13th Sunday After Pentecost Homily

In our modern day world leprosy is known as Hansen’s Disease. As time has passed we have learned a lot concerning this disease and how to properly treat it. At one point in time this disease was thought of as being highly contagious, but we now know that to not be the case. Nevertheless, at the time of our Gospel is was seen as being highly contagious and therefore extreme measures had to be put into place in order to protect the community.

Therefore the plight of leprosy keeps an individual at a distance from being able to enter back into communion with the community. When one begins to show symptoms of leprosy they are to go before the priest and after an evaluation will be named unclean. Once this happens they are sent off to live at a distance and are to have no contact with anyone who doesn’t have leprosy which includes their children and property which had been separated from them. As they walk about they are to also ring a bell to warn others that they are approaching a leper.

Another interesting aspect to leprosy is the fact that it moves slowly. Before symptoms show you would of been infected with the bacteria that causes it for a very long time. Symptoms then begin to show which are usually pale or slightly red areas on the skin. If this is left untreated it grows worse and can even lead to more serious symptoms such as paralysis.

In our Gospel Christ encounters ten who bare the burden of leprosy. It is noted that they “stood afar off” form they had been separated from the community through this burden. Christ then instructed them to return to the priest for it was only the priest who could evaluate them to declare them clean just bringing them back into the community, restoring their property, and reuniting them with their family. It was while on the way that they were made clean for they approached the priests with faith. They did not just have any faith, but faith placed in the healing mercy of Christ Jesus.

It is through our sin that we stand afar off from our Blessed Lord. He desires that we draw close to Him, but do we have the faith to do so? Or instead are we content with standing afar off through our participation in a life of sin and death? Leprosy makes a perfect analogy into the reality of sin. Sin seeps into our life and if left unchecked will grow worse until the point that we have entered into a life of mortal sin which destroys sanctifying grace and become content with our current state of life.

Our Gospel shows us that Christ does not want us to be left afar off. He desires that we be made clean and return into communion with Him. Indeed their is no sin that we can commit within this life which is too great for His infinite mercy. Despite the reality of this there are still those who will to stay afar off for they want nothing to do with the Sacrament of Confession and a life of conversion. This day may we seek out the infinite mercy of the Lord and always draw into communion with the one who restored us to life upon the wood of the cross.

22nd Sunday of OT Year A Homily

Saint Paul is very clear in our Epistle by stating: “Do not conform yourselves to this age.” Nevertheless, it is popular culture which forms so many hearts and souls instead of the truths which are contained within the Gospels and the teaching authority of the Church. Sadly, some children do not know the prayers of the rosary, but can recite the lyrics of popular songs without hesitation. Some are unable to navigate the pages of a bible, but are able to navigate a phone where an abundance of information awaits at one’s fingertips. To name something as simple as the 12 apostles or first pope is an impossibility, but one can rattle off the names of the actors of a favorite television show at ease. We go nowhere without our phone, but so easily leave our rosary behind.

No matter one’s age or if one be single or married we should devote our life onto the Lord instead of the ways of this age. Within our own home should be a place where the Lord comes and dwells with us. Nevertheless, when was the last time that your family gathered together for prayer? In doing so I hope this transcends a simple blessing given before one eats. On the other hand when is the last time that your family has watched television together? Some will not remember the answer to this first question while easily being able to recollect the answer to the second question which was proposed. Our homes must become places of prayer and study of the faith. Husband and wife should join together in this reality and should bring their children into this same relationship which models themselves after the ways of the Lord and not of this age.

Parents play an important role in building up the domestic church. The domestic church is the church at home which exists in order to draw souls towards love of the Lord. The Code of Canon Law states: “parents are under a grave obligation to see to the religious and moral education of their children, as well as to their physical and civic training, as far as they can.” Pope Paul VI also stated in Gravissimum Educationis: “the role of parents in education is of such importance that is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute.” From these quotations we see the importance that the Church places upon education for education is a way to form an individual to love and serve the Lord who is the fullness of truth itself.

With the lack of attention which is placed here it is no wonder why we have so many issues within our world for we no longer dare to conform ourselves to Christ, but instead this age. Thus under normal circumstances the Mass is not frequented except for when it is convenient to fit our schedule. We begin to abuse the beautiful meaning which lies behind the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony to the point that it no longer meets its God given purpose. Thus the prevalence divorce, contraception, and an attempt to redefine marriage as between a man and a woman gives rise within society. We lose sight of the sanctity of human life from conception to a natural death. We lose sight of the poor for the amassment of our own kingdom on earth. Truly it is easy to be distracted by this age to the point that we allow ourself to lose sight of Christ.

Again let us heed the words which were given by Saint Paul in our Epistle: “Do not conform yourselves to this age.” In this manner let us be willing to stand against the tides of popular culture. Let us be willing to hold steadfast on the moral teachings of the church. Let us continue to take up practices such as spiritual reading and education in the faith. Let us study and emulate the lives of the saints.Let us be willing to make prayer a priority especially as a family. Let us frequent the sacraments of the Church and come to live out the grace that is given there especially by receiving Holy Communion in the state of grace and coming to frequent the sacrament of Confession. Truly our sight should not be set upon this age, but upon Christ and the Church that He has left upon this earth in order to draw us into deeper relationship with Him.

Bulletin Article: August 23

Next weekend, August 29 and 30, our parish arrives at a big celebration for we are finally able to celebrate the ordination of Zachary Griffith to the priesthood of Jesus Christ. His ordination will be August 29th at 11am at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Knoxville. His ordination Mass will be streamed to the Diocese of Knoxville webpage. Please note that due to this ordination there will not be an 8:30am Mass on Saturday nor will there be confessions at 9am.

On August 30th then Father Zachary Griffith will celebrate his first Mass of Thanksgiving at the 8am Mass. Following Mass he will be in the gathering area to give blessings to those who do wish as they exit the church. We will have a table set up where any gifts for him can be left. Originally I had hoped our parish could of offered him a banquet, but due to our COVID-19 restrictions that is not possible. I still hope that he will be able to join us for his first anniversary of priesthood allowing us to finally throw him a banquet sometime in the future.

He has been assigned to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Chattanooga and his assignment will begin September 9th. Let us continue to pray for him and for more vocations from this parish community.

In Christ,

Fr. Dustin Collins

12th Sunday After Pentecost Homily

Christ worked many miracles and yet many of those who heard and saw these great works remained both death and blind to what they were shown and told. Likewise, the prophets had the foresight to proclaim a message of repentance. These messages which they proclaimed often came to be unheeded by those who heard their voice. We also find a loving God who is constantly entering into covenant with His chosen people and yet they continue to turn away from Him and the path that He has opened wide to them.

God’s covenant with His chosen people has led the way to the coming of Christ. The voices of the prophets further point the way towards the coming of the Messiah. As is stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “God has revealed himself fully by sending his own Son, in whom he has established his covenant forever. The Son is his Father’s definitive Word; so there will be no further Revelation after him.” Despite all of this our current age continues to do what was done before and thus some remain death and blind to the divine truths of faith.

It was at our baptism that we were greeted by the priest at the doors of the church. It was here that we came to be received into the life of the church through our baptism. Through these life giving waters Christ said to us as He said to the man born death and dumb, “ephpheta” “be opened.” Despite this life giving exchange in the waters of baptism we so often allow ourself to return to a life which we knew before when we were both death and blind.

If we remain thrust down in this state we fail to hear the voice of the Lord and to see His great works. If we remain cast down we fail to see the importance of the Church and to allow it to guide us towards a life which is filled with the pursuit of holiness and God’s grace. In this parable that further unfolds we notice that the man who was left upon the road half dead was brought to the innkeeper and was left in the comfort of the inn. Thus too we who ought to strive for holiness and God in the midst of the constant changes of this life have been left with the Church. The Church which takes care of us, the Church through which we receive the sacraments, and the Church which guides us towards salvation. As was stated by Saint Cyprian, “there is no salvation outside of the church.”

As Lumen Gentium expounds upon this quote of Saint Cyprian: “Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.”

Therefore, my sisters and brothers in Christ let us not be led astray by the ways of the world and the doubt that Satan desires to bring into our life through division. We must stay within the confines of the Church and continue to infuse ourselves with God’s grace. Through such an exchange our eyes and ears will continue to see and hear the truths which are discovered in the Church and are revealed to us by Christ Jesus.

21st Sunday of OT Year A Homily

It is Jesus who sets Saint Peter apart as the first pope of the church. He stands in line with many throughout history and he becomes known as being the first among the disciples. As was articulated by Saint Clement of Alexandria in the year 200: “The blessed Peter, the chosen, the preeminent, the first among the disciples, for whom alone with himself the Savior pair the tribute, quickly grasped and understood their meaning. And what does he say? Behold, we have left all and have followed you.”

Unless one is real young we should know the great anticipation that is held whenever a papal conclave is taking place. During this time we are glued to our screens in hope of finally seeing white smoke come from that little chimney that can be seen from Saint Peter’s Square. As the papal electors process into the Sistine Chapel the chant of the “Veni Sancte Spiritus” “Come, Holy Spirit” fills the air. Truly the Holy Spirit is invoked in order that the Holy Spirit may come into their midst and guide their deliberations.

As was instructed in our Gospel: “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” This brings me to the concept of papal infallibility which is something that is misunderstood by many Fundamentalists as well as some Catholics. The pope cannot walk out onto a balcony and state that the sky is now orange instead of blue. The pope does not reinvent and change doctrine as he sees fit. Rather, the pope defines something to be infallible by the fact that it is something that was held to be true by Christ and His apostles. Thus when the Immaculate Conception came under attack it came to be infallibly defined because this was already something that Christianity had held to from the beginning.

As was stated by Vatican II in Lumen Gentium: “Although the individual bishops do not enjoy the prerogative of infallibility, they can nevertheless proclaim Christ’s doctrine infallibly. This is so, even when they are dispersed around the world, provided that while maintaining the bond of unity among themselves and with Peter’s successor, and while teaching authentically on a matter of faith or morals, they concur in a single viewpoint as the one which must be held conclusively. This authority is even more clearly verified when, gathered together in an ecumenical council, they are teacher and judges of faith and morals for the universal Church. Their definitions must then be adhered to with the submission of faith.”

One issue that I see with modern day American Catholicism is our desire to lower the pope and hierarchy of the church to a place where they are forced to meet popular opinion if they are to be found worthy of paying attention to. Turn on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, or some other source of news to find out the constant banter of the president’s approval rating. The Church does not concern itself with winning a popularity contest, but instead protecting the truth of faith and morals. Along the way there might be bad popes, bishops, or priests as there have been throughout history. Nevertheless, we must show respect and obedience to the Holy Father and our bishops who speak with the authority of the apostles.

As is heard in the Gospel of Saint Luke: “He who hears you hears me.” Let us respect the office of pope and bishop and continue to pray for those to whose care we have been entrusted for to hear them is to hear the voice of the Lord.