Fear & Faith 1st Wed Homily 1-8-25

Praise God. Praise be to Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen.

Jesus tells his disciples - “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!”

Have you ever been scared? I have. Have you ever been so scared you were paralyzed with fear? I have. Have you ever been so scared you were in that fight or flight mode? I have.

Although some fears of this world are shared. Most moments of fear are personal and individual. There are many things that can cause our fear. But most of the time, the cause of fear is the evil one trying to keep us from faith and hope in our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. Because, in times of fear, we tend to lose our faith. Fear destroys our capacity for faith.

We lose sight of Jesus and focus on our fear. Nothing good ever comes from fear.

To overcome fear and the cause of fear in our life - look to Jesus. Whoever confesses Jesus is the son of God; God abides in him and he in God. God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God. 

There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear. Whoever fears has not been perfected in love. Jesus is that perfect love. 

Jesus is always compassionate. Jesus is always walking toward us in the midst of our fears and struggles. Jesus in perfect love says “do not be afraid.” The world fears because very few truly know Jesus’ perfect in love. 

The disciples in the boat is all about us. We are in the boat of our Christianity. As Christians, we are disciples. The sea and storm is this worldly life. Jesus, who is perfect love, is walking towards us. 

The disciples don’t know him. They think he is a ghost. They were scared and paralyzed with fear. They were probably in that fight or flight mode, but in that boat they had no where to run and no one to fight. 

Sound familiar?

Being in that boat on a dark and turbulent sea is like facing the unknown of this life. We are afraid. The storms in this life bashes us with big waves and small waves everyday. Jesus comes to us in the middle of those storms. Jesus comes to us in the darkest hours. Time when we fear the most. Time we are afraid of all that is going on around us.

They didn’t recognize him. They never expected Jesus to be walking on the water. We often fail to recognize Christ in this life, because we fear. It takes courage to follow Jesus. Most do not have the courage to recognize Jesus and they are see something different, like a ghost.

Jesus recognizing their fear and our fear turns and the one who is perfect love says “do not to be afraid.” 

Yet, still the disciples had hardened hearts. Like the disciples in the boat, our hearts are hardened to perfect love. Because we would rather listen to the fear in this world that tells us we are not worthy of perfect love.

God loves us. He loves us even when we are afraid. Jesus turns to us in perfect love and says, “do not be afraid.”

If we reject fear and trust in Christ, our journey will reflect the perfected love of faith. The perfect love found in following Jesus, who leads me by still waters.

Prefer nothing to the love of Christ. Be courageous, have faith to get out of the boat and walk in this life to Jesus. The Father has sent the son to be the savior of the world. Jesus told us to go out and proclaim love to a world full of fear. Our mission is to share the good news, we need not fear. 

Whoever fears has not been perfected in love. Perfected love is faith in the good news of Jesus Christ

Praise God. Praise be to Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen.

Seeds in the Rocks - Homily 11th Sun OTB 6/15/24

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061624.cfm

Praise God. Praise be to Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen

Is God great! The way God reveals and teaches us truth by everyday life. Even through the Bible, God uses poems, songs, proverbs, and words of wisdom to teach us His truth. 

For our faith, our religion, our God is not something for those with special wisdom or knowledge. God is not far off and distant. He is always drawing near to us in every moment of life. 

Holy Scripture tells us of God reaching out to touch lives of individuals, peoples, and nations through the stories and writings of those who lived the experiences. In those moments in time, God planted the seed of his presence in them and it grew. 

He planted a seed in Ezekiel. Ezekiel prophesied with beautiful words of poetry and allegory revealing the truth of God.   

Jesus used parables relatable to everyday life to reveal the Kingdom of God. He used his life, his passion, his love planting the seed in the hearts of many who heard him. The seed was to grow the Kingdom of God.

St Paul and the writers of scripture in the New Testament nourished the seed Jesus planted in them. And, the kingdom of God grew in them and in the world. Their preaching, their writings, and the examples of their life and love became new seeds God uses to grow his Kingdom.  

The seeds they generated by their lives are still being planted today.

Friends, do you remember when that seed was planted in you? Baptism, most of us were too young to remember. The example of your parents, your catechism, maybe it was planted by holy and loving person that became part of your life. It could have been at your confirmation or even your marriage. 

Like many people, there may have been many different moments in your life that seeds were planted to help you. Praise God those seeds took root. They grew you into who you are today, a member of the Kingdom of God. 

One the seeds planted in me came from a very unusual place and moment in my life. My freshman year in college. I was 18 years old. It was my first time away from home on my own. I was a football player. I was the son of a preacher man let loose by the world. I was living a life very guilty of sin.

Every moment of sin grows in us. It pulls us away from God and attacks the Kingdom of God in us. St Paul writes, One day we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, each will receive recompense for all those moments in life, whether good or evil.

Luckily, one of my classes was Geology 101. It was referred to as “Rocks for Jocks.” The lecture began with Earth’s history based on the study of the planet's rock layers. The professor said “the earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old.”

A student protested, “My daddy is a minister and he told me that what you are preaching is against God’s word. My daddy said the Bible tells us God created the earth 5000 years ago. You do not believe the word of God.”

The professor sighed and replied, “I am a scientist and a Christian. My beliefs and what I teach do not conflict. I study the great mystery that is God’s creation. Geology, fossils, and all the time that has passed in this universe proves there is a God. For many people of science, reason in the study of science proves there is something more than us. I believe that is God.”

I still remember that moment in time from 45 years ago. A little seed planted in my heart that I thought was funny then. I remember it now and realized that moment has become part of my belief, faith, and understanding of God. It has grown from a tiny seed planted in faith by a geology teacher to become part of my understanding of the Kingdom of God within me.

Jesus spoke to the people, as they were able to understand, in parables. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own he explained everything in private.

The last part is important - Jesus explained everything to them in private. Friends, pray with scripture. Pray with your experience of everyday life so that you may see God reaching out to you and you can open yourself to that moment when the seeds of the Kingdom are planted in you.  

This story I shared, tells the importance of how the example of our lives will touch others. That professor could have humiliated the student, sent them off, and ignored them. Instead, he used that moment to share his faith planting a seed for the Kingdom of God. It was planted in me.

If we aspire to please God, live life by the greatest commandment. Love God with all you have. Love God in every moment. Witness God and the gospel of Christ in every breath. In joy and love share these things with friends, family, coworkers, or strangers happened upon, as seeds to plant for the kingdom of God. 

In this life, we walk in faith. We have the Kingdom of God in us. In every moment, strive to be good, strive to be holy and plant the seed of the Kingdom of God by the way you live your life and love one another.  

Praise God.Praise be to Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen. 

Bogged down in the Same old, Same old - Homily 1st Friday August 2024

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/13?54

Praise God. Praise be to Jesus Christ. Amen.

We live our life in this little bubble of who we are. We see the same things. We speak to the same people. We know our friends. We know our family. We know what to expect from them, how they act, and can anticipate what they will do in certain situations. 

In that bubble of our existence, we can be blinded by the same old – same old.

The people in Jesus’ hometown encountered him that day in the synagogue. They were astonished at what they encountered. They were astonished; but, blinded by the same old, same old. 

Paul touches on this phenomenon in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians. “The people’s minds were blinded, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read a veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. This veil can be removed only by believing in Christ.”(2 Corinthian 3:14)

Those people looked at a man many had known since his childhood and saw the carpenter’s son. They saw the son of Mary. They remember him as a young boy associated with his relatives, cousins and kin people.  

All the people in Jesus’ hometown encountered Jesus; but, they were blinded by the same old – same old. They looked at him with the same old eyes. They tried to understand him with the same old heart. Instead of being in awe and wonder of Jesus. They wondered where all his wisdom and mighty works had come from.

Blinded by the same old - same old; their opinion of Jesus remained the same. They could not believe. They did not encounter Jesus, the Christ. They had no faith. They did not honor him. Blinded by the same old – same old things – these people from Jesus’s hometown could not even accept his miracles.

People are blinded in the same way today.

We go to encounter Jesus in prayer. But, it is the same old same old. We go to Jesus with the same old habits and same old thoughts. It is habits, situations, and repeated behaviors that we are comfortable with that blind us. 

A veil covers minds and hearts so people are afraid to grow in faith. They close themselves to the change that the truth of Christ can bring. Let me challenge you –do not to be blinded by the same old – same old.

Look around you at the same things you see every day and see them again for the first time.

Pray the prayers you pray every day and open your heart to God’s truth. 

See what is around you for the first time. 

Encounter Jesus more deeply in prayer. 

Truly look for Christ in the face of others not just your family or your friends, but strangers, the poor. 

See the miracles around us.  

See the beauty of God’s creation.

May every prayer, every bible scripture, every holy moment be a new encounter with Jesus. Let every new encounter with Jesus deepen our acceptance and belief.

So that we are not the same old same old.

Be good, be holy and share the Good News of Jesus Christ by the way we live or life and love one another.

Praise God. Praise be to Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen.

Good Wine -Homily 2nd Sunday OTC

Praise God. Praise be to Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen.

I got up early this Saturday morning. Around 5:30 am is a time I can know quiet. In that quiet time, I pray the Liturgy of the Hours and read scripture. This Saturday morning’s prayer began with these words,“Dawn finds me ready to welcome you Lord.”  

In the silence of the early morning hours, I open myself to God and welcome the Lord Jesus Christ to my day in the quietness of my prayer.

Even though I know God is near us all the time; if we silence the noise of the world it is so much easier to hear his voice. So, I prayed about all the change that is happening

(My grandchildren are no longer living with me; instead, I am a caregiver for my mother. I just turned 64, so I face the decision to retire at 65 and enter full time ministry or continue to work a few years more. And, the change facing our country with a new president and administration.)

What I heard in my heart was “We do not always know what God will ask of me; but do whatever he tells me and go wherever He sends me.”

I prayed with that in the quietness of that early Saturday morning. Silence is a good place to find miracles, hopefully, the miracle of a message and homily people need to hear. . .

. . . Silence & Change . . . 

In the story of the Wedding at Canna, Jesus performed his first miracle in silence —— for his hour had not yet come.

How did it happen? How the miracle of the water becoming wine is not told in scripture. The miracle took place in the moment between when the stone jars were filled with water and Jesus telling the servers to “draw some out and take it to the head waiter.” 

Jesus did not pray over the jars. He did not touch the water. Despite the depiction in “The Chosen”, Jesus did not ask everyone to leave the room to be alone with the jars. No one saw him move to do anything.

It was just a moment of silence. In the silence of that moment, a miracle happen that would touch the world. Forthe changing of water into wine was “the first of Jesus’ signs.”

The miracle of the silence of that moment is the mystery of Jesus’ relationship with us. A miracle that occurs in a moment of silence with Jesus brings change in us.

The human body is a vessel, a jar. Sixty percent of our body weight is water. So, if a person weighs 150 lbs. (some of us more, others less) our bodies will contain pretty close to 10 gallons of water. The human body holds about the same amount of water as those jars at the wedding feast.

There were six stone jars. Six being less than seven is imperfect just like us. They were not perfectly made, each jar was different. These miraculous jars held 10 gallons or 20 or 30 gallons of water. They normally held water used for bathing; water to remove the dirt of the world from a person’s body. Jesus takes those jars of water, imperfect as they were, and makes something better.

Jesus Christ calls to us. In the silence of the moment between when He calls us and we answer, we change. Jesus takes us, imperfect as we are and makes something better.

Friends, that is the miracle of our conversion. No longer forsaken, we are now a diadem in the hands of God. We have become good wine.

Jesus comes to us in our place of silence and quiet. He comes to our heart. He comes to our mind, our reason. He comes to our understanding. He comes to the quiet inside us. In that silence, Jesus turns all the dirtiness of sin we hold in this vessel into the wine of our faith. 

Then, He sends us to the world.

All those that know us. All those in the world around become that chief steward. Why have you been kept the best from us.

Jesus’ first miracle was in silence. But afterwards, Jesus was silent no more. His miracles were done out loud in the public. They were done among the people. They were miracles that stirred up and aggravated all those against him.

The Christ that is in us, the miracle of our faith, is the Christ in us that is to be heard. Our conversion moment is a “BAM” moment. The witness of our faith is a “BAM” moment. Share it with the world. 

For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet.

In the glory and majesty of God, we have been given a new name. We are called Christians, now to witness to all nations the vindication of our sins. We are called Christians, now to proclaim to all the world the glory found in the joy of God’s love and faithfulness.

What a terrible place this world would be if not for the good wine of our Christian Faith and trust in God through Jesus Christ. The good wine we share with the world by the Holy Spirit are the gifts now in us. 

We bring our gifts as parents, teachers, or priest, sharing the word of God with those around us. 

We bring our gifts to those in need. It might be caring for a sick child or parent, bringing communion to shut-ins and the elderly, or visiting the sick in a Hospice or hospital ministry. 

Our gifts are to be used to bring dignity and justice to others. Maybe it caring for the homeless in our community or bringing dignity and justice to a nation as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. 

If it is God’s will then it is truly the good wine of our Faith. 

It is the joy and unity of a family and a community of believers that does not always know what God will ask from us.

Mary says to the servers who were waiting the tables. “Do whatever he tells you,” 

The same is true for each of us. We don’t know what Jesus will ask us to do; but, have no worries, it will always be good wine.

. . . Silence & Change . . .

In the silence of contemplation and prayer, we deepen our relationship with God. In that silence is a place to find miracles, maybe even the miracle of what God wants us to hear.

Be good, be holy. And proclaim the good news, the joy, and glory found in Jesus Christ by the we live our lives and love one another.

Praise God. Praise be to Jesus Christ, forever and ever. Amen.