Attitude Adjustment - Homily 7th Sunday OTC

Readings

David and Abishai snuck into Saul’s camp walking past the best soldiers in Israel to find Saul. They found him sleeping and at Saul’s head was his spear thrust into the ground. They could have taken so much; but, all they did was take the spear and a jug of water.

That spear was the sign of Saul’s kingship. Water to anyone who lives in the desert is life. Symbolically David took Saul’s kingship and life.

Saul’s kingship had become about Saul; he had fallen asleep forgetting God.  

Yet, David stood on a hilltop and said, Even though God delivered Saul into my hands, I will not harm the anointed one of God. Saul can have these back.

Using David, God gave Saul an attitude adjustment.

Many of us had parents who threaten with an attitude adjustment when we misbehaved. As a child, it was all about me.

In college, a young lady said to me, “You must be a football player.”

I asked “How can you tell?” Surely, it was my muscles and physique.

But she answered, “You have that attitude. You walk like a football player.”

I just knew she was hinting for a date, so I asked her out. Her reply was curt, “I don’t go out with football players.” She told me in a roundabout way, I needed an attitude adjustment.

I didn’t recognize it. I left walking the way she described. My chest was puffed up, nose in the air, and proud because I was as a football player. It was all about me.

She was right. I needed an attitude adjustment.

Today, I’m a Deacon, a minister of the Lord. Sometime or somehow, I must have changed. But the devil knows your weaknesses and always presents temptation. Even though I strive to be a servant, it’s easy to be tempted when “it’s about me.”

I look to see how many have read my blog or how many views, likes, and shares the Church’s Facebook or Twitter account receives. I like it just a little too much when someone says “I enjoyed your homily Deacon.” Hearing good things about our church and ministries build the ego and “it’s all about me.”

I need an attitude adjustment.

All these things can be labeled Church or ministry or Christian or Catholic, but are they what Jesus instructed us to do. Jesus asked us to love. In his love you find nothing on “it’s all about me.”

Jesus can change the arrogance of self. He can change our attitude to live the greatest commandment: love the LORD our God with all that we are and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Last Sunday, the beatitudes introduced us to Jesus’ attitude adjustment. Today’s gospel is its continuation and Jesus tells us “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

Then we hear this famous attitude adjustment that a Christian is to make: If a person strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well….

These are hard things for us to do. The problem is our attitude is formed by this world. Everything tends to be conditional, even love. We only want to love if we are loved in return.

Jesus knows this about us. Jesus came to change us.

If you love only those who love you or do good only to those who do good to you, should you get any special praise for doing that?…. Instead, love your enemies and do good to them expecting nothing back…

That is the opposite of the way we think. We profess a Christian faith but have problems loving those against us. We only want to love those who love us back.

We forget all are children of God; all are created by God. We are created by God to endure in this earthly image and carry in us a heavenly one.  

By the love Jesus teaches, we can recognize the image of God in one another. He himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. If we love God, we must love all created in the image of God.  We are to be merciful to others just as our Heavenly Father is merciful to us.

With this love comes the ability to recognize that blessed are the poor, the hungry, and those who weep. Love is the condition we need to recognize that blessed are those who are hated and insulted because they love as Jesus loved.  

St. Paul said in scripture, “Be of the same mind, the same love, and united in heart by putting on the attitude of Jesus Christ.”(Phil 2:1-5)

Christ’s love “it’s not about me.” Jesus did not say for us to love ourselves, our accomplishments, and our egos. Jesus said love one another.  

Love the poor, the stranger, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, and those in prison. He even told us to love our enemies. Love others by wanting for them what we want for ourselves; to stop judging and condemning others and to be a forgiving, generous, and loving person.  

We have this when our attitude choice is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and our entire mind; and love our neighbor as ourselves.

But that’ lacking in the world where politics, celebrities, and even our neighbors live their lives with an “all about me” attitude. 

Modern day Christians profess a personal relationship with Jesus but for many this is an “all about me” relationship. They say they are his disciple but their noses are in the air and chests puffed out. They fallen asleep to their anointing.

That relationship with Christ is about how we love one another. In that, the entire world needs this attitude adjustment. It begins with you and me.

Be good, be holy and love one another. Amen.

Believer or Disciple - Reflection 6th Sunday OTC

(readings)

We can all say that we are believers. Not all can say they are disciples.

I have been considering this for some time, because, I see many believers in Church.  I see many who profess belief in Christ on the street.

I don’t see many disciples in the world. Because being a disciple is about living what you believe. You can be a sinner, the church is for sinners. You can be lost, the church is for the lost.

You cannot be a hypocrite. A hypocrite is one who professes they are a Christian but does not try to live a life as Jesus instructed us.

It is easy to become a hypocrite because people believe in many things.  People believe in God. People believe in Jesus Christ. People believe in the Devil. People believe in all the things that are of this world. People believe false prophets, false teachers, false doctrines, or they believe in nothing.

A person can believe in God but be a disciple of the evil one. A person can believe in Jesus Christ, but be a disciple of this world. A person can believe and be a disciple of nothing.

Being a disciple of Christ is much more than just believing.  Being his disciple is following the instruction and participating in all Jesus gave us; the beatitudes, the greatest commandment, the Eucharist, and the sacraments.

In the scripture immediately before today’s gospel Jesus went to the mountain and spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and chose Twelve to be named apostles.

Then he went down from the mountain and gave the most important and influential sermon of all times, that is today’s Gospel.

The Sermon on the Mount was a teaching for all to hear, but it was instructions Jesus was specifically giving to his disciples. Jesus raised his eyes toward his disciples said: “Blessed are you who are poor; the hungry, and those who mourn; Blessed are you when people hate you, exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.”

Jesus instructed them further by warning ones that followed him that being a disciple is not about riches or power or celebrity.

“Woe to you who are rich for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

The prophet Jeremiah warned, “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD.”

And the Psalms tell us: Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked, nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, but delights in the law of the LORD.

Being a disciple of Jesus is more than just believing, it’s imitating Christ in the world; by living the beatitudes. It is living the greatest commandment to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. Being a disciple of Christ is to love God with all that you are and to love your neighbor. 

It is to love in a way that allows you die to the greed and avarice of this world and its false prophets and disciples so you can rise up to bring Christ to the world.

Being a disciple is more than just believing, it’s living the instruction Jesus gave. It is participating in the Eucharist and the sacraments.  It is to believe in the real presence, the real body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.

Being a disciple is to participate and believe in the sacraments. They are the same sacraments given to the apostles and the Church by Jesus.  It is through them that we the Church of Jesus disciples continue to participate in his life.  

Being a disciple is following the instruction Jesus gave.

After Jesus rose from the tomb, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.  

Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Disciples, Jesus is looking at us.

So be good, be holy and preach the gospel by the way you live and love one another. Amen.

Dismissed - Homily 5th Sunday OTC

(Readings)

Tuesday, I visited a manufacturing plant in Shreveport. The plant manager told that he is from NW Ohio; so, being curious, I asked how he got to Shreveport.

He said for 20 years he worked for a large company. His employer was opening plants in Russia and wanted him to get the plants started.  

He refused to go so the company dismissed him (fired). Six years ago, he wound up in Shreveport.

As he told this story, we walked by a thermometer that read 80 degrees. He stopped, took a picture, and texted his daughter in NW Ohio. There, it was 5 degrees. This time of year in Moscow, Russia, temperatures average 19 degrees. That’s cold.

He thanks God for Shreveport.

Combine his story with the readings and I am reminded me of something from Deacon Formation that after the Eucharist, dismissal is a most important part of mass.

“Mass” means the dismissal. 

• ·        Go in Peace.
• ·        Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.
• ·        Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.
• ·        Go forth, the Mass is ended.

I use an older version, Go in peace to love and serve the LORD.

These words are more than just saying “it’s time to go.” They are a call to mission. Take the Eucharistic in us, the Christ in us and live as an imitation of Christ in the world.

Do we or are we like Isaiah, Paul, and Peter and feel we are not worthy?

Isaiah -"Woe is me, I am doomed! I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips….

Paul -I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle…..

Peter -Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.

Our words are similar before we receive Christ, repeating the words of the Roman centurion: “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof….”

This unworthiness is not about shame. It’s easy to mistake the two. Unbelievers do.

True believers are not ashamed of God, faith, or what we believe. Feelings of unworthiness come from a realization of our insignificance after we experience God.   

Isaiah, Paul, Peter and each of us compare who we are and what we are to the God experience. Coming to mass, drawing closer to God, and partaking in the body of Christ is experiencing God in a way that allows us to understand we are far less than God.

To experience God is peace, forgiveness, and joy. Nowhere is shame.

Prophets, apostles, and true believers wonder how we could ever be worthy to bring the experience of God to His creation. All the earth is filled with His glory. We realize this, are afraid and feel unworthy.

Jesus said, "Do not be afraid.” God’s grace allows us to know the limits of our humanity, St. Paul said, I am what I am.

In spite of our limits, God’s grace is not ineffective. God’s grace is upon wicked and sinful people like Isaiah, Paul, Peter, and us. God’s grace makes us worthy. 

The Lord asks "Whom shall I send? “ Friends, answer, "Here I am Lord, send me!"

Bring what you have; all Peter had was a boat and fishing net. What we bring may not be fancy but God’s grace is enough.

After, that meeting in Shreveport, several people went to lunch. The manager bowed his head and asked blessing, a simple powerful message.

So, at the end of mass when the Deacon or Priests says the words of dismissal:

• ·        Go in Peace.
• ·        Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.
• ·        Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.
• ·        Go forth, the Mass is ended. Or even
• ·        Go in peace to love and serve the LORD.

Remember each of us is sent out like the prophets, apostles, and all the great witnesses of God.

Dismissed, we are sent to do great things.

We answer, “Thanks be to God.”

Be good, be holy, and go and announce the Gospel of the Lord by the way you live your life and love one another. Amen.

Simple Directions - Reflection 1st Friday Adoration - February

(Readings)

We had a Deacons meeting with Fr. Peter Mangum, the Diocesan Administrator. He told us not to preach a theology we have trouble understanding or one too sophisticated people can’t understand.

Fr. Peter has never heard me preach. I begin with stories about work, family, and even underwear, pretty much the opposite of sophisticated.

This is why.

Jesus preached of everyday life. He spoke so people were able to understand and did not preach without parables; but, He explained everything to his disciples in private.

He still speaks to his disciples through the Holy Spirit. He explains everything to us in the private of our hearts. Some explanations are deep and sophisticated; some a little less complicated.

If it truly comes from the Holy Spirit, truth is in each explanation.

For people of truth (priests, deacons, and you my brothers and sisters) it is our responsibility to bring this message to the world.

Like when 3500 people walked for life and for truth in our home town of Monroe, Louisiana. A community of many faiths and ethnicities walked for life and justice.

There was no jeering, chastising, or protest; but, that is not the way everywhere.

We’ve witness over the past weeks that those who say they are people of faith can express flawed theology by their actions. A theology of a god that does not care about every life, every moment, and every choice we make.

That is not my God. That is not my Jesus. That is not theology of the one whose truth is told in the importance of a tiny seed; and, the truth of the importance of a tiny seed of life made in the image of God.

Friends, God gave simple directions. Jesus told us how important we are to God. It’s not a complicated theology. Amen.

Time to Stand - Homily 3rd Sunday OTC

Readings

This past week there have been attacks on faith and what is right.  First was the attack on our faith in the Saints; the New Orleans Saints. A blown call or two and Saints fans and most fans of the NFL are outraged; but, some are pleased. For Saint Fans, it appears officials turned a blind eye to the rules, ignoring what is right.

The world can ignore what is right. It is the way to attack our Christian faith. It shouldn’t surprise you. Look at things that happened this week

The state of New York has legalized abortion up to birth. If a child is born alive after an attempted abortion, it is to be ignored and forsaken.

It’s a law that makes it legal to murder children. Horror on top of horror is this law was signed by a self-identified devout Catholic Governor and there was celebration and rejoicing. Hearts turned away from God ignoring what is right.

Then there was the Covington Catholic School fiasco. If you are not familiar, it took place at the National March for Life. There a video was taken out of a young man smiling and standing in front of a Native American elder. The young man said he smiled to show good will and prayed a silent prayer..

The world turned against that young man and his friends for something that didn’t happen. A confused and nervous smile was called a racist smirk. Their school and Bishop condemned them before they made it home. Judgement made without the facts. Seems someone has forgotten the rules of Christian life. They accused and judged, ignoring what is right.

The Bishop says he was bullied into passing judgement. Think about that. Darkness with its pawns of politics and politicians fights the Light in the world. It doesn’t even try to hide yet many still we can’t see it.

I won’t judge the Bishop; but, what if he had waited and stood up for what is right.

Our readings today tell of two men stood up when it was needed.

Ezra, priest and scribe, stood before the crowd and read plainly from the book of the law of God, interpreting so all could understand.

And all the people, their hands raised high, answered, “Amen, amen!" Then they bowed down and prostrated themselves before the LORD, their faces to the ground.  

Ezra said, today is holy to our LORD.

The ancient Israelites, once a strong and powerful nation, had forgotten God. Conquered by the Babylonians and taken into exile, they forgot their land, their language, and their God. Of the hundreds of thousands of people, only 5000 returned. Though they worshipped God, they no longer knew the law of God

Those who know God need to stand higher than the rest of the world. Not for pride, not for ego, not in aloofness; but, stand in peace and love. We are one body in Christ. As a one body with many parts, even the unborn are important. We all are part of the body of God’s creation.

When Jesus time had come, He stood up. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring joy to the poor, liberty to captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, and to the oppressed, freedom.

Today, this is fulfilled in your hearing.

With all the attacks on our faith, how many have forgotten God.

Don’t weep; don’t be saddened. For the body of Christ has Jesus our strength. As the body of Christ none are more important than the other, even the unborn. When one part suffers all suffer.

That is our call to be strong and stand for truth, for the Gospel, for right, for those ignored, and for the dignity and justice to those the world is against. When the world is in ruins around us, it is time to stand up and be strong. And the spirit of the Lord will be upon us, to bring us strength through joy in the LORD.  

With joy in the Lord, we will fight the devil in the world. We will fight an enemy strong enough to bully a Bishop. We fight an enemy strong enough to make the world turn against a young man with a nervous smile and a prayer in his heart. We fight an enemy strong enough to fools the weak into celebrating the killing of children.

We are strong because Jesus stood up for us. He stood on the cross with his arms outstretch for us. He stands before God the Father, pleading for us.

Now is time to stand up in the strength of Christ: the strength of his joy; the strength of his love; the strength found as part of the body of Christ; the strength and joy in sharing the love of Christ.

My friends, today is holy and today we fulfill the promise of scripture as the body of Christ standing up and working together for faith and what is right. All the people, their hands raised high, answered, “Amen, amen!" Be good, be holy and stand up to preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen

In all His Divinity, Jesus knew Ordinary - Homily 2nd Sunday OTC

Readings 

I’m an ordinary person telling stories to proclaim the gospel. Sometimes, I offend people. Sometimes, it’s an accident. Sometimes, it’s my intention to offend.

I’m going to offend if you don’t want to hear about right and wrong or good or evil. I’m going to offend if you don’t believe in sin or the devil. I’m going to offend if you don’t believe in the church.

I offend some by my style. It’s simple, unrefined, and about finding God in our ordinary lives. I offend because I’m too loud or too bold or maybe I’m too big.

I hope and pray Jesus likes my style.

As a man, Jesus knew ordinary. He was not born in a palace, but a manger. His mother was young girl betrothed to a good and honorable man. From that good and honroable man, Jesus learned to be a carpenter. He was born into ordinary life.

His disciples and apostles were ordinary people living in the world; common everyday people bringing the good news to the world.

Jesus’ parables are ordinary life. He preaches and teaches with stories about fishing, farming, parenting, spoiled children, and weddings.  The wedding at Cana begins as an ordinary human story.

All of us have had that time when our mother has asked us to do something and honestly we don’t want to do it. Maybe, we’re brave and say “No”. Maybe, we take the cowardly way out, by putting it off, hoping, she’ll forget. But, because we love our mothers, we usually do what momma wants us to do.

Mary and Jesus were guests at the wedding. Mary comes to Jesus and says “They ran out of wine!”

Jesus’ answer, Woman, how does your concern affect me? In Greek, Jesus’s words are “How does it concern you and me…”  In other words, Jesus said to Mary in a good and divine way, “Momma, it’s not our problem.” Then he adds, “My hour has not yet come.”

Mary knows her son will do the right thing. She knows He will do what she asks of Him and turns to the servers saying “Do whatever he tells you.”

There were six stone vessels each about 30 gallons used for ceremonial washing. Jesus told them fill the jars with water then "Draw some out and take it to the headwaiter."

The headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine and said: "Everyone serves good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you kept the good wine until now."

In that passage, Jesus (in all his divinity) shows a human sense of humor or irony.

Jesus, a carpenter, and his fisherman buddies came to the wedding. They ran out of wine and Jesus made wine in a bathtub. He made 180 gallons of wine for a party and it was good wine.

In the ordinary is the greatest of gifts. Those washing vessels (bathtubs) are like our lives - ordinary things in which God works miracles. Washing away our sins, we become good wine.

God rejoices in us and our ordinary lives.

He sends the Holy Spirit to ordinary people and gives extraordinary spiritual gifts. One is given wisdom. Another is given knowledge, another faith. Another is given the gift of healing, another mighty deeds, to another prophecy; and to others are different gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts are different for each of us but from the same God through the same Holy Spirit.

Fifty years ago, the small community I lived in had three people with the gift of healing. One was an old man, a farm worker. He couldn’t read. He couldn’t sign his name. But, he had an extraordinary gift of healing. Because of that gift, he fought the devil every day. Most days, it was probably in a bar.

If the doctor could do no good or others could not heal. You’d go to find this old man. He healed by the laying on of hands and praying in the name of Jesus. If it was God’s will, you would be healed.

He prayed for my little brother who had ear problems that  doctors could not remedy. In constant pain, he was losing his hearing. After several stops at different bars, my father found the old man. He came out and leaned into our car smelling like whiskey and cigarettes. The old man touched my 4 year old brother’s ears and prayed. That little boy stopped screaming almost immediately.

If you meet my little brother, you’ll notice the speech impediment; but, it’s all that’s left from an illness doctors couldn’t do anything about.

I praise God, our Lord Jesus Christ for that healing. I praise God for that ordinary old man of faith and the purest of hearts that fought the devil every day of his life. The devil fought him through his brokenness. Even with his extraordinary gift of healing; many people were offended by this simple old man.

It was for people like him that Jesus taught, blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. If we don’t strive to have a pure heart, we are not being the person God wants us to be then we are not sharing our gifts.

I hope Jesus likes the way I bring the gospel and God is not offended by my preaching. I try to bring my message from a pure heart that allows me the ability to see all the gifts in which God reveals himself - the beauty of nature, the love we have for each other, the experiences of life, and the gospel of Christ.

But a pure heart is hard to keep. It is easy to fall to the temptations the world that fills us with cravings and desires, which are not of God. It is the enemy that serves the good wine first, and when we have drunk freely of the temptations, cravings, and desires of the world. The tempter brings out his inferior wine.  

But in Christ Jesus, God takes ordinary sinners and changes us into good wine. God rejoices in us. He does this to reveal his glory. He does this so we believe in him.

We are given the extraordinary gift that is faith in Jesus Christ; don’t be surprised if you offend someone.

Be good, be holy, and preach the gospel by the gifts God has given you, by the life you live and by the way you love one another. Amen.

We Need His Baptism - A Reflection on the Baptism of the Lord

Readings

Inspiration: Christian Prayer, Daily Office,  and notes from the Divine office website.

Jesus did not need to be baptized. So why was Jesus baptized?

Early theologian like Saint Gregory of Nazianzus said that the Lord was baptized to bless the waters.

With His body, with His divinity, in His Baptism, He blessed all the waters, so that water would have the power to give baptism. And then, before ascending to Heaven, Jesus told us to go into all the world to baptize.

St Gregory goes on to say, when Jesus rises from the waters; the world rises with him.

So the answer to why was Jesus baptized is simple, we needed His Baptism. In baptism, Jesus blessed us and blessed the whole world.

We should bless the Lord. The prophet Daniel understood.

Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord. Praise and exalt him above all forever....

All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord.... Every shower and dew, bless the Lord..... Dew and rain, bless the Lord.... You springs, bless the Lord.... Seas and rivers, bless the Lord....

You sons and daughters of men, bless the Lord.... Praise and exalt him above all forever.

Priests of the Lord, bless the Lord. Servants of the Lord, bless the Lord. Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord. Holy people of humble heart, bless the Lord.

Praise and exalt him above all forever. Let us bless the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Let us praise and exalt him above all forever.

We bless the Lord by following his words. Christ Jesus told us to go into all the world to baptize.

To bring that baptism of Christ to the world is blessing the Lord and bringing his blessing to the world. We baptize with the same waters blessed and made holy by our Lord and savior when Jesus was baptized by John in the river Jordan.

Following Jesus’ command, we baptize to the present day. It is an unbroken chain. Parents baptized their children, and their children baptized their children, and their children baptized their children, and their children…

And that is the chain of faith!

He saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

God shows no partiality.

The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires.

As believer, followers of Christ, we have a duty to transmit this promise of faith, a duty to pass these blessings of faith to our children.

It’s the most beautiful of our heritage.

Although we are unworthy, God looks down upon us, Christ says, with you I am well pleased.

Be good, be holy go out into the world and pass on the Gospel, pass on your faith, by living your baptism. Amen

The Epiphany Perspective - Homily Epiphany Sunday 2019

(Inspired by a Homily of Fr. Charles Irvin, frcharlie.org)

Readings

Have you ever heard the expression you can’t see the forest for the trees. It’s all about perspective; the way we see and understand things. We could focus on one thing, one tree and examine its leaves, know the gnarls the branches, and hues of its bark. A tree is a beautiful thing; but, it’s a limited perspective and we miss the beauty that is the forest.

Perspective is our focus, attitude, and way of thinking. It is how we comprehend the world. Sometimes, we need a new perspective.

The ancient Israelites had been focusing on their past. Their perspective was a life of distress, despair, and destruction.

But, in the first reading Isaiah tells them to look to see the beauty that was ahead of them. He was giving a new perspective. Isaiah’s words were of God’s promise, giving them reason to hope. Hope was something desperately needed.

Centuries later the world again needed a new perspective. It was into that world God sent His only begotten Son, Christ Jesus.

His birth was the fulfillment of prophesies. Jesus fulfilled all that was promised throughout the centuries about the Messiah. He was Emmanuel, the anointed one of God, the Christ born to a virgin in the line of David. He was God’s Promise, the long awaited messiah of the Jewish people.

He is hope in a time of distress, despair, and destruction. He is the promise of God the Jewish people needed to see things differently.

But, if that was the perspective the world had of the Christ, it was not seeing the forest for the trees. Jesus was born for all people, the non-Jews, the Gentiles, people all over the world living in times past and times now.

God went beyond offering hope for the Jewish people. God sent His Son for people all over the world. This change of perspective offered enlightenment and hope to everyone, everywhere.

That is the Epiphany.

That was why the magi, wise men from the world came to Bethlehem. They were looking for a new perspective. They were seeking something new, something fresh, and that something was hope and redemption to everyone everywhere.

They followed a star, a light from heaven that promised a new perspective to the world.

They came to experience the Christ. They came to worship and adore him. They came to offer him homage and gifts. They came to learn and see new things. They came for the hope that was promised and to bring that message of hope to the world.   

Sounds like a mass!

But, Herod was full of hate and envy; wanting only his perspective in the world. Even today, the world is full of Herod(s) forcing their perspective - terrorism, fear, clergy abuse, corruption, and the politics of hate. Herod(s) are the secularists and despisers of religion who pursue a perspective that misrepresents people of faith as the problem in the world.

Sadly, many return to Herod not able to see the beauty of the forest for the trees.

We need to go a different way. That way is by church. Attending Mass is the way to know the perspective of hope that is Jesus Christ.

It is at Mass that we come to experience Christ in the Eucharist. We come to worship and adore him. We come to offer homage and gifts. We come to learn and see new things. We come to learn of the promise of hope. We are to bring that message to the whole world.  

Sounds like wise men!

God’s word proclaimed during Mass is the perspective we need.

But, mass is only 60 minutes out of each week; 60 minutes out of a week that totals 10,080 minutes.  Remove the time we sleep, then its 7,560 minutes awake each week. As a good practicing Catholic you have 7,500 minutes between each week’s Mass.

What do we bring from those 60 minutes to the other 7500 minutes of our week?

Here is an example. Teaching my 5 year old grandson to pray the rosary, my daughter says, “We need to say the Our Father.”  

He says “Mommy, I got this…. “Our Father who are in Heaven, hollow be thy name…” then his prayers mix a little. It has Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and the Holy Spirit.

His mommy asks, “Where did you learn that?”

His answer, “It’s easy, we say it at Church.”

His perspective is one we should all have: It’s easy to bring everyday life from Church.

What perspective do we bring? Maybe, it’s an Epiphany perspective, maybe it's hope, the beautiful promise of Christ for the world.

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

A Family Circle - Reflection Feast of the Holy Family - Year C

(Readings)
Contemplating the Holy Family, Family Circle Magazine came to mind, one of my mother’s favorites growing up. From there, the old gospel song, “Will the Circle be Unbroken” with one specific verse standing out “Now the family is parted. Will it be complete one day? Will the circle be unbroken by and by, by and by? Is a better home waiting in the sky, in the sky?”

As we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, remember we are all family. All part of God’s creation. Created by the word of God, molded into the image of God, and then by God’s own breath, the spirit of life came into us.

In each and every life, in each and every person, in each and every day, creation comes again full circle. It is in that circle of God’s love that we will find the truth and happiness for which we constantly search

It is a circle that all of us are part. It is a circle whose center everywhere and whose end is nowhere. In that circle, we are born in the image of God and meant to grow into the full likeness of God.  It is a likeness that has heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience in bearing with one another and forgiving one another.

I saw that last week. Due to a family illness, I have been at the University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Medical Center.  There, the halls are full of people wearing Christian Crosses or Yarmulkes or traditional Islamic dress. And each speaks to others with compassion and kindness and gentleness and patience.

One day I walked upon two medical students (One Asian and one European) were speaking to each other. The Asian student asked the other, “Where exactly is this country you are from, Poland?”

That is why we can say, it is a circle whose center everywhere and whose end is nowhere. The Creator has bestowed his love on all of his creation. The human family is enormous. The problem is we get lost. We get lost when we think God is only ours. Sometimes, it is fundamentalism. Sometimes, it is radicalism. All the times, it is a mistake to think God is only for us. It is a mistake to think that Christ came and died only for us. God sent his truth and his word for all people.

We are all in some way trying to get closer to that word and ultimate truth.  Some just do not know where to look. We look with great anxiety. We look in the wrong places.

As I walked down the halls of the hospital after Christmas, I overheard two young nursing students discussing Christmas. One said, “I was raised Catholic, but all that is just not my thing anymore.”

I hope she was not talking about God.  I hope she still seeks the truth. Because, it is in each of us that over our lifetime we develop our own unique relationship to God from our life and experiences. Some will embrace that relationship. Some will seek wholeness from an inner realization of union with God. 

Some will seek separation. Some want only ordinary earthly thinking. They disregard everything else.

But the truth is they never leave the circle whose center is everywhere and whose end is nowhere. The never leave the circle that is the family of God. They never leave the love of their creator even if they deny it.

Each of us is loved with a love that nothing can shake, a love that loved us long before we were created; a love that will be there after everything has disappeared. Even those who deny love are loved with the same love as those who embrace love. It is a circle that will be unbroken.

Those in Christ know this circle. See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Be part of the Holy Family and realize the truth of our family’s circle.

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

A Wonderful Christmas Song - Homily Christmas Day Mass 2018

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122518-day.cfm

Merry Christmas, everyone, I hope each of you awoke this morning to a beautiful Christmas song. Every year we hear some great Christmas songs, both religious and secular.

One interesting fact I heard is that Paul McCartney’s “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time” earns between $400 - $600 thousand dollars in royalties every year. It’s no wonder he’s having a wonderful Christmas time.

It’s a great song, but it missing the one thing Christmas is about the birth of the baby Jesus. That child brought us a wonderful Christmas time.

If you were here at the vigil mass the gospel of Matthew remembered the genealogy of Jesus and how his birth came about. At midnight mass and mass at dawn the gospel of Luke remembered the shepherds, the census, no room at the inn, and the baby in the manger.

On Christmas day is the gospel of St. John the Evangelist that begins with these words:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.

This is the mystery of Christ that is the gospel of John.  Never in this life will we be able to totally explain the mystery, only believe the Word of God came to us to bring us closer to God.

The gospel is in the words of St. John the Evangelist, Jesus’ best friend. John was one who knew Jesus intimately. John was one of Jesus’ first disciples. He laid his head on Jesus’ chest at the last supper. When Jesus was arrested, John did not run away or deny Jesus and followed the Lord to his accusers. 

John was the only disciple at the foot of the cross and the one Jesus charged with caring for Mary. John was the disciple that lived the longest and thought, pondered, and considered for years all he saw and all he heard to slowly come to his words of truth about Christ Jesus.

He writes about who Jesus was in prose and philosophy. But because of who John was, how he lived, and when he lived, his poetic thoughts tell us exactly who Jesus was. John is writing a song.

Most songs about Christmas come from the gospels of Matthew and Luke. They tell us something special about the child Jesus being born in Bethlehem.  They have angels, heavenly host, wise men, shepherds, and virgin births.

But, John song tells us way more right away.  His song is not about the birth of a baby boy; it is about Christ coming into the world.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him.

This is a Christmas song; this is a love song. Love can be the only explanation of this mystery John writes about.  When we love someone we want to be with them; and, when we are away from them, we want to be near them.  For love of us, God did not stay in in heaven, but unites Himself with us by his Word.

And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth.

John tells us who Jesus was in a mystery, but God is the ultimate mystery.

This ultimate mystery is why we explain who Jesus is with the same effectiveness in the meekness of a child born in a manger or the power of the word of God made flesh, the true light of the world.

God is a mystery that we with our limited intellect and limited understand cannot explain. Theologians argue about what the words of the gospels mean. John the man who knew him probably the best, explains him with prose and philosophy, a song.  

With language and thoughts that could have only come from knowing the Word of God, John explains Jesus.

And we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. He gave to those who accepted him and those who believe in his name, the power to become children of God, born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man's decision but of God.

Now that is a Christmas song. It is a truly wonderful Christmas time. Explaining the mystery of Jesus with poetry, philosophy and song is celebrating the Word of God.

Never in this life will we be able to explain the mystery, only believe the Word of God came to us to bring us closer to God.

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

The Baby Changes Us - Homily Christmas Vigil Mass 2018

(Readings)

Merry Christmas, this liturgy celebrates the birth of Christ and our own children of St. Lawrence. We would all like to give a great big thank you to our children and music family for telling the story of Jesus birth.

Now, the words I am about to say are meant for the children, but in the words of Paul, you others who are God-fearing, listen.

Tonight we began the Gospel with a whole list of people’s names. Those are the names of people in Jesus family; his great-great pap-paws and great-great mam-maws. They are all an important part of Jesus’ story. They are part of the story of Jesus birth that has been retold again and again over the past 2000 years.

Today more are added to the list of people telling the story of Jesus birth, the children of St. Lawrence. Even their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents have been part of telling the story of a baby born in Bethlehem. A baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger who changed the world.

The baby Jesus changed Mary. An angel of God came to Mary and greeted her - Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

The baby Jesus changed Joseph. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and said Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as you wife.

The baby Jesus changed the shepherds. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them.... The angel said Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy.

The baby Jesus changed the world. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means God with us.

The baby Jesus changed the smartest and most worldly people at that time - the magi, wise men, kings – they were not afraid to come and worship him for they knew of the promise of his birth.

The baby Jesus changes us. So, do not to be afraid, because the baby Jesus is good news of great joy for the world. The baby Jesus is the glory of the Lord. The baby Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us.

God with us is the baby Jesus. So, God knows what it is like to be one of us. Baby Jesus was probably hungry. Like all babies he had to have his swaddling clothes changed. He cried and he laughed and he was loved.

As he grew up he lost his baby teeth and grew new ones. He was upset and probably got a belly ache once or twice. He was picked on and bullied. He even scared his parents by getting lost.

As a baby, Jesus, God came to live a life just like you and I. He experience life as a young child, a teenager, and an adult. He knows what it is like to be a one of us.

We have to remember his earth family, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, wise men, and angels to tell the story of Jesus’ nativity so that the world remembers what Christmas is really about.

The presents we receive at Christmas are great. The greatest present the world was ever given was the baby Jesus, so we can know great joy and not be afraid. We may all not understand how great a gift that is now, but if you believe in Jesus, one day you will.

Thank you Mary, joseph, Angels, Shepherds, Wise Men, Narrator, and Musicians for helping us tell the story of Jesus’ birth. Merry Christmas - everyone.

Tonight especially, as a gift to the baby Jesus, be good, be holy, love one another, and tell someone about  the baby Jesus and that because of him you do not have to be afraid.  Amen