Audio of Aug 17 homily: www.stmarysalton.com/staff/homily/20sun081708.wav
20th Sun 08
8.16.08
When I was first reading over today’s gospel, I don’t know about you but I found it kind of jarring, how Jesus treats this poor mother who’s pleading on behalf of her daughter who’s being tormented by demons.
Finally Jesus gives into her and grants her request but it doesn’t seem to fit the image of a Jesus who is so loving, compassionate, and merciful. It’s almost as if he begrudgingly gives into her request.
But if we look closer, things are not always what they appear to be and when we go back and revisit this encounter as it unfolds we discover there is something else happening.
First, Jesus never says, “no” to her. The gospel tells us: “he didn’t say a word” to her. It was the disciples who asked Jesus to “send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”
And why was that? Because she was not a Jew, she was not a daughter of
Israel; she was not a believer in the Messiah, but a gentile, a pagan. She had no business requesting such spiritual favors; the cultural and religious norms of the day forbid it.
But as her discourse with Jesus unfolds, she revealed that she indeed did believe in Jesus. When she cries out to him, she says, “Have pity on me Lord, Son of David!”
Her persistence gave her the opportunity to reveal her growing faith in Jesus and Jesus was moved by that faith.
“O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
Today’s gospel reminds us, teaches us two things:
The 1st is that there is power in our pleading, an opportunity for our faith to grow as we plead our cause before the Lord, as we open our hearts and souls and declare how desperate we are for his mercy, how lost we are with out him.
Our prayers don’t have to be poetic, they don’t have to be polished, they don’t have to be checked for grammar in order for them to be heard as if they were going to be printed on the back of a holy card.
In fact, the more real, the more raw they are, the more powerful they are.
The 2nd thing we can draw from today’s gospel is that it reaffirms that none of us is outside God’s reach of healing love and mercy.
It can happen at times when some of us may feel that way. “He won’t answer my prayers; he either can’t hear or won’t listen to them. He’s not moved by them. He knows who I am, what I’ve done.
One can be easily tempted to resign oneself to not trying to get his attention, ‘why bother to bother him, he can’t be bothered with me.’
If ever that has happened or does happen to you, recognize the lie that it is!
It is not true! Jesus responds to the pleads of this woman, this poor mother in today’s gospel. Even though the cultural and religious norms of the day barred her from such access to Jesus; the reason Jesus was born, suffered and died, and rose again was to break through all such barriers so that NO ONE would be beyond his reach, his incredible love and mercy.
Life can throw it’s fair share of trials and tribulations at us, we can so easily be hurt and discouraged by the actions and words of others, and our own failures, it’s not uncommon for people to feel lost in this world, lost in the storms of life that don’t seem ever to really calm down.
It is the nature of sin to drive us away from God, to make us feel unreachable by his love and mercy. And we all sin. How often people feel they are confessing the same thing over and over again. We are all repeat offenders. That’s why we continually need to make use of that sacrament of confession.
Jesus does not want us to be afraid to approach Him in the sacrament of mercy, to place our woundedness before him and cry out for mercy. He will not deny you.
There are many obstacles that hinder people from making more frequent use of the sacrament of confession. One of them is just not being familiar with “how to go to confession” or remembering the act of contrition.
know you can make up your own act of contrition, or simply say, “Lord have mercy on me a sinner.”
Poor out your hearts to the Lord, don’t give up, he hears your loud cries, he hears your soft whispers, he hears all the prayers that weigh upon your heart.
As we continue with this mass, let us pray for the grace to persevere, in the daily struggles our life we will grow stronger, not weaker, and that we be granted the grace of knowing we are not just beyond his grasp, but how he longs to hold us in his loving arms. Every time we approach him in the Eucharist, he indeed does that.
In holy communion, we can run to him and he waits for us, and as we receive him today, to pray for the grace to deepen within our heart and soul that truth, that he loves us, he hears our every prayer, and in that intimate divine embrace we receive in holy communion, we are never beyond his reach, we are indeed held so tenderly and completely in his arms of love.
18th Sun 08
8.03.08
When I first returned from our little trip to the holy land I told some of you that I did not think I would ever read the scriptures the same again. I was surprised to learn that the
Sea of Galilee is actually a fresh water lake. I was really taken back by how beautiful the area was around there, almost resort like. I kind of laughed to myself as I walked down to the waters edge and enjoyed the gentle breeze coming off the lake: “no wonder Jesus spent so much of his time and ministry here, it’s so refreshing.”
As I reflected over today’s reading I went back to place where today’s miracle of multiplication of the loaves and fish took place.
I tried to place myself in Jesus’ sandals as the gospel unfolds. Jesus hears word of John the Baptist death and attempts to withdraw to a desolate place by himself.
Was it because of news of John’s death that he withdrew? John after all was a relative, a second cousin. Maybe it was because news of John’s death meant that his own passion and death was drawing closer.
Regardless, the crowds that were drawn to Jesus would not wait for Jesus, could not wait for Jesus to return to them at another time. They were locked onto him. They watched as he got into the boat and set his course not far away, not far enough to out run the excitement and persistence of the crowd who couldn’t get enough of Jesus, they wanted more, they needed more.
And so Jesus disembarks from his boat and looks over the vast crowd that is quickly closing in on him and he is moved by pity for them and the gospel tells us he spent the rest of the day curing their sick; working his way through the crowds, gently touching each of them, as his divine power and healing flowed out of him, restoring broken and wounded hearts, souls, and bodies.
Can you imagine the excitement and joy that spread throughout that crowd as Jesus worked his way through them? Minutes turned into hours and before anyone knew it, it was getting late and no one had eaten yet. Who could leave such an experience, food could wait!
I really think the disciples were more worried about getting their own food than they were about the thousands of people who surrounded them.
“Hey Jesus, it’s been a long day, we’re hungry and there is no sign of this ever letting up.”
I’m not sure if you’ve ever had the experience of guests unexpentantly dropping in on you and the time flies by and then you come to that uncomfortable realization. Your hungry, your guests are probably hungry and you’re afraid to bring out your food because you know you don’t have enough to go around.
Take that situation and multiply it by 5,000 and now you get an inkling of how the disciples must have felt.
“Jesus, send them away so they can eat, so we can eat!”
Jesus tells them, “You feed them.” Show me what you have, ‘5 loaves and 2 fish is all we have’. It’s enough.
All eyes are on Jesus as the crowds are told to sit down on the grassy hillside. And what does he do, this should sound a little
familiar to us:
He took them, said the blessing, broke the bread
And gave it to his disciples who in turn gave it to the others.
And all ate and were satisfied.
Amazing! Miraculous! But it’s nothing!
Nothing in comparison to miracle he was just warming up to. The miracle that would first happen in the upper room on the night before he died when he took bread and wine and said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples telling them “this bread is now my flesh to eat, and this wine is now my blood to drink. Do this in memory of me.”
And since that first mass, when the bread of life was broken for you and for me, more than 5,000 much more than any number we could ever imagine, have been fed with the very same bread of life, Jesus himself, the bread that has come down from heaven, miraculous comes down to us again today, some 2,000 years later.
To be present on the slopping hills over looking the sea of Galilee must have been an amazing experience, a story those who were privileged to be present at, that most certainly was retold again and again and past down from generation to generation. “Your great great grandfather was their at that miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish.”
It’s nothing in comparison to the miracle we get to witness and participate in today! Do we realize the gift that has been given to us? Do we? Do I? When someone asks us on Monday, “how was your weekend?” Does it even cross our mind what happens today? Who it was we got to meet? Who it was we got to hold? Who it was we got to receive?
Jesus comes to us again this Sunday and every time we come to mass. But let’s stay with this Sunday, right now. And the same Jesus, who was moved by the crowd which quickly closed in on him, is moved again today, right now. He’s here. He sees into each of your hearts and he knows. He knows all. He knows if we really hunger and long for him or if we don’t. If as it says in our first reading:
We ‘spend our money for what is not bread, our wages for what fails to satisfy.
That which does not satisfy is obviously sin.
“Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant.”
And that everlasting covenant is made available to us and renewed at every mass we attend.
“Take this all of you and drink from it, this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant, it will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven, do this in memory of me.”
Each of us is called to make a declaration of faith, “The body of Christ, Amen.” May our amen today and at every mass be loud declaration that nothing compares to the incredible miracle we are privileged to participate in whenever we receive Jesus in the in the Eucharist
15th Sun OT 08 while in VT
7.13.08
Do we have any green thumbs here? You who love to work on your gardens, your plants and flowers? Well, I admire you. I can stand back and appreciate your work but I’ll be honest with you, it’s my gift. I’ve tried the first couple of years of my priesthood just to keep a few plants alive in my office; I thought it would add a certain hominess when people come in but I kept forgetting that small detail of remembering to water them. And they all ended up dying. When I finally did take notice of them, it was too late, no matter how much holy water I used, those plants were not coming back to life.
I just don’t have the dedication, the commitment, the constant awareness that is needed to keep any kind of plant alive, unless maybe it was a cactus plant.
In today’s gospel we heard the
familiar parable of the seed and the sower and the various conditions of the soil that will either make or break the viability and the fruitfulness of those seeds.
What are the seeds that Jesus is talking about? What do they represent? The seeds that He has planted in us through his Church, are the seeds of faith, of salvation; bottom line, it’s our relationship with Jesus.
A question for each of us here to contemplate today, ‘What’s the state, the condition of my spiritual garden? Put in another way; How is my relationship with Jesus, is it growing? Is it bearing fruit? Am I being as attentive to it as I could, as I should?
Watched a movie the other night with the
family, a movie I’ve seen before and which I would recommend to all
families, “Evan Almighty”. Morgan Freeman plays God and he asks this newly elected congressman to build him an arc. To be a modern day “Noah”. This congressman turns to Morgan Freeman and says, “I’m sorry, Do I know you?’ To which ‘God’ replies: “not as well I would like”.
I wanted to hit the pause button, what a great question: “Do I know you?”
How we answer that question will tell us what the condition of our spiritual garden is in, how much those seeds that God planted in us have grown and born fruit.
Do you really know the Lord. Not the same as knowing about Him but to really and personally know Jesus.
Do you know Jesus like you know your husband and your wife, your
family, your good friends?
Do I more than just keep in touch? Do I think of him often? Are you on my mind, in my heart? Do I ever ask “What do you want Lord?” or is all about me?
That may not be an easy question to answer. I wish I could give a whole hearted YES to that question.
There’s so much that buys for our time, so many places to go, people to see, that at times we can find ourselves trying to fit God into our life. He’s lucky I made it to church on Sunday.
If the seed that God plants in us is the seed of faith, of a relationship that will lead us to eternal life, if we really believe that, then we shouldn’t try to fit God into our life.
Don’t try to fit God into your busy lives, build everything else around him. Put him first. Or at least struggle to put him first, desire to put him first, ask for his help:
Jesus help me prioritize my life!
Jesus gaves us the sacraments to help us do just that.
Every time we come to confession, we are saying, we are recommitting our lives to him, asking for forgiveness for our selfishness, for all sin is self centered and we are forgiven, healed, are spiritual garden of our soul is renewed, the weeds are pulled out.
And He waits for us in every mass as he plants the seed of himself within each of us. In the Eucharist Jesus, gives us the miracle grow that has the power to transform the spiritual garden of our soul instantly.
Lets pray for that grace as we continue with this mass to open our hearts to receive him, not just on our hands or our tongues, but to welcome him into our heart and soul, and acknowledged him, ask to really know him better. “oh my God, it’s you, I am not worthy to receive you but only say the word and I shall be healed.”
June 29 Peter and Paul 08
(13th Sun OT)
As a young boy probably around 9 or 10 years old I had a conversation with my father about the power of prayer which I never forgot.
He told you: “you may never know how powerful your prayers were for others until you get to heaven. God may even wake you up in the middle of the night because someone out there desperately needs your prayers. And so it would happen from time to time, I would find myself awaken in the middle of the night and I would remember what my dad said and I would say a prayer for whoever needed it at that moment. My imagination wandered to think maybe it was someone in a car or motorcycle accident who was close to dying, and Jesus was asking me to pray for them.
I knew that if I made the extra effort to get out of my warm bed and drop on my knees, even if for just a few seconds, that that could add a little extra something to save someone’s soul.
Often I struggled if I would go the extra mile, especially if it was winter time and my bedroom floor was really cold.
There are so many things we could reflect on today as we celebrate the feasts of Saints Peter and Paul. But the one thing that stands out to me is the power of prayer.
Herod had made all the human calculations on how to keep Peter under lock and key. 16 guards all total, two of them stationed on either side with double chains, and locked gates. Peter, once the fisher man, now the prized fisher of souls had been caught, captured and every precaution taken to make sure he stayed in their custody. Evidently, Herod feared the possibility of a mob of Christian disciples might attempt to rescue their beloved shepherd and leader.
He was right to be on guard but he miscalculated on one thing, the power of prayer.
We heard in our first reading from Acts: “Peter thus was being kept in prison,
but prayer by the Church was fervently being made to God on his behalf
It didn’t matter how many guards Herod would set to keep Peter held a prisoner in chains, or how many gates he put up to keep peter from getting out, when chooses to move, there’s nothing you can do to stop him.
St. Thomas Aquinas came up with 5 proofs for the existence of God, and one of them was that God is the unmoved mover. If something is set in motion, something had to move it, trace the cause of effects back far enough and you will come to God.
(Modern Analogy; trains and locomotive)
But God is moved my one thing. He is moved by love and he is moved by prayers of those He loves.
And when Peter was held captive, the early church community gathered and came up with a plan to rescue him, their weapon of choice was a no brainer, prayer.
They would call upon the power of God to set Peter free, and he did.
You just can not compete with the power of God and that is what today’s feast reminds all of us, that when we pray we tap into supernatural power, whether we feel it or not, we do. (It gives God the window of opportunity to pour out his power on those we pray for)
It’s not to say that there won’t be some bumps in the road as we go along, even the disciples had to battle the different storms that came their way.
It was no smooth ride for Peter and Paul, ultimately their faith, their love, their devotion to Jesus cost them their lives.
What can and should give us all some cause to pause, is how willing and ready they were to give their life for the one who gave His life for them so that they could know the promise and reward of eternal life.
The second reading to Timothy we believe was Paul’s last letter he wrote before he was martyred. We can hear his readiness to die in the words we just heard:
“the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance. The Lord stood by me and gave me strength,
so that through me the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly Kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever.
It is a grace to pray with an expectant faith, it is a grace to be able to continue to put our trust in God when everything around us seems to be crashing in, going the wrong way.
As we continue with this mass, let’s pray for that grace, to tap into a deeper awareness, a confidence in the power of our prayers, not because it is us who is going to do the heavy lifting, but because we are calling upon God Almighty and he can move anything, he can soften the hardest heart, he can rescue those souls who are so wrapped in themselves, imprisoned by their own sin, we could be tempted not to try, not to pray fervently for them.
Jesus invites you, if you have a prayer that weighs heavily on your heart tonight, to bring that prayer to this mass, to this Eucharist, place that prayer on this altar today, and as you receive him in Holy Eucharist, whisper that prayer to him again, entrusting to him with all your heart, mind, soul and body.
Amen.
12th Sun OT 08
6.21.2008
Fear. What are you most afraid of?
Most people if not all, if they are honest, are afraid of something. It may be a real and rational fear or it be all together irrational and imaginary but even that doesn’t make it any less “real” to the person who is afraid.
So what are you most afraid of?
There are all kinds of fears, physical, emotional, psychological and I think we can add spiritual to the different kinds of fears that are out there.
Fear of heights, of flying, of the dark, of being alone, of being with too many people, of small places, of germs, of death, of hell, and let’s not forget the big one among most Catholics, going to confession.
Fear paralyzes us, it restricts our freedom to move, to love; fear of rejection, to live; for we are trapped in death grip of fear.
But Jesus tells in today’s gospel to “fear no one.” 365 times he repeats this message, this admonition to his disciples throughout the scriptures. 365 times! Why?
Because he knows, he knows how powerful fear can be; how crippling it can be.
And because FEAR is the greatest enemy to TRUST. And TRUST is the road that leads us to truly and really know who God is. And to really know God is to know His LOVE for us, for you and me.
“True Love casts out all FEAR.”
When we know how much He loves us, we will know we are safe from all that could harm us.
Jesus told us, “I have come to set you free”.
Set us free from what? Fear! And what causes fear? Sin!
In the garden, after Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit from the tree, what do they do? They run and hide themselves from God. How irrational is that?
They were ashamed, they were afraid, they hid themselves, as if God wouldn’t be able to find them. But that’s what sin does, it distorts our vision, our understanding of God and his plan for our life. It makes us insecure, it makes us selfish, self centered and not God centered, it causes us to distrust God.
It’s subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, but whenever we sin, we are choosing something we believe is in our best interest, even when we know it goes against God’s plan as revealed in His Church.
Sin is probably the least thing any of us is afraid of. I doubt many people woke up this morning with this overwhelming fear, “oh gee, I don’t think I can get out of bed this morning, I’m afraid I’m going to sin.”
But it is the one thing, the only thing that Jesus admonishes us to be afraid of.
“Fear no one. And do not be afraid of the one who can kill the body but can not kill the soul; rather BE AFRAID of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.”
Sin is the devils work and his aim, his plan to ruin us, to blind us from knowing God’s love, from trusting in him and serving him. Satan’s one passion is our eternal destruction and sin is his tool to do just that. Jesus’ one passion was to free us from his bondage, his vices, from his fear which keeps us from trusting God.
Jesus wants us to have a healthy fear of Satan and sin, not a paralyzing fear, not a overly scrupulous fear. There are plenty of horror movies out there that are obsessed with the diabolic and feed off of peoples fear and yet they are not leading people to a deeper loving and trusting relationship with Jesus.
Jesus wants us to be on guard for sin, for it attacks and weakens all of us. He also wants us to face our fears, to face our sins, to acknowledge the truth of our condition, that we are in need of a savior, that we can not save our selves, and that the devil is not an imaginary danger, but a clear and present danger as Tom Clancy would surely agree.
If sin is the devils tactic to defeat us, we need to be aware of those tactics.
And I know of no better way of becoming aware of his tactics as they relate to each of us individually, than confession.
In confession, we don’t run and hide from God, we run to him, and we face our fears, we face our sins, we acknowledge what we know deep down but don’t like to admit, that we are wounded, we are weak, and we can not save ourselves.
Let us pray for that grace as we continue with this mass, as we prepare ourselves to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist, we want to run to him with an awareness of our need for his mercy, for his healing, for his forgivness.
“Lord I am not worthy to receive you but only the say the word and I shall be healed, I shall be set free from any fear that holds me captive, that keeps me from trusting in you.”
10th Sun OT 08
They say, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, but I think the same can be said for the way someone looks at us. We can tell a lot by how someone looks at us. How many times have you gotten the look from your spouse, and it gave you plenty of information. Sometimes it’s a good look and sometimes it’s a bad look. The “I’m in trouble look, and they are really upset.” So often we know how to respond by reading the look we get.
At the very beginning of today’s gospel we heard:
“As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Mathew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.”
The response from Matthew is immediate. There is no discussion, no hesitation, but there must have been something Jesus spoke to his heart with the way he looked at him that gave Matthew the courage, the boldness, the grace to “Go all in Jesus”, and follow Jesus.
There was an immediate connection between the two.
Matthew didn’t have to say to Jesus: “Do you know who I am? What I do? And you still want me to follow you?
Jesus knew exactly who he was dealing with, he was well aware of how other might object to ‘the baggage’ of Matthew being a tax collector.
But with those two simple words: “Follow Me”, he leaves it all behind.
In that split second decision, he made a decision that would forever change his life. He bet his life on Jesus and he won it all, eternity is the grand prize.
Eternity is the real sweepstakes Jesus invites us all to enter. Good news is he already paid for our ticket, but it’s not as simple as dropping the winning ticket in basket/drum and walking away.
Our very lives are the ticket, and to win the grand prize, eternal sweepstakes, we have to go all in with our lives, and give Jesus permission to be Lord of our life, to truly follow him, not just Sunday, but every day, every moment of the week.
Matthew had a choice every day after Jesus first called him, to continue to be his disciple. He had free will, he could have walked away from Jesus, go back to living his life, the way he wanted to. In John’s gospel, it tells us that there were some followers of Jesus who found what he said about the Eucharist, about giving us his flesh to eat, ‘a hard saying’ and they no longer followed him.
So he calls each one of us today to follow him, to remain with him, and we have to make a response.
So what will it be today? Maybe the question is, what holds me back from going all in. We have to be real with Jesus. Don’t be afraid to be real with him. He wasn’t afraid to be real with us, he proved it on the cross with his life, we have today to prove it with our life for him.
Pentecost Sun 08
5.11.08
Very fitting that Pentecost happens to fall on Mother’s Day this year because what we celebrate today, the birth of the Church with the descent of the Holy Spirit 50 days after Easter, could not have happened without Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and Mother of us all.
One of Mary’s titles is “Spouse of the Holy Spirit”.
Pentecost is not the first time the Holy Spirit descended upon anyone. There was someone else who was given the singular privilege of experiencing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit before Pentecost. That someone of course is Mary.
The Holy Spirit descended upon her at the Annunciation, when the angel announced that she would conceive and give birth to the Messiah, the Son of God, not by natural means by the supernatural outpouring of the Holy Spirit, did she conceive and bear the Son of God.
Thus, we can call Mary the “Spouse of the Holy Spirit”, for when Mary and the Holy Spirit join together, Jesus is born, Christ comes us among us, his presence is manifested.
Some might say, you Catholics give too much attention to Mary.
To which I would respond, if we pay close attention to the gospels, who is it that we find at the most critical moments in the life of Christ and in the life of the Church?
It’s Mary! Here are just some of the highlights; the Annunciation and the Birth, she intercedes on behalf of the newly weds at
Cana and Jesus performs his first miracle and it ushers in his public ministry, “his time has come.” She’s at the foot of the cross with John the beloved and his own mother, “Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother.”
And today as we read in Acts, who is that we see gathered in the upper room as the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples? Mary, she is present for a second birth, the birth of the Church.
Do you know what “Holy Spirit” means? It can be translated “God’s Breath or Life”.
When God created Adam and Eve, he breathed his life into them.
In today’s gospel, Jesus ‘breathes’ upon the disciples as he gives them His Spirit and power to forgive sins, telling them: “Whoever sins you forgive are forgiven them, whoever sins you retain are retained.”
Who here has been punched in the solar plexus before? Not a fun experience. I remember one of the first times I got punched in the solar plexus, I wasn’t sure what had happened to me, except for that I was panicking, desperately trying to breathe.
Each of us has been given God’s Breath to spiritually sustain us, to fill us with God’s life. It began when we were baptized and every time we received the sacraments, his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, deepened his presence in our life.
We have received the same outpouring of the Holy Spirit that the disciples gathered with Mary in the upper room received.
Jesus knew then as he still knows now, that his disciples would not be able to make it on their own without the grace, the gift of the Holy Spirit.
He also knew then as still does now, that the reality of sin and temptation and the evil one, would always be a threat to try to knock the breath of God out of his children, his disciples who would be striving to live a life of holiness in a world that would constantly be luring them into a life of sinfulness.
That’s why he gave the first apostles and subsequent bishops and priests the power to be able to forgive sins, to restore the life of grace, to restore his holy breath whenever we would get spiritually punched in the solar plexus.
What’s scary about the reality of sin is that it can knock the breath of God right out of us but it’s not as perceptible as when we get punched physically in the solar plexus.
Regular and frequent use of the sacrament of confession is our only defense against the enemy of our soul who wants to knock the breath of God right out of us.
Confession forces us, as we stand in line, to seriously examine our consciences.
The first thing we need to ask, is not, “have I killed anyone? No.”
but HOLY SPIRIT, I invite you, I ask you to come and enlighten my mind, my heart, my conscience, help me to see what it is I need to ask forgiveness for, how may I have pushed you out of my life by being selfish, I now invite you back, and give me the courage to look at my sins honestly and confess them honestly, without holding back due to fear or embarrassment.”.
I know I preach on the sacrament of confession often and you know what encourages me to do so? Every couple of weeks it seems someone else comes to confession and they tell me, “Well, I’m finally here, I’ve heard you mentioning it in your homilies and I kept telling myself, ‘I know I need to go’ but it’s just been so long and it makes it so much harder.
The longer you are away from the sacrament the more difficult it is to come back.
So if your one of those hold outs, and you know who you are, I’m inviting you to come back, Jesus is inviting you to come back. I’ve posted an examination of conscience on our webpage also known as a cheat sheet, we have some in the confessional, you can always ask for one to help you make a good confession.
But why do I keep preaching on this? Because I know from personal experience as well as the many many people who tell time and time again:“I am so glad I went. I can actually say I feel I breath easier and lighter.”
But of course, we laid our sins before the Lord and what did he do, and what does he do every time we approach him in that most amazing sacrament of mercy? He breathes upon us, he breathes his life into our soul. It’s one of the most amazing gifts he gives us, and how uplifting and spiritually encouraging it is to make use of it as often and regularly as we possibly can.
As we continue with this Mass, let us ask our Mother Mary, “Spouse of the Holy Spirit” to intercede for each of us, that we may experience an ever deeper outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our life.
6th Sun Easter 08
April 26, 2008
What kind of person are you? A secure or insecure person? If secure, what makes you secure? If insecure, what makes you insecure? I know it’s a loaded question I know. But I think it’s worth beginning to ask yourself the question….
As I have been getting ready for our trip to the holy land I’ve been going back through the gospels and making notes of all the places Jesus went to with his disciples, how the crowds grew and grew where ever he went.
What it must of felt like being one of Jesus disciples, they learned very quickly how being with Jesus was always an adventure. It had to be very exciting to be part of something they knew was much bigger than themselves.
Just being around Jesus had to bring them a sense of confidence and security.
How when they were in the boat and the storm suddenly came upon them, it was Jesus they rushed to, it was Jesus they awoke from a sound sleep, “save us Lord”.
How they witnessed Jesus work the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves as thousands of people sat around them, hungry for some food/nourishment.
And then we come to today’s gospel where Jesus had been preparing his disciples for the greatest mission ever known to man, to share in his ministry of salvation of souls.
But he knows he must die and rise again and return to his Father in heaven before all that can happen.
“In a little while the world will not see me, but you will see me because I live and you will live.”
Jesus promised them “I will not leave you orphaned, I will not abandon you”. Jesus promised to be with them always by sending the advocate the Holy Spirit.
We know what happened to the disciples after Jesus died and rose again but before they received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
They were unsure of themselves, unsure what to believe, what to do, who they were.
St. Peter at one point decides to go back to fishing, that’s what he was, a fisherman. Although Jesus changed that once, and told him he would become a fisher of men, of souls.
But without the Holy Spirit the disciples were unsure, I guess you could say a little insecure of who they were, of what they ought to do.
They were pacing back and forth in the upper room, waiting but not sure why.
I think, maybe it was because his words still echoed in their hearts:
“He promised us he would not leave us orphaned, that he would come back to us, He promised!”
Right now in our liturgical season of Easter we are in that same place the disciples were between Easter and Pentecost.
We have two weeks to go before we celebrate Pentecost.
There is invitation for all of us to join with the disciples in praying for the Holy Spirit, the advocate promised by Jesus to come more fully into our lives. To fill us with a sense of identity and purpose.
A prayer I pray just before I proclaim and preach about the gospel:
“Come holy spirit come, come by means of the powerful intercession of the immaculate heart of Mary your well beloved spouse, send forth your spirit and we shall be recreated and you shall renew in us the fire of your love.”
Novena. It’s a prayer that is said nine times, often over nine days. The first novena in the church was prayed after ascension Thursday as the disciples prayed and waited for the promise of the Holy Spirit. Nine days later the Holy Spirit descended upon them in the upper room.
This Thursday there is in invitation for each of us to join that ancient Christian tradition of calling upon the Holy Spirit to come and dwell more powerfully, more deeply in our lives. We can not live the Christian life apart from the power we receive from the Holy Spirit. There are a lot of people out there and maybe in here trying, desiring to live the Christian life but by their own power and virtue and so often become discouraged. You can’t do it on your own power. Jesus knew that and that’s why he promised to send us, give us the advocate.
Jesus promised! You promised you would always be with us always and I am calling you on it, holding you to your promise, calling upon your spirit to be with me today, to sustain and empower me, to fill me with a security that can only come from knowing I am not alone, that you are with me always, in my thoughts, animating my actions and in the most powerful way, waiting for me in holy communion.
May our union with him today not end with this mass but may it only deepen throughout this day and this week as we continually call upon His Spirit, the Holy Spirit to remain in our hearts, in our thoughts, in all that we are and do.
Amen.
Begin be reciting the following prayer...
O Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler!
I adore you as my True God.
I bless You by uniting myself to the praises
You receive from the angel and saints.
I offer You my whole heart,
and I render You heartfelt thanks
for all the benefits You have bestowed
and do unceasingly bestow upon the world.
You are the author of all supernatural gifts
and who did enrich with immense favors the soul
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Mother of God,
I beseech you to visit me by Your grace and Your love,
and grant me the favor
I so earnestly seek in this novena...
State your request here...
O Holy Spirit,
spirit of truth,
come into our hearts:
shed the brightness of your light on all nations,
that they may be of one faith and pleasing to You.
Amen.
Come, O Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful,
and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
Recite the prayer of the appropriate day...
DAY ONE
O Holy Spirit, bestow upon us Your seven holy gifts. Enlighten our understanding that we may know You. Give us wisdom that Your will may be clear to us and that we may accept it. Grant us the gift of counsel that we may always perceive what is right. Fortify us that we may always be capable of fulfilling Your Divine Will. Inspire us with the spirit of learning that we may be able to penetrate more deeply into the truths that You have revealed. Let our hearts be steeped in the spirit of childlikeness that we may bring You joy. Let us have proper fear of God that we may never grieve You or wander from the path of goodness. Give us the fulness of Your gifts that we may glorify You. Amen. Look with compassion upon us, O Holy Spirit, and grant us the favor we seek in this novena... State your request here... if it be in accordance with Your Holy Will.
DAY TWO
O Holy Spirit, make me faithful in every thought, and grant that I may always listen to your voice, and watch for Your light, and follow Your gracious inspirations. I cling to You, and give myself to You, and ask You by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced feet of Jesus, looking at His Five Wounds, trusting in His Precious Blood, adoring His opened side and stricken heart, I implore You adorable Spirit, helper of my infirmity, to keep me in Your grace, now and always, and grant us the favor we ask in this novena... State your request here... Amen. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
DAY THREE
Heavenly Father, You have called me to be a member of the mystical body of Your Son, Jesus Christ, and to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. I ask You to give me these gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, that I may understand the follies of this world; understanding, that I may grasp more fully the meaning of my existence and the purpose of all things in the world; counsel, that I may always choose the proper way; fortitude, that I may remain faithful to You under the pressure of temptation.; piety, that I may revere You in all I do, think or say; fear of the Lord, that should the motive of love fail me, I may quickly be awakened to the eternal consequences of my deeds. Visit me by Your grace and Your love and grant me the favor I so earnestly seek in this novena... State your request here... Amen. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
DAY FOUR
O God, Who today by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, give us, by the light of the same Holy Spirit, a love for what is right and just and a constant enjoyment of His comforts. Pray Holy Spirit, that I may strive to learn more of my faith; that I may ever be conscious that reason in all its human magnificence is capable of grasping but a glimpse of the reality that is God. Pray that I may accept as the motto of my life: "All for the greater glory of God" and grant me the favor I so earnestly seek in this novena... State your request here... Amen. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
DAY FIVE
Come, O Spirit of sanctity, from the glory of heaven and send forth the radiance of Your light. Father of all the poor, light and peace of all hearts, come with Your countless gifts. Consoler in desolation; refreshment full of loveliness, come dear friend of my soul. In weariness send repose; breath gently cool refreshing breeze; console the desolate who weep alone. Light of Beatitude, make our hearts ready; come enter our souls. Without Your grace, man stands alone; he cannot be good or sure. Cleanse what is soiled; heal what is wounded; moisten what is arid. Bend the stubborn will; warm the cold heart; guide the wandering footstep. O Holy Spirit, we beg You to give us grace through Your sevenfold power and grant me the favor I so earnestly seek in this novena... State your request here... Give us merit for the present, and one day beatitude when we have finished our earthly journey. Amen. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
DAY SIX
O Father in Heaven, I beg You to send the Holy Spirit. May Your Holy Spirit remind me when I am apt to forget Your law. Your love, Your promises. May Your Holy Spirit strengthen my memory to recall frequently Your sanctity, omniscience, wisdom, and goodness, faithfulness, and love. May Your Holy Spirit encourage me when I am slothful; strengthen me when I am weak; enlighten me when I no longer can help myself. Breathe into me, O Holy Spirit, that I may do what is holy. Stir me, that I may love what is holy. Strengthen me, that I may preserve what is holy. Protect me, Holy Spirit, that I may never lose what is holy and grant me the favor I so earnestly seek in this novena... State your request here... Amen. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
DAY SEVEN
Come, Holy Spirit, creator of all things: come visit our hearts with Your power. Fill with grace, friendly guest, the hearts which You have created. You are called the Consoler, gift from the hand of God, source of life, light, love, and flame, highest good. You are the pledge of sevenfold grace, finger of the Father’s hand, promised us by Him, and You make our tongues speak the truth. Cast light on our senses, pour love into our hearts. Grant our weak bodies strength that they may never grow weary of doing good and grant me the favor I so earnestly seek in this novena... State your request here... Keep the enemy far from us, give us peace always, let us willingly follow in Your footsteps that we may be far removed from sin. Grant that through You we may grow in knowledge of the Father and of the Son, and that we may ever strongly believe in You, the Spirit of both. Praise and honor be forever to the Father on the highest throne, in the risen Son of God, in the Consoler. Amen. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
DAY EIGHT
O Holy Spirit, life and light of the Church, give us thoughts higher than our own thoughts, and prayers better than our own prayers, and powers beyond our own powers, that we may love and live, imitating Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Come to us, Holy Spirit, come with the Father and the Son and grant me the favor I so earnestly request in this novena... State your request here... Vouchsafe to dwell within our souls and quickly make our hearts Your own. Quench in us the fires of hate and strife, the wasting fever of the heart. From perils guard our feeble life and to our souls Your peace impart. Let voice and mind and heart and strength confess and glorify Your name and let the fire of charity burn bright and other hearts inflame. Amen. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
DAY NINE
O Lord, Holy Spirit, grant me sight to see the wondrous promise of divine love; insight to see my own weakness; delight in Your divine presence in my soul which You have made Your temple through sanctifying grace. I pray, O Holy Spirit, that I may be not doubting; that I be spared the pain of being alone without trust or hope in Christ; that my prayer may always be "My Lord and my God!" I pray that I may acquire a sense of retreat to prayer and recollection at various times in my daily life; for prayer is the bond that joins us to Christ. I pray that I may be aware of the physical needs of the poor and that I may share what I can with them in the charitable works of the Church. I pray, O Holy Spirit, that You will in Your mercy grant me the favor I have sought in this novena... State your request here... Amen. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love.
5th Sun Easter 08
It seemed immediately after the earthquake Friday morning everyone seemed to be conducting their own personal poll. “Did it wake you up? What did you think it was?”. So I want to conduct my own right now. How many people here were awaken by the earthquake? Knew it was an earthquake?
The first thought that came to my mind was, tornado. Up until Friday morning I had always felt pretty safe and secure in our brick rectory. But Friday morning that changed and I’ll admit it was a little ‘unsettling’.
In the gospel today Jesus assures us there does exist ‘the ultimate safe house’ in which nothing can harm us. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. In my fathers house there are many dwelling places. … And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also maybe.
This dwelling place is not a physical but a spiritual structure.
But Jesus says that he is preparing a place for us. What does that mean? There is some kind of construction going on in heaven that deals with our eternal dwelling place but it also is happening here and now on earth.
How we live our lives here on earth will mirror what kind of dwelling place we will enjoy for all eternity. For our hearts and souls are where he desires to dwell.
St. Paul tells us that are bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.
Every day we either building up and adorning that temple with holiness, a place befitting Christ the King or we are tearing it down, profaning it by how we live, what we say and do.
There is a sign on one of the chuch’s on alby street that says, “God doesn’t just want custody on the weekends, he wants it all the time.”
I think some people think of coming to mass on Sunday as some kind of fire insurance. Just go to mass and be a nice person, and I’ll be assured a place in heaven.
I wish it were that easy.
How do we get to heaven, how do we assure ourselves of that eternal dwelling place? How can we know we are going the right way?
It's a question that Thomas' asks in today's gospel, it is a question we all need ask as well.
Jesus tells us in today’s gospel: “I am the way, the Truth and the Life.” Jesus is the road map, his life reflects what our life needs to look like. We already have the blueprints in the person of Jesus Christ.
The more we respond to his grace, and seek to know him and follow him, we will find we are walking along the WAY to heaven.
Every day we are given opportunities to conform our lives to his teachings, to HIS TRUTH.
Today, right now, we are given another tremendous grace is securing our eternal dwelling place, we are preparing a place for him to dwell with us in Holy Communion. Every mass we get temporary taste, glimpse of what our eternal dwelling will be like. It will be spending eternity with him.
Pray for the grace to respond to the gift he gives today, the gift of himself, that as we unite ourselves to him, we ask, we beg, we pray with all our heart, “Lord Jesus I want you to dwell in my hearts, in thoughts, in my mind all the time. Never let me loose sight of you, may my life reflect your life and my union with you in holy communion change me, heal me, and sustain me.”
When I have surrendered everything to you, I have no fear of anything else for my life has become one with you, because that is what holy communion is all about, union with the holy one.
"It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness, he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives." (JPII at WYD 2000)
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