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Homily

22nd Sunday Ordinary Time – You duped me!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Jer. 20:7-9; Ps 63:2-6, 8-9; Rom. 12:1-2; Mt. 16:21-27

“You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped” says Jerimiah.  Today we would say you conned me Lord but I could not resist you.  Jerimiah was not naïve knowing how he would be rejected and persecuted for standing up for the Lord.  Why would anyone be willing to walk into the “fire” of injustice, ridicule, persecution or even death?  It is the power of love greater than any fear.  It is love that makes a parent run into a burning house to rescue their child or a young man stand with his fallen soldier and fight rather than retreat to safety. 

In every human soul there is a warrior spirit to carry the fight.  This warrior spirit comes from God with a divine purpose to love, serve, and sacrifice.  What we love we will sacrifice for and it will serve a greater purpose than ourselves.  We sacrifice for our family out of love and serve each other that all may be united as one.  This is God’s call that we may all be one in him.  Jesus however calls us to love, serve, and sacrifice beyond our family to the degree of self-denial to “take up his cross and follow me”. 

Today, Jeremiah is suffering an interior crisis in accepting his call to be a prophet for the Lord.  He calls out to God, “You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped.”  Recall when a child comes about to ask for something there is a different pitch in their voice and so is in a spouse.  You know something is coming yet out of love of the person we accept being “duped” because we cannot resist their love.  This is Jeremiah’s reaction to God.  Jeremiah could not deny the Lord his calling knowing he would be persecuted.  In his weakness he wanted to remain silent but he could not contain himself what he knew was the truth God had revealed to him.  Even in weakness he understood there was only one right choice in serving God.  Do we recognize the choice God is asking of us this day?  In prayer we “discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect” obedience to his call. 

Suffering and dying to oneself will bring us to a crossroads where we will experience an interior crisis of faith, hope and love.  It presents in the many faces of suffering through sickness, death of a loved one, betrayal, persecution, rejection, even abandonment being forgotten as we age.  In the dark night where can we go, who can we turn to who truly knows us as we are but the one true God who brought us into this world and will come to take us with him.  A crisis of faith is a calling out to God to rescue us from our very selves, to see ourselves as he sees us, his love, mercy, and passion that died for us and will never abandon us. The God we trust more than ourselves.  God now and forever. 

Jesus is calling us to follow in his footsteps by being a warrior for what is good, pleasing, and perfect love of God.  When Peter takes Jesus aside and tries to rebuke him, he speaks as “human beings do”.  This is the same Peter who just before spoke through the Holy Spirit that Jesus was the “Christ, the son of the living God.”  How quickly he has returned to his human way of thinking.  How quickly we can lose focus of God’s call and will for us and become immersed in our own world unless we remain constantly coming to receive him in word, sacrament, and in prayer.  Peter reminds us that Satan never rests from being a distraction in the least and on the attack at worst. 

The universal church is under attack around the world.  In some places public worship is not allowed and the attack is from outside the church.  Traditional church values have been targeted as “extremist” and compared to “terroristic threats”.  Attack from the outside however is nothing new if we think back to the persecution of the early church.  The more it was persecuted the stronger and greater it grew.  This mystery is the fruit of sacrifice that came from the cross and martyrdom.  This calling remains today.  We are to not fear Satan from the outside. 

We are to be vigilant of Satan coming from the inside under the shadow of progressiveness.  Change can be good but it also can be the work of evil.  Jesus reminds us “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves”.  Change that is self-serving is not the will of God.  The innocence of a warrior dove is that it delivers the “truth” as revealed by God and not by man.  God wants you and I to stand firm and may our name be revealed with holy meaning that stands with and for Christ. 

God calls us by name so consider what God’s name for us is today.  God’s naming reflects his purpose and today he may be calling us “prayer warrior, voice of justice, fearless faith, comfort to the suffering, mercy to the unjust, hope in persecution”.  Most of all he calls us his own. 

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Homily

21st Sunday Ordinary Time – Key of the House

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 22:19-23; Ps 138:1-3, 6, 8; Rom. 11:33-36; Mt. 16:13-20

Who do we trust with the key to our house?  There was a time when we walked out of the house and left the doors unlocked.  Then we started locking doors and leaving a key under a pot.  Today we have bolt locks, key codes, and security cameras.  We learn to trust no one with what is our treasure at home.  There is a treasure we hold that is our soul and yet we often leave it open to all intruders, the music we hear, the movies we watch, the social media we follow, even the people we “party” with.  The soul is made for eternity, for God, guarded by his watch and he will sound the alarm when an intruder enters that does not belong unless we are foolish to welcome the enemy. 

Who has the key to God’s House?  “The key of the House” of God has been entrusted to his anointed from Abraham to David to Peter and his successors.  When Jesus gives Peter the keys to the kingdom of God this is nothing new.  Looking back in biblical history God has always called on someone to lead his people with great authority as we see today in the first reading “what he opens, no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open”; and in the gospel “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”. 

We also recall the words to the Apostles in John 20:23 after he breathed on them, “whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, whose sins you retain are retained”.  God is trusting humanity with the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  It begs the question “what were you thinking, God to give the key of the House to your servant?”  We are but sinners and yet by doing so he is demonstrating that all grace comes “from him and through him and for him are all things”.  This was something the early church had to recognize, whether a sacrament was valid if the presbyter committed a mortal sin.  The answer was “yes”, even if we fail, he does not fail us. 

Consider for a moment “who do we trust with the keys to our house?”  We trust family, maybe a neighbor, or a housekeeper.  Who do we trust with our soul?  From the days of Adam and Eve it was not right that we should be alone.  Adam and Eve trusted each other a fell from grace.  Jesus tells Peter “Get away from me Satan”.  Even those we love and trust can be misguided by the evil one.  My favorite short prayer is “Jesus, I trust in you.”  God alone is perfect, we are in search of him.  The church is his vehicle for the journey. 

You and I, deacons, priests, religious in our humanity are imperfect but God chooses the imperfect to demonstrate his perfection when we surrender to his will.  Salvation comes through Christ and we come to Christ by coming to his house of prayer.  The Church holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven.  It is the Church that gave us the books of the Bible bound in heaven and earth as sacred scripture, the Word of God.   It is the Church that gives us the channel of grace through which Christ makes himself present to us in the sacraments.  It is the Church that guides the people of God to discern the will of the Father in our times as we deal with the issues of society.  It is the will of God to institute a Church governed by his anointed to whom he gives the keys to his house and through his house to the kingdom of heaven. 

When Peter responds to Jesus saying “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”, Jesus confirms “For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father”.  Some have said and continue to say “I do not agree with everything the Church teaches”.  There is a litany of issues people object to from celibacy of the priesthood, ordination of men only as priest, the church position on abortion, euthanasia, death penalty, confession to a priest, even the requirements for the sacraments.  The Church is an institution of authority instituted by Christ for his people.  The Church however is its people in which we all share responsibility for building up the kingdom of God. 

The Church is also called to listen to the people of God and calls together Synods in which the people are called to contribute as members of the body of Christ.  Synodality is a process by which laity and bishops share in collaboration and discernment as part of the body of Christ.  Synodality means a “journeying together as a People of God” to listen to each other how God speaks through the one and the many.  The guiding principle of synodality is that it is not about us, it is about God’s will for us.  Not only are we called to walk together but God walks with us so that our hearts may burn with his Spirit.  Together, we care for God’s House and together we build up the kingdom of God. 

We hold the key to the house of God, our home, our soul, our church.  We not only guard the doors to our house but we also receive those who knock and share of our blessings.  We also are called to be a welcoming church as a community of faith but must guard the doors of our church from the evil one who finds ways to enter seeking to desecrate the altar and the house of God.  We are best prepared to be a servant of God when we begin by guarding the door to our soul, rejecting evil, and the temptation to commit sin.  Then we will be ready to fight the good fight. 

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Homily

20th Sunday Ordinary Time – “A house of prayer”

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 56:1, 6-7; Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Rom. 11:13-15, 29-32; Mt. 15:21-28

The Lord provides a “house of prayer for all peoples” who “observe what is right, do what is just”. We are living in an age when division not unity wants to rule the world.  There is division of religion, politics, racism, classism all in the name of truth and justice.  Jesus himself claims in Luke 12:51 “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on earth?  No, I tell you but rather division”.  Jesus speaks of division between the children of the kingdom and the children of the evil one not based on the color of the skin, national origin, rich and poor, Jew or Gentile but on the great faith that saves when we observe the law of God. 

 This is that house of prayer that Jesus instituted as he poured down the Holy Spirit upon his people on Pentecost.  Pentecost is considered the birth of the Church with Jesus as our High Priest and the disciples as the new Apostolic priesthood for the world.  We rejoice in this house of prayer uniting our worship of the one true God with all the angels and saints in the Eucharistic celebration of the body and blood of Jesus.  It is the presence of Jesus in his house of prayer that is welcoming all people calling us to observe all that he taught. 

This is also the house of prayer that teaches us to observe what is right by following his commandments, listening to the Word made flesh, participating in the sacrifice of the Mass, and doing what is just.  It is what separates who is faithful to his teaching from everybody else.  When the Gentile woman comes to beg Jesus for healing for her daughter it becomes what we call a “teaching moment”.  Jesus knows who is his audience and the attitude between Jews and the Cannanites.  Jesus speaks to the truth of his coming “to the lost sheep of Israel” but as we discover the lost sheep not only did not accept him but were seeking to kill him.  The woman demonstrates a faith far greater than many of the Jews and he demonstrates salvation comes not from the Jewish laws but to those whose hearts are open to Jesus. 

Jesus spoke harshly to the Canaanite woman for she represented a culture that was polytheistic, worshiping many gods who were condemned in the Old Testament.  Canaanites were inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by fire directly by God.  They were hostile to the Israelites as God gives to Abraham in Genesis the land of Canaan.  In this context we can say that the “enemy” of the Israelites is now asking for a favor from Jesus and he makes the comparison between children and dogs.  The woman however has the great comeback “even dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters”.  When we humble ourselves before the Lord, he is merciful and forgiving. 

A child comes into this world through the womb of a mother.  She gives life to this child, blood of her blood and through the womb a mother knows sacrificial love.  When a child becomes sick a mother’s desire is to wish the sickness on herself if it would heal her child rather than see her child suffer.  It is humbling to see a child suffer and from deep within the sincerity of prayer comes to life our nothingness if we don’t have God.  The Canaanite woman was both humbled by Jesus and filled with faith and hope from her love of a daughter. 

St. Paul calls himself “the apostle to the Gentiles”.  The other apostles were going out to minister to the Jews in the synagogues that had spread throughout the ancient territory during several periods of exile called the Diaspora.  While the Jewish population was significant it was also small compared to the rest of the Gentile world.  Paul saw his calling was to the Gentiles who were pagan and followed many gods.  In the end, Paul became the greatest evangelizer of the world.  Paul desires “to make his race jealous” that they may see the face of God shine upon the Gentiles and come to conversion and “thus save some of them”. 

The Catholic Church in its wisdom by the gift of the Spirit recognizes that if we are to give worship to God in his house of prayer we first must come and admit our sins to be forgiven and for our sacrifice of worship to be acceptable to the Lord.  This is why our Mass begins with the Confiteor.  As St. Paul says, “For God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all”.  It is the visible testimony of our need for God to fill us with his grace and strengthen our resolve to be a better Christian, to live more holy lives, and to seek his perfection that his face may shine upon us as a visible sign of God’s mercy upon us.    

As we come to Mass today let us come with the same desire and persistence to God as the Canaanite woman not acting out of the law of compliance but out of the law of love.  Let our prayer speak to our minds and reach deep into our hearts.  It is easy to fall into repetition of prayer and never truly pray.  Prayer comes from deep within, an honest expression of our very being, thoughts, feelings and experience of life as an offering of ourselves to God in this his house of prayer. 

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Homily

19th Sunday Ordinary Time – Take courage!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

1 Kgs. 19:9a, 11-13a; Ps 85:9-14; Rom. 9:1-5; Mt. 14:22-33

Take courage!  Recall the sketch of the man hanging from a branch off a cliff calling out to God for help.  The voice he hears says “let go”.  He responds “Is anyone else up there?”  Life is not about letting go recklessly, it is about trusting God faithfully. 

People of faith take courage in the middle of the storms of life God invites us to step out and “walk on the water” of faith.  Pope John Paul II is famous for calling on us to “be not afraid”.  Fear is very disabling and opens the imagination to create unfounded fears that begin with “what if”.  This is when we should say, “get away from me Satan!”  He loves to play on our fears and create doubt that God is with us.  God says, take courage, I am with you. 

Be actively still!  How, isn’t this a contradiction?  The actively still person has the movement of faith being actively attentive with a still heart to the whispering sound of God.  Peter was able to take courage because he heard the voice of Jesus say “come”.  That is all it took for him to have faith and walk on water.  The Lord will also direct us if we can be actively still listening for his voice. 

When Peter saw Jesus walking on water, it gave him hope and courage.   Jesus descended coming into our world to be that visible sign of God to strengthen our faith in all that is possible for those who trust in him.  He teaches us how to live and how to die to self.  Once we see with the eyes of faith all things are possible. 

Years ago, while attending a conference, part of the evening activities was a “fire walk” and a “glass walk”.  To see someone walk on hot coals and on a bed of glass made others also believe and do it.  I was one of those who was willing to step out in faith and do the walk, after saying a prayer.  The purpose of the activity was to recognize how fear is very limiting to what is possible.  God comes to say “take courage” I am with you through the fires of life.  We should not be foolish and tempt God but we should not be afraid to do the right thing. 

Take courage by being actively attentive to the voice of God who directs our ways through the heavy winds, the storms, and the fire of life as he calms our hearts and lets us see his kindness and grants us salvation.  God’s walk in not a “fire walk” or a “glass walk” but a “justice walk”.  He tells us, “Justice shall walk before him, and prepare the way of his steps”.  His justice was the way of the cross so take courage when we are called to carry our cross and unite it to his justice walk.  Recall the song, “They will know we are Christians by our love”.  Yes, they will know is we truly walk the walk of love and justice or hold onto the boat that sinks in fear.     

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Homily

18th Sunday Ordinary Time – Love of Christ

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Is. 55:1-3; Ps. 145:8-9, 15-18; Rom. 8:35, 37-39; Mt. 14:13-21

“What will separate us from the love of Christ?”  Will anguish over a disease, or distress over family, or persecution by a political structure, or the spiritual famine for lack of love or the nakedness of our sin, or peril from injustice, or the sword of death?  Even death brings us to the love of Christ “to all who call upon him in truth”. Pride leads us away from Christ like the story of the prodigal son demanding what he felt entitled to when in reality everything we are and have is from God.

God is love in his truth not ours.  Recently the media reported that asexual dolls have been created with sexual body parts that can be exchanged to create the sexual identity the child wishes identify with.  These dolls are for children as young as four years of age.  It promotes the transexual culture and intended for use in publicly funded education.  To deny science and reason is the kingdom of evil doers let alone the truth given by God that is our faith.  This is how we separate ourselves from the kingdom of God. The love of Christ is a gift not an entitlement and to mutilate our bodies is to damage our souls and our relationship with God.

Truth is the path of love and to love God with all our heart and soul is the first truth of life.  To “heed” him in truth is the sign of our love.  Love is an active obedience to the will of God.  Jesus had a “thirst” on the cross and he is inviting us who have the same thirst to “come to the water”.  Jesus’ thirst was for righteousness and we receive his righteousness through the water of baptism.  He is a generous God “without paying and without cost” he provides for us when we heed him.  We become members of the renewal “the everlasting covenant, the benefits of David.” 

Having received him in water we can now listen to him in spirit as he speaks to us through his Word, through the bread that satisfies in the Eucharist, in all the sacraments and through the church meaning the magisterium of the church and the people of the church.  “The Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth.”  The love of Christ is everlasting.  Does this imply that all are going to heaven?  Recalling last week’s gospel parable of the “seed” as children of the kingdom and “weeds” as the children of the evil one, God’s care for all is not a predestination for all to go to heaven.  “Evil doers” and “all who cause others to sin” will send themselves into the “fiery furnace” because we heard but did not listen. 

Today the gospel demonstrates the power of God when we come to him who can satisfy our need.  Five loaves and two fish feed five thousand plus.  Really!  Yes, it is not a hyperbole but a reality in preparation for the sacrifice of his body and blood on the cross to become the true food from heaven remaining with us in the Eucharist.  In Christ and through Christ he is the one who satisfies our hunger and meets our needs of body and soul.  “Heed me, and you shall eat well” says the Lord who is near to us.  

“Why spend your money…for what fails to satisfy?” says the Lord.  In a highly commercialized world where everything becomes a “need” to satisfy nothing lasts except a continued “need”.  The world is in a famine for the Truth that lasts.  Every other worldly pleasure or pseudo-spirituality has failed humanity because it comes from the ego to be our own God.  Today there is a rise in young people in search for something more than what the world and the culture have created.  Truth is God satisfies!  He is our peace as we heed his voice and follow his truth. 

What separates us from the love of Christ is when we fail to heed him, we separate ourselves denying him as we deny his word and fail to listen in Spirit and truth.  Consider how many times God was ready to respond with his love if only we followed his command, “Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life”.  The “I” of our ego kept us from him and the pride of our heart wanted to do it “our way” as he waited for us to call upon him, we denied him once again. 

Come and be satisfied at the waters of life, at the bread of salvation in the Eucharist, and the Word of truth in scripture and remain in his presence.  The goodness of the Lord is everlasting and today he invites us to receive what satisfies the longing of our hearts and the needs of our being.  Come to the love of Christ. 

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