30th Sunday of OT Year A Homily

Saint Paul instructs in his Epistle to the Thessalonians that they have: “became a model for all the believers.”

For us we must ask ourself who has been the many models present within our life. Hopefully among them we can call to mind many people who have influenced our life of faith. For the married couples in our midst to reflect upon which married couples in their life have influenced their desire to enter into marriage and to live it faithfully. Who are the holy people in our life who have modeled to us the spirit of prayer and have thus directed our hearts and minds to being open to the teachings of the Gospel? Concerning this reality parents are the primary teachers of the home hold great influence and thus they must be willing to be models of the faith to their children.

One tradition for a priest on the day of his ordination is to take a special cloth to wipe the oils off from his hands. This special cloth is then presented to his mother and once she passes from her earthly life this cloth is to be placed in her hands. Thus when she gets to Heaven it will be asked of her what she has accomplished and she is to present that cloth to state that she is a mother of a priest. Parents thus have a great influence over the life of faith of their children. They must thus become models of the faith to them. If we are to have good and holy priests, good and holy members of religious orders, and good and holy marriages this loving reality must be modeled by their parents.

On Wednesday we will come to celebrate special models of our faith. It is on this day that we will come to celebrate All Saint’s Day which calls to mind the model of the saints. Thus which saints have we developed devotion towards within our life? The saints have influenced the life of so many people and thus through an encounter with them so many hearts and minds have been opened to the teachings of the Gospel. We must allow the saints to become models of our life inspiring us towards Heaven.

For us we too must realize the effect that we have upon other people. We must realize that each of us have been called to become a model for all believers. 

To accomplish this task one must embrace their vocation in life. Thus if they have entered into the Sacrament of Matrimony they must take it upon their self to live it faithfully and to mentor young couples in order that they too may strive to live out a good and holy marriage. We must realize that we are called to be models to all believers and so we have the ability to influence so many souls that their hearts and minds to be open wide to the teachings of the Gospel. Parents must desire to become models of the faith to their children and thus bring them to Mass, show them appreciation for the Sacraments and scripture, and thus mold them into good disciples of the Lord. May we thus take this task upon ourself and become a true model for all believers.

29th Sunday of OT Year A Homily

Preaching on areas of morality is often difficult. With the topic which is chosen the priest is accused of being too political. Therefore if he decides to preach on abortion he is accused of being a Republican. If he preaches on the need take care of our environment he must be a democrat. If he preaches on the permanence of marriage as a bond which is entered into between a man and a woman which must be protected at all costs he is again a Republican. If he preaches on our need to have concern for the illegal alien among us he must again be a Democrat. And this list goes on and on.

In our Gospel we were instructed: “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

Archbishop Chaput writes: “The Church claims no right to dominate the secular realm. But she has every right- in fact an obligation- to engage secular authority and to challenge those wielding it to live the demands of justice. In this sense, the Catholic Church cannot stay, has never stayed, and never will stay out of politics.”

Again there are people who see a separation of their faith from politics. There are people who subscribe to a political party and accept all of its tenets even if they are incompatible with not only our faith, but also natural law. We must remember that a coin has two sides which are distinct from one another and yet they are still one coin.

We are bound to follow the laws of the state which are found to be just. We are bound to do our civil duty in order to support the wellbeing of our nation. At the same time we are bound to practice our faith. At times the direction of the political life is contrary to our faith and thus the moral life. It is at these moments that we must have concern and cry out in rejection of such injustices be they against life, the family, the environment, the poor, and this list goes on and on.

No matter the political party that one subscribes too we must realize that our faith does not perfectly fall into any political party. For this reason we must place the values of our faith before a political principle. The faith in which we live is not a division between what want to accept and what we want to reject, but rather it is an acceptance of the whole.

When one comes forward to receive our Blessed Lord in Holy Communion it is an acceptance of the the whole of our faith not just a percentage of it.

Let us thus have concern for the wellbeing of our nation and our world. May we remember the importance to pray for our political leaders be they local, the state, or even the president himself. If we like them or not they are still in need of our prayers. Let us find ways to get involved in areas of social justice as a whole in order that we may support the tenets of our faith and thus make sure that the intrinsic needs of all people are being met. Truly let us be disciples of the Lord who have been sent into the Harvest of the Lord to spread the Good News of the Gospel

28th Sunday of OT Year A Homily

Today the Book of Isaiah gives us a very important prophecy which has been fulfilled through Christ.

From it we heard: “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples.” “On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples.”

So where is this mountain which is being spoken of within the Book of Isaiah and how has all of this been fulfilled through Christ?

The Book of Daniel helps to shed some light on this question with a dream which presents us with a giant statue. This statue was representative of four kingdoms, but a stone broke off from a mountain and smashed this statue. Thus this stone becomes a great mountain and is seen as a foreshadowing of Christ who comes to provide for His Church.

Our Gospel presents us with a parable which is being used to teach us about the wedding feast of the Lord. Some would refer to this as the Supper of the Lamb. Christ provides for His people here, for from this banquet He nourishes us with His Body and His Blood.

Christ, therefore, becomes this great mountain which was spoken of in the Book of Isaiah. From this mountain the Lord of hosts provides for all peoples. On this mountain he destroys the veil that veils all peoples.

In our Responsorial Psalm we are told about a loving Shepherd who provides for the needs of his sheep. Therefore he leads his sheep to verdant pastures, restful waters, and keep them safe in the midst of danger. This is precisely how Christ provides for each of us upon this mountain. From the verdant pasture which is His Body we are nourished, from the restful waters of His Blood our thirst is quenched, and fidelity to Him gives us courage in the midst of any danger which we might have to face.

Hopefully we realize the importance of this wedding feast. We have been invited to attend it, but we sometimes come up with excuses to why this is an impossibility. What we do here is a foreshadowing of what we will do for all eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven. 

With this in mind we must place this relationship with Christ first in our life and let everything that we do on this earth flow from this relationship. We must realize that the Mass transcends time and place and thus it gives us fuel to live our life of faith. May we realize that we too are called to go out and to invite others to this feast.

To invite them if they are lax Catholics who are hit and miss in their practice of faith, Catholics who have fallen away from their practice of faith, the unchurched who don’t practice any sort of religion, and even those of other faiths.

Truly from this mountain the Lord provides for all peoples. May we thus allow ourself to be open wide to receive such a gift as we invite other to receive such a gift for themselves.

27th Sunday of OT Year A Homily

This parable directs our attention towards the Passion of our Lord. In it we heard that “they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him.”

It is on Palm Sunday as well as Good Friday when our Gospel reading is taken from an account of our Lord’s Passion. The option which is most often used is the one in which the people get to take part within the reading. Thus the priest reads the words of Christ, there is a narrator of the text, a voice which is used for the various figures, and finally the people who join together in one voice. 

The most striking of these responses which is given by the people is “crucify Him.” They not only cry this out on one occasion, but continue to cry it out all the louder: “Crucify Him. Crucify Him.”

These words are not just the voice of a certain people at the given time of our Lord’s Passion. Rather these words continue to ring true for us in this day and age. These words serve as a reminder of our rejection of Him through our participation in sin where these words take on meaning within our own life.

Saint Gianna Molla stated: “If one were to consider how much Jesus has suffered, one would not commit the smallest sin.” 

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 598: 

“We must regard as guilty all those who continue to relapse into their sins. Since our sins made the Lord Christ suffer the torment of the cross, those who plunge themselves into disorders and crimes crucify the Son of God anew in their hearts (for he is in them) and hold him up to contempt. We, profess to know him. And when we deny him by our deeds, we in some way seem to lay violent hands on him.³⁹¹

Nor did demons crucify him; it is you who have crucified him and crucify him still, when you delight in your vices and sins.^392”

It is us who shout out “crucify Him” as we turn away from God through our participation in sin. Society accepts the killing of the unborn and thus we cry out “crucify him.” Through senseless acts of violence such as those seen in Las Vegas these words are uttered, “crucify him.” “Crucify him” is repeated as society continues to embrace the breakdown of the family and those so many souls are pulled away from the Gospel.

In our own life we shout out “crucify him” as we participate in our sin. Sin is our rejection of Christ and thus our demand that he go on to be crucified. To fathom the role that we play in the death of our Lord and yet we avoid the Sacrament of Confession which brings healing unto our soul. By rejecting the healing mercy of this sacrament we cry out “crucify him” as we proclaim that we want nothing to do with his healing mercy as we persevere in the death of sin.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen stated: “I wonder if our Lord suffers more from our indifference than he did from the Crucifixion.”

Let us therefore allow nothing to destroy the fruit that we have been called upon to bring into the world. May we not be indifferent to the Gospel message, but truly fall in love with Christ. Let us not reject Him and putting Him to death through our actions, but rather may we come to embrace Him by how we live out our life on this earth in service to the Gospel.

External Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary Homily

The Church devotes the month of October to the Most Holy Rosary. Thus as we embark upon this month we do so by celebrating the external feast of the Most Holy Rosary.

The Feast of the Most Holy Rosary takes us back to the Battle of Lepanto and thus the victory which was won there over the Turks. This victory was attributed by Pope Pius V to be due to the praying of the Most Holy Rosary.

The prayers of the rosary are most important for through them we repeat the words of the Angel Gabriel when he appeared unto Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” Through the rosary we are able to mediate upon the life, death, and resurrection of Christ our Lord. The rosary is a most beautiful prayer because through it we have the opportunity to honor our Blessed Mother as we continue to dwell with her Son.

Throughout scripture it is often said concerning Mary: “That she pondered these things in her heart.” Thus through the rosary we have ability to join with her as we ponder the reality of Christ’s love made manifest for us.

Recently in Poland the faithful were asked by their bishops to join in praying the rosary. They are asked to line the borders of their country to commemorate the celebration of this Feast of the Most Holy Rosary. In doing so they will petition that their country may always be protected under her maternal care.

Let us reflect upon our world and the nation in which we live. Let us reflect upon those who have lost sight of their faith. We must now turn towards the rosary and be willing to make time for its use not only in our life, but also in the life of the family. I encounter so many children who don’t know the “Hail Mary” which probably a reflection of the fact that their family makes no time to pray the rosary together.

On the 13th of this month we will come to the conclusion of Fatima. It was the message of Fatima which was given to those three shepherd children and thus to the whole world that we may pray the rosary and yet we have not heeded this request.

May we truly take to heart these words of our Blessed Mother and thus begin to foster true devotion to the rosary within our life. May our Lady of the Rosary intercede for us and for the whole world that we may always come to honor her Son as we live our life to the praise and honor of His Most Holy Name.