Sunday, December 28, 2014

Holy Family Year B Homily

Merry Christmas to all of you! Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The celebration of this feast is always most important for us because it serves as a reminder of the Holy Family and thus how our own families on this earth should be centered around them. In our world today we see a shortage of vocations: vocations to the religious life and priesthood, but we also cannot forget placing vocations to marriage on this list. We also see families who have grown apart to the point where individuals live within a home instead of a family who is drawn together. We are given the impression that for those who do enter into marriage that it can easily be thrown away with divorce, or that in order to truly get to know someone you must live with them first outside of the bonds of marriage.
When we reflect upon the Holy Family one of the many things that we should envision is love. The Holy Family had a profound sense of love not only for each other, but most importantly they had a love for God from which all the actions of their life flowed. The Holy Family never attempted to live out the family life exempt from their love for God, but instead this love for God was always placed front and center in their life. How was it then that God chose to dwell among us in the Incarnation? He chose to come as a child, poor and defenseless, born to a woman, and entered into the love of a family. Here He gave us a foreshadowing of how all of our love should be a participation of the love that is found in the three Persons of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As we observe in our Gospel in the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple; Mary and Joseph were dedicated to their faith and thus to God when they brought their Son to be presented in the temple as is prescribed by Jewish law. May our families too decide not to dedicate themselves to the passing things of this world, but instead to be dedicated to love for God and His Law which allows us to live freely.
One of the questions I always ask a couple who I am preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage is what is the Domestic Church? At this question I am usually met with the eyes of a deer staring into headlights because they have no clue what this means. I believe one of the greatest challenges to the family life in this day and age is caused from the breakdown of the Domestic Church. We think that Church is the hour that we spend here and it should be segregated from the other 167 hours of the week. If this is the case it is no wonder why children no longer practice the faith, it is no wonder why marriages begin to fall apart, it is no wonder why we live in a vocation crisis on all levels, and it is no wonder why society no longer wants to speak of God. The Domestic Church is to live out what is found within the Holy Family which is a love directed towards God in all things. It is to promote prayer in the home among the family, it is to attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass together, it is to go to confession coming as a family, it is to pray before the Blessed Sacrament as a family, it is to promote vocations within the home, it is to educate children in the faith more so then dropping them off for Religious Education on a Wednesday night, and most importantly it is to have a love for God and His Son Jesus Christ, who came to dwell among us in the second Person of the Holy Trinity; as we celebrate in this Christmas season.
One practice that many families have is to request a priest to come over and bless their home. At the home the priest offers a prayer of blessing and then moves throughout the home blessing each room with Holy Water. This is an important statement of faith because through this blessing the family is asking that everything that takes place within these walls may be directed towards their love for God. The water sprinkled serves as a reminder of baptism and thus the commitments that were made to God on that day. The commitment was not live out life as if it were unchanged, but instead it was a commitment to be dedicated to God in all things.
The struggles to the family life are indeed abundant within this society, but they can be overcome with our sight directed towards the love of God. The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph serve as a testimony to this truth. May we allow ourself to follow after them and the love that sends them forth to discover what it truly means to be a family held in communion with each other by God. Yes, hardships will arise within our life and within this world, but despite all of these hardships God took on our human flesh and came to dwell among us and in return sanctified the family life to be the path that would lead souls to discover Him and thus to be lead into Heaven. May we indeed allow ourself to follow after this path of love that has been opened wide to us by the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Christmas Homily

Merry Christmas to all of you. Christmas is known as being a night of peace. It was in the lowliness of a manger that Christ our Lord came to dwell among us to usher this peace into the world. Here we discover He who is known as the Word made flesh, which means that God in the event known as the Incarnation took on our humanity and thus came to dwell with us. We refer to this as being a night of peace which is further reflected in the encounter that the shepherds had with Christ. They were found by angels going about the busyness of their everyday life, but they were called to encounter the peace and solace of a little child found in a manger. We to live a life that is busy and which is also filled with many set backs along the way. Our world is filled with injustice, we only have to look at the news to see that this is so, but despite this God takes on human flesh and dwells with us this day to usher peace and joy into our life and into the world.
I have heard this story told many times at Christmas Mass, but today does mark the 100th anniversary of the unofficial Christmas truce of 1914. This truce took place during World War I when soldiers from both sides promised to stop fighting for one night. Instead of battling each other they called truce on Christmas where they joined together to sing "Silent Night." In one soldiers' diary we are told: "Germans shout over us and ask us to play football, and also not to fire and they would do likewise." Another solider would go on to state: "You have no idea how pleasant everything seems with no rifle bullets or shells flying about." Indeed through the coming of the Messiah the world can and does discover peace. The reality that we proclaim today is that God took on our human flesh and thus came to dwell with us.
It should be hard for us to fathom the reality that we proclaim today. So many desire to become God themselves by the way that they live their life searching after passions and anything which one perceives may be able to make them happy. Some may say we have to keep trying over and over again at this life until we get it right through our own merit as is displayed through the belief of reincarnation. But, what we celebrate today is far different from these two philosophies because for the first time in human history we are able to proclaim through the coming of Christ that God desired to lower Himself to us in all things but sin, by becoming one of us. Through this reality we are not left to work out our salvation for ourself nor are we left to be God for ourself because we lack a standard towards which we should orient our life. By God taking on our humanity we are given the aid that is necessary to overcome all the struggles that life may present and we are also given a standard of how life should be lived out if we are ever to claim that we have lived it to its fullest.
What was is it then that the shepherds or the wise men encountered, but a little child who has been born into the world in the lowliness of a manger. This little child is God in the second person of the Holy Trinity and yet He is found in a manger left poor and defenseless, here He lacks a great palace and Kingdom, here He cannot feed Himself nor can He speak, but He whom shepherds adore and angels sing is truly God made man. Here and now we each give our own response to what we encounter here, by the way that we orient our life towards Him. We are found here at this Church keeping Christ in Christmas and also the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in Christmas. We are found here with hearts that desire to be filled with the hope and joy that He alone can usher into the world. This hope and joy could never have been found if God never desired to take on our humanity. Yes, He came here in order to free us from our sin, but He also came here out of love for us in order to elevate us towards Him. According to Blessed John Duns Scotus: "God would have become man even if Adam had not sinned, since He willed that in Christ humanity and the world should be united with Himself by the closest possible bond."
Indeed God is love because He desired for us to be united with Him by the fact that He was willing to take on our lowliness. God is love because He realized that there was no other way to atone for the sin that had entered into the world except through the offering of His Son as the perfect sacrifice that was made once and for all. By God taking on our human flesh He ushered joy and hope into a world that had been cast into darkness. With this coming light that is the Word made flesh the whole world now rejoices because it Has been released from its bonds to darkness. Despite the pains that we encounter in our life or see within this world brought about due to the effects of sin, suffering, or loss we know that it is Christ alone who has come to redeem us and to elevate each of these hardships that we endure to a greater purpose where in   time peace and joy will once again spring forth from the darkness.
As we depart from this Church this day we must remember the Christmas message and thus the great love that God continues to shower down upon us. After today most of the world will forget about the sacred mysteries of our faith that have been celebrated here today and will move onto the next secular holiday. We must remember that Christmas does not end here today, but instead the season only begins here and extends on for us until the Baptism of our Lord. We must remember Christ who we encounter today in the lowliness of a manger and thus never forget that our whole life should follow in adoration to Him as the shepherds and magi were able to do. We must also remember this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that we have assisted with and thus never forget its importance in our daily life because it is here alone where we come to join our prayers and our needs to Christ's salvific act upon the cross and it is here alone where we come to be nourished by the Holy Eucharist which is truly Christ's Body and Blood. May we continue to rejoice during this Christmas season at the hope and the joy that is ushered into the world through God's great love for us. This hope and this joy can be found nowhere except through the love that God shows us by taking on our human flesh in Christ our Lord whom we adore this night.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

4th Sunday of Advent Homily (Extraordinary Form)

From the period that stretches from December 17th through the the 23rd we use in the course of our liturgy that which is known as the "O antiphons." These short verses that are used during this seven day period prior to Christmas testify to what was heard during our alleluia verse: " Come, O Lord, and tarry not: forgive the sins of Thy people Israel." The "O antiphons" point to the reality that all of creation is now longing for the coming of the Messiah who will come to dwell with each of us in the town of Bethlehem. They are a statement that all of salvation history is pointing the way towards God who would take on human flesh in the second person of the Holy Trinity. It is only through this reality that we can be saved, so may we continue to grow in our own anticipation of the Lord's coming.
With each of the "O antiphons" that are given something more is revealed concerning the one who is to come. The seven statements that are pointed out concerning Christ are: (1) Wisdom, (2) Lord, (3) Root of Jesse, (4) Key of David, (5) Dayspring, (6) King of the Nations, and finally (7) God. Also, if you are to take the first letters of these words as they are written in Latin you will receive the Latin word: "Ero Cras" "Tomorrow, I will be there." These expressions therefore reveal the nature of the coming of the Messiah and help us to see that from the very beginning it was He who would come to deliver us from our sin as is stated in the second half of our alleluia verse: "forgive the sins of Thy people Israel."
The use of the word "wisdom" reveals that Christ was the Word who was with His Father from the very beginning. In other words we can say that there was never a time when the Word did not exist. "Lord" is a word attributed by the Jewish people to God which further reflects for us the many covenants worked out in human history, and how it is Christ who is the fulfillment of all of these covenants. In the burning bush the Lord appeared to Moses and would go onto lead the Israelites out of slavery as Christ comes to liberate us from our bondage towards sin. It is from the royal line of David that Christ comes to us, so therefore we refer to Him as the "Root of Jesse" which further points out that He will come among us to die upon the tree of the cross. "Key of David" points towards the passing of the keys of a Kingdom which ultimately are handed down to our true king, Christ, who comes into the world to reign in a manger. "Dayspring" points that we are held down in the darkness of our sin and therefore we now turn East towards Christ who brings light to penetrate into the darkness of our sin. Again much like Saint John the Baptist who entered into the barrenness of a desert to bestow the word of life on all people who would hear the Good News of the one who is to come. Next we come to profess Christ to be our King and then we finally acknowledge the one that we await is not a mere human, but instead is God who took on human flesh and came to dwell among us to offer Himself upon the cross in atonement for our sin.
In these days that lie ahead we join with all of creation that is now longing for the coming of its savior. We stand in the course of salvation history and realize that it is Christ alone who signals peace and joy to a world that has been touched by the opposite. With each day that passes we should long even more to come and encounter Christ for who He truly is; in all of His peace and joy. The world is longing to discover this peace and joy of Christ even if it is not currently aware of it. May we not rush through these last few days of Advent and may we truly allow ourself to not pass by the Season of Christmas as if it were only one day. Instead may we further prepare for the coming of the Lord by making straight our path and thus coming to discover the one for whom we now wait. Here alone will every sin, disappointment, injustice, and fear be calmed because this is the one whom all scripture points towards. May we always long for the peace and joy that is contained here alone.  

Sunday, December 14, 2014

3rd Sunday of Advent Year B Homily

Saint John the Baptist came "to testify to the light." We rejoice in the Lord always because of this light that has entered into the darkness of the night through Christ our Lord. The world was plunged into darkness when our Lord died upon the cross, but this darkness could not prevail due to the light of the Resurrection. At the Easter Vigil this reality is pointed towards because the Mass begins in total darkness and from that darkness comes the light of a flame which spreads throughout the Church allowing light to triumph over the darkness. In Bethlehem our savior was born in the darkness of the night which signaled for us this great light that had entered into the world. From the Fall the world was cast into darkness, but from the coming of Christ the world would be restored to its proper light. It therefore is no mistake that Advent is celebrated at this time of the year because our days are short and the darkness comes early in the day, but with the coming of Christ we know that the light will overcome this darkness.
The season of Advent is about having Christian hope that no matter what is taking place in our life or world that it will be overcome by Christ's coming. No matter how difficult the burden that has been placed upon us in this life; it will be Christ who will come to take that yoke upon Himself. For many this time of year reflects a period of darkness possibly brought about from the loss of a loved one. We are reminded of Christmas memories long past and are forced to face the reality that comes with change. This is tough, but again it is Christ who testifies to the light and thus it is He alone who can heal us from the pain that we feel in our heart. We can attempt to fill that which is dark with many things, but that will never bring about true light. We must have a candle or a light in order to reverse the darkness. Christ is that great light that desires to come and set straight our path towards Him.
Therefore this third Sunday of Advent is often referred to as Guadete Sunday which is a Latin word for "rejoice." We are to "rejoice always" because this Sunday serves as a reminder that He is coming soon. As we have now moved throughout this Advent season for these past couple of weeks we are to see that the end is in sight. With this end in sight we are given small glimpses into what is to come with the joy of Christ's coming. The penitential character of the Advent season is relaxed on this day in order that we may rejoice with the reality of the coming of that great light into a world that has been touched by darkness. Through these relaxations we are able to see glimpses into what is to come with Christ's coming. For example flowers are not to be used throughout the Advent season, but today we are able to use a few flowers to decorate which shows how life springs up from that which has been left barren.
May we rejoice always because that which has been left barren will be restored to life by the coming light that is Christ. As we continue to move towards this light our parish will offer the perfect opportunity to enter into Christmas joy. This opportunity is our parish penance service in which nine priests will be present to hear confessions and thus to absolve sin. A lot of darkness and barrenness is found through the sins that we hold onto, but through confession our soul can be brought towards light and can be restored to life. We are not the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and so I must ask why we allow the devil to so often fool us into believing that we are like the Blessed Mother and thus without sin. Each of us sin and enter into the darkness of it, but we do not have to be mastered by it because God desires to wrap us "with a robe of salvation" through the Sacrament of Confession. If we believe we have the right to receive Christ present in Holy Communion this day we should also realize that Confession is not just a suggestion for self help, but instead it is a must to be restored to the light of Christ.
Therefore I invite each of you to continue to rejoice at the Lord's coming. May we not be caught off guard by it, but instead be found ready by the setting straight of our path. It can seem like our life is too dark to bear at times, but again I invite you to continue to rejoice at the Lord's coming. That which is dark will be conquered by the light of Christ. The greatest place that darkness can be found is through our own sin because our sin is a rejection of God's love. We do not have to be content with this state in our life because the Sacrament of Confession heals the state of our soul; especially that which has been left for dead by the presence of mortal sin. I invite each of you to not run at the sight of the brightness that comes with Christ's coming, but instead to rejoice always in it as we head to Confession to be restored to the splendor of this light and are also given the grace to be protected from these temptations. May we indeed "rejoice always" as we continue to prepare for the coming light which will bring light into the darkness of our life.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Immaculate conception Homily

The preface that will be used at this Mass refers to the Blessed Mother as : "a model of holiness." This is a most important statement for us to understand because so many often claim that devotion to our Blessed Mother is not important. Others might claim that devotions such as the Rosary or even having Holy Days of Obligation set aside for our Blessed Mother takes away from devotion to Christ to whom all of our devotion should flow. It is sad to hear this because our Blessed Mother is most important throughout the plan of salvation history. It is sad to hear this because she never claims all of this devotion and honor for herself, but instead through our devotion to her we are raised into union with her Son, Jesus Christ. It is sad to hear this because after all she is a model for holiness. Devotion to her and to her Immaculate Heart will lead us towards holiness.
What took place in the Garden of Eden was our surrender to sin. From the actions of Adam and Eve each of us have in return been touched by Original Sin. From their actions the gates of Heaven were closed, but thankfully God's plan for salvation did not end here. Instead God took on human flesh in the Incarnation and as we now prepare during this Advent season came to dwell with each of us on Christmas Day. Thanks to the great gift that Christ would offer on our behalf upon the cross; the sin that entered into the world through Adam and Eve could not reign supreme. It was conquered by Christ's gift of Himself which should in return make us realize that any sin that is present in our life cannot reign supreme because Christ has already ushered His mercy and forgiveness into a world that has been touched by sin. This is the story of salvation history and therefore we must realize the important role that the Immaculate Conception plays in all of this.
The Immaculate Conception means that Mary was conceived free from the state of sin, this includes original sin. This is important because if she was stained by the state of sin even original sin; Christ would of entered into the world through an impure vessel and thus He to would of taken on the state of sin. The Immaculate Conception was not brought about due to any merit on the behalf of Mary, but instead this was an action that God made on her behalf. It is through the work of God that Mary was conceived free from the state of sin because she was chosen among all women to be the pure vessel that would bring Christ into this world. Thus she is known as the Godbearer; not because she created God in the first person of the Trinity, but instead because she gave birth to Christ who is God made man. Therefore her "yes" to the angel Gabriel is most important because it resounds down to all generations our salvation and points out towards us a path which leads towards holiness.
We know that our own life and that which we see played out around us is far from being the perfect realization of the Kingdom of God. Sin exists and it is real. The greatest lie that the devil can ever lead us to believe is that he is not real because when we become confused on this fact we become confused on the existence of sin. When we become confused on sin's existence we fall into it to the point where we lose hope that we can ever crawl back out of it. Through the reality of the Fall we encounter so many pressures in our daily life. Nevertheless, may we not lose the hope of God's coming Kingdom which has been won for us through the cross. It is from the cross that Jesus Christ now reigns victorious as the new Adam and it is from Her "yes" that Mary now reigns victorious as the new Eve. Sin and death have been conquered and now we are left to look towards the Kingdom of Heaven which has been opened to us.
May we look towards our Blessed Mother this day for she is the new Eve. She desires to lead us along a path towards holiness which will ultimately lead us to encounter her Son, Jesus Christ. Devotion to our Blessed Mother is most important because it elevates our ability to love towards God. In all things may God be glorified and may we carry out this task through our Blessed Mother and her Immaculate Heart. May we truly allow her to be "a model for holiness" in all that we carry out in our daily life.   

Sunday, December 7, 2014

2nd Sunday of Advent Year B Homily

Deserts are known as being vast and barren places. When one looks out into a desert they usually do not see any vegetation, but instead only the sand that lays below. Deserts are known for being hot and for the fact that they usually do not get any rain which leads to this lack of vegetation that is found there. For these reasons deserts are not usually associated with life. They instead are associated with this barrenness that has overtaken that particular part of the world. In today's Gospel we encounter Saint John the Baptist, who came to the desert to preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. In other words he came into the lives of those who were barren to bring the message of new life into their hearts and souls.
Pope Benedict XVI instructs us concerning this passage: “Through the Gospel John the Baptist continues to speak down the centuries to each generation. His hard clear words bring health to us, the men and women of this day in which even the experience and perception of Christmas often, unfortunately, reflects materialist attitudes. The 'voice' of the great prophet asks us to prepare the way for the coming Lord in the deserts of today, internal and external deserts, thirsting for the water of life which is Christ."
This is what is at the heart of the Advent season of which we find ourself currently in the midst of the second week of. Advent is not about arriving at Christmas as if we were left barren and lacking the water of life that flows to us from Christ. Instead Advent is about discovering this water of life and inviting it to further penetrate into our own life. In this manner we will not arrive at Christmas as if we were left barren and dead in our faith, but instead we will arrive there alive and well. If we waste away the days that are left inside of this season, as if they were only mundane days, we can never expect to discover this change in our life. Saint John the Baptist did not come onto the scene telling people to take their time to convert to Christ, but instead he preached to them a message of great urgency. This message that Saint John the Baptist has extended to us today is indeed a very urgent message. May we heed his words in order that new life may indeed come into all the barren places that currently exist in our life.
Therefore today we should ask ourself where it is that our life has become a vast and barren desert that is in need of the water of life that only Christ can usher into our life. Maybe we realize that our practice of faith has grown stale over the years to where in all truth it is currently found dead. Possibly, our life is filled with so many distractions ranging from television, games, or the internet to the point where we never actually, if we are honest with ourself, make TIME for prayer. If we do not make prayer a priority in our life we cannot claim that we are found alive in our practice of faith because in all actually we are dead. As Catholics we must also ask what role the Holy Eucharist plays in our life. So many come forward to receive our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, but do not take the time to fathom the great fact that they are not receiving a symbol, but instead God Himself found in this most wondrous Sacrament. The Eucharist is the well spring of life and therefore we should center our life around it instead of around the many distractions that exist inside of the world that ultimately leave us barren.
May Advent not become just another day and season for us. Instead may we see our life that has grown vast and barren, and present what is found here to Christ who is the author of all life. Through our merits the vastness of a desert can never be healed, but through the grace that is freely given from God this can and will be conquered. May we never lost hope or allow ourself to grow tired in our practice of faith. Indeed the path that leads us towards Bethlehem is vast and long, but so to was the path that led our Lord towards Calvary. It is important that we endure these paths because they both lead us towards discovering Christ for who He truly is. Both of these paths do not leave us to be found barren and dead, but instead they usher us into the true meaning of life that is free from all the distractions that impede us from our relationship with Christ. Therefore today may we make straight the path for the Lord instead of so often following those paths that ultimately leave us lost, barren, and dead in our practice of faith.