16th Sun of Ordinary Time Year B Homily

There are many shepherds who have been entrusted to care for our wellbeing. It is their job to keep us on track, to care for the wellbeing of our soul, and thus to provide us with the Sacraments that have been extended to us from Christ. Each Eucharistic Prayer points out the shepherds who have been entrusted to us and thus how through them the unity of faith is being expressed and preserved. From the Roman Canon we hear: "We offer you firstly for your holy catholic Church. Be pleased to grant her peace, to guard, unite and govern her, throughout the whole world, together with your servant Francis our Pope and Richard our Bishop, and all those who, holding to the truth, hand on the catholic and apostolic faith."

As Catholics we cannot allow ourself to take on a Congregationalist attitude. Congregationalism is defined as: "A system of organization among Christian churches whereby local churches are largely self governing." We are not just Saint Mary's Church located in Oak Ridge, TN. We do not just exist in our own little bubble to live out our existence taking on whatever direction that we may desire. Again, we have many shepherds who have been entrusted to us and they are to provide for our wellbeing, they are to teach and instruct in order to keep us unified in our faith, and they are to care for our soul by providing us with the sacraments. Our shepherds see us tired and afraid and desire to point us towards the comfort and the rest that I is contained with Christ.

Unity of faith is contained in the Eucharist and wherever the Eucharist cannot be found there in return cannot be perfect unity. We are unified in our faith through the Eucharist. Thus Pope Francis preserves this unity, thus Bishop Stika preserves this unity, and thus Father Shelton as your pastor preserves this unity. We as Saint Mary's Church in Oak Ridge preserve this unity because we are a parish of the Diocese of Knoxville which exists in union with the pope of Rome. Therefore we cannot develop our own agenda that separates us from this reality. This parish community may have many unique ministries, but nevertheless these ministries must be concerned with preserving the unity of faith that is expressed within the Eucharist.

We must therefore take the words of the Prophet Jeremiah to heart. It was his concern that people not be scattered about in their faith, but instead that they be united in their faith through the use of a shepherd who would lead them. Christ takes up this same pastoral concern in our Gospel when He noticed those who were found to be tired and left without hope because He desired to instruct and lead them as a loving shepherd. We grow tired, alone, and afraid so often, but it is Christ who desires that we not remain lost. For this reason He has left shepherds to watch over us and to provide us with the proper direction that will lead us to encounter Him. In our participation within the unity of faith that is encountered through the Eucharist we are lead forth by our shepherds to encounter a better way of life then what could ever be discovered without Christ.

At the same time we must see the need to become shepherds ourself who are willing to be sent out from here to assist others in coming to discover the unity of faith that we share. We must be like Saint Paul who not only realized the need to reach out to those who were near the faith, but to also be willing to bring that same peace to those who are far off from the faith. One interesting fact concerning a pastor is that he been entrusted to be the shepherd of each soul who is found in his parish's territory. That means that he is not only the pastor of each Catholic who lives in this area, but he is also the pastor of each and every single person in his territory who does not practice the Catholic faith. May we assist our pastor by taking the unity of faith that we discover here and thus faithfully live it out each day helping to evangelize others to participate in this same unity of faith that is found through the use of our shepherds. We are not cast off to be found tired and afraid, but instead Christ who is our loving shepherd who guides us towards true happiness that cannot be found wherever division is present.  

15th Sunday of OT Year B Homily

If we want to transform the world we must be willing to take our faith to heart. Our faith in Christ cannot just remain words which are found to be without meaning, but instead this faith must seep into our very heart thus transforming us into becoming true disciples of the Lord. At Mass we are given the invitation to go in peace from this Church thus taking with us the Eucharist that we have received into the world. We therefore cannot live a double life where Church and God dwells here, but outside of these walls we give into immoral actions that always cause scandal to our faith. How can we draw souls be they family, friends, or just random people into the life of faith if we in return have divorced our daily life from Christ who is present with us in the Eucharist?

Christ sent out His apostles to speak a message of repentance to those whom they encountered. It was their mission to be sent forth from the presence of Christ and in return to draw other souls to encounter this same life giving love. It would have been an impossibility to preach this message of repentance if they did not first come to accept this same message of repentance into their own life. We also realize that they were not sent forth to force people into the life of faith, but instead to invite them into the life of faith. If they were rejected they were not to lose hope and throw a fit, but instead they were to leave and shake the dust off their feet in testimony against them. Some will not want to prevail themselves to the message of faith at this moment, but the least that we can do is pray for them and maybe through our interaction with them we have planted a small seed that in time will grow into a large tree.

I think each of us should ask what ways we have failed to draw souls to encounter Christ. We should question what ways we have failed to heed to the same message of repentance that we have received from Christ to bring out into the world. We should imagine what ways the scandal that we have caused have led other souls into the occasion of sin and thus have pushed these souls away from ever coming to know Christ and to give themselves entirely to Him and to His Church. Without complete faith and trust in Christ the apostles could of worked no great works among the people, but instead they allowed Christ to be the one who would work through them to assist others in coming to know the presence of Christ and the wonders contained in His infinite mercy.

One cartoon that I see from time to time points towards the truth of the public scandal that we can cause. In it the priest is hearing a confession of one of the faithful who is kneeling in the Confessional. The penitent gives the usual introduction: "Father forgive me for I have sinned." The priest sitting on the other side of the divider is found looking at the person's Facebook account and responds: "I already know." To think of all the people who may have encountered such posts. I would say that what they saw did not take them to Christ nor to the message of repentance that the apostles were asked to take into the world. How often do we partake in gossip, the use of offensive langue; especially the taking of the Lord's name in vain, dressing immodestly, drinking to excess, and partaking in jokes that are crude in humor. These actions not only effect us, but they effect all those who surround us, and detract us from leading all souls to encounter the greatest joy that can be found; the joy of loving and serving Christ.

May we be sent out from this Church to become true witnesses to what we have discovered here. May we realize that Christ dwells with us, He desires that we receive Him into our life, and He desires that we be sent out into the world to win as many souls as possible for His Most Holy Name. May our heart be set on fire with love for Christ. May this fire be so great that nothing will get in the way of our relationship with Christ thus drawing with us other souls to this great font of love. Christ does not only belong here is this place, but we, like the apostles, must be willing to bring Him into the world by the way we live out our life. May we become the light that shines to the world which is the great love of Christ and thus in return make nothing but Him and His Most Holy Name manifest to the world.  

14th Sunday of OT Year B Homily

The road towards Christ is never easy. We can never allow ourself to be fooled into thinking that it is. If we are fooled into thinking that this path is an easy one to follow; we in time will give up hope when we realize that this reality is not so. Saint Paul delivers this reality to us because he points towards a weakness that is present in his life, he mentions how much he prayed for this weakness to pass away, and yet he tells us that this burden was not lifted as easily as he had originally hoped. Instead he had to find solace in the words of Christ: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness."

We live in a world that refuses to find solace in these words of our Lord. We want our burden to be lifted easily and want to avoid the pains of conversion at all costs. When a fix does not come easily we lose faith and move onto some other means with the hope that it will lead towards our healing. We are led by the tides of relativism to be led astray into accepting any sinful action as being ordered towards good because we refuse to see the importance of Christ's sacrificial offering of love as it is presented upon the cross. Despite all of this our Lord calls out to us like He did Saint Paul: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness."

Some might claim that these words are not pastoral enough because it would have been easier for Saint Paul to hear something that would not lead him towards encountering conversion. It would of been easier to hear something similar to "your weakness is not a big deal thus head into the world and live as you wish." These are the words in which Saint Paul had hoped that he would hear, but Christ instead wanted to embrace this weakness in order to truly allow him to grow in his faith for God. From embracing this weakness he was given the strength to tame it; not through his own merit, but through the grace that was offered to him through Christ. This grace was enough to sustain him in his need and thus to teach him to grow in his love for God. We can therefore claim that these words of Christ are words given through an authentic understanding of the true meaning of love.

The Church in her infinite wisdom must continue to speak out to this world and help to reorient it back towards God no matter how hard that path that is set before us may be. The path towards God may be hard, but the Church always directs souls along this path with true pastoral charity. Issues that plague our modern world are abundant and range from the many crosses that people must bare for one reason or another. It would be easiest to toss out the cross in all of its weight, but it is the job of the Church to reecho the words of Christ back to us: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness."

May we join ourself to Saint Paul who exclaimed loudly from his weakness: "Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ, for when I am weak, then I am strong." For those who are forced to bear an abundant cross never despair that God loves you any less, but instead has left you with a great gift to make you strong. I realize that there are people here who still struggle from the sadness of divorce, I realize that there are some who probably live with each other outside of marriage, I realize that some have married outside of the Church, I realize that there are some who are tempted to the use of contraception, I realize that some may struggle with same sex attraction, and this list goes on and on. Realize that Christ nor the Church loves you any less, but instead cries out to you to not give into the ways of the world.

Love is not allowing people to destroy their relationship with God. Love is coming to embrace the cross and thus coming to realize that the bond of marriage is life long and thus if the relationship ends the bond remains, love is to realize that just because we have a sexual urge does not mean that we have to give into it when we have yet to be united in marriage, love is respect for each other's body and thus that communication and respect is necessary in order to enter into the marital embrace, love is creative because through it two join together in order to become one flesh which as a result brings forth new life, and love is despite our sexual attraction coming to master over our sexual urges. One can have same sex attraction and remain Catholic and in the state of grace, but this individual like all of us must embrace the love that is poured out from the cross. The cross calls them, like the divorced, or the unmarried to find the value that lies in chastity. Christ is assuring us no matter what cross we must bear of His love and thus He continues to cry out to us all the more: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness."