Nativity of St. John the Baptist Homily

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. This celebration is so important that it allows us to take a pause from our normal observance of this Sunday within Ordinary Time. Saint John is most important for he is known as the last and greatest prophet of the Old Testament. He serves as the bridge to the coming of the Messiah and thus now goes out before Him in order to prepare the way for the Lord.

Within the Church calendar there are only three whose births we celebrate. That of Christ on December 25th, that of Saint Mary on September 8th, and that of Saint John on June 24th which happens to be today. In each of these accounts an angel came to reveal the importance of the birth which would soon take place. An angel came to Joachim and Anne to reveal the birth of Mary. An angel came to Joseph and Mary to reveal the birth of Jesus. An angel came to reveal to Zechariah the birth of John. Through these three births which we celebrate upon our liturgical calendar we see the importance that angels played in setting forth God’s plan of salvation for us. This plan which culminates with the birth of the Messiah which we are hopefully prepared to encounter.

This celebration of John’s nativity helps us realize that he set out as a voice in the midst of the wilderness to prepare the way for the Lord. He prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah who as revealed to us by the Gospel of Saint John is the Word who was found in the beginning. It became John the Baptist’s mission to help others in opening up their heart to hear this Word which has finally come to take on our human flesh and dwell among us. 

He is revealed to us to wear sackcloth and ashes as a reminder of the importance that repentance plays in opening up one’s heart to become receptive of the Lord’s coming. His famous words should echo from our heart: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” These words are summed up in the placement of this day for on June 24th, the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, the days begin to grow shorter while beginning December 25th, the birth of Christ, the days begins to grow longer.

Let us heed the voice of John the Baptist and allow our heart to become receptive of the Word made Flesh. Let us remember the importance of repentance and how it helps to purify our heart and soul in order that we may be found receptive of this Word. Through our pride we prefer to increase within this world, but rather may we reach out to Christ in humility in order that we may decrease in order to allow Him to increase within us.

Therefore, my sisters and brothers in Christ we must be truthful with ourself when we ponder this statement. So often we become petty with our time and desires. The voice of Saint John the Baptist calls out to us from the wilderness and invites us to let go of the frivolous for the sake of the Gospel. To let go of the frivolous is to embrace the cross and from the embrace of the cross to be set free to love and serve the Lord our God. In these days which lie ahead let us ponder the ways that we must decrease in order that Christ may be the one who increases within us.

11th Sunday of OT Year B Homily

Our Epistle challenges us to know our destination and to strive to get there. Hopefully we can all agree that our ultimate destination is Heaven and union with God. How we get there plays out differently for each of us depending upon our God given vocation and our state in life.

No matter the length of one’s life or the lack thereof our destination should be Heaven. No matter the riches that we amass or the lack thereof our destination should be Heaven. No matter the titles that we procure or the lack thereof our destination should be Heaven. In this final goal we should all be equal.

It is easy for us to believe that life on this earth is long and thus we will be given many years to get it together. As life trudges on one eventually sees the possibility that the end is in sight. No matter how old that you may be remember that your destination should be Heaven. Our time on this earth is truly unknown to us and in all actuality it is so short. As Saint Paul’s states in his Epistle: “Although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord” and “we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.”

If our ultimate destination is to be Heaven we must listen to the words of Saint Paul and be courageous. We must come to “walk by faith, not by sight.” What we do in the here and the now effects us for all eternity. Therefore, we must be courageous in the midst of a world which can be hostile to faith. Therefore, we must be courageous in a world which is so often moved by sight and not by faith.

We must be courageous and not fall into the lie that we cannot follow after God and strive for Heaven because we are not good enough, holy enough, smart enough, pure enough, or whatever the excuse may be. We must realize that like the parable found in our Gospel that from the smallest of seeds springs forth “the largest of plants and puts forth large branches.”

If we are to sprout these branches we must come to embrace God who loves us dearly and become accepting of the gift of His grace. Grace which is poured out to us in so many ways, but especially within the Sacraments. To fathom that from the Eucharist we receive Christ Himself into our life. If we invite such a wondrous gift as Christ into our life then why would we not be courageous in the midst of the adversity of everyday life?

Saint Paul reminds us that “we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.” Our ultimate destination should be Heaven, but we cannot forget that Hell is a possibility. If we are courageous, embrace our faith, become accepting of God’s grace, frequent the Sacraments, enter into the silence of prayer, make use of sacramentals, study scripture, turn towards our Blessed Mother and all the angels and saints we will have nothing to fear for we will come to love and serve the Most Holy Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit with our whole heart and soul and thus strive for our ultimate destination of Heaven.

10th Sunday of OT Year B Homily

Our Gospel presents us with some pretty heavy words. “Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin."

Now the question becomes what is this sin made against the Holy Spirit and can this sin actually apply to us who have been baptized. The answer to this question is “yes” it is possible that we commit this unforgivable sin and thus we should hold it as being most serious.

Thomas Aquinas lists six sins which are made against the Holy Spirit. These sins are (1) final impenitence, (2) presumption, (3) despair, (4) resisting the known truth, (5) envy of another’s spiritual good, and (6) obstinacy in sin.

To put it simply “final impenitence” is when someone refuses to accept forgiveness and mercy for the sins which they have committed. In other words they fail to allow the Holy Spirit to enter into their life in order that they may be freed from the bondage of sin. “Presumption” is the opposite for this sin acknowledges the mercy of God and thus they go onto sin deliberately. They presume that God will be merciful even though they have no intention to reform their life to this abundant font of mercy.

We live in the midst of a world which likes to reject truth. The scriptures testify time and time again to the truth which the Holy Spirit brings into the world, but so often we fail to form our consciences after truth and when we are presented with a truth which is incompatible with our passions we so easily reject it. To reject the truth is to reject Christ and thus is to reject the Holy Spirit who is the bringer of all truth. This leads us to “obstinacy in sin” where one fails to humbly admit that they are wrong and are in need of repentance.

As our verse to the Responsorial Psalm states: “With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.” This is precisely why we cannot give into despair. The Lord is merciful with us if we do indeed want His mercy. We cannot go to confession and walk out being afraid of the Lord’s mercy. Through a good confession of one’s sins we are indeed forgiven and God remembers nothing concerning our past sin.

Our first reading took us to Genesis where we were faced with original sin itself. Here God called Adam and Eve to make a confession of their sins, but they were unable to do so. Instead of confessing what they had done they simply pointed their finger at everything, but them self. How would the story of been different if they would of simply confessed what they had done?

This answer we will never know, but we do know that Christ’s mercy abounds in the sacrament of Confession. In the words of the Gospel of Saint John: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” May we make use of this sacrament of the Lord’s mercy and not run from it. As the Catechism states in paragraph 982: “Christ who died for all men desires that in his Church the gates of forgiveness should always be open to anyone who turns away from sin.”

Corpus Christi Procession Homily

Our life takes many twists and turns, but hopefully we dare to follow where Christ now leads. The Israelites were found in slavery and they were willing to follow God towards their freedom. The apostles left behind the assurances of their daily life and were willing to follow after Christ who had called each of them by name. The early Church is made up of martyrs who were willing to lay down their life as they set out to follow after Christ.

Today we will have a Eucharistic Procession which will serve as a reminder of Christ’s invitation for us to to come and follow after Him. We believe and profess Christ to present with us in the Eucharist and thus to receive Him in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar is to be willing to follow where He now leads no matter the struggle or the joy which we might encounter. This day as we come to celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ may we come to grow in our love for the Eucharist and from this devotion be willing to be sent forth as true disciples of the Lord who are willing to bring Christ into the world.

Corpus Christi Homily Year B

Lately there has been a lot of talk at this parish concerning how we can bring about renewal.  Renewal cannot be fostered through our merits alone because if that be the case it will not stand the test of time. True renewal can only be brought about if we are willing to allow the Lord into our life in order that He may be the one who transforms us. From this encounter we are sent forth as true disciples of the Lord who authentically led others to encounter Christ and His Church on this earth.

If we recall it was God who led the Israelites out of their slavery through the use of Moses. Thankfully they were willing to follow where He had led. At times this procession towards the Promised Land proved to be most difficult for them. Unfortunately some even became lost on their way and turned inwardly due to their lack of trust in God. From their grumbles of being hungry, tired, and afraid mana poured down upon them and they were given food for this journey that they had to undertake.

In the Church we have the most beautiful of gifts found within the Eucharist. To fathom that unto the altar of God we are invited to receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ our Lord as is veiled under the appearances of bread and wine. Transformation should be found here because Christ comes into our life in order to sustain and lead us. Despite this great gift, so many take it for granted and in their mind may even lower it to being mere bread and wine.

If there is to be true renewal in this parish community the answer does not lie in some innovation for the sake of innovation, but rather lies in true devotion to the Eucharist. The early Church had it most difficult and yet from this small group of people spread the fullness of faith throughout the earth. People were not willing to lay down their life for an innovation, but rather for Christ. They received their strength from Christ present in the Eucharist and allowed the Lord to be the one who led them out into the world.

This same Jesus continues to prevail Himself to us in the Eucharist in order that He may be the one who leads us out into the world. Despite this great gift we so often look past what we are being given and allow ourself to be focused upon something else. Thus the church ceases to be a place of silence and prayer because we forget that we are in the presence of the Eucharist. Thus despite the disposition of our soul we come forward to receive communion because everyone else is doing it. Thus we fail to take time to pray before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament for our life is too busy with other functions.

Rather let us be led onto the Altar of God and there come to give ourself unto our Lord. Let us be nourished by Christ’s Body and Blood and from this encounter be set aflame with Christ. If we can allow this to be made true within us we will not need any innovations and gimmicks, but instead all will come to encounter Christ through us. We will become welcoming of others because of Christ. We will become evangelists of the Gospel because of Christ. People will be drawn not to us, but to Christ.

Therefore we should strive to become a Eucharistic people who have been transformed by the gift which is Christ present with us in the Most Holy Eucharist.