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Homily

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time – The Great Command

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Deut. 30:10-14; Ps. 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36, 37; Col. 1:15-20; Lk. 10:25-37

The Great Command of the Lord “is not too mysterious or remote…it is something very near to you…you have only to carry it out.”  This command in our “mouth” and in our “hearts” is not based on the law of commandments and statutes.  Commandments and statutes provide us a roadmap in which we implement the great command of God.  The Great Command is to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul and our neighbor as ourselves.  This “love” however is sacrificial love.  It is the love of Christ Jesus in his sacrifice our us that we may sacrifice ourselves for him.  It is not a mystery because Jesus has revealed it to us in his person.  It is not remote because he offers himself to remain with us and in us to fulfill the great command.  Our mission is to grow in this love that makes all other commandments and statutes a natural process of living in Christ Jesus.

In the gospel, the scholar of the law wants to tests Jesus on his view of the law.  Perhaps he wants to see if Jesus is going to uphold all the laws of the Jews but when Jesus asks him to give his interpretation, he is able to summarize all the laws into the great command and Jesus affirms his answer.  His desire to justify himself by asking “who is my neighbor” is from a practical position to know who is “in” that category and who is “out”.  Is it his tribe, all Jews, or what about the Gentiles?  Jesus’ response with a parable gives “neighbor” a whole new meaning.  Neighbor separates no one by race, ethnicity, religion, tribe or territory.  To be neighbor is to be a servant to those in need.

When I was young it was quite common for someone to knock on our door and it would be a child from the neighborhood asking for his family if we had “some flour, butter, oil…a screwdriver, hammer, or any number of things” to lend, share or give them.  Being a neighbor was looking out for each other, offering to help, caring and asking “how are you doing?”  Today we have a tendency to live in isolation by the rule of “don’t ask, don’t tell”.  The great command however remains and when tragedy strikes as it did this past week in Texas with the flooding people respond in great numbers because God is not only with us, he lives in us to respond to the need.  Praise be to God, we live because the great command lives in us. 

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Homily

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts. 12:1-11; Ps. 34:2-9; 2 Tim. 4:6-8, 17-18; Mt. 16:13-19

“But who do you say that I am?”  This question by Jesus to the apostles was answered by Saints Peter and Paul not just with words but with actions following in the footsteps of Jesus to lay their life down for their faith in him.  What is our action of faith that speaks louder than words in answering the question for ourselves?  True faith is reflected in our actions and our actions strengthen our faith that we may stand strong against the powers of the evil one.  Who Jesus is in our life is based on our relationship with him, our daily walk and talk to God in three persons, worship of the Father, love of Jesus and calling to the Holy Spirit to sanctify us. 

King Herod had “James, the brother of John killed by the sword” and now Peter is arrested expecting a similar fate.  What is also happening is that “prayer by the Church was fervently being made to God on his behalf”.  Intercessory prayer by the Church is a powerful source of prayer and God hears the prayer of the faithful.  God sent his angel to free him from the bonds of evil because his work was not done.  Peter is being formed in the image of Christ, just as Christ was imprisoned in Jerusalem during the feast of Unleavened Bread so is Peter imprisoned during this same season but for now the angel says to Peter to “get dressed” meaning it is not his time to die.  There will be a future time it will be his time to be martyred and others will dress him and lead him where he does not want to go. 

Peter would still be martyred but on God’s time after the early church had grown and established itself as a force under the authority of the apostles.  We too have a window of time in this world with a divine purpose called to give of ourselves for God’s greater good.  This is how we answer the question of who God is for us fulfilling what we are called to be. 

St. Paul gives us a beautiful literary farewell “poured out like a libation…competed well…finished the race…kept the faith…the crown of righteousness awaits me”.  It is so good and poetic that we can forget how much he suffered as he poured out his heart and ran a race to spread the word of salvation “rescued from the lion’s mouth” before being captured by those who were after him to kill him.  It is not generally good to use the word “I” in a homily but I believe the greater we surrender to the will of God the more we are rescued from the lion’s mouth, from those who would do evil in our lives. 

The words “let go and let God” and the prayer “Jesus I trust in you” answer the question “who do you say that I am?” if we put them in practice.  If we believe then we trust and if we trust then we fear not and if we fear not then letting go of that which we cannot change is welcoming the peace of God into our hearts.  Too often we say we believe but fear disrupts our trust and we fall into the desire to control even that which is beyond us leaving no room for God in those moments when we are under the test of faith.  Faith is not a lack of action but acting with trust in God seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit, being prudent by taking right action of what we can control and letting go trusting in the will of God to be our champion.   Jesus asks the question to reveal himself as God the Son in unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus is our God who reveals to us the Father and delivers us to his love and mercy.  He does this through his own sacrifice on the cross.  He is our champion to carry us from death to life, from sin to sanctity and from purgatory to heaven.  He offers us his sacred heart, a heart that feels all our suffering, grieves all our sins, rejoices in our repentance from sin, heals our wounds and yet still bleeds for the sins of the world.  The sacred heart of Jesus reminds us that he remains fully human and divine in order to remain with us in our own journey of faith.  He desires to be our shepherd whose voice we hear and guides us in right paths. 

Saints Peter and Paul can be seen as having been the bridge that established the universal church.   St. Peter led the Jewish tradition of old into the truth of Jesus the anointed one who they had been waiting for while St. Paul led the evangelization of the Gentiles into the revelation of the “unknown God” revealed in Jesus.  It is our turn now to be a bridge for believers and non-believers.  We must ensure that believers don’t simply live by religious tradition coming to church for weddings and funerals and only major holidays but are actively engaged in their faith and that nonbelievers are drawn to the mystery of faith through what they witness in the church.  This is our calling so let our actions answer the question of who we say Jesus is in our lives. 

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Homily

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Gen. 14:18-20; Ps. 110:1-4; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; Jn. 16:12-15

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is a celebration of the “living bread that came down from heaven” as a sacrifice to offer us life eternal.  The power of Jesus to transform five loaves and two fish into food to feed thousands is the miracle to understand the power to transform bread and wine into his own body and blood that we may believe and receive him so he may transform our lives.  This miracle was foreshadowed from the days of Melchizedek in the coming of Jesus, as Melchizedek blesses Abram, we the people are now blessed by Jesus our high priest as God Most High.

It is the belief of Jesus in the Eucharist that separates Catholicism from other Christian denominations.  How is it that Christians can accept and believe all the miracles Jesus did as well as his claim that he who sees him sees God but deny him when he says “this is my body, this is my blood” in the bread and wine.  Some even claim Catholics preach cannibalism just as in the times of Jesus when many followers also left him as we read in the gospel of John 6:66 “many of his disciples drew back and no longer walked with him”.  For those in search of the “mark of the beast” in the numbers 666, what could be a greater mark than to deny Jesus in the Eucharist.  It was “a hard saying, who can believe it” (Jn. 6:60) then and remains so even for many who claim to be Christian. 

Carlo Acutis, the teenage boy who used his computer skills to document many of the Eucharistic miracles prior to his death made this his life mission, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.  Eucharistic miracles like in Lanciano (8th Century), Santarem (13th Century), and Buenos Aires (1990s) and show consistently blood type AB positive including the Shroud of Turin is believed to be AB blood.  They also show to come from cardiac tissue which spiritually unites our hearts to the heart of Jesus.  In these miracles Jesus reveals himself as present to us today as he was when he walked this earth.  What we also have in these miracles in an example of how science is not inconsistent with faith.  Carlo’s canonization as a saint is now set to take place September 7, 2025 having lived and died in his service to God at a young age. 

This leaves us still on this earth seeking that perfect sanctity, a work in progress, uniting our faith with reason but ultimately no one can save us with their faith.  It is up to us to believe and by believing to allow Jesus into a more perfect union with our own hearts.  Believe and let God be God for who nothing is impossible.  It is only impossible by our lack of faith as he created us with our own soul to act by free will and to accept or deny him.  We cannot accept him on our terms but as he has revealed himself to humanity, as he claims to be and in the way he has decided to reveal himself.  The decision is ours but eternity depends on the faith we choose to live. 

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Homily

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Prov. 8:22-31; Ps. 8:4-9; Rom 5:1-5; Jn. 16:12-15

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, one God in three Persons.  In God the Father we also celebrate the gift of Fatherhood as Father’s Day.  God the Father is above all things, God the Son is through all things, and God the Holy Spirit is in all things.  Father’s Day is a call to Father’s to also rise above all things with the love of a father in order to lead by witness and sacrifice his domestic church at home united in body to his family.  A father’s love of sacrifice is never done, so every day is a Father’s Day in heaven and on earth.

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is a mystery which we cannot fully bear now but the “Spirit of truth (that) he will guide us to all truth” is already at work uniting us to this mystery of faith.  “When the Lord established the heavens, I was there”.  Who is this “I” who is like a child “playing before him”?  It is the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God who “found delight in the human race”.  It is the Holy Spirit that then glorifies Jesus because it guides us to all truth, the truth that Jesus is Lord.  It is the Holy Spirit that is our guardian through the gifts of the Spirit to lead us in right path. 

Jesus not only found delight in the human race but he comes into the human race to offer his sacrifice for us that we may be saved.  Imagine a time of war and the son comes to his father to join in the service and go to war knowing the possibility that this son may die in war as a sacrifice to a greater cause of freedom.  The love of the Father accepts the will of the son and gives him his blessing in the agony and sorrow that a sacrifice has to be done if we are to live in freedom.  We are at war against the sin of the world even as the Son has given his life for the love of humanity.  The battle continues calling other sons and daughters to offer themselves for the cause of freedom.   Who is willing to offer themselves up to serve God? 

An article on Catholicvote.org (Why young adults are finding the Catholic faith irresistible; June 9, 2025) was describing the rise of young people “flocking” into the Catholic Church, especially Gen Z and it is not just in the U.S. but also in Europe.   In a survey seeking to find out what is driving this movement two examples seemed stand out.  For a female it was the solemnity of the Mass with its music, architecture, and beauty that gave her a sense of “peace”.  For a male it was the “brotherhood” that sense of freedom to be men among men in what is our current woke culture where “masculinity is under attack”.  In other words, it is a sense of love of God being manifested in his church appealing to the senses of men and women in different ways but still the same God.  They are seeking something greater than themselves but it is not “something” but “someone”. 

Those coming into the church who seek will find that the call to love is also the call to serve and the call to serve is a call to sacrifice.  We all must grow from infant faith to mature faith, from believing to living daily the faith.   We are all at different stages on this journey but with the same Triune God at work in all of us.  Daily life is filled with sacrifice that builds endurance, character, and hope in the best and worst of circumstances.  As the Father has given the Son to humanity and the Son has sent us the Holy Spirit, we must all make an offering of ourselves as the greatest sacrifice of love to the Trinity.  The reward in heaven is greater than any sacrifice we make.  We live in the present with the end in mind for eternity. 

Can we say “The Lord possessed me” and we are doing the will of the Father?  If we can say the Lord has taken possession of us then we are living in the wonder and miracle of the Trinity.  With the eyes of faith, we can behold the working of the Spirit in our lives, in our relationships, even in our suffering there is peace because something greater is present in our lives and we have nothing to fear.  As is often stated, “when one door closes another one opens” and not just any door but the right door for our lives.  This is following in the spirit the will of the Father and gives glory to the Son who makes all things possible. 

We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ through whom we gain grace.  We are not justified by our own works but the grace that comes from Jesus which validates our justification in which we are able to accomplish our works.  In the love of Jesus we sometimes forget to call on the Holy Spirit who is the one at work to strengthen us by the gifts of grace ready to be poured into our souls.  Our prayer, “Come Holy Spirit, take possession of our hearts and strengthen us by your grace” is this intimate union with the Holy Spirit that transformed the disciples from student interns into apostles of authority through the gifts of the Spirit.  We too are to pray for these gifts that our lives may be transformed. 

The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is that we have but one God in three persons united by the same will that is bound in love.  Marriage is to be a unity of one man, one woman and one God bound in love to fulfill a greater good.  It is sacramental meaning sacred as two human hearts receive God in a covenant of love to do the will of God.  When we are open to the will of God then God reveals himself through each other in marriage.  God speaks the language of love to raise each other up and help each other get to heaven.  This is the closest to understanding the Trinity we can compare to for now until God reveals himself to us in eternity. 

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Homily

Pentecost Sunday Receive the Holy Spirit

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 2:1-11; Ps. 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34; Rom 8:8-17; Jn. 20:19-23

Receive the Holy Spirit!  Pentecost Sunday is the gift of the Holy Spirit to each according to the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  What is our gift and how are we using this gift to serve God and the greater good?  For the apostles, the Holy Spirit is the “Advocate”.  In legal terms the advocate speaks for them but it does so through the inspiration it gives them.  It allows them to speak for Christ and not for themselves.   

The Apostles spoke as one voice through prayer, fasting, and discernment.  We too share in the gift of the Advocate by listening to the voice of God in prayer, fasting, discernment and by the voice of the Church.  Since the early days it was the one voice of the Church that addressed many of the questions of the people such as circumcision, ritual foods, or moral behavior.  This was a time when there was no “bible” to study only the word given to the apostles and the traditions carried forth and those left behind.  It was a time of major change in matters of “God” and Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit to guide this transition. 

Just today, I was walking through the grocery store and I heard two men discussing a religious matter when one spoke up with a louder voice saying “even the Pope said, ‘who am I to judge’” (a quote attributed to Pope Francis) making his final argument.  The moral clarity of the Church and for the Pope is not to pass personal judgment but to defend the judgment that has already been passed on from Christ to his people.  There are certain judgments that are not left for re-litigation but for enforcement through obedience.  The Lord has passed judgement on issues of life and death, right and wrong, truth and lies and these judgements are not hidden but defended so that ignorance of the truth is not an excuse. 

The Ten Commandments are a judgment that separates holiness from sinfulness.  Hell welcomes all sinners without conditions or exceptions “as is” but Christ welcomes all sinners to repentance “as called to be” for heaven.   The Holy Spirit comes not to affirm us as we choose to be but to purify us with the fire of holiness to be all that God is calling us to be.  The “call” is for transformation, renewal, and the fire to change the world by the change that starts from within the soul. 

In the first reading the Holy Spirit comes in the form of “tongues as of fire” but the “tongues” were different to each as evidence by those who heard them speak in different languages.  For some Christian groups the gift of tongues has become a litmus test as proof of being saved.  The gift of the Holy Spirit is not simply the gift to speak in tongues as a charismatic revival of the spirit.  For those who receive this gift they must still pick up their cross and follow in the footsteps of Jesus by the daily practice of the faith.  Even those who spoke in tongues spoke in different languages to be understood by various native people of different regions.  Speaking in tongues is just one of many gifts that the spirit produces according to God’s purpose. 

The Holy Spirit comes in many forms with various gifts to be a servant of the Lord and fulfill a calling.  The gift may be to step up as a martyr as did St. Maximillian Kolbe, or the gift of love for the poor as did St. Teresa of Calcutta, or the gift of defending life in all its forms from conception until natural death as a voice in public office, or the gift of raising a future priest, Nun, or Pope by faithfulness to the Church in the domestic church at home.  There are many gifts but the same spirit and the gift of tongues is just one gift.  Again, “What is our gift and how committed are we to this calling?”  The answer is in the fruit of the gift and taking time daily for a spiritual inventory is a good way in making progress for what we have done or failed to do. 

Receive the Holy Spirit and you shall live in the spirit as we bury the flesh.  We bury the flesh when we deny ourselves not what is good but what excess.  It is good and essential to feed the body but it works against the body and the spirit when excess is given to the body bringing sickness and disease.  We bury the flesh when we deny ourselves the pleasure of sexual temptation in all its form of lust but not the sexual union that comes in marriage.  We bury the flesh when we deny ourselves the pride of desire to be first but welcome the desire to be the best that God created us to be.  We bury the flesh when we deny the need to control others according to our will and allow God’s will to be done.  In this we set the spirit free to work its grace in our lives. 

The apostle also reminds us that “if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him”.  Suffering with the Lord begins with our self-denial of the flesh.  Self-denial is our invitation to the Holy Spirit to come and take possession of our hearts and strengthen us by his grace.  It is easy to question the Lord as to why our prayers are not answered without even giving a thought as to why we have not made a sacrifice of our own for the Lord.  It is good to ask but it is important to make an offering to the Lord.  The great sacrifice of the Lord was an act of love for humanity and thus our greatest act of love comes through sacrifice. 

We are one body in Christ but it is our many gifts from the Lord that allows us to love, grow and support each other called to serve one another, lift each other up and help each other get to heaven. 

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Homily

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 1:1-11; Ps. 47:2-3, 6-9; Eph. 1:17-23; Lk. 24:46-53

The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is also about the blessing of the “promise”.  The promise of the Father is the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit comes with the power to bring forgiveness of sins, it is the promise of the kingdom of God, and it is the power to speak “in persona Cristi”, in the person of Christ.  Scripture is the word of God but the word is given to those called to serve in the image of Christ as his priests with Christ as our high priest.   This is the power of the church as the body of Christ to be a channel of grace upon his people.  This promise is for us through the waters of baptism as priest, prophet, and king. 

What are we to fear if we carry the promise with us.  We don’t fear living but not living up to the gift of the promise. The gift is a calling to be witnesses of Christ in forgiving, in teaching and by example.  When we look to the Ascension of the Lord, we bring together the cross, the cave and the ascension.  Each day we are to live the cross of suffering and surrender to the Lord. In the cave we also die with him putting to death our temptations of the flesh and mind that represent sin.  In carrying the cross and dying to self we can truly rise with him in spirit and in truth.  When we come to receive our Lord in the Eucharist we come to be purified in his body and blood that we may rise to new life and a greater presence before the Lord, as Jesus prays that we may be one in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

In the reading, the two men dressed in white is the appearance of angels as ordinary humans.  When was the last time an angel addressed us personally?  If it did happen the possibility that we even recognized we were being addressed by an angel is unlikely.  We see with the human intellect and fail to recognize with the heart God’s messengers.  Recall how Jesus appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and how they failed to recognize him until the breaking of the bread.  What we can learn from this is that their hearts were burning even when their eyes were blind.  We cannot be before angels and not have our hearts touched by their presence.  To be in the kingdom of God is to be with the angels and the saints.  It is why we pray not only to God in the Trinity but to the angels and saints who are with us in our journey of faith. 

Even greater is the gift of the Holy Spirit at work within our souls.  The Holy Spirit is the gift of “wisdom and revelation” that our hearts be “enlightened” to confirm God’s truth and say “I know that I know” God’s will for me.   There is no doubt what God is asking of us.  God does not ask without providing “the surpassing greatness of his power for those who believe”.  Faith leads to action but it occurs within the act of total surrender to the will of God trusting in his divine will to work all things for the greater good.  The Holy Spirit is more than a companion on the journey, it is the force within the soul to bear the cross, to give life to the soul, and to raise us up in victory uniting us to the Lord in his ascension.  The Holy Spirit is the promise of God’s indwelling presence in our souls.  “Come Holy Spirit, take possession of our hearts and strengthen us by your grace.” 

The purpose of the Ascencion of the Lord was not to leave us to our own doing but to send us the guiding power of the Holy Spirit.  The work of the Lord is to operate from within our soul, to manifest himself through us by remaining within us.  We are to be the temple of the Lord and seek to remain in the purity of the Holy Spirit.  Do we fail often?  Absolutely, we fail but in the mercy of God he lifts us up again and our souls are strengthened by his grace in the call to be perfect as he is perfect.  It took the Israelites forty years in the desert to reach the promise land and so in God’s time we will be formed into his image, the image of Godly love.  That image may not be what we anticipate it to be as a “perfect human being”.  The Lord’s perfection is his work being done through us.  It may be through our sickness, our incapacity to do for ourselves, our conditions of dementia, being bedridden, or in poverty, homeless, or abandoned in a nursing home waiting for death.  Our call to holiness may be as the caregiver of those in need.  The Lord’s perfection works in mysterious ways through our brokenness that others may be called to serve as instruments of God’s love and gain their perfection. 

The Lord has ascended into heaven but he also remains always present for those who call upon his name, the name above every other name and at the name of Jesus every knee will bend.  We kneel to the Lord that we may also be lifted up with the Lord this day. 

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Homily

6th Sunday of Easter – Peace, I leave you!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Ps. 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Rev. 21:10-14, 22-23; Jn. 14:23-29

Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you” says the Lord.  It begs the question, “are we at peace?”  What separates us from the peace the Lord has left us with?  For one, Jesus says it is not the peace that the world gives.  In the world “peace” is represented by the absence of war yet the world has a history of always being at war.  In the world “peace” is a truce whereby people agree to avoid conflict but Jesus does not promise us we will be free from conflict in our lives.  The peace of the Lord is not the absence of conflict but the security of God’s love in facing our conflicts.  If God is with us who can be against us.  Even in death we are at peace because we welcome him and enter into his peace of eternal life. 

The “peace, I leave you” comes by way of keeping his word, living his commandments.  In the first reading there are “some without mandate” meaning taking it upon themselves to give orders who are causing conflict among the gentiles.  They want to impose the old law of circumcision upon the gentiles as a condition of being “saved”.  Jesus knew that this would happen unless he left an authority in the world to resolve disagreements and power struggles.  This is why he gave Peter the keys to the kingdom and today those keys have been handed over to Pope Leo XIV.  The ring he received in his inauguration has the image of Peter and the net on its face.  It is the continuity of authority to guide the church that Jesus entrusted to his disciples. 

As much as the word of God comes to us through scripture it is impossible to anticipate every possibility the apostles would face.  Authority to “bind and loose” was needed going forward after the ascension of the Lord.  This authority however would not be guided by human reason alone but by the coming of the Holy Spirit to dwell within the soul of a person to bring the peace of Christ in leading their actions.  They would not be left alone but God is with them and he is with us to bring us peace as we confront our everyday decisions when we trust in God and listen for his voice to reveal to us right judgment. 

Sadly, today we see how the church has become divided as scripture is taken as the only authority to be interpreted by each person as their personal revelation.  There are some who say the Lord spoke to them and now they have authority in guiding others.  We now have endless “Christian” denominations guided by either a council of elders or a sole individual inspired by scripture.  This is not the structure Jesus gave his disciples for the Spirit to create divided pockets of followers or for the truth to become relative.  Jesus prayer to the Father was for unity, that they may all be one as the Father is one with the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

Pope Leo XIV motto is “In Illo uno unam” translated “In the One, one” meaning that in the one Godhead we be one with him.  In order for there to be true and lasting peace there can only be one God in the Trinity, one Church with God’s authority, and one true interpretation to scripture.  The world seeks peace by the illusion that the greater the diversity and freedom to do as we will the more a soul will find peace.  This experiment is failing humanity as the greater the freedom to determine truth as a personal choice the more distress, anxiety, and fear enters a soul as it faces the reality that truth must be a shared reality, a universal truth or it is a false truth. 

We see in the first reading how easily division can happen in a society or in a church unless there is a unified authority to address various opinions, ideology, or rules.  The early church understood the importance of being unified and turned to the apostles and elders to settle the matter of circumcision.  This is what we refer to as the magisterium of the church headed now by Pope Leo XIV.  It is both the man and something greater at work within the man and that is the Holy Spirit. 

Pope Leo XIV’s call to his brother Cardinals is to walk with him on this journey in humility and obedience seeking the will of God in all matters.  In the same way each cell within the body of Christ, that is each local church is called to walk together seeking the will of God, open to the Holy Spirit, and obedient to a greater authority remembering that it is the authority who must also answer for how they guided their flock.  This begins with the authority within the home, the domestic church as the first teachers of faith by word and example.  Proper authority is entrusted to act in the person of Jesus whether as parents, pastor, bishop, cardinal or Pope. 

What is “truth” asked Pontius Pilate as he stood face to face with truth in the person of Jesus.  Many are asking these days “what is truth?”  Truth comes with authority but we don’t want to surrender to authority, not even a supreme authority who is a God of all creation so many remain wandering in the desert of life seeking to become their own truth and going nowhere.  Truth is Jesus.  He is the way, the good shepherd who brings us his peace and the truth of salvation.  The truth is love, Godly love and obedience to this love is by way of relationship that our hearts be one in love and all peace will follow.   May the love of God be with you and let us live his peace.   

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Homily

5th Sunday of Easter – Love one another!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 14:21-27; Ps. 145:8-13; Rev. 21:1-5a; Jn. 13:33a, 34-35

Love one another!  How?  “Love one another, as I have loved you”.  The love of Jesus is sacrificial.  In sacrifice God is glorified in Jesus and in sacrifice Jesus is glorified by his apostles and by us.  What sacrifice do we offer up to the Lord because the opportunity for sacrifice is always an option to our daily life.  The virtues of love include among others patience, perseverance, kindness, humility, generosity and all can be done offered as a sacrifice that is in imitation of Christ himself.  It is putting the other before us as Christ puts our salvation before himself. 

Love one another requires that the “door of faith be open” to receive God and his love.  This “door” is made visible through the word made flesh.  Jesus is the word made flesh who also reveals to us the word in his person, his action, his love.  To be Cristo-centric is to discover the door of faith as he reveals himself to us, loves us, and invites us into his heart.    

Love however is not blind separated from truth.  Truth brings about a greater love as we grow in wisdom and understanding of our purpose in life and the sacrifice of our gift of self to God and to others.  Love is not the passion of emotion but the passion of commitment as it unites us to God and to others.  Love also has order and purpose to reach a goal in life.  What is our goal and our purpose?  The answer will cause us to fall into true love. 

Love is ordered by God’s law.  It is both the natural law and the spiritual law but natural law is at the service of spiritual law.  God created nature but God is the spiritual law himself.  The commandments provide a natural law of order that serve the spiritual law of love.  Do’s and don’ts are not an end to themselves but a means to the end which is Jesus himself and his love of us.  This was the error of the Jewish tradition that made the laws and rules the fulfillment of God’s law. 

Jesus comes to perfect their understanding that perfect law is a relationship reflected in the behavior and not simply compliance with the behavior.  This temptation is still a danger for all.  We can live as if we love our faith going through the motions following and enforcing the rules but when it comes to love our hearts are isolated, withdrawn unable to connect to the heart of others.  We share a house but don’t create a home, we have legal connections to each other but we bond more to our pets than to our relatives, and we care for how our neighborhood looks but not how our neighbors are doing.  We have a religion but do we have Jesus Christ in our lives? 

In the first reading Paul and Barnabas are being Cristo-centric in revealing the word and person of Jesus to the Gentiles.  They are filled with love of Christ and they understand their goal and purpose is to preach and make disciples of all who will listen.  They have received the gift of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the works that Christ himself was performing as signs of the power of God that is with them.  They also know that this power is not restricted to them only but open to all believers as they also leave behind appointed elders in the places they preached.  The church continues to grow while remaining united and faithful to the teaching of the apostles. 

John has a vision of a “new heaven and a new earth” so it raises the question, “is this new heaven and new earth yet to come or is it here?”.  Perhaps it is not an either/or answer but a both and answer for God is outside of time and space.  Then who is living in this new Jerusalem, the “city of God”?  God’s invitation is always to come “taste and see” what God has prepared for those who love him.  John was given a vision of the city of God but he also received entrance by his love of God as a witness of being in the world but not of the world.  The City of God is his kingdom and his kingdom resides within us being revealed by the sacramental life we live. 

“God’s dwelling is with the human race” and it began with the coming of Jesus into the world.  He dwells within humanity when we enter through the door of faith to discover he is already present at work from within us to raise us up into the divine existence within the city of God.  The reign of God is with, through and outside of humanity as we are limited and he is infinite.  Infinite is God’s love and it comes to us in his mercy to renew our brokenness and forgive us of our sins.  This cannot be however without our will to unite us to his will.

 God is inviting us to receive his love and mercy and he provides the means through his church.  It is the instrument of faith that stands as the visible sign of his love and mercy.  We are called to be church, to belong to God by belonging to his church.  If faith is the door into the kingdom, then the church is the gate into the city of God.  Baptism brings us through the gate now faith leads us into the door of his heart.  It is the heart of love.  Love one another!

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Homily

4th Sunday of Easter – I know my sheep!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 13:14, 43-52; Ps. 100:1-2,3,5; Rev. 7:9, 14b-17; Jn. 10:27-30

“I know my sheep and mine know me.”  No doubt the Lord knows us but how well do we know the Lord?  The God of creation is our good shepherd who knows are strengths, weaknesses, temptations, potential and limitations.  The Lord knows the mind of his sheep, the degree of love with which we follow him, and the rebellious spirit of our will to be obedient to his will.  Praise be to God for he is merciful and slow to anger against our resistance to follow him.  The Lord knows his sheep and is patient and loving in guiding us to open our hearts to his heart and to enter into his grace.  God is love. 

The question remains, “how well do we know the Lord?”  In the first reading we hear that “all who were destined for eternal life came to believe”.  Destiny was not predetermined by birth but by the free will of the soul who the Lord knew who respond to his voice.  The Lord knows the souls of those that did not care to know him and turned against him.  There are many in this world who remain indifferent to knowing the Lord.  Their purpose is to live this life as the only time of their existence.  Knowing God is not a priority.  The consequence of this ignorance is not only the potential of losing heaven but the loss of God’s “shelter” through this life.  They wander in the desert of life in search of themselves instead of knowing God. 

Knowing God is an active participation in the kingdom of God.  The kingdom of God extends from heaven to earth, from the communion of saints to the poorest of the poor, and from the sacramental life of the church to the solitary prayer to God.  It weaves itself throughout life revealing God himself to us in the works we are called to fulfill for his kingdom.  It is both a mystery of faith and a revelation in the miracles of life.  For this reason, two people can be side by side and one will be lifted up into the kingdom and another left behind.  The beauty of the kingdom is always present and within access but not all choose to access it. 

“I know my sheep” says the Lord and they don’t incite violence and hate upon others as the Jews did against Paul and Barnabas.  Violence and hate are a sign of weakness not power, fear not confidence, lies not truth.  The world is quick incite violence as an act of justice and retribution but the message is lost in the injustice that results.  Jesus appearance to the disciples after the resurrection is with the message “peace be with you”.  The message of salvation is one of peace, truth, and love, everything else is from the evil one.  If we are his people then we are messengers of peace. 

This week we also celebrate the election of our new pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, the first American born Pope.  He is the Vicar of Christ meaning Jesus is the head of the Church and Pope Leo his appointed successor of Peter to lead the flock.  The voice of the Holy Spirit has guided the Cardinals to lay the cross of Jesus on the shoulders of this man.  He is called to be the shepherd for our times. 

Pope Leo XIV is not only multilingual but multicultural with French, Italian, and Spanish heritage.  He has a degree in mathematics which can be an asset to a church heavily in debt.  He comes from the Augustinian religious order with years of leadership experience.  In his first words as Pope Leo, he expressed his peace upon the people and his desire to build bridges of unity.  His motto “In illo Uno unum” (In the one, One) is the Jesus prayer for unity that we may all be one.  In one God, in one Trinity, in one Spirit is the one universal church for all the people. 

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3rd Sunday of Easter – It is the Lord!

Posted on by Deacon Joe

Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41; Ps. 30:2, 4-6, 11-13; Rev. 5:11-14; Jn. 21:1-19

It is the Lord that sets us free!  It is the Lord who reveals to us “what is truth?”  It comes in his person, the word incarnate.  Truth will set us free not from a world that seeks to silence, condemn, and even kill a voice of truth that goes against the mainstream secular views.  Truth sets us free from within to live in the surety that God loves us and promises eternity.  It is the freedom to be at peace, to love and be open to love, and to fear not even in the darkest moments. 

Pope John Paul II, now Saint JPII, spoke of a culture of death but before death comes the sins of hate, jealousy, power, and greed.  The more the world changes the more the sins of the world remain the same. It is the same sins that crucified Jesus and that are at work in our own times to take us down, away from the grace of God.  It is the Lord who sets us free from within, to live the truth coming from above.  The truth does not need to overpower anyone, it stands strong on its own.  The Lord rescues us from false teachings, he guides the church to remain faithful to the truth of the gospel. 

The Sanhedrin wanted to silence the Apostles for announcing a truth that was clear to everyone.  Jesus was not killed in secret, but publicly was called to be crucified and made an example.  The message from the Apostles was of hope through repentance and forgiveness.  But that would require the courage to admit ones sins and here lies the problem for the Sanhedrin and for us.  We don’t like to admit our sins, to recognize our errors, to face our failings. 

The power to deny sin is strong in our humanity.  It is denied when we believe that our rights are greater than God’s law, “my right to do with my body as I want”.  It is denied when we carry a sense of entitlement to justify our actions, “my entitlement to goods and services I have not worked for and cannot afford”.  It is denied when we listen to the mainstream voice that claims truth is individual and denies any universal truth.  This is not freedom but the path to human slavery to the passions and voices that take control of our lives and in our times, it is constantly be fed through social media and the internet. 

Soon AI (artificial intelligence) will create the “perfect” partner that meets all of our psychological pleasures, it will be your new BFF (best friend forever). Just this week a major AI leader in an interview stated that most people at best only have 3 close friends and “need” at least 10-15. AI is going to give you you’re alter-ego best friend in who you can escape with. Who needs real people who are difficult, challenging and just don’t understand you.   AI 24/7 is you’re get away from life at least until a real-life challenge comes and like a house built on sand it all comes tumbling down.

Already the ground is being laid where being connected to the world has little to do with having human interaction, knowing how to communicate, resolve problems in relationships or express emotions with each other.  It is all channeled by indirect “chat”.  All of us can argue a point but can we resolve an argument and come to some agreement?  Let’s see what my artificial partner has to say because we can no longer think for ourselves. 

It is the Lord that rescues us from the “netherworld” of falling into sin and from the pit of our own passions.  It is the Lord who said from the cross “forgive then for they know not what they do”.  We never consider that our sin is a hammer on a nail in Jesus.  The reason as Catholics we keep Jesus on the cross even though he has resurrected is because he continues to suffer the pain of our sin.  Jesus however desires to rescue us, heal us, make us new a new creation in his image.  His image is one of love, mercy, truth and justice.  Christ is risen!  Risen indeed to make all things new that is to renew us in himself.  This is the history of the Church. 

In the gospel, Jesus appears a third time to the disciples.  No one dared to ask Jesus “who are you?”  There is something about Jesus in the glorified state that makes him appear different and a mystery to the disciples.  This is a reminder to us that we too have the hope of a glorified body to come at the resurrection.  It will no longer be a body that ages and decays but one that is forever whole and holy.  The vision of John includes angels, “living creatures”, elders and the “Lamb”.  The “Lamb” is Jesus, the elders the prophets and Apostles, and all the living creatures who give glory to God, the people of God.  This is the communion of saints that awaits us. 

Jesus has his little charcoal fire going ready to feed the disciples and he performs another miracle with an abundance of fish caught in the nets.  This is Peter’s “come to Jesus” moment when after having denied him three times he now must confess his love of Jesus by accepting a mission, “feed my sheep”.  This call directed specifically to Peter is that he may be the one who will Shepherd of his church, our first Pope.  Since then, the church has a history of every one who has succeeded Peter in this role as Vicar of the Church.  Today we are in the middle of another transition to the next Holy Father and the gates of hell will not prevail over sit.  Let us pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to lead the Cardinals to select the “rock” for our times.  It is the Lord who will save us from ourselves.

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