Sunday, May 31, 2015

Homily: Trinity Sunday 2015 - Does this doctrine really matter?



We have come again to the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.  I don’t know who dreads this Sunday more, the priests who have to attempt to explain this most mysterious of all Catholic Doctrines in a short homily, or the poor congregation who has to listen to it. 

I came across an article this week titled: Dear Priests: The Top 5 Heresies to Avoid this Trinity Sunday.  The author begins his article: “The doctrine of the Trinity is arguably the most important doctrine of the Church, since it is regarding the very nature of God. It’s also one of the most confusing and misunderstood. So Trinity Sunday is a great time for priests to clear up misconceptions among their flock.”

To better understand what we actually believe, sometimes it’s helpful to examine what we don’t believe.  The author then goes on to list 5 of those common misconceptions or errors about the Trinity. 

The first error he lists is denying the personhood of the Holy Spirit.  The author wrote that he once heard a priest preach that the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was “two whos and a what” or “two persons and a thing.” But that’s wrong. The Holy Spirit is not some impersonal divine “force”, nor is it acceptable to say that He’s simply “God’s action in the world.” The Holy Spirit is a divine person just as much as the Father and Son. He is a full and distinct person.  So the Trinity isn’t “two whos and a what” but “three whos”—three persons.

On the other hand, a second error the author mentions is “Tritheism”.  Just as it’s important to emphasize the three persons, it’s also imperative to make clear that Catholics do not believe in three Gods.  The first line of the Creed is, “We believe in one God…” The three persons of the Trinity are divine, but they are not three Gods. Rather, they share the same divine substance…which is why we use our favorite word “consubstantial”.

Often Muslims claim that Christians are guilty of believing in multiple gods because of the doctrine of the Trinity.  But, we don’t believe in multiple gods, we believe in one God who is a Trinity of Three Divine Persons.  Jesus Himself even clarifies this when he says, “I and the Father are one”

The third error the author mentions is one of the most ancient yet common heresies about the Trinity, that of Modalism.  Modalism claims that the persons of the trinity are just three modes or masks that God switches between.  So Modalism claims that sometimes God puts on his Father mask, sometimes he puts on his Jesus mask, sometimes he puts on his Holy Spirit mask.
But that’s not right.  From all eternity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have existed coeternally, at the same time. 

Another error, one which I’ve actually heard preached by many well-meaning Catholics, is that when God is mentioned in the Old Testament, it is only referring to God the Father.
I’ve heard people say, well, the God of the Old Testament had a really bad temper, and wasn’t loving or merciful, so Jesus showed up and showed us that God is really loving.  This is a serious error.  That goes back to the second century.  A heretical teacher named Marcion claimed that the God of the Old Testament was evil, and told his followers not even to read the Old Testament because it was full of error.  Marcion’s error was quickly condemned by the Church.
We don’t believe in two Gods—one cruel, one merciful.  Now yes, the Son and the Holy Spirit are most clearly revealed in the New Testament, but the The God whose words and actions are recorded in the Old Testament is the same God who, assumed a human nature and preached the Sermon on the Mount.

It cannot be said that the God of the Old Testament is without mercy.  In fact, the word, “Mercy”, used to describe God more times in the Old Testament than the New.  Both the New Testament and the Old are clear that God is full of mercy, while at the same time urging us to turn away from sin, to follow the commandments. 

I really liked this article about the top heresies to avoid about the trinity.  There was a really good question at the end of the article, and you might be thinking this yourself: what does it matter?  What does it matter if I say the Holy Trinity is “two whos and a what”? What does it matter if I don’t believe Jesus is consubstantial with the Father?  Am I really going to go to hell if I ascribe to Modalism or the Marcionist Heresy?  Isn’t it okay to change the words from Father, Son, Holy Spirit to “Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier” If I feel like it?

And the answer is, it does matter.  We believe, as Catholics, that Faith is not something that we make up as we go along.  Christianity is something that we have inherited from God Himself.  Christianity is not man’s word, but God’s word.  In so many of our Doctrines, God has revealed His Heart to Us, He’s Revealed His Holy Will for us, and we commit a grave mistake, one that has eternal consequences, if we say, I’m just going to believe whatever I want.

Jesus said in the Gospel today, “teach ALL that I have commanded you.”  He didn’t say, bend the truth that you find difficult, water down the truth that you find demanding, ignore the truth that you find inconvenient. 

We might not be able to understand the profound depths of the Catholic doctrines, but every Catholic is called to firmly believe them, even when our understanding is lacking.
I don’t understand the doctrine of the Trinity, but I believe it because it is an unchangeable doctrine of the Catholic Church.  St. Augustine said, I believe so that I may understand.  Faith proceeds understanding. 

Even the Opening Prayer for Mass today is clear on this point.  “grant us, we pray, that in professing the true faith, we may acknowledge the Trinity of eternal glory and adore your Unity, powerful in majesty.” Notice it didn’t say, grant that we may fully understand the doctrine of the Trinity, but grant that we may profess the truth faith. 

St. Athanasius wrote, Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith…And the Catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons; nor dividing the substance.”

This is the Catholic Faith. Though we can never fully understand it, we are proud to profess it…for the glory of God and salvation of souls.


Friday, May 29, 2015

Homily: Friday of the 8th Week in Ordinary Time - Withered Fig Tree

Today’s Gospel is like a three-act play in which the third act helps us to understand the action of the previous two acts.  In Act I, Jesus comes to Jerusalem and curses a fig tree because it is barren.  In Act II, Jesus enters the Temple in Jerusalem and drives out the corrupt moneychangers.  And in Act III, Jesus returns to the fig tree, which has withered.

The barren fig tree in Act I symbolizes how the Temple has ceased to bare good fruit.  It had become corrupt; instead of the Temple sanctifying Jerusalem, earthly corruption had seeped into the Temple, poisoning its sacred worship with worldly profanity. 

The drama of this passage from Mark’s Gospel symbolizes the divine drama of Jesus coming into the world to cleanse us of sin, that we might be in right relationship with God, so that we might bear fruit, and receive eternal life.  He comes into the Temples of our hearts, to overturn tables—to upset our worldly attachments, that we might cling to what is truly important—a thriving, vibrant, intimate relationship with God through Christ.

When Jesus returned to the withered fig tree in Act III, Jesus explains three principles that will ensure that what happened to the fig tree doesn’t happen to us.  First, he says, “Have faith in God”.  Have faith.  Come to complete trust and reliance on God.  Firmly believe that God is at work despite all of the evils of the world.  This type of faith would be important for those early disciples who would be persecuted for their faith. 

This sort of faith, Jesus explains, can move mountains.  The image of a mountain being lifted up and thrown into the sea expresses the limitless power of prayer rooted in unconditional faith.  Nothing stands in the way of God’s Holy Will—in bringing about the spread of the Gospel throughout the world—and to accomplish this, even the seemingly impossible will be accomplished.

Finally, if you want to bear fruit, if you want to experience the limitless power of unconditional faith—forgive.  There is no surer poison, that will cause the roots of faith to whither, than failure to forgive.  Elsewhere, Jesus says, anyone can love those who love you, but his disciples are called to love their enemies.  To bear the fruit Jesus wants for us, we need to be people of boundless mercy; avoiding all grudges.


The more we are united to Jesus Christ, the more his desires and priorities become our own, the more fruit we will bear for the sake of the kingdom, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Homily: Memorial Day - Unforgetting



One of the most important principles of our faith is anamnesis.  Anamnesis is the greek word which means to remember, more literally it means, to unforget.  Today our nation observes Memorial Day, a day for remembering those who died for us, and for remembering what they died for. 

Anamnesis is an important principle for our faith because it is so easy to forget: when faced with temptation, it is easy to forget the teachings of Christ, to forget our Christian dignity, to forget how much God loves us, to forget that sin does not bring us the happiness we are truly longing for. 
When we forget these things, our behavior, attitude, morality, suffers—we risk the loss of our soul, our humanity. 

The Catholic Spanish Philosopher George Santayana quipped, “Those who forget the lessons of the past are condemned to repeat it.”  What are the lessons of the past that we should remember today?  Another Catholic Philosopher, this time, the Irishman Edmund Burke, said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  The men and women who we remember today, did something.  They didn’t merely wring their hands and watch evil triumph, but laid down their lives. 

The Roman Missal does not have particular prayers and Scripture readings for Memorial Day, for really every Mass is an anamnesis, a memorial, of the One who laid down his life that we may have eternal life.  But for this Mass, I chose today prayers and Scriptural readings for the faithful departed—to remember those who fought for us at the altar. 

Remembering our loved ones at Mass is not simply an emotional or sentimental exercise, at Mass we bring the faithful departed to the cross of Christ, and on their behalf, we say, “Jesus, Remember Me, when you come into your kingdom” as we heard in the Gospel. 

It is an act of charity to pray for the dead. In fact, St. Thomas Aquinas even said that there is no greater act of love we can perform on behalf of one who has died, than to pray for them. 
Yet, today we also recall our duty to not let their sacrifices go in vain. And we commit to not wasting the freedom they died for, we commit to fighting against tyranny and injustice in our own day.
In the first reading we heard, “the souls of the just are in the hands of God.”  Who are the just? The justr remember that all the blessings they have, have their origin in the Almighty, and they seek to make a return to Him for His goodness through their own self-sacrifice.


Today as we come forward to the great anamensis, the great means by which we not only mentally recall what Jesus has done for us, but by which he is truly made present, let us do so with a spirit of profound gratitude for all who made it possible for us to be here today, and labor in this, our time, for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Homily: Pentecost 2015 - Wind and Fire



Today is the great Feast of Pentecost, the feast that ranks with Christmas and Easter as the greatest of the Church Year.  It is the Feast of the Holy Spirit who enlivens and animates the Church.
Listen again to the account of the first Pentecost nearly 2000 years ago from the Acts of the Apostles, often called the Gospel of the Holy Spirit by the Early Church Fathers.

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together.
And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit

Wind and fire are two symbols associated with the Holy Spirit, and they tell us a lot about how the Holy Spirit wishes to act in our lives.  First, Acts describes the Holy Spirit as a strong driving wind.  There is something unpredictable about the wind.  You don’t know quite where it comes from or quite where it is going.  Jesus himself in John’s Gospel says, The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.”
That says something about the Holy Spirit, there is something elusive, unpredictable, and wonderfully so, about Him. But that means we can’t control Him, and that makes Him a little daunting, a little scary.  We can’t control Him, we only have two choices, resist or surrender.  And it’s scary to surrender to God.  He might ask me to speak in front of people, he might ask me to go out into the street and feed the homeless, he might ask me to become a priest or a religious sister.  He might upset my applecart, and that’s scary.

But we are called to that sort of trust with God, to give God the blank check, to hand our life over to him and to say, “my life is yours, do with me what you will.” 

One of the great prayers to the Holy Spirit, prayed by Catholics for over a thousand years are the three words: Veni Sancte Spiritus, Come Holy Spirit.  Now, there is a prayer to be prayed every day.  Come Holy Spirit, with your unseen gifts.  Come Holy Spirit, to lead me to become the person God made me to be.

Another thing about the Wind is that it is powerful.  I’ve seen wind knock over trucks.  Tornado winds can devastate villages and cities.  Wind can also turn gigantic wind turbines.  So the Holy Spirit, when you let Him in your life, He will do something powerful in you: He’ll change you, it will definitely uproot some things in you.  But, he might just make you into a powerful instrument for the change God wants in the world. 

I can’t help but think of Saint John Paul II, who during the early 1980s visited his native Poland under the control of the Communists, during a time of martial law.  The Communist Government had put oppressive restrictions on practice of Catholicism.  And Pope John Paul stood up to the Communists and preached the freedom of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; he spoke God’s truth and unleashed the power of the Holy Spirit in that land.  And you know what happened?  It toppled the Communist government in Poland, it toppled Atheist Communism in the entire Eastern Block, and in time it toppled the Mighty Soviet Union.  The Holy Spirit is wind, powerful and mighty; it can knock over the strongest things, it can lift the heaviest things, if we but let it in our lives.  The gates of hell cannot prevail against that wind.

Wind, fresh air, is needed continually for life itself.  If your faith life or prayer life feels stifled, strangled, or stagnate, ask the Holy Spirit to breathe new life, new enthusiasm, new joy into your soul.
The other great symbol of the Holy Spirit is Fire.  Fire, can be devastating and destructive.  Yet, it can also be cleansing.  The Holy Spirit is like a cleansing Fire. 

Often times when people begin to be attracted to the faith, and they begin to pray, and they begin to participate in the liturgy, they often realize, “things have to change in me, all is not well”  God wants to burn away the attitudes and behaviors which are inconsistent with the life of grace.  God wants to burn away our selfishness, so that not an ounce remains, God wants to burn away our envy, our resentments, our lusts.”  If you are struggling with a particular temptation or sin, pray “Come Holy Spirit” burn this temptation away, burn this addiction away.

There is more to the symbol of fire.  Fire is also illuminating, especially for people of biblical times, before electricity.  Fire was light, it was illumination, it was how you could see in night, in the darkness.

So, when the Holy Spirit dwells in you, you come to a deeper understanding of the Scriptures, of the Faith, of the world.  Do you want to understand how to love your unlovable neighbors?  Ask Him! Do you want to draw more inspiration and guidance from the Holy Scriptures?  Ask Him!  Do you want to understand God’s Will for your life, your vocation in life?  Ask Him! 

We should also ask the Holy Spirit to grant understanding and light to all those people who condemn the Catholic Church, and therefore turn their hearts away from Jesus.  The atheists, journalists, the politicians, the fallen away Catholics who speak about the Church as an enemy rather than a mother—they need our prayers.  Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen said there are not a 100 people who hate the Church, but millions who hate what they mistakenly think the Church is.  Those who appear to be our enemies now, may one day become evangelizers and teachers of the truth; think of Saint Paul, who went from stoning Christians to death, to dying for the faith.

Fire also symbolizes the passion and courage God wants us to have for the spreading of the Gospel.  After Jesus’ crucifixion, the Apostles hid in the upper room behind locked doors.  Jesus had sent them outwards, but they hid.  They were more like Apostates, than Apostles.  But when the Holy Spirit came, as Jesus promised, they burst through the locked doors, into the busiest part of town and courageously proclaimed Jesus risen from the dead.  3000 people converted on the spot.

We need this sort of courage! In an era where our modern culture wants Christians to privataze their faith, they want us to hide behind locked doors and keep our faith to ourselves.  For, we aren’t called simply to whisper the faith amongst ourselves, but to proclaim it proudly and courageously outside these Church doors.

In our Second Reading today, St. Paul spoke of the many spiritual gifts to be used in the Lord’s service.  Every baptized person in this church has gifts for spreading the Gospel because at Baptism you received the Holy Spirit.  Baptism is not an empty harmless ritual, but an emersion into the very being of God, and a bestowal of the gifts of God.

Each of us has been given gifts of wisdom to help order our lives according to God’s priorities, understanding to reflect on the deeper meaning of our faith, knowledge to see God working in our life, right counsel to form our consciences in light of Church Teaching, fortitude to remain faithful in times of difficulty, trial, persecution, and temptation, piety to honor God rightly and reverently, and the gift of fear that helps us to root out sin in our life.  All of the baptized have these gifts and are to be enflamed with zeal for the Lord’s work.

The Holy Spirit—wind and flame—is alive in our Church.  Share that wind, that fire, let him animate your life, and illuminate our dark world.  Veni Sancte Spiritus, Come Holy Spirit, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.


Monday, May 18, 2015

Homily: Monday of the 7th Week of Easter - Did you receive the Holy Spirit?



As we approach the feast of Pentecost, our readings increasingly reflect upon the Holy Spirit’s activity in the Church.

During his third and final missionary journey, Paul visited Ephesus.  And there he found a group of believers who seemed to be missing something.  He pinpointed the problem by asking, “Did you receive the holy Spirit when you became believers?”  They gave the surprising answer that they had never even heard that there is a holy Spirit. 

They had never received the Sacrament of Baptism, and therefore they had never received the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. 

What caused Paul to ask that question?  Though they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, likely, what was missing was the sort of activity that should mark a Spirit-filled group of full-fledged Christians.  Remember, by this time, Paul had visited and established many communities.  He would have seen the gifts of the Spirit at work, with his own eyes: prophesying, speaking in tongues, healings, mighty exhortations, Christians teaching the faith, speaking words of knowledge and understanding.

So immediately Paul baptized them and laid hands on them, and the outward signs of the Spirit began to manifest: speaking in tongues and prophecy. 

If Paul were to visit a typical Catholic parish today, if Paul would visit here at St. Clare, he might be inclined to ask the same question he posed to the disciples in Ephesus: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”  The presence and activity of the Holy Spirit is meant to be visible through Spirit-filled praised and worship, bold testimony of the Gospel, signs and wonders, prophecy and tongues. 

We twenty-first century Catholics need to seek and open ourselves to the graces of Pentecost if we are to fulfilling our calling to be faithful witnesses in the new evangelization.


Powerful preaching, conversions of large groups of people, and remarkable signs and wonders have been more frequent in Church history than many Catholics realize.  We would do well to pray for such preaching, conversions, and signs and wonders in our time, and to open our hearts to the new ways the Holy Spirit wishes to use each of us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Friday, May 15, 2015

May 15 - Isidore the Farmer 2015 - Making your work an offering to God

At the beginning of this month on May 1, we celebrated the feast of Saint Joseph the worker.  Today we celebrate the feast of another laborer, a farmer…you could say he was, outstanding in his field.

Not to be confused with Saint Isidore of Seville, Isidore the Farmer was born in Madrid, Spain in 1070.  He spent his whole life working as a farm laborer for the same landowner.  He married a girl as poor as holy as himself, and after their first and only son died in infancy, they lived the rest of their married life in perfect chastity in imitation of the Holy Family.  His wife Maria de la Cabeza has also been canonized.

This holy couple also practiced great generosity towards the poor despite their limited circumstances.  The poor would often follow Isidore home from the farm, and would enjoy greater portions of food than Isidore and his wife.

Despite his poverty, his intense labors, and his life of charity, Isidore was a man of intense prayer and his life was marked by numerous miracles and supernatural interventions.   He would attend Mass daily, and all day long, as he walked behind the plow, he communed with God. 

Therefore, he is also a model of spirituality for all of us.  He made his day an offering to God in a simple, but heroic manner.  As he walked behind the plow and planted seeds in the soil, Isidore offered a simple prayers for others.  Routine work can be turned into a beautiful prayer to God by saying a prayer with each piece of clothing folded, or each potato peeled, or praying the rosary while driving.


God calls farmers to be saints, as he calls doctors, teachers, retirees, priests, and the unemployed.  All of us are called to pour our whole hearts into making our day, our work and our rest, an offering to God for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Homily: Monday of the 6th Week of Easter - "That you will not fall away"


A wise man once said, it is not a question IF Christians will be persecuted for their faith, but how well they will endure the persecution that comes their way. 

Jesus in the Gospel today is very clear that his followers will be persecuted.  Many of the early Christians were Jews.  For believing that Jesus was the Messiah, they were “cast out of their synagogues”.  This meant they were barred from gathering for worship in perhaps the only house of worship they had ever known, they were barred from fellowship with their fellow Jews. 

They would also be shunned; Jews wouldn’t come within six feet of the offender; and if they persisted in their Christian belief, Jewish family members would treat them as if they were dead.
Jesus said, “I’ve told you this in order that you do not fall away.”  Jesus knew that it would be a temptation for people to give up their faith when they were persecuted.  So he prepared his disciples for the coming persecutions and promised that the Holy Spirit would be sent to help them endure hardship and persecution calmly and heroically.

An ancient letter from the 2nd century called the Letter to Diognetus, describes the steadfastness of the early Christians.  Listen to its words:

Christians love all men; but all men persecute them.  Condemned because they are not understood, they are put to death, but raised to life again.  They live in poverty; but enrich many.  They are totally destitute; but possess an abundance of everything.  They suffer dishonor; but that is their glory.  They are defamed, but vindicated.  A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult…they receive the punishment of malefactors, but even then they rejoice, as though receiving the gift of life.

It will always be a temptation to hide our faith, to not share our faith out of fear how others will react.  It is a temptation not to pray in public, not to speak the truth in the public political forum. 
Persecution, hostility, hardship become signs that we are living the faith well, sharing the Gospel as we should. 


The rejection of Jesus and the Father is at the root of the fallenness of the world; may we never reject our faith when our faith is tried, but by the help of the Spirit remain courageous throughout all our hardships for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Homily: 6th Sunday of Easter - Greatest Love Story Ever


Over the last eight weeks we’ve had Laetare Sunday, Palm Sunday also called Passion Sunday, Easter Sunday, Divine Mercy Sunday, and Good Shepherd Sunday. Last week, we might’ve called “Vine and Branches Sunday”.  This week we could call “Love Sunday”.  For, in just the second reading and the Gospel, the word “love” is used 17 times.

Love is at the heart of the Christian faith.  When I am preparing couples for marriage, I ask them a series of questions about themselves and their relationship.  ’ ‘How did you meet?’ ‘When long have you dated?’ ‘What kind of interests and activities do you share?’ ‘What values or lessons from your parents do you hope to put into practice in your own marriage?’ ‘What do you want to do differently?”

The toughest question perhaps is a true or false question.  ‘True or false,’ I ask. ‘Love is all you need for a happy marriage.’  Is love all you need for a happy marriage?  Some of them think it is a trick question, and they try looking at my face to see what answer I want. 

Is love all we need, as John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison sang?  The answer really depends on our definition of love.  Sometimes we use the word love to mean a lot of things.  We say, I love ice cream, I love classical music, I love summer, I love bacon, I love the Cleveland browns, which is like saying I love suffering and tragedy; but that goes to show you, the word love has many meanings.

Even many of the great love stories in literature are very confused about the notion of love.  I remember back in high school reading Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” great love story.  Yet, really…is that love?  A 3 day teenage romance that caused 6 deaths?  Romeo decided that he loved the 13 year old Juliet before even talking to her, and married her two hours later.  Are raging teenage hormones the same as love?  Is this sort of irrational impulsive selfishness the same as love?

Up until 2009, with the release of the movie Avatar, the top grossing movie in the USA was a love story—the movie “Titanic”, raking in over 650 million dollars, world-wide in brought in 2.1 billion dollars.  Dreamy Leonardo DiCaprio played a poor boy named Jack and Kate Winslet played upper-class Rose.  And in this story, Jack and Rose, coming from two different worlds socially, meet and “fall in love.”  Titanic is a really interesting story for many reasons, the ship is like this microcosm for the world.  Jack and Rose fall to the sound of a celine dion soundtrack: amidst intrigue and conspiracy, tensions between rich and poor, celebrations and dancing; night and day.

And then the romance turns to tragedy as—spoiler alert –on her maiden voyage the ship hits an iceberg in the northern Atlantic and begins to sink.

This movie was really popular all those years ago back in 1997, especially among girls between the ages of 13-18.  They didn’t just go see the movie one or two times, they went to see it 4, 5, 6, 7 times. 
There was a survey done about why these young girls went to see this movie so many times.  You may be surprised…It wasn’t because they really liked boats.  And, It wasn’t because they had the hots for Leonardo DiCaprio—after all he was in a number of films before and after Titanic which didn’t make a quarter of the money. 

So what why was Titanic so successful?  In the end, it was a movie about two unlikely people falling in love, and when the chips were down and the ship is sinking, jack is in the freezing water, and making sure that Rose is safe up on the floating plank, and jack begins to slip, and she is calling out his name, and she’s weeping, and every girl in the theater is weeping, her heart is being torn out, because it is a story about a man who sacrifices his life for his beloved, and after 4 ½ hours, we were pretty emotionally invested in these characters.

After Titanic came out in 1997, Carnival cruise stock flew through the roof, ironically. All these people saw a movie about a sinking ship in the middle of the atlantic, and their first thought was, I have to go on one of those.  No, they wanted the opportunity to meet someone who would love them as Jack loved Rose.  Willing to drown in freezing water so that the love of his life would live.
“There is no great love, than for one to lay down his life for his friend.” The Lord Says.  Titanic captured that, and became hugely successful.

Yet, neither Romeo and Juliet, nor Titanic, nor half-dozen movies where Meg Ryan falls in love with Tom Hanks, are the greatest love story ever told. The story of the Christian faith is better than any story by Shakespeare or Hollywood, for our story is true. And when Christ layed down his life for us, he did, not just to entertain, to fuel our emotions, but to save our souls.  And by doing so, He became the model par excellence of how we are to treat one another.  “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.”  Romeo and Juliet’s impulsive romance is not the love we are called to emulate, rather, it is the love Jesus Christ has for God His Father, that is to beat within our breasts.

Pope Benedict XVI wrote some of the most beautiful words about Love in his first encyclical titled, Deus Caritas Est, God is love.  He wrote, “Love is possible, and we are able to practice it because we are created in the image of God. To experience love in this way is to cause the light of God to enter into the world.”

Love is possible.  On this Mother’s Day, our minds and hearts are directed, as they should be, to the love of our mothers, who are often our first teachers in the lessons of love—their self-sacrifice, their dying-to-self, enables new life to flourish.

Yet, at the heart of the Christian faith is a love even greater than the love Mothers have for their children.  “In this way the love of God was revealed to us” St. John wrote,God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.”  We are loved so immensely by God, that he was willing to leave paradise, become man and die for us, that we might be with him in paradise. 
Jesus in the Gospel today said, “remain in my love.”  We remain in his love by keeping his commandments.  When we do not keep God’s commandments we fail to love God as we should.  Yet, love of God is truly meant to fill us, like fuel for an engine.

Our hearts cannot catch fire with God’s love, if our hearts are never brought close to his.  Perhaps, for many the Christian life is so dreary because it lacks the sort of heart-to-heart contact with God, that every Christian is meant to heave on a daily basis.  And that is to happen in our daily prayer.  Daily prayer is more than rattling off an Our Father, if you remember…Daily prayer is meant to be a bringing of your heart near to the fire of God’s heart, so your heart can can catch fire with love of God?  Many of us, are, perhaps afraid of falling head over heels in love with God, because we know we’d have to change our ways out of respect to our beloved.  But it is precisely that life-changing encounter with God’s heart, that will bring us the joy we so desire.  Our Blessed Lord in today’s Gospel says, ““I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete.

As we continue this celebration of Holy Mass, in which the Lord sacrifices himself for our salvation, may our hearts be ever more opened to the love God has for each one of us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Homily: Monday of the 5th Week of Easter - The Paraclete



As we near the end of the easter season and the great feast of Pentecost, our readings refer more often to Jesus’ Ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Consoler, the Paraclete. 

The Greek word translated as “Advocate” is the Greek word parakletos, from which we get the English word Paraclete. Both the greek “parakletos” and the latin “advocatus” mean the same thing, one who stands at your side.  In the Greco-Roman courtroom, your paraclete or advocate was the one who stood at your side and gave you help and assistance as your court case was tried.  Your advocate gave you counsel, pleaded your case, and interceded on their behalf.

In today’s Gospel Jesus says that the  “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I told you.” 

What does it mean that he “teaches”?  The Greek word St. John uses for teach is “didache”.  Whenever we are being instructed about what it means to be a Christian, whenever we come a deeper understanding of what it means to be a Christian, or whenever we are reading through a familiar text of Scripture and come to a deeper understanding of God’s word—that is the work of the Holy Spirit, bringing light to our mind.  It’s hard to admit, but sometimes we haven’t been the best of students, have we?

And what does the Paraclete help us to remember? Whenever we are facing a difficulty, or are confused about how we are to act as a Christian, the Holy Spirit reminds us of the Gospel—the demands of discipleship—the closeness of God to us in our trials.

Attending daily Mass is a wonderful way to open our minds and hearts to the Holy Spirit who wants to teach us and remind us of the works of the Lord.  It is here that we receive what we need to give good testimony in the world.  The whole Christian life is like a trial.  We are called to give witness to the Gospel, and the Holy Spirit is there to help us give good testimony.

At times, the Holy Spirit directs us to people so that we might teach and remind them.  There are people who are ignorant of the Christian faith, there are fellow Christians who have unfortunately closed their minds and ears to the work of the Holy Spirit.  They don’t want to be taught, they don’t want to remember.  They aren’t interested in keeping the Lord’s commandments and observing them. 

But we are sent to be at their sides, we are sent to be Paracletes to them, to give them counsel, to call them to repentance, to intercede on their behalf for their conversion.

But we cannot expect others to be open to the inspiration of the Advocate, if we ourselves are as not open as we should be. So we ask the Holy Spirit today to continue to teach us, convert our hearts, and lead us to greater joy, that we might do so for others, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.


Sunday, May 3, 2015

Homily: 5th Sunday of Easter - "I am the Vine, You are the Branches"



In Saint John’s Gospel, Jesus uses many different titles and images to describe himself.  “I am the bread of life” he says.  “I am the resurrection and the life,” “I am the Way, the truth, and the life”  There are eight of these “I AM” statements found in John’s Gospel.  Last week, we heard Jesus say, “I am the Good Shepherd”.  And on this fifth Sunday of Easter, Jesus tells us, “I am the vine, you are the branches”

Notice how all of these “I Am” statements requires a response from his disciples.  If Jesus is the Good Shepherd, we must follow where he shepherds; If Jesus is the Truth, we must believe what he teaches; If He is the Bread of Life, we must eat what he feeds us with.  Today, Jesus even tells us the response we must have; he is the vine, we are branches, and we must remain attached to him, so that we may bear fruit.

Let’s unpack this image a bit.  A branch utterly depends upon its connection to the vine: for nutrients, for water, and life itself.  If it is not attached to its main source of life, it will not bear fruit, it will die.

The same sap that runs through the vine gives life to the branches and causes the fruit to grow.  Just so, when we are united to Christ, God’s grace, God's own divine life flows through Christ and into us.

Jesus presents us with this good earthy image to teach profound truth.   Jesus didn’t just come to earth to give us a teaching or a philosophy on how to live a successful earthly life.  As the branches are totally dependent on remaining united to the vine, so too are we.  Our life is a failure, if we are not united to Jesus Christ.  What is a successful life?  It’s not about having a perfectly landscaped lawn, a fancy car, season tickets, or a room full of plaques and trophies as proof of our earthly accomplishments.  The successful life is one that bears much fruit through its union with Jesus Christ, and ends with the soul being judged worthy of heaven.

What is the fruit that Jesus is talking about here?  St. Paul in his letter to the Galatians lists some of the spiritual fruits that come from being in a living relationship with Jesus: “the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”  And we aren’t just to bear one of these fruits, or some of the fruits, sometimes.  These fruits are the signs that we are united to the Lord. 

For the Lord doesn’t say today, bear some of these, if you really feel up to it.  He says that we must remain in him so we bear MUCH FRUIT, and if we don’t we will wither, thrown out, and thrown into the fire.  If I’m not bearing all those fruits listed by St. Paul, then I’m not as united to Jesus Christ as I should be.

So, the question arises, HOW do we stay united to the vine in order to may bear much fruit and be judged worthy of eternal life?

First, staying united to the vine means constantly growing in our prayer life.  

Prayer is how our souls are exposed to the divine sunlight.  Just as plants need constant exposure to sunlight for energy, so we need constant expose to God through prayer.  If our prayer life is the same when we are fifty as it was when we were fifteen, might be a sign that are spiritual growth has become stunted.  

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta urged Christians to make time every day to listen to God in silent prayer.  She taught that listening to God in prayer was the very first link in the sacred chain of charity and interior peace.  She said: The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith; the fruit of faith is love; the fruit of love is service; the fruit of service is peace...”  

All the noise and distraction and business in our lives must be countered by intentional moments of silent prayer.  So make time for prayer every day: Read and reflect on scripture daily, make visits to the adoration chapel throughout the week, pray the rosary.  

Pope Francis is a great devotee of the rosary, and said, “I urge everyone in this month of May to pray the prayer of the Holy Rosary.”  The Month of May is dedicated to Mary.  As we speak, the Sunday school children are gathered around the statue of Mary for a May Crowning; our day school students will participate in a May Crowning later this month.  Mary always helps our souls to be open to God, as she was, totally open, totally faithful.  She truly bore much fruit.  So, invoke the intercession of Mary every day for the Lord to grant mercy and peace and grace to your soul, the Church and the world.

Secondly, "remaining in Christ" means making good use of the sacraments, most especially the sacraments of the Eucharist and confession.  If a branch gets damaged in a wind storm, the gardener knows that the branch needs to be reattached to the vine or the branch will die.  And that’s precisely what happens in the Sacrament of Confession: Jesus binds up and heals that connection with him that our sin has damaged or broken.  

Even if we haven’t committed mortal sin, making frequent confession is important to bind up any smaller fractures.  For, if not bound properly, small fractures can become bigger ones.  I recommend going to confession four to twelve times a year.  It is a healthy thing to bring your faults to God for healing.

And in the Eucharist, our union with Christ is strengthened more powerfully than at any other time—we receive an influx of grace like no other.  IF you are properly disposed, every Holy Communion can be a spiritual springtime in which a new outpouring of divine life surges into your hearts and minds.  

Thirdly, and perhaps the most difficult part about remaining on the vine is through loving obedience to God’s Holy Will.  This is what St John refers to in today's Second Reading, when he writes: "Children, let us not love one another in word or in speech, but in deed and truth."  Being a Christian isn’t just about calling oneself a Christian, or giving God lip-service. 

It's easy to talk the talk of being a good Catholic.  But that talk has to translate into honesty, purity, faithfulness, courage, self-sacrifice, and obedience to all Church teaching.  If there is a Church teaching you are explicitly breaking, you are not united to Christ as you should be.  Pope Francis recently said that it is an absurdity to say you love Christ without being united to Him through the Church, to follow Christ from the outskirts.  For Christ always calls those on the outskirts IN, to intimate relationship.

Prayer, the sacraments, and loving obedience keep us united to Christ and yield fruit that lasts for eternal life.  And when we are actively seeking to grow, our life begins to be charged with the presence of God, it begins to exude joy and enthusiasm, and will draw others to the Lord.  

Both our cub scouts and girl scouts will receive their religious emblems today: the Light of Christ Medal, and the Family of God Medal. They are a wonderful reminder to all of us, that we are to bear the light of Christ and become fruitful members of God’s family.  

As we continue with this Holy Mass, let us thank God from the depths of our hearts for the life he has given us, the opportunity to know, love, and serve him in this world and be happy with him in eternity for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

Friday, May 1, 2015

Homily: May 1 - St Joseph the Worker - Unless God is the builder...



For many years, the Soviet Union and other Communist Eastern Bloc countries held massive rallies and marches to celebrate the communist notion of the worker on the first day of May, which they called May Day.  “Celebrating the dignity of work”, sounds like a noble ideal.  In fact, in our own country, we celebrate Labor Day on the 1st Monday of September, as a national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Remember, however, that Communism is essentially atheistic—it strips the individual of his God-given dignity, and treats him as a cog in the wheel for the prosperity of the state.  

When Pope Pius XII instituted this Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker in 1955, he wished to remind the world that all of our Human Labors should be aimed, not merely at the prosperity of the state or the individual, but for God.  

The Psalmist says, “Unless God is the builder, our building is in vain.”  Saint Paul says, “whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”.  

Our society is in danger of falling into the communist error again.  When a society or an individual removes all reference of God from life, we end up, as Pope Francis stated in his first encyclical “worshiping the work of our own hands”.  Pope Francis called this sort of idolatry, “an aimless passing from one lord to another…a plethora of paths leading nowhere.”  

On this Feast, Saint Joseph is raised up as an example for all workers, to remind the world that human labor is not just about building a communist utopia, or making a name for ourselves.  Our labor is to reflect God, point to God, and serve God. 

St. Joseph offered to God with patience and joy, the daily labor of his carpenter’s shop, and provided for the necessities of his holy spouse and of the Incarnate Son of God.  Human Labor is transformed into a very good and holy thing when it is offered to God.  Through human work we can cultivate God’s creation—cultivating fields, harvesting fruits, turning trees into buildings and homes and books, making the world not only habitable, but a place where knowledge and life and beauty and right worship flourish.  

When our labors are begun with faith, and carried out with faith, as it is in the example of St. Joseph, labor can become an opportunity for an encounter with God and imitation of God, who Himself is depicted in Scripture as a worker—a shepherd, a tender of vineyards, a gardener, a creator.

As we prayed in the Collect, “O God, Creator of all things, who laid down for the human race the law of work, graciously grant that by the example of Saint Joseph and under his patronage we may complete the works you set us to do and attain the rewards you promise” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.