Okay – point taken Holy Spirit – I will be more judicious in posting these in the future. (Yeah, I know I’ve said it before but as we Catholics know, it’s always a good day to repent.)

Comment is always inivited.

HOMILY –  2nd Sunday ORDINARY TIME – CYCLE “A” 2011 – “Behold The Lamb Of God”

Is 49:3, 5-6, 1 Cor 1:1-3, Jn 1:29-34

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

Those are words we say every single mass just before we receive communion – and it is this scripture passage – from John’s Gospel – from where those words come.

The words are spoken by John the Baptist – but they are very much the words of St John the Evangelist – in fact, the image of Jesus as the “Lamb of God” is pretty much attributed exclusively to him.

The term appears all throughout the Fourth Gospel as well as the Book of Revelation, which St. John also wrote. For example:

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing.”

I’ve often thought that this term – so common in both our worship and indeed even in our very language – needs a little more fleshing out, a little more time spent with it – so it seems circumstances today have afforded me the opportunity.

You know the term “The Lamb” conjures up all sorts of meanings and images in our minds.

Indeed St John’s creation and use of it was – if you’ll pardon the pun – quite inspired.

The Image of “Lamb” is one of meekness and innocence – a lamb is by nature gentle, mild and very much the essence of helplessness in all things – qualities we would all ascribe to Jesus at one time or another.

In the Book Of Exodus, by God’s direct instructions the Israelites were to prepare an unblemished lamb for their very first Passover meal– something they still do even today in fact.

The Lamb in the Old Testament was far more than just a meal though – it was indeed a SACRIFICE ordered by God himself as a means of saving his people – that was its sole purpose actually.

The people ate the Lamb’s flesh for nourishment the night before their flight from Egypt – but its blood was smeared on the doorposts and lentils where they were during the stifling Night of Terror – when the first born of all of Egypt were killed with the Angel of Death Passing Over the houses of the Israelites which were marked with the Lamb’s Blood.

It was the Blood of the Sacrificed Lamb which saved God’s people that night.

Sacrifice here we must remember has a deeper meaning than simply  giving someone or something over to death – the death from SACRIFICE has a good and holy purpose – a purpose for saving others – otherwise any such death would be tragic, if not downright meaningless in fact.

As it was with the Old Testament – so it is with the new – the Lamb of God is sacrificed and it is HIS BLOOD which saves God’s People once more!

Did you know that when we all say the Lamb of God before Communion, we are ALL participating in THAT VERY MOMENT – IN THE ONE AND ONLY SACRIFICE OF JESUS ON CALVARY?

The “Lamb of God” acclamation is said at the VERY EXACT MOMENT of the sacrifice itself – it’s called the Fraction Rite and it’s the precise action of the BREAKING of the Eucharistic BREAD – and it corresponds EXACTLY to the BREAKING of Christ’s body – his DEATH – upon the Cross!

It is that exact moment when his willingly giving up his life – “It is finished” as John’s Passion Narrative tells us.

If you watch both Father John and Father Jim closely at that moment when we sing the Lamb of God – you will notice that they time their actual breaking of the bread with the actual singing of those very words – Lamb of God.

And you’ll ALSO notice that Deacon Darryl or I NEVER assist in the actual BREAKING of the Eucharist – we may help divide the broken pieces – such a division for distribution is an act of SERVICE, something which we Deacons are specifically ordained to do – but the BREAKING of the BREAD ITSELF is an act of SACRIFICE – and it’s something ONLY a PRIEST can do – for ONLY THEY are the sacrificial Christ himself at the Altar!

The sacrifice you see – MUST be conducted at the Mass just as it was on Calvary – WILLINGLY offered by Christ himself.

And ONLY the Lamb of God – in this case those who are in his Person at the Altar – ONLY THEY can offer that sacrifice – for indeed it is by definition a SACRIFICE of SELF!

Christ OFFERED HIMSELF – and the priest who stands for him at the Altar does so as well.

What we celebrate is that ONE SAME SACRIFICE on Calvary but we do so in an unbloody manner – we do not “remember” or “reenact” or “symbolize” that original sacrifice – the sacrifice was once and for only once!

We PARTICIPARE in that One and Only – through time and space – at Mass WE are all standing on that windswept hill at the foot of the Cross on Calvary!

We are there – as Christ – THE LAMB OF GOD – willingly SACRIFICES himself – for us.

You know many people today are not comfortable with this notion of sacrifice.

Many have profound issues with any emphasis AT ALL on this aspect of the Mass – they prefer to dwell on the fact that the community is present together, all sharing a meal and “being one” with each other and such similar things – all of which are, of course, TRUE by the way.

But . . . I think those who place so much emphasis on the COMMUNITY aspect of the Eucharist sometimes forget the real point of what actually happens here at the altar – and on Calvary.

And its phrases like “Lamb of God” which can bring us all back there.

John the Baptist obviously knew what was to come for Jesus by his calling Jesus the Lamb of God – and indeed St John the Evangelist himself was a witness at the foot of the Cross – and they both knew that like the Passover Lamb – it is Christ’s blood which saves:

“When they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.

An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may (come to) believe.”

The same blood which will be in the chalice in a few moments.

The same broken body which will be given to each of us.

Father will take the ONE Body and break it into MANY pieces – indeed as many pieces as there are people in this Assembly – and for our parts in the very ACT of consuming that broken Body – we will REUNITE it within ourselves and thereby REUNITE EACH OTHER with Christ himself once more.

ONE – will become MANY – and then become ONE again.

The Pascal LAMB – the Lamb of Sacrifice – the Lamb of God.

The very act of GOD sacrificing himself for OUR SAKE should be a very HUMBLING REALIZATION on our parts, you know.

Many of us likely KNOW this fact – or at least we have probably heard it articulated from time to time.

But do we REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED?

Well hopefully we have a little bit better idea NOW about it than when I started – but while I may have given you a whole lot more regarding the WHAT – I haven’t really covered AT ALL the BIGGER QUESTION of WHY.

WHY DID HE DO IT?

He is GOS – he lacks nothing and needs nothing by definition – why would he do such a thing – especially in such a bloody, horrid way?

Well actually – it is St. John the Evangelist once more where we find the answer – and I’ll bet you all know the Chapter and Verse for this one too!

It’s probably about the only Chapter and Verse that we Catholics can articulate on command, even though we don’t always remember the quote, we likely remember the numbers.

It’s John 3:16 – words which we’ve seen on graffiti and on billboards and that someone once told me was written on a wall in the Saigon airport by some of the very last American troops leaving there forever those many, many years ago:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

Kind of humbling, don’t you think?

Words for us to take with us this week and meditate upon more deeply I should think.

But NOW – I think it’s time now for us to journey once more to Calvary – and for us to participate again in that one and only sacrifice of the Lamb – and for us to remember once again both WHAT he did – as well as WHY.

The post HOMILY – Behold The Lamb Of God appeared first on CatholicManiacs.

I’m going to post this homily – and try and post mine on a more regular basis now (once you get to far behind it’s tough to try and catch up. Easiest thing to do is make a resolution to do better, and pick a new begninning point.)

My wife is very sparse with her comments and compliments on my homilies – she knows it could lead to me getting a big head about it sometimes so her caution is actually a good thing – but this one she said was my very best ever – which surprised me but gave me the impetus to decide this was the place to go for a new beginning.

It’s about the Church as Family – I took from His Awesomeness Archbiship Dolan of New York and I hope – as I said in the homily – he will forgive me for using his words for the very best of reasons (and that I gave him credit as the original author shouldn’t hurt either I hope.)

As always – comment is invited.

HOMILY – 

Christmas Vigil – 2010 – The Church As Family

Is 62:1-5, Ps 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29, Acts 13:16-17, 22-25, Mt 1:1-25 or 1:18-25

First of all, I would like to welcome all of our family, friends, visitors and guests here tonight – a Merry Christmas to everyone indeed and praised be Jesus Christ, both now and forever!

Tonight, I want to talk about one thing and one thing only.

It is one of the main dimensions of the Gospel Passage which I just proclaimed – and I think it is actually the PERFECT subject to talk about at Christmas time.

In a word – it’s FAMILY.

We just heard about Jesus’ family – 14 generations times three from Abraham to Joseph.

Matthew, you see, was “tying” Jesus by an unbreakable thread to the Jewish heritage of Joseph – and of all of those who came before him – stretching back through history as one solid line of ancestry – in other words, one solid line of FAMILY.

I’m betting a bunch of you tonight are here with your families – some from out of town, perhaps, and I hope we will all find lots of time to spend with them this holiday season.

I DO want to remind you all though – PLEASE remember those who have little or no families at this time of the year – especially those who might be here with us tonight or those whom we might know who fall into that category.  

A little special attention in that area is EXACTLY what Jesus would do – and so of course, should we.

You see – as Catholics – we, quite simply, can’t do anything LESS.

We understand FAMILY here because the Church VERY MUCH IS our family!

We all have our natural families – but we all also have our SUPERNATURAL FAMILY too – the Church!

Just like Jesus himself was both FULLY HUMAN and FULLY DIVINE at the same time – we are ALL a part of both NATURAL and SUPERNATURAL FAMILIES simultaneously.

I must admit that I didn’t come up with this on my own. Not long ago I heard a speech by New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan – HIS AWESOMENESS Himself – which he gave at the Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Los Angeles back in September – a priest friend of mine sent me the link – and I swear that I now think that what he said has changed me forever!

I want to let you know right up front that I plan to steal LIBERALLY and SHAMELESSLY from that speech tonight – and I trust and pray for Archbishop Dolan’s understanding and forgiveness on that account.

I expect that he will be fine with it, you know, for I am POSITIVE that he wants this message SHOUTED FROM THE ROOFTOPS!

Archbishop Dolan has essentially created what he called a NEW MODEL of CHURCH – the MODEL of the Church as FAMILY!

The CHURCH is our FAMILY!

That is why we are called back to Her time and time again – ESPECIALLY at Christmas just like we are with our natural families!

We want to be HOME! We long to be once again with our FATHER and our MOTHER!

No matter how young or old we are – we still crave to be with God Our Father and our Hoy Mother the Church!

And here we are tonight – we are HOME!

And yes, it sure feels good – no matter if we’re here every week, or are just back after many years!

You see, for so many of us cradle Catholics – whether we are active in our faith or not – Catholicism is in our DNA, it’s in our bones, and it’s in our genes and it’s part of the air we breathe.

And for those who converted into the faith – I suspect that it was that quality which at least in part helped led them to their conversion in the first place – am I right all you converts out there?

Actually, I think that CONVERTS tend to understand what I’m talking about here FAR BETTER than those of us born into the Faith!

For instance – my dad was the oldest of 11 kids – 2 boys, 9 girls and yes my dear grandmother will be 99 next June.

As regards my generation, there are 27 of us grandchildren – I’m the second oldest – and most of us are either married now or very likely soon will be – and yes, the number of great-grandchildren keeps changing now so fast it’s almost impossible to keep up!

Yeah – you think YOUR house is crowded on Christmas! Be fruitful and multiply indeed!

My Dad actually lost track of his nieces and nephews after about 12 or so – he would have to ask them which sister they belonged to in order to sort of keep things straight after that!

Yeah, ask any of the wonderful guys or gals who married any of my siblings or cousins – especially MY dear wife, of course, who got into this just a little over 20 years ago – if you REALLY want to know what a BOWLING is like – just marry one!

Yeah, with us Bowlings you kind of need a score card. We even joke that if any potential spouse can keep track of all the cousins and cousins-in-laws halfway decently – they’re definitely a keeper!

I’m telling you – it’s those IN-LAWS – those who CHOSE the FAMILY for themselves – who know it best of all!

YES – as it is with our natural families – also it is with the Church.

Catholicism is taught, yes, but more than that it’s caught, said Archbishop Dolan!

So yeah, we’re all connected to our spiritual family – and yes, we might occasionally drift away from it, as we sometimes do with our natural families, no?  

Often times we don’t really mean to, it just kind of happens, right? Especially when there’s tons and tons of relatives.

Staying CONNECTED requires serious WORK, doesn’t it?

And yes, we might even get mad sometimes at our supernatural family just as we do with our natural family.

At times we might be scandalized or shocked or angered by our spiritual family, the Church, just as we are by our natural family.

Because, yes, our supernatural family is not always perfect anymore than our natural one is – they are both made up of flawed human beings aren’t they?

I’d like to think that in BOTH families everyone really works hard to try and get it right – and also I hope that they work real hard at saying they’re sorry and trying and make amends – even when it’s tough.

But even when things are not as we might wish, we’re STILL proud of our family – we STILL love her and being a part OF her.

We STILL heartily appreciate the wisdom that our family passed on to us – we WANT to BE THERE with our families – both natural and supernatural – at Christmas and Easter and all of the PIVOTAL moments of life – like birth and marriage and death.

We see the value of being at our family meal on both Christmas and on Sunday – whether it be the Holy Eucharist or around our family table.

And sooner or later we realize that we’re stuck with that family last name – be it Catholic – or Bowling – or your own – and the older we get, the more we cherish it and appreciate it.

So you see the Church is not JUST an institution . . .

It’s not JUST a clearly defined set of creedal and moral convictions . . .

It’s not JUST a great agent of charity and education . . .

It’s not just a great place to pray and worship, all of those are essential, but it’s also my spiritual home and my family!

And it is yours too!

So I say thank you once again to Archbishop Dolan – and a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you!

BUT mostly importantly WELCOME HOME!

The post HOMILY – Christmas Eve (Vigil Mass) 2010 – The Church As Family appeared first on CatholicManiacs.

The readings for this Sunday were 2 Kgs 4:42-44, Ps 145:10-11, 15-16, 17-18, Eph 4:1-6, Jn 6:1-15.

One particularly helpful technique that our great Homiletics Instructor taught us – the awesome Father Jeff Nicolas, Pastor at Epiphany by the way – is that sometimes you have to pop a few balloons in your homilies.

What he was referring to was a technique he called a “Counter Punctual”. A punctual simply is something that gets in the way – like a balloon that blocks people’s vision – and sometimes you need to “pop it” so people can see the real point, hence the term “COUNTER” punctual.

Basically what this means is that there are just some stories or issues where there are already preconceived notions or ideas in most everyone’s minds, often erroneous but sometimes just unimportant, and unless you deal with them up front, people just naturally tend to drift toward them and not hear anything else you have to say.

So it is with this Gospel today.

So let me try and clear this one up before we go any further.

THIS WAS A REAL MIRACLE!

What we just heard was the account of the Feeding of the 5000 from John’s gospel but this miracle is actually the ONLY ONE– apart from the Resurrection itself – that appears in ALL FOUR GOSPELS.

So as Miracles go, it tends to have a great big bulls eye painted on it.

It is quite often the one that so many in our modern skeptical culture tend to grab hold of and attempt to “deconstruct,” usually in a misguided attempt to find the “Historical Jesus.” They invariably end up saying things like “Jesus didn’t ACTUALLY multiply 5 loaves and 2 fish here – he just taught everybody to share.”

I’ve got one word to say in response to all that – Hogwash (to put it politely.)

Make no mistake – this miracle was REAL and it
happened pretty much as you just heard it.

The Feeding of the 5000 was a very public prelude for one of the Gospel’s clearest and unambiguous teachings – indeed this passage that we heard today is the beginning the very famous Sixth Chapter of John’s Gospel and we will hear almost ALL of it over the next four Sundays.

Jesus used this astonishing, large scale miracle to teach about an even greater miracle that was yet to come – “a very hard teaching” as we will hear about in the coming weeks.

The Eucharist – the Source and Summit of our faith.

Indeed the source and summit of LIFE.

One of the major messages that reoccurs over and over again throughout John’s gospel – and it’s one of the reasons that his is my favorite hands down – is that JESUS CHRIST IS LIFE – AND HE FREELY AND LOVINGLY GIVES HIMSELF – AND THEREBY IT – TO US.

“I AM THE RESSURECTION AND THE LIFE” he told to Martha on his way to raise her brother Lazarus.

“I WILL GIVE YOU LIVING WATER” he told the Woman at the Well.

When Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fishes here, he very consistently did so in order to give LIFE – ON THE SURFACE AT LEAST it was in the form of simple, basic nourishment that the many people there on the grass needed to sustain themselves.

But on a much deeper level, what he did there was to set the stage for his institution of the Eucharist, and this miracle tells us a great deal about that very thing.

The EUCHARIST is not a simple food – it is the ONE TRUE WAY of SPIRITUALLY nourishing our souls FOREVER – again, it is Christ’s FREE GIFT to us which brings us the divine gift of grace every time we receive it – and it is the very best means we have for us to achieve ETERNAL Life.

Have you heard stories of “profound spiritual experiences” that some people have had when receiving the Eucharist?

Have you ever perhaps had such an experience yourself?

And if you haven’t, and I submit that most of us have not, have you ever wondered why not?

Put another way, do you sometimes felt like you’re just getting in the Communion Line, going up and receiving the host (I REFUSE to call it a wafer by the way) and then going home unaffected?

Why is that you might ask? How can the same Christ affect so many people so differently?

The answer to this question is that OUR DISPOSITION to the Sacrament when we receive it has a DIRECT and SIGNIFICANT effect on HOW Christ interacts within us.

In case you think I’m making this up, I refer you to Catechism in paragraph 1128:
“From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.”

God respects our free will – and our CHOOSING to love him is an INTERIOR act first and foremost.

His grace is always there, but how it works on us has US as a key component – just getting in line and receiving him it seems is just not enough.

What I’m really talking about here, primarily, is the oh so easy tendency we often find ourselves in by being overwhelmed by other thoughts – worries, anxieties, and even good things like plans for what we’re going to do later on – when we receive communion.

We don’t realize that by letting all these other thing cloud our minds, we’re crowding out the space Christ needs to fill us with his LIFE –- and by us doing this we’re short circuiting (for lack of a better term) the very thing we need most of all – and the sad thing is we usually don’t realize we’re even doing it.
Thomas More wrote on this extensively by the way – seems he had the same problem from time to time.

My point in all this is that we don’t need to see loaves and fishes multiplied before our eyes to be able to witness miracles. Miracles are performed on this altar every time mass is celebrated and we see it every week. Yet it is truly very much our own responsibility as to how we bring ourselves to the table of the Lord every week as to the extent he works within us.

I urge you all to prepare yourselves properly – clear your minds through active participation in the liturgy and most of all through regular and attentive personal prayer.

I can promise you that the experience you receive will be amazingly fulfilling in ways you cannot imagine.

The post HOMILY – 17th sunday Ordinary Time, Cycle B – The Feeding of the 5000 appeared first on CatholicManiacs.

The readings for this Sunday are Ex 24:3-8; Heb 9:11-15; Mk 14:12-16, 22-26.

“Behold, behold the wood of the cross, on which was hung our salvation.”

We can feel the hard, rough wooden surface . . .
The weight of the heavy object . . .

The smell of the pine wood that the true cross was traditionally believed to have been made from . . .

. . . and the sickly, metallic smell of human blood, mixed with the dust of the road on the Via Dolorosa.

These are the realities, unpleasant though they are, that are brought to mind when we think of Christ’s passion . . .

. . . and these are things that we remember today.

The famous song so ironically says “WERE YOU THERE WHEN THEY CRUCIFIED MY LORD?”

I say “ironically” because WE WERE THERE and WE ARE THERE.

AND WE ARE ABOUT TO BE THERE AGAIN IN JUST A FEW MOMENTS.

When we knell before the altar during the consecration of the Eucharist – and make no mistake kneeling is very much how our posture should be if at all possible – we are kneeling in the dirt at the top of Calvary – of Golgotha, the Place of the Skull – at the foot of the cross, with Our Lord, JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD upon it!

When we hear the words of institution that Father will speak in a few minutes . . .

WE ARE THERE on that windswept hill long, long ago . . .

Make no mistake, what we do at the Altar at every mass is NOT A symbol . . .

It is NOT a retelling or a remembrance . . .

IT IS the ONE and ONLY sacrifice of Calvary!
WE ARE THERE WITH CHRIST.

The sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist IS the ONE and ONLY sacrifice of Calvary celebrated in an UNBLOODY manner right here, right now, and every day all over the world.

The mystery of the Sacrament is that it UNITES us in TIME and in SPACE with that MOMENT.

And that sacrifice is what we celebrate here today especially – on the Feast of Corpus Christi.
Oddly enough, what we CELBRATE is a Crucifixion – a MURDER in fact, for that is, of course, what it actually was.

(The deliberate killing of the innocent is ALWAYS murder, by the way, no matter what you may have heard otherwise.)

We actually CELEBRATE the nails through his palms . . .

The thorns on his head . . .

The burning pain of his back where he was scourged . . .

We FEEL the thunderstorm and the pouring rain just like the Blessed Mother and St. John did – when the heavens opened up and nature raged forth in grief and sorrow that dark, dark afternoon so long ago.

WE MOST DEFINITLEY SEE the red blood and the water that bursts forth when the lance was thrust into his side.

Indeed, I can smell that blood every time I hold the chalice – every time that wine passes near my nose, I remember the smell of the blood on
Calvary.

ALL THIS WE CELEBRATE TODAY.

Are we morbid, we Christians? Are we crazy?

Many throughout the centuries have thought so – Pliny the Younger was a Roman governor in the early 2nd century AD who wrote that we Christians were absolutely CRAZY – he called us cannibals.

He might understand the concept of a remembrance or a memorial – but to CELBRATE DEATH?

WE EAT AND DRINK FLESH AND BLOOD, don’t we?

That’s what we do every time we gather here for mass, isn’t it?

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. We celebrate BOTH the gift of the sacrament of the Eucharist he gave us on Holy Thursday AND what that Gift really was – Christ’s TRUE body and TRUE blood, shed for US ALL – that we might live.

We no longer offer animal sacrifices to the Lord – we no longer pour blood on our altars nor sprinkle the blood all over the people like we heard in the reading from the book of Exodus.

All that has changed with Christ – we now have ONE VICTIM and ONE PRIEST and they are the same person.

Jesus Christ himself is our priest AND our victim.
In a few minutes, when Father Jim stands at the altar and offers the sacrifice of Calvary he is not doing it as HIMSELF – it is CHRIST offering it, just as he did 2000 years ago.

In most of my homilies, I usually try and offer a few words of how we can take the words of the Gospel or the teachings of the Church and how we should apply them to our daily lives, but today – I’m NOT going to do that.

TODAY – it’s not going to be about US.

TODAY, it’s going to be about HIM – and him alone!

TODAY – we need to remember just what it was that HE DID – something he did do FOR US – upon that heavy wooden cross at the Place of the Skull 2000 years ago.

We can talk about just what exactly that all meant, redemption and salvation and all that which was GAINED for us ANOTHER DAY.

TODAY – we must meditate and remember upon just WHAT it was he did for us – HE GAVE UP HIMSELF, and all that he was – for US.

So when we fall on our knees at Calvary here in a few moments – and every time we go to mass – we need to remember what he did and utter a breath of thanks to him for it – for both the SACRAMENT and the SACRIFICE that he gave us.

For as we say IN JUST A FEW MOMENTS:
“When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death Lord Jesus, until you come in Glory!”

The post HOMILY – Corpus Christi Sunday, 2009 appeared first on CatholicManiacs.

“Why do questions arise in your heart?”

We’ve heard time and again that the only stupid questions are the ones which are never asked . . .

. . . But Jesus here kind of takes that saying and throws it out the window.

HE says – we shouldn’t still have any questions LEFT at all.
Why would that be?

I can give it to you in one word – FULFILLMENT.

As he hung upon the cross – as we just heard on Good Friday – his last words were three that we all remember very well: “IT IS FINISHED.”

Today, we get to understand just EXACTLY what all of it meant.

What we’ve just heard is the very last part of Luke’s Gospel – only two verses come after this briefly describing Jesus’ ascension – and it is the passage we heard today where everything that went before was FINALLY EXPLAINED.

It is here that we FINALLY get to understand it all – this is the FINAL EPISODE of JESUS THE TV SERIES where everything GETS REVEALED!

And you know what the BIG REVEAL is?

HA! YOU HAVE TO GO BACK AND WATCH ALL THE EPISODES AGAIN!

Luke plays with the reader here – he tells us ONLY that “Jesus explains it all to everybody” but he gives us NONE of the details.

Jesus here seems kind of like an amused big brother explaining things to his younger siblings – things he knows very well and finds it kind of funny that they just can’t seem to get it. (As the oldest of four I can kind of relate . . .)

“Why do questions arise in your heart?”

We really DO need to AVOID having a TV mentality on this one though.

Unlike on television – WE – the viewing audience here – are NOT SUPPOSED to be spoon fed all the answers at the end of THIS show and go “AH HA – THAT’s what all that really meant!”

Luke sort of presumes here – somewhat understandably – that we’ve watched at least some of the previous episodes up to this point, as well as being at least passingly familiar with the “Old Testament” TV Series that finished up some time back (that was a great one too by the way) and as a general rule we can say we’ve at least seen some of them – and that’s good enough actually.

. . . BUT while this might NOT have been good TV – it’s very much good gospel writing – good news actually to coin a phrase.

What’s great here is that Jesus reveals that this was God’s plan ALL ALONG, ever since Adam’s sin.

Jesus, you know, HAD explained this before – at least partially – to all sorts of people on all sorts of occasions:

. . To his own village of Nazareth in “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

. . .To the Jews of Jerusalem in “Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up.”

. . .And to Peter in Gethsemane – “Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?” (

You see – Jesus had been talking about FULFILLMENT all the time throughout the series . . .

. . . BUT ALMOST NOBODY EVER GOT IT.

Just hearing it, it seems – isn’t enough.

It takes the ACTION – the DRAMA – the CLIMAX – just like in any good TV program – for everyone to TRULY GET IT.

It takes the empty Tomb . . .

It takes Mary Magdalene weeping in the garden. . .

It takes the man in white standing outside asking why we look for the living among the dead . . .

It takes the nail holes in his hands and his feet and the lance mark in his side . . . as we saw with Thomas last week.

It takes the RESURRECTION for everyone to BELIEVE, but it took TODAY’s Gospel for everyone to UNDERSTAND.

You do all understand now, don’t you?
No?

Well don’t feel too badly if you still have some difficulties or questions – we all do, although I’d like to think we’re quite a bit further along than the disciples were in today’s Gospel.

You see, even though the final episode of Jesus The TV Series was broadcast some time ago, we do have the benefit of the 2000+ seasons of the ongoing spin off series – “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church” to help us understand.

And just what is it that the FULFILLMENT teaches us?

All that God promised, he has accomplished!

We have been redeemed!

Eternal life is not only possible, it is actually realistically attainable!

Jesus is the CHRIST – the MESSIAH – HE is the promised one since the time of Adam, slowly revealed through Noah, Moses, David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel and all the rest.

Now we can have REAL HOPE when we worry about our jobs, our bills and all that may come from the uncertain economic future we face – we KNOW that God has a plan, and that he will not LEAVE us orphaned.

NOW when we sit at the bedside of our sick loved ones we can KNOW that God not only exists, but that he loves each and every one of us.

We might worry – we might be afraid – and, yes, we might even suffer . . .

. . . But we can be COMFORTED for FULFILLMENT HAS HAPPENED.

God was with us the whole time BUT he is NOW with us in new and most amazing ways unlike before.

It was all God’s PLAN from the beginning – just like us celebrating the Eucharist like we will do in a few moments.

FULFILLMENT HAS COME – LET US REJOICE NOW AT THE TABLE OF THE LORD BECAUSE OF IT.

The post HOMILY – 3rd Sunday of EASTER – CYCLE “B” appeared first on CatholicManiacs.

TODAY IS THE DAY – HE IS RISEN.
HE IS RISEN AND HE IS HERE with us.
So I want to ask each of you – why are YOU here?
WHY ARE ANY OF US here today?
What is it that compels you to come here on this day of all days?
(They tell you in homiletics training never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to – so . . .)
I can tell you why you’re here – why ALL of us are here.
You’re here today because of something amazing – no matter where your faith is – be it as strong as the mightiest fortress on the highest mountain . . .
. . . or as weak as the fingers that are just barely holding onto the edge of a cliff with worry, afraid of the fall that you fear is coming any time now . . .
Regardless of any of that – everyone is here for the same reason, a reason I’ve already told you actually . . .
HE IS RISEN.
You’re NOT here because this guy called Jesus walked around 2000 years ago and told everybody to “be good”, “play nice”, “turn the other cheek” or any of that stuff.
You know – Jesus said a WHOLE LOT OF THINGS – all good and true and right and necessary for us to hear and even to live by . . .
But you’re today NOT here TODAY because of anything Jesus ever SAID.
You’re here because of ONE THING . . .
HE IS RISEN!
If Jesus was just a philosopher of great insight, or someone who founded this “revolutionary new way of living” 2000 years ago – would we be here?
If Jesus were just the most original thinker in the history of mankind and even if he just told us all the most amazing secrets – about the universe, about humanity – even about GOD himself and ever single piece of it was the amazing, absolute truth . . .
Would we be here?
If THAT was all that Jesus was about – who but maybe scholars and philosophers or thinkers would have any significant interest in him?
In fact, Jesus would have been just another – who? – Gandhi? Einstein? Nietzsche? Oprah?
How many people do YOU know that would be willing to DIE for their belief in Frederick Nietzsche or Oprah Winfrey?
Again – we’re here for one reason – HE IS RISEN!!
You see it is the RESURRECTION that makes everything clear, and it’s the resurrection that makes everything else matter.
Christ’s words and teachings – his MIRACLES as marvelous as they all were – they would all be nothing but unexplained occurrences centuries ago.
The Eucharist – we would have never understood it, much less celebrated it, without the Resurrection. Indeed, what would we have to remember?
Even his DEATH – Good Friday – as crucial as it is . . . It would just be hopeless without Easter Sunday – just as Easter Sunday would be meaningless without Good Friday.
Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter – they’re really one dissoluble event and the Church celebrates them as such – they’re really one three day liturgy, from Holy Thursday through the Easter Vigil.
BECAUSE of the RESSURECTION – ALL of the miracles suddenly make sense like they never did before.
BECAUSE OF THE RESSURECTION – his teachings REALLY command attention and convey TRUTH and MEANING like they never did before.
BECAUSE OF THE RESSURECTION – we can understand the concept of “sacrament” – and how VITAL they are for our salvation.
BECAUSE OF THE RESSURECTION – the institution of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday night we understand for what it really is and what it means – Christ’s True Body and True Blood, poured out for us and our salvation.
BECAUSE OF THE RESSURECTION – we understand NOW what his death REALLY WAS and what it MEANT.
BECAUSE OF THE RESSURECTION – we now KNOW who he REALLY IS.
The apostles you know always seem sort of thick headed in the Gospels, they only rarely understood who Jesus really was and the significance of what he did.
We really should try and not be too hard on them for the times when they “didn’t get it” – those times were always BEFORE the Resurrection – I mean what did we expect?
The Resurrection is the moment where everything that went before and everything that would come after ALL crystallizes into focus.
And BECAUSE OF THE RESSURECTION – we have HOPE for ourselves. Christ showed us by the RESSURECTION what we have to look forward to.
You know, Eternal Life is NOT A MYTH.
It’s NOT wishful thinking or the “ignorant self delusion of the masses” like the atheists want us to think or an “after-the-event, made-up-occurrence” like some wayward theologians might say either.
I had a professor once – well over 20 years ago – who tried to tell us that the Resurrection was (and I’ll quote) “NOT ABOUT RESSUCITATED CORPSES BUT A STATEMENT OF FAITH.” HE was basically telling us that the Apostles had made up the whole “RESSURECTION thing” to give people some reason to believe in this Jesus guy in order for them found this “church” thing they’d come up with.
That statement stuck in my head and it kept coming back to me for years afterwards – had I been missing the point all this time? Was this Jesus Christ in whom I professed to believe – was it all really something else TOTALLY all along and I was just too blind, ignorant or just backwards to know any better?
But thank GOD, the Holy Spirit never left me, and in fact it was that incident more than many others that caused me to really investigate and learn my faith over the years – and I suppose in many ways I owe that professor a debt of gratitude – since that day in many ways helped to lead me to stand before you here today.
It was when I heard and then read St. Paul that I finally realized the truth – and I discovered to my amazement and relief that I wasn’t a fool after all.
In his first letter to this Corinthians – St Paul hits it right on the head and it was a relief to me like no other:
“If Christ has not been raised, then empty is our preaching; empty, too, your faith. Then we are also false witnesses to God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised.
For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain and those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If for THIS life ONLY we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.
BUT . . . HE IS RISEN!!!!! And that DARN WELL IS THE POINT!
Peter and the beloved apostle saw the evidence as we just heard, and the dawning of true understanding came to them. Jesus will appear to them and to many as we will hear in the coming weeks, and we will understand what is truly in store for us if we but keep his commandments.
The Resurrection is REAL – it really HAPPENED and it’s WHY we are here – today and EVERY day– and THAT is why we have reason to rejoice!
THAT is why that even though we may be hanging on by our fingernails and thinking we can’t face what the future holds for us in our lives – in the end we KNOW what the future ultimately holds.
HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN!

The post HOMILY – Easter Sunday 2009 (Mass During the Day) appeared first on CatholicManiacs.

This one was one of the tougher ones to prepare – it’s about the Woman at the Well from John’s Gospel, a story we all know well, and I did proclaim the long version as is our custom. Reaction was very good for this one – several claimed it was actually my best – I’ll let you decide.

What we’ve just witnessed is a story of the birth of faith – the dawn of understanding.
It is the story of the beginning of a flood – a tsunami of belief that began with one little cupful of water.
Jesus Christ – the Son of God – he is the catalyst here – the one essential chemical added to the potion that causes everything else in it to react – spectacularly in this case.
The woman at the well was the beginning – she’s an innocent bystander who has her life changed forever because she happened to go to the Well of Jacob on a certain day, at a certain time, just like she had done probably just about every day for who knows how long.
The extraordinary entered into the ordinary – and changes everything.
Jesus was the force that entered into this woman’s life – and from her belief, soon the entire town and then the entire region of Samaria believed – and they believed like nobody else did at the time in fact.
They didn’t just see Jesus as just a prophet, they don’t even stop at calling him the Messiah or even the Christ, they actually called him “Savior” – a term that is never used anywhere else in any of the four Gospels in fact – just here this one time. It’s an exclusively Post Resurrection term that they figure out before it even happens.
The people of Samaria – ironically – see Jesus for EXACTLY who he is – the whole picture. Something the Jews and even the Apostles themselves at this point cannot begin to conceive – but it’s something that these people somehow understand . . .
. . . all from a simple conversation that took place at the Well of Jacob on one rather ordinary afternoon.
I’d like to pose a question – a very basic question – for every person here:
Do you remember when you FIRST believed?
Have you ever thought about it?
I’m assuming of course that everyone here does in fact believe in some fashion, and if I’m wrong please forgive my presumption, but nevertheless stay with me on this.
For everything there is a first time, right? Can you remember when you first understood, at least a little, what you believed?
If you’re a Cradle Catholic like me this is probably a really tough question – we grew up in the faith and maybe we’ve never even really thought about it.
It’s okay if you can’t answer this question – not to mess with everyone too much but the question is meant to be its own answer actually.
By asking it, I’m trying to get you to start thinking about something you may not have ever considered before.
Sometime’s that what a homilist’s job really is by the way – not to provide the answers but simply to ask the right questions.
The woman at the well can answer this question – without a moment’s hesitation in fact. If you were able to ask her, she could tell you EXACTLY when she first believed – indeed she DID in fact just tell us.
For the many of us here today who are converts, the question is a bit easier I think. You have an amazing gift that many of us Cradle Catholics don’t have – like the woman at the well you can probably tell us EXACTLY when and how you came to believe – just when it was that you encountered Jesus.
You see – that’s why we read this Gospel today of all days.
This morning at the 8:30 mass, we had our First Scrutiny of our RCIA Catechumens and Candidates – those who are to be welcomed into the fullness of the Catholic faith at the Easter Vigil in just a few weeks. It is because of them that this story is told to us on this day. And it is with them particularly in mind that I’m preaching this homily in fact.
They have recently come to believe and will publicly profess to the entire Church worldwide on Easter Vigil just what finding Christ means to them – they will take ACTION – because that’s what encounters with Christ always result in.
Like the woman at the well who had to run back and tell everyone of just what had happened – Christ moves us to ACT.
So I now ask each of you a second question – a follow up to the first one –– whether it was first discovered long ago or only recently, what exactly does your belief in Christ MEAN in your life, in practical terms?
What ACTION does it compel you to take?
Does it inform your everyday actions in any way?
Would anyone who gets to know you be able to tell that you are a believer?
Every person has to honestly answer this question for himself or herself – individually – and nobody needs to hear the answer except yourself (and God of course, although he already knows everything about you anyway, just as he did for the Woman at the Well.)
If the honest answer in your heart is something like “Not Much” or “Not Really”, swallow the little tablespoonful of guilt you might feel and treat it as medicinal and don’t be too hard on yourself. We’ll keep working with you.
Faith, you see, is a gift – it requires lots of living water to get it to grow.
Not all of us are as lucky as the woman at the well, right?
We don’t get to have a profound encounter with Jesus to the point where our lives are changed forever, do we?
Oh, there’s one of those rhetorical QUESTIONS again.
You see the point of this Gospel story is not so much to show how Jesus ONCE UPON A TIME had an encounter out of the blue with a woman from Samaria and it changed her forever.
It’s to show that JESUS CHRIST, being the Son of God, the Christ, True God and True Man IS ALWAYS reaching out to have an encounter with US and can change OUR lives forever too, just like he did for her and her entire people.
The Extraordinary is STILL intervening in the Ordinary, even to this day.
He’s in the Assembly gathered here today – the Mystical Body of Christ.
He’s in the Word we just heard – The Eternal Word.
He’s in the person of Father John when he consecrates the Bread and Wine – In Persona Christi.
He’s most especially in the Eucharist we will all share in a few moments – The Source and Summit of our Faith.
And he’s in the faces of those people in need we will encounter this week and next week and every week we walk this earth – whatsoever you do for these least ones, you do it for me.
We don’t need to look very hard to find opportunities for Christ to transform us – what we SHOULD do is try to look and listen a little closer and allow him to enter into each one of us – and watch the spectacular results that just a little cooperation with him on our parts can bring.

The post HOMILY – 3rd Sunday In Lent – RCIA Scrutiny (Cycle A Readings) appeared first on CatholicManiacs.

“In the interest of full disclosure, I must begin by pointing out that a great deal of this homily is inspired by and adapted from Pope Benedict’s great encyclical from 2007 – “Spe Salvi”, that is “In Hope”.

When I first read the passage from Job that we just heard, I was immediately struck by the profound feeling of utter HOPELESSNESS that it projected – it truly sounds like the mournings of someone who has nothing to live for.

Agony and near despair permeate his words – and I know that words like these may very well be in the hearts and minds of many of us during these oh so uncertain times:
“My days come to an end without hope – I shall not see happiness again.”

Have our problems taken us to a place where we feel hopeless?

Perhaps someone who feels that way might even be sitting near us right now?

Ask anyone who has ever stood in the unemployment line – we can come up with all sorts of ways to “distract ourselves” or to create hopes that end up being false just to get through the day – because in our minds the only alternative is to feel NO HOPE at ALL

But I’m telling you as one who has stood in that line – multiple times in fact – FALSE HOPE may FEEL better that NO HOPE, but in the end they behave exactly the same.

Where is TRUE hope in the face of hardship?

What can “SAVE US” when suffering is at our doorstep?

I turn to Papa Benedict – from Spe Salvi:

“WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN HOPE – TRUSTWORTHY HOPE – by virtue of which we can face our present, even if it is arduous.

The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.

To come to know God—the true God—means to receive hope.

We possess the hope that ensues from a real encounter with this God.”

A real encounter with God.

The True Hope and thereby True Relief.

That’s what Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John and the entire village of Capernaum experienced in today’s Gospel reading.

That’s what Peter’s mother in Law received – and we saw what it did for her.

That’s what the entire region of Galilee would have in the days after this event – a real encounter with God.

And that is what will make HOPE real for us – just like it did for me eight years ago this next week in fact.

A REAL ENCOUNTER WITH GOD.

That’s why Job – even though he had lost everything and sounded as if he were at the bottom of the darkest pit of Hell – never REALLY lost his hope – his entire LIFE was one real encounter with God.

Encountering God is HOPE GIVING you see – for it is LIFE GIVING. GOD is LIFE INCARNATE.

He is the ultimate existence. His name as he told Moses from the Burning Bush was simply “I AM” – in Hebrew “Yah Weh.” Existence. Life. Hope.

So the real question then becomes – HOW?

How do we have a “REAL encounter” with God?

I think that sometimes the very BEST way for us to encounter God often comes through encounters with other people, particularly when we hear about those who kept the faith – who endured – and who ended up triumphing in the end despite overwhelming odds. And sometimes only a saint will do.

The person I have in mind is probably someone you have NOT heard of – a saint that you probably do NOT know, but she is apparently one of Pope Benedict’s favorites because it was in Spe Salvi that I learned of her incredible story – and of the power that a REAL encounter with God can have.

Josephine Bakhita was her name. She was born around 1869—she herself did not know the precise date—in Darfur in Sudan.

At the age of nine, she was kidnapped from her family by slave-traders and over the next eight years she was sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan.

The trauma of her abduction caused her to forget the name she was actually born with – the name by which we know her is a compound of the name given to her by the slavers (Bakhita is the Arabic word for lucky) and the Christian name she later took in adulthood.

She suffered much brutality during her captivity. On one occasion, one of her owner’s sons beat her so severely that she spent a month unable to move from a straw bed. As a result of all that she endured, including near constant floggings and even branding irons, she would bear over 144
permanent scars all over her body throughout her life.

She was eventually bought by a Venetian diplomat who brought her to Italy. It was here, after the terrifying “masters” who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of “master”— in Italian he was called “Paron” – he was Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God.

Up until that time she had only known masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave. Now, however, she heard that there was a “Paron” above all masters – the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good – goodness personified in fact.

She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her, and that he actually loved her.

She learned that she was loved by none other than the supreme “Paron”, before whom all other masters were themselves no more than lowly servants.

She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her “at the Father’s right hand”.

She finally had REAL “hope” —no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but a GREAT hope.

She would later write “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.”

She was soon baptized by the Patriarch of Venice and took sanctuary with the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters in Italy, an order of charity into which she would profess her final vows six years later.

Her special charisma and reputation for sanctity were noticed by her order, and she was instructed to publish her memoirs and to give talks about her experiences and these made her famous throughout Italy.

The liberation that she had received through her encounter with the God of Jesus Christ she felt she had to extend to the greatest possible number of people.

Her last years were marked by sickness, but she always retained her cheerfulness, and if asked how she was, would always smile and answer “as the Master desires”. She died at her Convent in Italy in 1947.

On October 1, 2000, she was canonized by Pope John Paul II and became Saint Josephine Bakhita. She is venerated as a modern African saint with a special relevance to slavery and oppression. She has in fact been adopted as the patron saint of Sudan.

I was profoundly moved by Josephine’s story when I read it. She faced unimaginable suffering, pain and hardship – things our modern western society can barely conceive of today, much less ever really understand.

Much like Christ’s crucifixion in fact.

But what struck me the most was how Josephine encountered Christ – she found him through the actions and the faith that she saw in the Holy Sisters. She knew him not at all at first – until he was made present to her through them.

We must seek out that personal encounter with Christ to rekindle our hope – and one of the best places to find him is in the kindness and simple faith of others.

For those of us without hope – this provides a source for its refreshment.

And perhaps more importantly, for those of us who still have hope, this provides us the opportunity to live up to our baptismal responsibilities to bring Christ to those who may have forgotten him.

It’s easy to be distracted – it’s easy to lose hope.
But it’s up to each one of us here however, to find ways to bring that REAL hope – the hope that does not disappoint – back to those around us when they seem on the verge of losing it.

Christ put each of us here to be his hands and his voice to each other – it’s something of which we must never lose sight.”

The post HOMILY – 5th Sunday Ordinary Time – Cycle B appeared first on CatholicManiacs.

This one was a bit more spiritually practical in approach, but I definitley did hit hard the Frist Commandment, which is something I seem to be tredning towards a lot. So far so good. I think this one was a little long – a little bit over 8 minutes versus my normal 7, but it seemed to work well. My son Thomas liked that I mentioned him, but I told him to expect that to be too regular. Like I said in the homily, tyhe LAST thing I want to be is predictable.

“In praying and meditating over these scripture readings, I found myself starting to go down the obvious roads – how these readings tell us to “answer God’s call”, or to “respond to his summons”.

And I said to myself – there’s just got to be MORE here than just that.

No matter how worthy an approach for some this might be, I just kept feeling that going down that road for me would be just too simple – or worse predictable. (And the last thing I want to be is predictable.)

The Holy Spirit it seems was directing me to go down another road.

It was the reading from the Corinthians was the problem for me – it was placed with the other two quite deliberately and yet it seems totally out of synch with them – it’s not about “answering the call” – it’s clearly about rejecting immorality and living a life full of virtue. I just couldn’t reconcile the two for some reason.

But as I read and prayed and thought on it more and more – I think I began to understand . . .

For me there just seemed to be a certain “ARROGANCE” contained within the “God is calling and we need to answer” approach that just didn’t sit well with me.

It kind of implies that WE are the ones in charge – WE get the final say – it’s up to US and US ALONE as to what we decide to do.

It seems that by going down that path I would inevitably reach a point where I would be implying that it was CHOICE that was supreme here. And THAT is something I could NEVER DO.

I’ve always been very suspicious and critical of the “It’s all about US” philosophy – to me it smacks of the sin of selfishness and flies in the face of the basic humility and subordination of our will to God’s that is so essential in the Christian Life.

Now don’t misunderstand me – I’m not that saying answering God’s call isn’t important, and I’m not saying we don’t have free will to choose him or reject him.

What I AM saying is that those facts – and that’s what they are, merely facts – needs to be subordinated to a far more important “TRUTH.”

GOD is GOD and WE are NOT.

GOD is ultimately in charge of everything – it is HE and HE ALONE to whom we MUST look and MUST serve and MUST obey. (The First Commandment, right?)

These readings are NOT about simply making A CHOICE to follow Christ or not like they may first appear – they’re about making the RIGHT CHOICE. It’s not about the “WHAT” it’s about the “HOW”.

Just because we have a choice, doesn’t mean that there’s not a RIGHT ANSWER and a WRONG ANSWER – a RIGHT WAY and a WRONG WAY. It’s not all just a question or personal preference, is it?

In fact, there really is ONLY ONE WAY to responding to God’s call – HIS WILL and not OURS.

You see – Samuel in the Old Testament and Andrew and Peter in the New – they didn’t just “choose” – they chose CORRECTLY. They set aside whatever it was that THEY may have wanted or planned or desired and made the RIGHT CHOICE – they did whatever HE wanted. No matter where HE led them – they were obedient to HIM. They just followed – they just obeyed – simple as that. And they did so for the rest of their lives – lives they ultimately gave up for HIM.

Looking at it this way, the reading from the letter to the Corinthians fits perfectly – Paul is saying that there IS in fact a right choice and a wrong choice – there IS an objective morality and therefore also an objective immorality – and it is Christ and his Church who is tells us which is which – the TRUTH as to which moral choices are RIGHT and which are WRONG.

You know I truly believe most people usually want to do what is right, I really do.

But I think there are many powerful forces in this world that can so easily lead good people astray. It often gets to the point of not knowing which way to turn – how DO you know with any real confidence just what IS the right choice to make – the moral way?

Well, we know of course the short answer – CHRIST is the way. (He said exactly so himself in fact.)

BUT JUST WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, EXACTLY – WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE?

WHAT DOES FOLLOWING THE “WAY OF CHRIST” ENTAIL IN PRACTICAL TERMS?

Just how do we “Think and Act like Christ” as Father Hardesty told me those many years ago?

Well, looking to the Church for guidance in moral matters is a very good start, and I encourage everyone to listen and take seriously her teachings, especially on the sanctity and dignity of all human life – PARTICULARLY as TODAY – Jan 18, 2009 – was literally just proclaimed National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I encourage you to read up on it.

But – more basic than that – how do you begin?

What are the first steps to that “reconversion experience”? How do you create a “spiritual renaissance” within you or convert back from what that great Catholic speaker Jesse Romero calls “Comatose Catholicism”? (He actually borrowed that phrase from Cardinal Newman, by the way.)

You might be surprised, but it’s really very, very simple.

You probably have hears that you have to get to know Jesus – you have to understand him intimately – to fall in love with him as Father Jim says – and there are many, many ways to do this. . .

. . .but I’ve recently come to understand that there is in fact a really good ONE WAY – something simple that anyone can begin with and that works every time . . .

. . . read and pray the Scriptures – daily.

In fact it WAS Jesse Romero who inspired me with very simple solution – in one of his talks that my son Thomas and I heard just the other day – and it was so simple and obvious that Thomas got it quicker than I did – and he’s only seven.

Read and pray the scriptures – daily.

Jesse was telling the story of when he was on the threshold of his reconversion back to Catholicism some years back he was asking the very same question – what can I DO that I know will enable me to follow Christ CORRECTLY? St. Paul said to “avoid immorality” – but how can I be sure of always doing the right thing?

Fortunately Jesse was smart enough to know that to get the right answer that he was looking for he needed to go to an ultimate font of knowledge. And just like every good son instinctively knows, that’s always found in one person in particular – MOM.

So he called up his Mother and asked her “Mom, what do I need to do to know all about Jesus? How can I learn how to always do the right thing – make the moral choice?”

And his mom answered him. “Jesse, go get your Bible, pick it up and start reading. You start with the four Gospels and you read them all the way through. You “pray them” as you go – you ask for guidance and inspiration all the time you’re reading.”

Jesse thought about it for a moment and then he asked, “Well, what do I do after that?”

So she told him “You do it again.”

So he asked her “How many TIMES do I have to do it?”

“About fifty” she told him.

And being the good son, he did just what his mom told him to do. He read – and he prayed – the four gospels over and over – he chewed, swallowed and digested every word again and again – and they slowly became part of him.

It wasn’t long before he expanded his reading to the rest of the New Testament and from there he went back into the Old. His mind and his spirit slowly expanded to seek out the teachings of the Church and through regular reception of the Eucharist, Christ truly came to live inside him.

He now spends 20 minutes every single day reading and praying the Scriptures and he knows the right choices to make – Christ you see has quite literally told him. He has fallen in love with Christ.

Sometime after his reconversion he went back to his mom and asked her “Mom, did you really mean for me to read those gospels fifty times?”

And she told him “No Jesse, I meant for you to read them for the rest of your life. Telling you “fifty times” is what I knew it would take to get you there.”

If you ever get the chance to hear him speak please don’t miss it – I can tell you NO ONE can match the FIRE and PASSION he has for Christ and his Church – and like a good son he has a particular devotion to the Blessed Mother – he even calls himself “the Latin Lover of Our Lady.”

But HIS passion can be OUR passion – HIS enthusiasm can be OUR enthusiasm -and all it takes to begin is a regular reading and praying of sacred scripture – not just occasionally or once a week, but as often as humanly possible. Daily if you can.

Following the correct “WAY” is not as difficult as you might think, my friends – we actually do have it all written down for us.

Pick it up and begin.

The post HOMILY – 2nd Sunday In Ordinary Time – Cycle B appeared first on CatholicManiacs.

I thought this one was good – full of Christology, the Incarnation and lots of “Creator of the Universe” language. what worries me the most is that I will very likely preach this particular mass, always with these particular readings, every year. I’ll have to look to the Holy Spirit to help me keep it fresh.

“God is with us – Emmanuel.

He is here – he is FINALLY here, but of course as we all know, he is ALWAYS here.

God is with us – Emmanuel.

Jesus Christ is THE ONE – the one who came to us so that we all might live.

And it is his coming to US that we celebrate tonight.
For four weeks of advent we have been waiting, just like the people of God waited for centuries for the Savior to appear.

Advent is a season of expectation – but it is now over just as St. Matthew decreed with his genealogy of Jesus that we just heard.

Christmas has come – HE has come. The one who was promised from the very beginning HAS COME.

This is something which is both AWESOME and ASTOUNDING. Something that should shake our understanding of the universe to its very core . . .
GOD . . .

. . . the Creator, the author of the entire universe, he who created time and space and the entire cosmos, billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars and billions of planets, something so vast and powerful that our minds can barely comprehend it . . .

GOD . . .
. . . who created the luminescent ball of hydrogen and helium gas that burns in space 93 million miles away from us . . .

. . . who put the moon in place to control the tides and the oh so critical orientation of this big ball of dirt and water upon which we live . . .

GOD . . .
. . . who established ALL the laws of NATURE and of SCIENCE in this universe we live in and who brought forth the enormous abundance of life on this planet, against astronomical odds of coincidence and mathematical probability . . .

GOD . . .
. . . who specifically infused into every single one of us alive today – and billions upon billions more like us who went before and who are yet to come – the sacred gift of life and consciousness, each one of us unique, precious and unrepeatable . . .

GOD . . .
. . . came among US this night.

GOD became HUMAN – he took on a HUMAN NATURE.

Have we actually sat and thought about what this means – about ALL the implications of this event?

Well, that is what this night is meant for.

He who is ALL powerful, ALL knowing, ALL loving (for the act of creation must by its very definition be an act of love), LIMITED by nothing and CAUSED by nothing . . . IN FACT the very CAUSE and ESSENCE of LIFE itself . . .
. . .became one of US?

2000 years ago he came into this world utterly helpless, just as we all do, to a young mother who knew only to do God’s will. . .

. . . and to a foster father who became the model for all fathers who would ever come after him.

. . . GOD joined this human family . . . the simple family of Joseph, of the House of David, and his wife Mary.
Christmas is a celebration that has taken on a life of its own in our culture today.

It has come to stand for consumerism and commercialism and all those other materialistic “isms” that I’m sure you’re all rather tired of seeing and experiencing by now.

But WE who are Christians understand what Christmas is REALLY all about – and unlike Charlie Brown we didn’t need Linus to tell us either . . .

At its most basic, it’s about that HE CAME.
GOD came.

God “lowered” himself – and how can we honestly describe it as anything other than a “lowering” – into becoming human.

HE IS GOD . . .

And yet he came to us and breathed our air and walked among us and taught us many AMAZING things – and gave us gifts far beyond all imagining. . .

But contrary to what the media might tell you about him – the one whose coming we celebrate tonight was far, far MORE than just a “good man”, or an “innovative thinker” or the founder of a “new philosophy of life” who sprang from the hills of ancient Palestine some 2000 years past.

HE WAS – AND IS – GOD.

And HE DECIDED to become one of US. . .

The only explanation possible for his doing this – and in the end the only one that is at all necessary . . . is that he decided to do this because HE LOVED US.

And indeed the depth of his love for us would be shown through the ultimate sacrifice he made upon Calvary – which we are about to celebrate at this altar in just a few moments. . . .

He loves us so much that he comes to meet us where we are.

He came down from Heaven to be with us so that we could be with him in Heaven forever.

He loves us so much that He endured, hunger, pain, sadness, grief, joy, laughter, happiness, strength and weakness just so He could come to be with us.

We don’t have to search high and low for Him, because He came for us and to us. Just as he said in John, Chapter 3:
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son . . . that whosoever believes in him will have eternal life.”

A love like that demands a response back from us – that is the thought I would like each one of us to meditate and pray upon this Christmas season – how do we respond to a wondrous love like that.

For THAT LOVE is what we are celebrating tonight. . . .
THAT is why we proclaim joy to the world. . .

And in the spirit of THAT LOVE – and of THAT ALONE . . . I wish you all a very, MERRY Christmas.”

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