Mary, Mother of God Homily

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God.

Our celebration points towards the importance of the Incarnation. Through the Incarnation Christ came in order to take on our human flesh and to make His dwelling place among us. To state that Mary is the mother of God is to state that her Son is God the second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. It is He who came in order that we may be redeemed. 

Through the events of His Nativity much had unfolded in the life of Mary. Shepherds have come in order to adore, angels have spoken, and a child now lies before her who is dependent while being eternally divine. It would be easy to rush past this moment and to attempt to explain it away. Rather, we are told that Mary, “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”

As Saint John Paul II would state of her, “Mary’s faith was a faith that pondered. She advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, faithfully pondering the mystery of Christ.” Through such action she is showing us that holiness begins with attention. Without having our attention upon Christ and pondering Him we set out to be centered upon other pursuits.

In the Church we have the great gift which is the Most Holy Eucharist. Through such a gift Christ is present among us as we have the opportunity to receive Him humbly, bodily, and hopefully with the desire to continue to ponder Him in our heart. What we receive is to be kept, reflected upon, and lived in our daily life.

Nevertheless, despite such an opportunity we place so much in the way of Jesus. It is easy to strive to be the first out the door following communion and thus in our rush we fail to ponder that great gift that we have received into our life. The invitation to “go in peace” is not to return to the world alone, but with Christ who we must live and make manifest.

As Saint Bernard of Clairvaux would state, “Mary kept silence, but her heart spoke; she pondered the mystery not with words, but with love.” Likewise, we must ponder the gift that we have received and dare to put such things into action through our own outpouring of love. The Lord’s Nativity is not just an event of the past, but continues to animate us here in the present.

This celebration of Mary as Mother of God is teaching us to open our hearts more fully to God’s presence. Let us be so mindful and not overlook the presence of God in the midst of our daily life. May Christ, whom she bore into the world, be born anew in our hearts today as well as throughout the year to come.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Octave of Christmas Homily

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Today we observe the Octave of Christmas and commemorate the Holy innocents. Through the fact that these two realities meet serves as a great contrast. On one hand we have the Word made Flesh lying in the humility of a manager and on the other hand we have the cry of Rachel who is weeping for her children.

The Nativity is not over glamorized by the Church. From the very beginning the Child born in Bethlehem is marked by great contradictions. Shepherds come in order to adore Him and kings come to do Him homage and yet Herod was filled with fear and wanted to threaten Him with violence. The shadow of the cross is already being shown to us from the wood of the manger.

The Holy Innocents did not not speak a word nor did they choose martyrdom. They did not even know the Name of Christ. Nevertheless, the Church venerates them as martyrs for they died in confession of Christ. Through their death it is proclaimed that the world resists the light that comes in order to save.

This is the cost of the Incarnation. God takes on our human flesh and makes His dwelling place here among us. Nevertheless, the world continues to rebel despite such a wondrous gift. The Lord comes bringing with Him truth. Truth is something which is difficult to accept, but by taking on truth whatever it may be we come to be healed in Christ.

This Sunday there is a great weight that has been placed upon our hearts. This is after all the final Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite to be offered in this parish church. Here there is a sense of loss and sorrow that weighs upon us. The Church is not asking us to pretend as if grief is not real. Even Rachel in her sorrow was allowed to weep.

The Holy Innocents serve as a reminder of fidelity until the end. Through such fidelity that which would seem as if defeat becomes victory. Their blood which was spilled was not the end of their story for they are remembered and venerated to this day. Our fidelity must remain to Christ and to His Church no matter how difficult such fidelity may be.

The Infant Christ was threatened by Herod and so He went into exile. Yet He remained the Savior. So too the Holy Innocents lost their life and yet they now reign victorious in Heaven. Loss when united to God becomes an eternal gain. Through the loss that is felt let us remain united to the truth of faith and through the obedient taking up of such a task, we will strive for the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Holy Innocents teach us how to suffer and the Christ Child teaches us how to trust without fear. Let us have such faith as we continue to give thanks to God and strive to serve Him and His Church each and every day of our life.

Holy Innocents, pray for us.

Feast of Holy Family Homily

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

On this Sunday within the Octave of Christmas we are given two feasts which we might prefer to keep apart. This Sunday we observe the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Jospeh. On December 28th we also observe the Feast of the Holy Innocents who were the infant children of Bethlehem who were murdered by King Herod in his attempt to kill the newborn Christ.

The Feast of the Holy Family places our focus upon the importance of the family in society. Through Jesus, Mary, and Jospeh we are reminded how the family is to point towards holiness in the midst of our everyday life. Mary was open to the will of God, Joseph was found with courage as he protected his family, and Jesus as child was found dependent on His parents.

In our modern world the family often finds itself under attack. Our culture treats commitment as something which is temporary and self-fulfillment as more important than sacrifice. This mindset leads to an increase in divorce, children born outside of marriage, couples living together outside of marriage, and a blatant disregard for the sanctity of human life.

The Holy Family challenges all of our families to something so much greater. Like Mary we are invited to remain open to the will of God being made manifest in our life and like Jospeh we must have the courage to protect the family from all the might do it harm. The family is important for we are all dependent on God and His grace.

The Feast of the Holy Innocents shows us the sad effects the sprung forth due to King Herod’s fear. In the words of Saint Augustine, “the cruelty that sought Christ found the Innocents instead.” It is these holy souls who unknowingly shed their life due to Christ who came in order that light may prevail over the darkness.

Despite the proclamation that the family ought to be directed towards holiness we should know that family life is not always easy. Fear, poverty, violence, children lost, and other issues continue to plague our fallen world and thus too the family. Through the Holy Innocents we are reminded that every vulnerable life is never forgotten and is sacred.

Christ is present in the vulnerable for he was a vulnerable child born of Mary who would lay down His life for us out of love upon the cross. Through the blending of these two feasts we are able to reflect upon our own families. How do we as a family stand against cultural, political, or personal issues which threaten the holiness of the family? How are we being invited to build up the domestic church (the Church at home) in order that Christ may always be made manifest?

May this Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph assist us in the midst of all the hardships of this life in order that we may come to pursue holiness in our everyday life. 

Holy Innocents, pray for us.

Holy Family of Nazareth, pray for us.

Christmas Homily

Merry Christmas!

Tonight we acknowledge the great fact that God’s love is so great that He chose to make His dwelling place among us. He does not come with thunder nor armies, but with great vulnerability. We see this vulnerability in the form of the Christ child who was small and helpless and entrusted to the care of the family.

Without His coming we would be unable to be healed from the effects of the Fall from which we have inherited sin and death. Through the Incarnation God declares that our human nature is worth saving. As we come to venerate this child God is revealed to us and we are reminded of who we are meant to become.

 As Saint Leo the Great would state, “Christian, remember your dignity.” In our day and age many forget that their dignity is a gift from God. Whenever we forget our dignity or the dignity of another we do not treat them as if they are one who has been created in the image and likeness of God. It is this image and likeness that we are reminded of whenever we look upon Christ.

Saint Athanasius would state, “God became man so that man might become god.” This statement does not mean that humans are able to take on the nature of God for there is only one God. This quotation points towards our participation. Through the Incarnation we are able to share in God’s life through grace.

From 2 Peter we are told, “He gave us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakes of the divine nature.” Through Christ, we are lifted beyond whatever we could ever achieve of our own. Through the sacramental life of the Church we are aided in this journey of faith through the gift of God’s grace.

Saint Augustine preached, “we are transformed into what we receive.” This is precisely what happens when we receive Christ into our life through the gift of the Most Holy Eucharist. We must learn to humbly approach Him for in doing so we come to be aided in all that we will encounter in this life and be assisted in living out a good and holy life.

Christmas must not only be something that is remembered, but something that must be lived. Through our celebration of Christmas we orient our sight towards God’s taking on our human flesh and make our profession to be sent forth to live a life which has forever been oriented onto Him.

Throughout the Christmas message many came to encounter Him from shepherds to magi. Each of them came to adore and they left forever changed. Let us too come to adore this child for He is the Savior of the world and let us be sent forth from His midst, not to be conformed to world, but to be forever transformed by the one who has made His dwelling place among us.

4th Sunday of Advent Year A Homily

Our gospel places Saint Joseph firmly before our sight. It states that he was “a righteous man.” This title is something more then simply being found morally upright. He was one who lived a right relationship with God as well as with other people, he was willing to listen attentively to God’s word, and ordered his life after what he was instructed.

Very soon we will welcome the coming of Christ at Christmas. Saint Jospeh stands before us as a reminder of entering into the silence of prayer and remaining faithful when it pertains to what we have been instructed. So often we are those who are too busy to pray and too afraid to go where we have been called.

Saint Joseph shows us that righteousness is rooted in action and not in words. Throughout the course of Sacred Scripture Saint Joseph is attributed with saying nothing. Nevertheless, he was found so willing to respond by taking his wife, naming his child, protecting his family, and providing for their needs through his labor.

As Saint Bernard of Clairvaux would state, “Jospeh was called righteous because he was a faithful servant, prudent and trustworthy, whom the Lord appointed as head of His household.” Like Saint Joseph we must take to heart the fullness of what has been entrusted to our care and act upon it as a true disciple of the Lord.

Saint Jospeh’s life was not filled with pomp and circumstance. He labored with care by carrying out his daily responsibilities with love and perseverance. He becomes a model to us that we must also act with such hidden faithfulness in all that we do. It can be easy to forget that the mundane gestures of our life are also a means to which we can be connected to God.

Pope Benedict XVI stated of him, “He does not cling to his own ideas of happiness, but makes room for God’s will.” In our life we must also learn to make such room for God’s will within us. It is so easy to become to busy or worried about the ways of the world to the point that we forget to invite God in to dwell with us.

Saint Joseph displays such trust to us through his willingness to pray and act upon what he is told. He was a righteous man who looked upon his relationship with God with great humility. He saw his unworthiness in all of this, but God still called him to act in such a way through the protecting of this family.

Let us continue to make room for God to dwell with us as He does through the Incarnation. Through this act of love God comes in order to make His dwelling place among us. Will we be found ready to greet Him or will we instead be found too busy and unwilling to rush out in order to greet Him? Let us reflect upon this relationship and be found willing to go wherever God leads.

Saint Jospeh, pray for us.