Holy Trinity Year C Homily

As Catholics we are accustomed to beginning our prayer in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. In this simple invocation to prayer we are opening ourselves up to the great mystery of faith that is found within the Trinity. In the invocation to the Father we touch our foreheads with our hands, to the Son we lower our hands to below our chest, and to the Holy Spirit we touch our shoulders from the left to the right. In this outward sign we are professing the profound reality of salvation that was brought into the world through the cross. This invocation of words that we make was so greatly important in the life of faith that we even hear of Christ instructing the faithful to be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We notice with these words that we have three persons and yet we say name instead of names. To say in the names of would express that these three person are separate gods, but in our ability to say in the name of we profess that we have one God in three persons.

It can be mind boggling to think of how it is possible for these three persons to exist in one God. After all we cannot take three random people and say that they are separate and yet one. On the other hand we are able to easily accept some things as truth when we acknowledge that something can be one and yet many. As we gear up for the summer many people will head to the roads for travel to their vacation destinations. We can easily accept the fact that some roads despite remaining the same change their names on multiple occasions. These roads despite being one take on many different identities through their different names. The Trinity is more profound then all of this, but through our life of faith and our own worldly experiences this notion of being one and yet three should be acceptable. In our profession of the mystery of the Holy Trinity we express the reality of creation found in God , the importance of thought found in the Son, and the ability to be challenged in love by the Holy Spirit.

We believe that God is the creator of all things. This must be so because we exist and someone had to bring us into existence. This world is so complex that we cannot look upon it and claim that out of some random chance that everything popped into being without first having a principle mover. If a baseball where to fly through this Church and fly past our eyes we would have to believe that someone threw it. With the complexity of creation this must also be so. God is the principle mover who created time and place and therefore is deserving of all of our honor and worship. The first person of the Holy Trinity sheds His love upon us through creation and we therefore should be thankful for all that we have had extended into our lives. Our thankfulness for this reality should not come and go depending upon how we feel this day, but instead we should always remain firm in our thankfulness to God the Father's desire to bring us into creation.

The second person of the Holy Trinity is the Son, Jesus Christ. We hear from John's Gospel that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. All of us here are able to think of many things. We are able to choose between doing what is right and wrong. We are able to argue and debate with other people concerning our thoughts and beliefs. We are able to choose what we will watch on television or what we will eat for supper. Despite the thought that we contain in our minds we know that we must first act upon them if anything will come about because our thoughts are not creative. A mere human thought alone will never be able to generate life. God is also able to think. God's thought is so perfect that only God has one thought. That thought is so perfect that it encompasses everything and extends throughout all generations. This one thought is the word that was brought into being by the Father. Jesus Christ is the Son of God because he was brought into being by the thought of God the Father.

Not only are we able to think, but we are also able to love. We find perfect love inside the third person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit. In this world where we can find many perverted understandings of love it is important for us to begin to see what love truly is. Inside of the Creed we make this expression of faith by saying: "who proceeds from the Father and the Son." The Holy Spirit proceeds from the love that is extended between the Father and the Son. In order to have love it cannot remain bottled up within ourselves or be contained by another person. Instead love must come forth from ourselves and be the instrument from which we are drawn to one another. Love will always be abusive if it is only about ourselves and our own desire for pleasure. Love will always be lacking in these relationships because they have failed to be formed in a true giving of self. The profound love that exists between the Father and the Son is known as the Holy Spirit.

On this day we celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. May we allow the three persons of the Holy Trinity to continue to give strength and wisdom to our lives. May we realize the Trinity is a great mystery from which flows creation, thought, and love. Thorough the wonderful gift of creation may we always give honor to God. May our thoughts become pure and directed always towards the Son. May we also grow to love as the Holy Spirit always proceeds forth from the Father and the Son. The Holy Trinity truly shows us how wonderful the name of our God is throughout all the earth.

Pentecost Homily

We find ourselves here fifty days removed from our celebration of Easter Sunday for this great celebration of Pentecost. With the conclusion of this Mass we will end our season of Easter and begin to orient ourselves back into Ordinary Time. For these fifty days we have become comfortable in seeing the Pascal candle lit here beside the ambo. The Paschal candle is a great symbol of the Easter season because it symbolizes the light of Christ that has entered into the world to dispel the darkness of sin. It is also a reminder of the reality that we entered into the life of faith through the moment of our baptisms. This candle representing the light of Christ was present at our baptism and from it we received the light of Christ into our lives. On Pentecost we join with the apostles when they were left alone following the Ascension of Christ and prepared themselves with prayer for the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them. With this action peace would be brought into their lives through the light of Christ and the reality of the Church.

This peace that the Holy Spirit brings into the darkness of this room is one that gives birth to life of the Church here on earth. Sometimes we might find that we see the Church as something that is stagnate and boring. The Church is far from a lifeless entity because the Holy Spirit has come upon the Church to give it life. We notice in the Book of Acts that the Holy Spirit descended upon them as a strong driving wind, and so it is with the Church. A strong driving wind is far from something that is stagnate and boring. This strong driving wind has blown the Church into the world to make it important to all of its corners. With the blow of breath that Christ bestowed upon the apostles comes the authority of the Church that is driven by the authority of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is always driving us forward as a powerful force to overcome sin, death, and darkness in order that the light of Christ may always shine brightly in our midst.

We did not enter into the life giving waters of baptism to remain stagnant and lifeless in our faith, but instead baptism ushered us into the one body of Christ and gave us the mission to become alive and animated through the faith. We do not need to search for other areas that are contrary to the light of Christ to fill our souls because we have all that we will ever need contained in the faith that we share. We should always remain open to the animation of the Holy Spirit within our lives because it will move us away from a stagnate concept of faith. It will move us along like a strong driving wind which will usher us along the way towards Christ. This movement calls us to involvement with the mystical Body of Christ. Involvement that leads to an ever growing knowledge of the faith and a life strengthening living out of the values of the Gospel. To remain unanimated would leave our faith dead because we could care less about knowledge and our living out of the values of the Gospel would become impossible.

The strong driving wind that the apostles encountered on Pentecost informs us that a lack of animation in our faith is impossible. If the apostles did not react to the motion of the Holy Spirit the world would never of been evangelized. People of the four corners of the world would never of been informed about Christ who was God born into the world, who would die upon the cross for our salvation, and who bestows the reality of victory over death through the Resurrection. We some 2,000 years removed from the birth of Christ have the driving wind of the Holy Spirit to thank for our faith that has been passed down to us through the generations. This movement is seen in Catholic schools and hospitals found throughout the world. This movement is found in the care for the poor and those in prison. This movement is found in the Liturgy of the Mass where all of our needs are gathered together and offered to our Lord out of love. This movement removes darkness from our lives and bestows the light of Christ upon us.

As we are dismissed from this Mass on this day and the Pascal candle is buffed out signaling the conclusion of the Easter season may we always allow ourselves to be animated by the will of the Holy Spirit. With the flame extinguished comes smoke that raises to Heaven and hopefully all of our actions can follow along in this orientation to Heaven most high. May we allow the light of Christ to always shine brightly when we are away from this parish community. The Holy Spirit is not animating us only when we are inside of this Church, but instead we are being animated all the days of our life. There is no room in Christianity for a stagnant and lifeless attitude because we are always being challenged to elevate ourselves to the perfection found in God. The Holy Spirit animates us along this path and continues to give life and direction to the Church. The Church will always be relevant to society because the driving wind that is the Holy Spirit continues to move us towards the light of Christ. May we not fear to be moved by the Spirit this day, so that we can find ourselves always surrounded by Christ's light.

Pentecost Vigil Homily

The history of the world has been filled with people who believe that they know everything. I am sure that all of us can think of the many ways where we have believed that we know everything. Even if we don't want to admit these moments or have forced them from the grasp of our minds I am sure that our parents can remember a few of these experiences on our behalf. None of us can take this present moment for granted because none of us knows what our future has in store for us. We may believe that we have it all figured out right now, but before the blink of an eye all of our hopes can begin to change. In this changing of reality we begin to slowly come to understand that we do not know everything. The world is something that is passing, but we can be sure of one thing and that is that God always remains present in our midst without changing. If we can begin to truly allow God into our midst to guide us into the unknown reality of life we will always find comfort and guidance.

In our reading from Genesis we heard about the Tower of Babel where human achievement got ahead of itself. These people were much like we sometimes find ourselves because they thought that they could remove God from their lives. In the time that it took them to build this tower they slowly removed themselves more and more from the comfort and guidance that comes from God. Today as we come to the conclusion of our Easter season we celebrate Pentecost Sunday where the events that took place at the Tower of Babel were overturned. On this day we encounter the apostles as the Holy Spirit descended upon them to give them guidance as they would begin their ministry of the Church. We know from scripture that the apostles had failed at times to place Christ first and thus fooled themselves into thinking that they knew everything. With the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and the Church we are all given the hope that the Church will never be led astray, but instead continue to dwell with the truth of the Gospel.

On this day we also gather with these graduates of 2013 and our prayers are with each of you as you move away from high school and head off to college, the work force, or the military. After all the years that you have worked for this day; you deserve it greatly. May each of you remember the contrast that is shown between the Tower of Babel and Pentecost Sunday. This is especially important with the world that each of you will soon begin to face. No longer will many of you have the comfort of your homes because you will soon begin to find yourselves on your own. As you head away from here I encourage each of you to protect your faith each day. With the many plans that you have for the future we know that none of them are one hundred percent confirmed, but I hope that we know and believe that God is one hundred percent desiring that we will remain with Him for comfort and guidance all the days of your life. At those moments when your plans might go astray place your trust in God and in the Church.

The Tower of Babel leaves us with the understanding that achievement has been great, but our understanding can be misguided. I firmly believe that all of you will achieve great things, but please do not allow yourselves to become misguided. Instead of placing trust in your own merits follow the example that the apostles display on this Pentecost Sunday. Instead of feeling alone following the Ascension they gathered in prayer and were led forth by the Holy Spirit who descended upon them. Continue to trust in the Church and the Sacraments and to trust in prayer and within God. We come to Mass each Sunday to be strengthened in our faith and to grow closer to God. At the Mass we have the opportunity to receive our Lord in the Blessed of the Altar and find guidance to our lives. Do not allow your busy schedules to come before the obligation to attend Mass and the opportunity that you have to receive our Lord's Body and Blood. In any uncertainty we will find comfort with our faith.

My brothers and sisters in Christ let us pray for each of these graduates who join us this day. May they become a beacon of hope to our lives because with them comes the opportunity of a new day. May each of us be inspired with the Pentecost message that the Holy Spirit has come to dwell with us. In this message may we see how empty our actions truly are if we find that they are removed from God. In achievement removed from God we end up as those we encountered at the Tower of Babel, but when we allow our achievement to flow from the Holy Spirit we join with the apostles in their great joy on Pentecost Sunday. May we remain with this joy and allow ourselves to be renewed each day in the Spirit of The Lord.

6th Sun of Easter Year C Homily

We reflect a lot concerning God the Father and God the Son, but often forget to reflect upon the third person of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit is very important for all us to place at the center of our lives because we are assured in our Gospel that "the advocate, the Holy Spirit" will be sent to "teach you everything, and to remind you of all that" Christ has "told you." In our world it can be easy to lose sight of this reality in the midst of our sinfulness, our busyness, and at the moments when we feel lost and alone. No matter the situation that we find taking place inside of our everyday lives the Holy Spirit remains at the heart of the Church and reaches out to our hearts to bring us comfort and wisdom in the midst of any trial that we may face. Despite the Holy Spirit always being present we often fail to allow the Holy Spirit to truly enter into our lives to give us guidance. Instead of trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit we attempt to navigate through life through our own merits.

In the Book of Acts the apostles quickly learned of the necessity of the Holy Spirit within the life of the Church. Without Christ in their midst they were left to guide the Church as it began to grow throughout the world. With this growth of faith would come many difficult questions that would need to be answered and we are told within our first reading that "it is the decision of the Holy Spirit" that was made concerning these questions in accordance with their authority as the apostles of Christ. In the age of the apostles there was a desire to find truth and they did so through the guidance of the Holy Spirit who always guides the Church towards truth. In our own age we find something very different because we have replaced our desire to find truth with the acceptance of everything as being true. Relativism has erased truth within our society, but if we can begin to trust in the Holy Spirit as an advocate we will see that this cannot be so. The third person of the Holy Trinity always gives the guidance of truth to our lives and to the Church.

The Holy Spirit dwells within the Church and brings sanctification to souls through grace. This grace that is poured into our lives is very helpful in searching out truth and finally being able to find hope from the darkness of sin. As we enter into our daily lives we know all the hardships that we can encounter, but assistance can be given to calm the waters that we must endure through the grace that is ushered into our lives through the Holy Spirit. From this new life brought into our lives we are able to have the three theological virtues and seven gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon our souls. Faith, hope, and charity make up the three theological virtues and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are made up of counsel, piety, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, fortitude, and the fear of the Lord. The theological virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit give assistance to us in our pursuit for truth, our growth in the understanding of faith, being able to overcome our battle with sin, and to grow in relationship with God.

If we truly desire to grow in grace and thus allow these virtues and fruits to grow in our lives we must come to allow the Holy Spirit to become the advocate of our lives. In moments of temptation, making a tough decision, feeling as if we are alone, or any other struggle that we may encounter how would our lives be changed if we take a timeout to allow the Holy Spirit to give us guidance. If we can enter into this practice we in time will grow in our understanding of the faith, we will be given hope during the time of trial, and be moved with charity towards our neighbors. We will be given the strength to pursue the knowledge of the faith and accept all of the teachings that come with it while also being assisted during our inclination towards sin, so that through the grace of God we can overcome its grasp upon our lives. With trust placed in the third person of the Trinity this liberation and peace of mind can begin to take place.

In the words that came to us from Christ we hear: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you." These familiar words are found during each Mass following the recitation of the Our Father. These familiar words that come to our ears should give comfort to each of our needs. Comfort that Christ is present in all of our needs and that the Holy Spirit dwells within our midst to bring us this peace of heart. None of us have been left alone to accomplish this journey of faith through our own merits, but were given the peace of the Holy Spirit when we entered into the waters of baptism. May we not allow ourselves to continue to do battle with the world without first trusting in the peace that can be brought into our lives through the Holy Spirit. May we allow ourselves to continuously walk with the Holy Spirit, so that we can be moved forward in our life of faith. If we can truly allow ourselves to trust in the Holy Spirit we will have to let go and walk the path of faith and stop our many attempts at forming the Holy Spirit after our own desires.

In the words of our Holy Father, Pope Francis: "Submit to the Holy Spirit which comes from within us and makes us go forward along the path of holiness."