunes until at last they come to a beautiful oasis. But, it is no ordinary pool of water. This oasis was filled with ice-cold pink lemonade.

The friends drink their fill and cooled themselves in the shade. After a while, one asks the camel to help them find the spot marked by an “X.”

The camel speaks. “You are here.” He says, “There is no greater treasure in the dry dusty desert than shade and a drink of cool pink lemonade.”

There is a lot of truth in that story. Even though pink lemonade is good on a hot day, realize there is a deeper truth.  Realize the treasure we seek is often right there with us. Understand the importance of being a voice crying out in the wilderness no matter who you are.

Our life is a lot like a treasure hunt. Some know early their destination. Some have been given a map. Some know how to use the map; others do not. Many seek the treasure which is there for everyone to find; but, not everyone easily finds it.

Obstacles make finding the treasure difficult. We traveled the roads of Isaiah, twisting, turning, up, and down. Every day is full of those obstacles, mountains, hills, and deep valleys.

Some may have problems with the treasure map and navigating all the ups and downs and twists and turns. Many will need someone to take them there. Others need someone to proclaim to them the treasure is always there with them. That treasure is the hope of the salvation of God through Jesus Christ.

Going back to that children’s story, more of us need to be like that camel and speak up. Especially when the world tells us: “There is no need for faith or religion.” “Church is boring.” “It’s irrelevant.” “It’s full of hypocrites.”

Being exposed to that, hearts can fall to worldly arguments. It can even cause people of faith to overlook the real treasure.

Let look at the example of those who fight over is the Church to male dominated or is it not manly enough. The world has put this false treasure out there in the midst of believers.

Some say the Church is a patriarchy that needs to be changed. But, if you dive deep into the Christian Church, except for the ordained ministry, almost 90% of all ministry is fulfilled by women. 

These women are the voices crying out in the wilderness. They are working to make straight the paths.

All human ministries of the Christian church began with a woman, a young girl who said “yes” to God; and, she became the mother of God.  God became man through a woman, the blessed Virgin Mary.

Mary and Martha of Bethany ministered to the Jesus; one prayerfully at this feet and the other in service. The woman at the well witnessed to the Samaritans. The adulteress woman witnessed Jesus’ mercy and justice to all. Mary Magdalen witnessed the good news of Jesus’s resurrection to the apostles.

In the opposite corner is those that argue the Christian faith is not manly enough.

Scripture tells us different.  “The LORD GOD comes with power and might.”

Today’s Gospel tells us about John the Baptist, a voice crying out in the desert. ”  

If you think a real man’s man is one who dresses in camouflage and sits in a deer stand instead of coming to mass, compare his to John.  “John wore clothing of camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist.” He probably had wild hair and an unkempt beard. He lived off the land, “His food was locusts and wild honey.”

But there was one more manly than him. One that he said he was unworthy to loosen the straps of his sandals.

That man combined the best traits of both the masculine and feminine. He loved and compassion and forgiveness than any others. He was a man braver than any other man. He stood up for what was right. He sacrificed himself for each of us. He was unjustly hung on the cross by those jealous of him and then Jesus asked God to forgive them..

We fail to recognize the true treasure, instead we look for what the world tells us is treasure. We are so blessed that God is patient with us.

Life in this world can be like a childish treasure hunt. We look for what we think is a treasure. We seek everything the world tells us we need to seek, even in our faith.

Take this advent to reflect and prepare our hearts, we will know that the truth or our true treasure is right here with us. Instead of looking for a mysterious giant “X” that is a promise of riches. Look to the true riches found in that “X” which is the cross of Jesus.

To find it, be true people of faith. Christians should not worry about if the church is too manly or not manly enough. We ought to be conducting ourselves in holiness and devotion waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God….

More of us need to be like John, a voice crying out in the wilderness. Reflecting on the children’s story, more of us need to be like the camel helping others realize the treasure we are given. After all, John the Baptist’s clothes were made of camel’s hair

Be good, be holy and preach the Gospel the treasure of Jesus Christ by the way you live your life and love one another.   

Praise be Jesus Christ, forever and ever. Amen.

The Forgotten Advent - Reflection 1st Sunday of Advent - B

The Forgotten Advent

Praise be Jesus Christ. Forever and ever.

My daughters posted a video of my grandchildren as they drove through the Christmas lights in Crossett Ar. My one year old granddaughter giggled and screamed in excitement. My two year old grandson had a look of awe.

Children look forward to Christmas; in their innocence the see the wonder and awe of Christmas. Because of their innocence, they are ready for the coming of the LORD; they don’t know a need for advent.  

Sadly, it seems most people don’t know the need for advent. It is not because of innocence.

Jesus said to his disciples “Be watchful! Be alert!  You do not know when the time will come.”

Advent is the time we make our self-ready for the coming of the Lord.

It is intended to be a time of preparation, emptiness, stillness, and silence; a time to prepare. It is a time to make ready for the experience of being redeemed, recreated, and reborn.

In our world, instead of being a time of stillness and silence, advent gets busier, brighter, and louder. It becomes harder to focus on being watchful and alert for the coming of our savior.

Instead with all our busyness, our hearts are harden to the ways of God. In the pollution of worldliness, we become unconscious of God and our own lives.

We forget, God is our Father; we are the clay and He is the potter: we are all the work of His hands.

We lack reflection and gratitude for the grace God bestows on us. Not realizing this grace, many people live with a smidgen of resentment against everything and everyone and everything. Social media proves it.

All the noise of the world has made it difficult to be in the present moment. It is difficult to realize the riches of God’s grace.  Instead, we focus on the distractions and worries the world throws at us. They consume us. 

We take for granted what is precious.

This advent, with the world fighting against us - forget those distractions.  Thank God for what enriches us; the love and friendships that surround us and the gift of life itself. Remember, the grace God bestowed  in Christ Jesus. In him we are enriched in every way.

The world message is forget God’s grace. It is working as people forget the importance of advent. People do not believe they can be forgiven, redeemed, recreated, and reborn. It puts in the hearts of many resentment against everything and everyone.

That is why we need advent.  In the noisiness of the world telling us: sin is OK; bad is OK; the self is more important than others. It is the message heard 24 hours a day, 365 days a week for years and years. 

And, many have forgotten need and importance of having a time and place empty of all this noise; forgotten Advent.

A place without all that noise is what Advent is about. It is a time to be filled with grace.

Maybe, we can  be like children again full of laughter and awe at the coming of our Lord and savior. Maybe we should be like that all the time, for we do not know when the time will come.

Be good, be holy and preach the good news that is the coming of Jesus Christ by the way you live your life and love one another.

Praise be Jesus Christ, for ever and ever. Amen.

Priorities - Reflection Solemnity Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Praise be Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Forever and ever.

That kingship is built on the greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Earlier this week, my youngest grandson wakes up in a bad mood, kind of whiney. This was our conversations:

Poppy loves you, do you love poppy? He answered, “no”. Do your love mommy and brother? Again, “no.” Do you love nanny or mamaw? “No.” Do you love your new puppy, Buster? “No.” Well, it’s time for breakfast, do you love pancakes? “Yes.”

It was breakfast time. He was hungry. And, a 2 year old has his priorities.

So does our Lord God and His priority is love.

“I myself will look after and tend my sheep.

I will rescue them from every place they were scattered. I will rescue them from when it was dark and cloudy.

The lost, I will seek out. The strayed, I will bring back. The injured, I will bind up. The sick, I will heal.”

He will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

He will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

We are to judge as righteous by our love of the Lord; in Christ all shall be brought to life.

He said to them, “Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.

There is only one King of which that can be true. He is the good shepherd.  He is a king that is in every one of us. He is Christ Jesus, King of the Universe.

His Kingdom is built from the greatest commandment.

His kingdom is a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace.

In that he gives us new priorities, a new commandment: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

To be part of the kingdom, to be on the right, we must get our priorities in order.

Be good, be holy, and preach the gospel by living a life loving others to love and serve out King.

Praise be Jesus Christ; forever and ever. Praise be Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.  Amen

A Talent for Holiness - Homily Reflection - 33rd Sunday OTA

In my job, I work with companies on how they hire, train, and utilize their employees.

I teach them, if you are going to hire someone to operate a shovel, make sure they are fit for the job; hire someone to drive, make sure they are good drivers; or hire someone to handle money, make sure it is the right person.

In other words, make sure the person has the talent for the job.

The word talent in the English language is derived directly from the parable we hear today. In the parable, a talent is a unit of wealth, a lot of money. It has been estimated that the amount of talents given to the servants would be $3 million dollars in today’s money.

In modern English, we understand talent as our unique gifts and abilities. Our talents are our God given riches.

God loves us and has given us all talents. All have some special gift or ability. Jesus tells us we are to do something with it. “Love one another.”

In His wisdom, God gave us the freedom to use our gifts as we see fit. It was true in Jesus’ time and it is true today.

Jesus share that truth in this parable.

The master gives the talents to the servants in amounts according to their ability.

In these gifts, no matter the amount or what they are, we are called to be holy.

We are probably going to stumble; but, get back up and continúe to love. After all, we are all simply sinners who keep on trying to be saints.

How are we using our talents?

Some have a talent for music. They lovingly share it with others. It is a talent used to enrich the world and the lives of others. It is a gift used to give thanks and praise to God, minister to others, teach, bring consolation, and bring peace.

From investing that talent of music, a person can give it back to God doubled or tripled or more in the love shared and the lives touched.

And God will tell them “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

Some are given the gift of family. God tells us families are to be fruitful and multiply. A family is a vessel of love. Fruitfulness is sharing that love and faith. Multiplying is the teaching of children, siblings, extended family, and all those they touch God’s love for us.

There is young man on my grandson’s soccer team. He comes from a good Catholic Family. They are a fruitful family of faith with many children. During a soccer game, a child on the opposing team used profanity. This child of God, the product of this fruitful family of faith, immediately said to his team, we need to pray for that guy.

He’s a seven year old boy.

The next week at practice, he told his team they should go to the seven year old girls team practicing on the next field to find girlfriends..

By the gift of family, his parents are sharing their faith. It is a family that shows their love for Jesus and others by example. They teach their children and all those they touch with boldness and joy and praise. Their gift is fruitful and multiplying. Gifts, they return to God.

God will tell them “Well done my good and faithful servants.”

Each and every one of us was given the gift of love. Many instead of sharing it will bury it inside them self. They fail to share God’s love but instead, they keep it in their own fearful heart.

That’s not what God wants from us. That’s not what Jesus teaches us.

God wants us to be Holy.

Jesus tells us we should love others and God by bringing our talents to the world.

Friends, some are given more talent than others; but, all that is asked of us is to use what we have been given.  It does not matter if your gift is music or family or labor or a smile; share it with the love of Jesus.

Don't hide it, put it to work to grow God’s heavenly kingdom in this world; make the world a better place.

And maybe someday by his grace, God will tell us “Well done my good and faithful servants.”

You, me... We are all called to holiness.

Our holiness, our closeness to God will be measured by how we love others through the sharing or our gifts, abilities, and talent. We are called to grow that love.

We will stumble, but get up and continue to share that love. After all, we are all simply sinners who keep on trying to be saints.

Be good, be holy, and preach the gospel by sharing your love and your talents with the world. Amen.

A Special Light - Reflection 32nd Sunday OTA

 When I think of this parable of the 10 virgins, I always think of flash light tag.

You played it at night and everyone had a cheap flashlight. If your batteries went dead and you didn’t have spares, you were at the mercy of the dark. We were kids. We didn’t have spare batteries.

So we would try to share. If one flashlight went dead, we would take one good battery out of a flashlight and one dead battery so hopefully both could have light.

If that didn’t work you ran around in the dark running into trees, tripping over roots, stepping in holes, and all the dangers darkness brings.

I told this story in another homily several years ago. After mass, I overheard as an older gentleman looked at his wife of over 60 years and said, “I am so happy God let me find you.”

They had a special light in their relationship, the light of Christ.

That’s like the story of the 10 virgins.

This was a custom of that time, to wait on the wedding party to arrive. Then go out to greet them with shouts of job and jubilation. If you were lucky you were invited to the wedding feast.

But, you never knew exactly when the wedding party would show up. I could be in the middle of the day or the middle of the night. If it was the middle of the night, the dark was dangerous. It was actually a law that you couldn’t go outside without a lamp.

We are all called to have the light in us. It is the light of Christ.

It is a light fueled by faith, hope, and love. Without those our light will dim.

It is a light fueled by faith. Wisdom tells us faith is for those who believe. Faith is found by those who seek. Because of faith, our souls thirst for God. 

The light of Christ is fueled by Hope. St. Paul writes, Hope is more than mere optimism. It is the knowledge of truth that God has something great in store for us.

The light of Christ is fueled by love. If Christ is the light of love in your relationship it will not go out.

Without faith, hope, and love, it is easy to be left darkness.  Those in the darkness call out: Lord, Lord, open the door for us.  We always want to be in the light that is on God’s side of the door.

Life is complicated by the darkness all about us. It is easy to fall asleep and become complaisant with darkness. When the bridegroom comes we begin to scramble to relight our light.

Keep the light of Christ in you. Never let the light go out. For some that may mean they will have to rethink their spiritual life.

Lord Jesus, I am so glad God let me find you those many years ago.

In the next year, there will be two weddings at St. Lawrence. May the light of Christ be in their marriage. We pray in 60 years those two young couples will look at each other and say, I so glad “God let me find you.”

We never know the hour when the bridegroom will come. Be good, be holy, and live the gospel every day. Amen.

Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb? - Reflection All Saints Day

“Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”

He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”

That makes me remember the southern gospel song “Are you washed in Blood of the Lamb?” Are you washed in the blood, in the soul-cleansing blood of the lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? (1878 –Elisha Hoffman)

But it is a fact, we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. It was that way with the Saints, those we know and those we don’t know.  St.. Matthew was a tax collector. St. Augustine was a pagan and womanizer. St. Francis was full of vain glory. There are many more stories of the saints and their failures.

But as that hymn goes on, they laid aside their garments that were stained by sin, they washed in the Blood of the Lamb.

Catholics know this cleansing power. Catholics realize the healing manifest in the body and blood of Christ at the Eucharist..

Servant of God, Dorothy Day knew the truth about the blood of Christ. A Priest came to offer mass at mission run by Dorothy Day. The priest went to the kitchen and took a coffee mug to use as a chalice to hold the blood of Christ. After the mass, he placed that former coffee mug in the sink to be washed.

Dorothy Day took the mug outside and proceeded to bury it. Someone asked why she was burying a coffee mug. Her reply was that it was no longer a coffee mug but a holy chalice that had held the Blood of Christ. From that moment on nothing else could worthily be placed in the cup.

Dorothy Day knew the cleansing power of the blood of Christ. She was a American journalist and a social activist who lived a carefree youth before becoming a Catholic Christian. She was an unwed mother. She was an anarchist.

Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed.

Pope Benedict XVI said Dorothy Day’s conversion story is an example of how to "journey towards faith ... in a secularized environment." The Church has opened the cause for Day's possible canonization, which was accepted by the Holy See for investigation. For that reason, the Church refers to her as a Servant of God.

My friends, we are like that mug that became a chalice. By our Baptism and by the Eucharist, Christ is in us. We are all God’s children now. What we shall be has not been revealed.

We live in a time, when the Church is persecuted. We live in a time when the public image of being a Christian is looked at with distain by the media and social influencers.

We all make mistakes; but we seek to be better. In our striving for good and Christ’s love, the system that is the world including media, celebrity, and social influencers mock us. 

God is the greatest influencer. He influences the heavens and the earth. By his is all of creation. By his command the winds are stilled and the waters quieted.

To be a saint, He must be the influencer of life. Who are those wearing white robes and where did they come from?

For Jesus said, “blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

Are you washed in the Blood of the Lamb?

Be good, be holy, and preach the gospel by the way you live your life and love one another. That is the way of a saint. Amen.

Momma Tried - Homily 30th Sunday OTA

Last night, Frances I. Malone, the Bishop of Shreveport, told this story at the confirmation mass. As a young child he would want to give his mother a gift and would ask her what did she really want? His mother would reply “I want you to be good and go find something to do.”

I think a lot of us may have been asked for that gift when we were young.

I can remember my brothers and I would ask my mother on her birthday or mother’s day what gifts would she like? She would say “I want your boys to be good and stop fighting each other.”

Momma tried to teach us right.

Today, we have Jesus’ words. The Pharisees, one of them a scholar of the law, are trying to catch Jesus saying something wrong. They asked him “what is the greatest commandment?”

Jesus answered, “You should love the Lord your God with all your heart; with all your soul; and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment. The second is like it, “You should love your neighbor as yourself.”

That’s where our mothers got it.

Very simply to be good is to love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. It is the ultimate good.

One way to love God with all that we are is to go to confession. Confession helps us to acknowledge and speak the times we have not loved God. That is a simple truth about confession, because sin is our failure to love God.

When we go to confession we contemplate our life. And, the more often we go to confession, the easier it is to see how every day in little ways we disappoint God by our sin.

To love God is to be good. It is what the Bishop’s mother new. That is what so many of our mothers and fathers knew. My mother told me, be good. My dad told me and my brothers, all I want is for you boys to grow up to be good and holy young men.

And that is the greatest commandment. But there is also a second part, Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself. My mother said it simply - stop fighting.

Yet that seems to be all the world wants us to do. We fight as citizens of the world. We fight as citizens of this country. We fight as families. We fight as members of the Church.

This week Pope Francis made a statement about love. It’s a very controversial statement because he talked about love, homosexuality, and family. And there are different reports as to what he said. The English translation is stated to be different from his words in Spanish.

The Pope’s message is everybody needs love. But many peoples response is anything but love. Some have forgotten we are to hate the sin but love the sinner.

People considering themselves good Catholics speak with hate and venom towards Pope Francis whose teaching is on Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

It is a teaching about recognizing each and every person no matter their sins as a child of God.

The greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart and our soul and all our mind. As a child of God, we are to love the Lord with all our strength for he is our refuge, our rock, our shield, our stronghold, and the horn of our salvation.

Christians are to imitate Christ by our life. We are to be Christ in this world for others to see by our lives, our actions, and our love. We are to bring the love of God to others in this world.

Nowhere in the gospel of Jesus Christ does he tell us not to love others; even if they are different.

No commandment tells us to hate others because they are different; but Jesus did tell us to bring God's love to others.  

The only sin we are told that is unforgivable is a sin against the Holy Spirit. The greatest sin against the Holy Spirit would be not to love God with all that you are and to not the love of Christ, the Lord God has given to us through the Holy Spirit with one another.

As a country, people have forgotten how to love others. Many political leaders have forgotten how to love others. Those who bring violence and disrespect for the dignity of each and every human life have forgotten love. Sometimes, even believers have forgotten how to love.

Friends, the secret of loving others is to live the greatest commandment - love God with all that you are.  We see how we fail to love God by confession.

Mothers had it right when they said “be good.” That is why I say, “Be good, be holy, and preach the gospel by the way you live your life and love one another. Amen”

Invitation - Homily 28th Sunday OTA

Before mass, someone said, I just want to tell say you’ve become a really good preacher. You were always good, but lately you’ve gotten better.

I considered this during the first and second readings. I remembered my first homilies I tried so hard to get right. God would put a message on my heart and I would change it to get it just right. But, I noticed the less I edited the more it touched them people.

God supplies all we need.

He did this week. Friday, at 2:00 p.m., I was on the phone with a customer who did not want to end our conversation. Finally, I said "I need to go, I am preaching this weekend and need to read scripture and pray."

My friend said, I think God is calling me to ministry; but, I been too bad. I not good enough. And, I am definitely not smart enough.

Then he continues. My wife and I were raised Pentecostal but now attend a small Baptist Church. I was asked to be an usher and on the first Sunday when I went to take up the collection, the minister asked me to lead the offertory prayer. .

I had never prayed in public. I stammered, stuttered, and am sure offered the worst prayer. After service, I asked the preacher to please not call on me again. He did, the next Sunday; but then quietly added "Brother Bob, pray from your heart."

One Sunday the preacher came to me and asked "Brother would you consider being a youth minister?"

I had excuses. “I'm too bad, I not good or holy enough.  I'm definitely not smart enough. I’ve never been to seminary. I don’t know the bible well enough. ”

The preacher said, “I don’t either. I am just a country the boy the Lord called to preach the gospel.” Then he added, “I think he is calling you. If not the youth minister please consider teaching youth Sunday school classes with your wife.”

The Sunday school classes had been taught by an elderly couple for many years.  My friend said he explained he would not be comfortable taking Brother Billy’s class. The kids loved him and he loved them. Since his wife’s death the kids were all he had.

The preacher said, just help. The next Sunday, Brother Billy’s class was wonderful, well taught, and full of love. Afterwards, the old man came up to us and said “Thank you for your help, I have been praying God would provide.”

He continued, “I have needed help for this class. My wife helped me for years. She would teach me the lesson, because I cannot read or write.”

My friend said God humbled him at that moment.

Isaiah wrote, God will provide for the needs of his people.  

Jesus taught us to pray “Thy Kingdom Come. Thy will be done. ”Every day, it’s prayed hundreds of thousands of times. Hopefully, hundreds of millions of times - Christianity is l the most widely practice religion in the world.

Ideally 2.4 billion people daily will pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” That is a lot of people praying for an invitation to the wedding feast.

So when the invitation goes out, we will see how many will come.

The invitation is something special. The Prophet Isaiah calls it feast of salvation. He writes: The LORD God will destroy death, wipe away the tears from every face; the reproach of his people he will remove.

Jesus parable is about the promise of salvation. It was a message meant for the Pharisees, elders, and all the Jewish people. It is a warning for Christians today.

Our salvation depends on us making the correct response to God’s invitation. So, Jesus tells the parable with two parts.  

The first is about those who seem to be worthy, the favored ones. However, they insult the King and his heir by declining the invitation. They put their own interests first.  Something is more important to them than their salvation.

The second part of the story focuses on those who would never have considered getting an invitation. The rest of us, the bad and good, those who don’t think they’re worthy to receive the Kings invitation.

Jesus tells us that God wishes salvation for all since He makes the invitation to everyone. If we sincerely accept that invitation it will change us. That change is our wedding garment.

There is warning for those who don't get it right. They will be cast out into the darkness where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Think about what that means. Although we want everyone to be in heaven - Hell is real and we must take it seriously. Hell is not filled by the ones that God rejects but by those who reject God.

Like the invited guests who spurned the king’s invitation, they will never know the heavenly banquet because they unknowingly chose hell.

Friends, the truth is God invites us to this wedding feast every day; all of us, bad and good alike. None of us are worthy. The invitation of salvation is for all. It is an undeserved, unmerited grace that comes to us in God’s lovingkindness. It is God’s will that is to provide for all his people’s need.

Believers pray, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done”. Hopefully millions and millions times a day.

Be good, be holy and preach the gospel everyday by the way you live your life and love one another. Amen