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.

My Soul waits for the LORD -Homily Wednesday Sept 4, 2024

The psalmist sings - “Our Soul is waiting for the Lord.” It is a truth so basic to our humanity, but in our human faults of pride and selfishness, we can’t realize that truth.

We know something is missing. We look for something more in our life.  It may be called by different names -  meaning, purpose, or satisfaction. It is the realness we need from this life. 

We look where we should not be looking. We look to a certain places, certain things, and even certain people.

That’s what Paul was telling the Corinthians. Friends your looking in the wrong place. Some were looking to Paul as the answer. Others preferred Apollos. (1 Cor 3)

Those Christian’s of Corinth didn’t have focus. They didn’t have center.

Paul blames it on the immaturity of their faith. He has been feeding their faith and scripture as you would feed a child milk. That seemed to be what they liked. Some liked Paul’s brand of milk. Some liked Apollos brand of baby food. 

They were not ready for solid food. They were not ready for a mature faith. So, the people of that early Christian community of Corinth were looking in the wrong place, looking to the wrong person, and looking to the wrong things.

They should have been looking to God. God should have been center of their faith. Not the preacher. Not the evangelist.  Maybe, they did not know how to find that center. So they looked in the wrong places. They were merely being human.

The imperfection and fault of humanity is our our folly. We live our life as if there is something more important is to be found outside of Christ. Even though God is always with us and always drawing nearer to us, we find it hard to stay close to the Father.

We find ourselves off course. We either have not found or have lost our center in relation to God. Maybe, something flashy catches our eye or a new trend becomes popular. A new hip worship service, a flashy preacher, or a new church building that all the movers and shakers attend. They can cause us lose focus by taking our eyes and heart off God

Despite what our human ideas and thoughts, God has not changed. God’s desire for has not wained. How do we return our focus to that?

“Follow me.” says Jesus. Follow Jesus to his center, just like the crowds in the gospel.  

After he healed the sick, touched the wounded, cast out demons, and fed the multitudes - Jesus went to a quite place to pray. The crowds followed him. Those who were paying attention found that Jesus’ was focused on prayer. Jesus turned to prayer for the strength, love, and presence of God the Father.

The realness people are looking for - meaning, purpose, and satisfaction  - in this earthly life can be found with prayer. From that center we can realize the love and presence of God which is our meaning, our purpose, and our satisfaction.

Our Soul is waiting for the Lord.

Amen

 

Lilly’s Pizza a Homily for the 20th Sunday OTB

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081824.cfm

Praise God! Praise be to Jesus Christ, fore ever and ever. Amen!

Paul’s advice to the Ephesians is for all of us, “ be careful about the sort of lives you live. Live like intelligent not foolish people…, recognize the will of God… “

As a Deacon, I take that to heart. With a family, a job, and as a Deacon and Spiritual Director, I see God speaking to people and the world in everyday things.

I am always amazed at faith perceived through the innocence of a child’s eyes and wonder at their understanding of the profound. It can be a wisdom that is often more than the wisdom of adults tarnished by worldly bias. 

I share this perspective from one of my new “grand loves” Lillian. 

Since Lillian has become part of my family, she loves to come to mass. She takes in all that happens around her. She is learning her prayers. She loves to sing. She asks questions. 

“… filled with the spirit…, singing and playing psalms and hymns to the Lord with all your hearts, giving thanks always and for everything.”

One evening, a couple of months ago, my daughter Sarah’s family was eating pizza at Johnny’s. Sarah asked who would like to say the blessing. Lillian volunteered. She holds up a piece of pepperoni from the pizza and prays just as she has heard Father pray. “This is Jesus’s body?”

She was not exactly right; but she is also a long way from being wrong. I will explain that a little bit later.

But in truth, not many understand the Eucharist. Non-Christians have not idea and cannot grasp the mystery. Many Christians do not understand and believe it is only a symbol. Sadly, even those who say they are Catholic do not believe in the real presence.

In the gospel, Jesus said, “I am the living bread that comes down from heaven, anyone who eats this bread will live forever,”

And the Jews became enraged. 

The reason was simple, they were full of pride. They lacked true wisdom. They could not comprehend what Christ meant. They refused to be humbled and surrender their ego and pride in order to become wise in the ways of God.

Sound familiar? It sounds like the wisdom of people today. People, who think that in the broken faults of human pride and ego, constrained by limited human wisdom; they can comprehend the infinite vastness that is the wisdom of God. 

They take their human experience and try to understand the mystery that is God. It was bread and grape juice. Jesus would not give anyone wine. God would not give you his body to eat and blood to drink. What kind of a person would not do that?

For many, it has become their truth. Sadly, even those who profess themselves Catholic do not believe Jesus' words. People choose to accept what they think they can handle. So to many Christians, the bread and wine are just a symbol. 

Unless they change their minds and hearts to welcome Christ completely, it will be nothing more than a symbol to them. For the true believer, the truth of the Blessed Sacrament begins with the simple fact that the Eucharist is not a thing. 

It is a person.  

That fact and this gospel is why this son of a Baptist preacher stands before you as a Catholic Deacon. I believed when Jesus said “I am the living bread that comes down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

The way one comes forward to receive Christ can show the truth in their heart. We who believe prepare ourselves properly because we know that we are in the divine presence of Christ. We who believe come to the Eucharist with reverence. We who believe are blessed to receive such a precious privilege. 

• Coming forward, we are saying yes I believe. 

• Coming forward, we are saying yes to Jesus. 

• Coming forward, we are saying yes to eternal life

• Come forward, taste and see the goodness of the Lord, the power of Christ

• Coming forward, receiving the Blessed Sacrament, the body and blood of Christ, opens our hearts and souls to the experience of the divine.

Lillian held up that pepperoni with the purity of childhood innocence and prayed “This is Jesus‘s body.” She was not exactly right. Neither pepperoni or pizza can be the blessed sacrament, unless Christ himself said it was so..

She is truly right in her desire for Jesus. She strives to know and understand all about Jesus, faith, and the Eucharist. She is coming forward with a beginner’s mind that is not tarnish by the world or belief stifled by ego and pride.  

That is why the innocent and profundity of that 6 year old’s prayer is something we should all have. The innocence of the beginner’s is to believe.  

“Believe me” Jesus said, “unless you change your whole outlook and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven.”

Come in the awe and wonder of experiencing Jesus for the first time. Come to mass for the first time every time and realize the smells, sounds, and sights of the Church. 

Come receive the blessed sacrament in the purity and innocence of a child. Come with a beginner's mind that is not tarnished by the world or our own egos. 

Come for the precious privilege to receive the true body and blood of Christ. Come for the profound and divine experience of Christ. Come, receive the Eucharist as if you are receiving it for the first time.

Forsake foolishness so you may live, in the innocence of a beginners mind, come and receive the Eucharist as if it is your very 1st time. 

Come with a beginner’s mind wanting to know Christ. Grow in understanding and wisdom. Bring your children to PSR/Catechism, attend OCIA, bible studies, or other faith enrichment events. 

Thanks to all who have taught me so much about God. My children, my grandchildren, my grand loves, and each and everyone of you.

As together we live to be good, strive to be holy, and preach the gospel by the way you live your lives and love one another. 

Praise God, Praise be to Jesus Christ. Amen.

Boldness of the Moment - First Friday Homily

 

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070524.cfm

One of the things I have been praying with lately is the mystery of God found in the moment. Everything is right here and right now – the total mystery of Christ. Christ totally hidden and yet totally revealed.

And Jesus passed on and saw a man call Matthew sitting at the tax both and he said to him “follow me”

In the boldness of the moment, with a sudden and dramatic conversion, Matthew, the tax collector, responded promptly. He responded boldly and without delay. Matthew found life in that moment. He did not dilly-dally or put it off until tomorrow. In that instant, Matthew left everything behind to follow Jesus in a moment of absolute faith. Faith in Jesus.

Faith is never going to be anything other than faith. Faith is a hope in love. Absolute hope in love was the way of faithfulness Matthew chose; and, he became consumed with the longing for the Lord.

This overpowering faith in Christ comes when we find God in our ordinary lives. Matthew found it sitting in the tax booth. We have to have a faith found in our everyday lives. Faith is never going to be easy; yet, if we cannot find God in the moment can we truly find him somewhere else.   

We are all sinners. In our sin, we fail to have faith in anything but self. It is hard for us who are sinners to let go of our pride to have a life changing faith that is truly hope in love of God through Christ.  Hope in love is in Jesus who does not call saints but brings salvation to sinners.

Like Matthew, live in the moment. It takes boldness to live in the moment. It takes boldness to admit we are sinners. It takes boldness to let our pride go and surrender to God’s will in every moment.  

It all begins with prayer. Pray for an attitude of boldness, wonder, awe, and grace. Pray for a deepening faith. Be bold and pray for faith the size of a mustard seed. 

Do not pray thinking to prove ourselves to God; but ask God for strength in the moment. Strength to surrender to the grace of hope in love that comes to us in every moment of our lives. It is a faith that brings us to a longing for Christ.

Pray to be open to everything right here and right now, in this moment where we can find Christ totally hidden and yet totally revealed.