OLOF Men’s Evening of Recollection Sermon III: Work

Tomorrow we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker.

Concerning work St. Josemaria Escriva stated: “Work is man’s original vocation. It is a blessing from God, and those who consider it a punishment are sadly mistaken. The Lord, who is the best of fathers, placed the first man in Paradise ut operaretur, so that he would work.”

Many of us hold jobs which provide for one’s needs and the need’s of one’s own family. It is easy to get caught up in work and to use it as an excuse to why we have no time for prayer. The phrase “ora et labora” “work and pray” is found within the Rule of Saint Benedict.

This phrase should make see the relationship that exists between work and prayer. The beauty of Opus Dei is that nothing new is being required of an individual, but rather they are to take up the Work of God in their daily life. In other words in the midst of our work, recreation, and time spent with family and friends we are to strive to be saints.

Saint Josemaria Escriva stated: “Before God, no occupation is in itself great or small. Everything gains the value of the Love with which it is done.” Going on with this idea he states “You cannot sanctify work which humanly speaking is slapdash, for we must not offer God badly-done jobs.”

Therefore, as men, let us come to sanctify our daily activities especially that of our labor. Let us begin to see our labor as an action of prayer. Always completing the tasks set before us to the best of our ability. Saint Joseph shows us the beauty of our labor for he took no task lightly. In the midst of the busyness of our work let us realize it’s connection to prayer. When is difficult come to “offer it up.” When there is a moment of silence allow your mind to be taken to the tabernacle to dwell their in prayer. Keep before a crucifix, rosary, and other religious images that your sight may always be set upon our Lord. 

As Saint Josemaria Escriva stated: “You tried to belittle somebody else’s work by mumbling: “He has only done his duty.” And I said, “Does that seem so little to you?” The Lord gives us the happiness of Heaven for doing our duty: Euge serve bone et fidelis... intra in gaudium Domini tui — Well done good and faithful servant, enter into eternal joy!”

Divine Mercy Prayer Service

3pm is known to us as the hour of mercy for this is the hour when Christ lowered His head and died upon the cross.

From the Diary of St. Faustina concerning this hour: “At three o'clock, implore My mercy, especially for sinners; and, if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself in My Passion, particularly in My abandonment at the moment of agony. This is the hour of great mercy ... In this hour I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion.“

Therefore, we gather together at this hour of mercy praying the Divine Mercy chaplet. Following this prayer service I will offer confessions to those who desire to partake of this Sacrament of our Father’s mercy. It is my fervent hope that all will make frequent use of this sacrament as they make frequent use of the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is God made Flesh and so we are very much in need of the Sacrament of Confession. From St. Faustina’s Diary we hear: “When you go to confession, to this fountain of mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul.” We must realize and trust that the Lord is merciful with us. There is nothing which the Lord cannot forgive and heal.

Today we partake in a celebration of the Father’s mercy. Let us be open to this mercy and let us desire to share this mercy with those whom we encounter.

Jesus I trust in you!

Divine Mercy 1st Communion Homily

Today is a most joyous occasion in the life of this parish community. We celebrate the final day in the Octave of Easter, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, and we celebrate the First Communion of these children.

The message of Divine Mercy was given to one Saint Faustina, but not everyone might know that her full religious name was Sister Maria Faustina of the Most Blessed Sacrament. It should be no secret from studying her diary that she was in love with Christ present with us in the Most Holy Eucharist.

Very soon these children of our parish will receive our Blessed Lord for the first time. They are filled with joy at such an encounter and rightly so. What we behold with our sight is bread and wine and yet the reality of what we receive is Christ who loves us dearly. This is a joy which should fill not only their heart, but out heart. Every time that we have the opportunity to receive Christ in the Eucharist should fill our heart with joy.

This is the same joy which Saint Thomas discovered when he reached out to feel the wounds of our Blessed Lord for himself. From this encounter he who struggled in belief came to believe. Hopefully we will allow ourself to join with Saint Thomas in coming to believe in this life changing reality that he discovered. 

In the Divine Mercy image we see these same wounds of our Blessed Lord that Saint Thomas reached out to touch. From the wound in His side springs forth blood and water which reminds us of the waters of baptism from, which we have been cleansed, and the Eucharist from which we are fed. His wounded hand is raised in the air in an action of blessing or the absolution of our sins. Truly, in this image of Divine Mercy we see the beauty of our faith and the love that Christ bestows upon each of us.

It is my hope that as we come to celebrate this First Communion Mass that all of us here will draw close to this same font of love which is being presented here. So many of our families live a life segregated from this reality. It is important that families come together to share the love of Christ. Therefore, confession is important. Your child cannot drive themself here to participate in this sacrament of love. Therefore, the Eucharist and Mass is important. Yet again your child cannot drive themself here. 

As Christian families we must become convinced of what Saint Thomas became convinced of when he reached out to feel those wounds of our Blessed Lord. We are doing a disservice to these children if we are not so convinced of Christ’s love that we desire to love Christ and to bring these children to the same love that we are convinced of. As a family come to know Christ through prayer, through time spent in the adoration chapel, through study of scripture, through frequenting confession, and through frequenting the Eucharist.

Today these children and all of us will encounter the joy of Christ present in the Most Holy Eucharist. This is the same joy which Saint Thomas and Saint Faustina were convinced of for they truly came to love Christ and desired to serve Him above all things. May we become convinced of this same joy and allow our life to became a manifestation of this reality.

Divine Mercy Sunday Year C Homily

Today we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday which brings about the conclusion of the Octave of Easter. Easter is about the Good News of our Lord’s Resurrection. Easter is about the reality that Christ triumphed over the tomb. From the reality of our Lord’s Resurrection slowly spreads an understanding of the fact that Christ has risen. Despite this fact the apostles and disciples of Christ still had a lot that they had to understand and believe in order for their faith to be perfected.

How many Easter seasons have we come to celebrate in our life? Not only this, but keep in mind that every time that we gather on a Sunday for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord. Despite this yearly and weekly encounter with our Risen Lord can we say that our faith has become perfected? To behold the Gospel message is not something which should come easily, but instead is something which we must persevere with no matter the cross or the joy that comes our way.

Some act as if the Gospel message comes easily, but that cannot be the case. After our celebration of Christmas we have a whole slew of feasts that remind us of this reality. From the joy of the birth of the Savior of the World we turn around and celebrate Saint Stephen who was the first martyr, we celebrate the Holy Innocents who were put to death out of fear for Christ, and we celebrate the martyr Saint Thomas of Canterbury. Even with our celebration of Easter we must continue to realize that the Gospel message does not come easily. Through the five wounds of our Lord we see this to be true.

It was only this past Sunday, Easter Sunday, that a horrific bombing took place in Sri Lanka which claimed over 250 lives. Many of them were gathered for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and came to worship the Risen Lord. In a striking image from this massacre we see a statue of Christ Resurrected which is splattered with the blood of these victims. What a striking reminder for us of the importance of the Gospel message.

In our Gospel Christ greets His disciples with these words, “Peace be with you.” So too Christ greets us with such words. In the midst of every cross, every burden, every struggle, every joy, every fear, He greets us in such a manner. As Saint Thomas placed his hands into the wounds of our Blessed Lord, so too may we come to believe and profess the Gospel unceasingly. At times this may be difficult, but we must realize that with God’s grace it is possible.

On this Divine Mercy Sunday we come to recognize this abundant font of love. We see it extended to us in the sacraments especially the Sacrament of Confession and see it made manifest in the Most Holy Eucharist. Too frequent the sacraments is to allow Christ into our life to become our strength and guide. So many attempt to to trudge through life’s difficulties alone, but we must allow ourself to walk with Christ. In this season of Easter Christ reminds His disciples of this, in return may we come to proclaim with the confidence of faith: “Jesus I trust in you.”

Easter Sunday Homily

Happy Easter!

Today we celebrate the fact that the Paschal lamb has been sacrificed, but He has also risen from the tomb which had claimed His mortal body. When Mary of Magdala called out to Peter and John they found there the burial cloths of our Blessed Lord cast to the side. Through this revelation they came to understand and believe that Christ our hope had arisen. In the words of the Sequence: “Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.”

Through our celebration of Easter we must come to discover this empty tomb for ourself. We must come to believe and profess that He has indeed arisen. We must strive for this “new life obtaining.” Following this homily we will have an opportunity to renew our baptismal vows. In doing so we profess that we have been baptized, we profess that we still embrace Christ, and we profess that we continue to reject our former way of life.

From Saint Paul’s Epistle we were instructed that we must “clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened.” This should take our mind back to the Israelites who were led out of the slavery that they had come to know within Egypt. Here they came to celebrate the Passover meal and they did so through the use of unleavened bread. This unleavened bread becomes a symbol for them of the fact that they had been claimed by God, that they had been led out of their slavery, and that they are now oriented towards the Promised Land.

Hopefully we can come to embrace this same understanding for ourself through Christ Jesus. We must continue to “clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened.” To “clear out the old yeast” is to stay close to Christ and to long for nothing over Him. To “clear out the old yeast” is to embrace the Church and the sacraments which are found here in. To “clear the out the old yeast” is to make this same life changing discovery that Mary Magdala, Peter, and John came to make through their encounter with the empty tomb.

Easter is this “new life obtaining” because it lifts us out of the sadness of death and sin and orients us towards life which is to come. Through this empty tomb we must discover the hope which must come to dwell in the heart of every Christian. The hope that despite every cross which we must come to bear that something greater will come from it. Truly something greater comes through the Resurrection because it gives us the hope that we too will be resurrected from the dead on the last day to be united with the risen Jesus Christ forever.

This is the same hope that Mary Magdala, Peter, John, and the other disciples slowly came to recognize. May we join with them this day for: Christ has Risen. He has risen indeed, Alleluia.

Good Friday Homily

At the bottom of some crucifixes you will find a skull. This skull serves as a reminder of Adam. It was through the sin of Adam that we were cast into sin and death, but it was from the cross of Christ that we came to be redeemed. We are told that the place where Christ was crucified is known as Golgotha which means the “Place of the Skull.” There are a few accounts to what this title may be referring to, but one them is that this was the place where Adam came to be buried. It was from the cross of Christ that we came to be redeemed from sin of Adam.

I find it interesting that the Lord’s Passion begins in a garden and finds its conclusion in a garden. So too does our salvation history begin in a garden. From the Book of Genesis we are instructed that on the sixth day: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Nevertheless, despite the love of God which created them we are later told of the serpent who tempted Adam and Eve, who in return ate of the fruit of the tree, which they were forbidden to even touch.

It was on a Friday that humanity was created and so too on a Friday we came to be redeemed. The wood of a tree ushered sin into the world, but the wood of the cross brought about salvation. As we come forward to venerate this instrument of our salvation may we come to surrender ourself at the foot of the cross which brought about our liberation. Surrendering there all our fears, surrendering there all our sufferings, surrendering there all our sinfulness, surrendering there everything. From the Garden of Eden we were cast into sin, but from the cross we have been redeemed. Now we await for in a garden there is a tomb which will spring forth new life as we come to celebrate the Resurrection of our Blessed Lord.