16th Sunday of OT Year B Homily

We live in the midst of a culture that does not make rest a priority. It seems that we are always on the go to accomplish our next task. Therefore, the Lord leaves us with some pretty important words, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”

We cannot confuse this command to rest as a form of sloth. It is not slothful to take care of our needs. It only becomes slothful when we do not make time to accomplish our tasks according to our vocation and state in life. It becomes slothful in the spiritual life when we fail to make time for prayer.

In the Gospel of Saint Matthew our Lord states, “Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” From this we can ascertain that the Lord is the one who gives us rest in the midst of all that we face in this life. It is for this reason that we cannot fail to build up a relationship with Him because we are too busy finding our rest in other pursuits.

Let us remember that during creation “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.” As Catholics we are to observe Sunday as this day of rest because this is the day of the Lord’s Resurrection. Likewise, this day must be sanctified by us and set apart from the other days of the week. It is for this reason that it is a serious sin to miss Mass on Sunday and holy days of obligation.

It is hard in our modern day society to find such rest. Nevertheless, this is something that we should be mindful of. Through such mindfulness we begin to make a priority of that which is most important. When something becomes a priority it becomes something that is habitual and unable to be sacrificed.

Let us heed these words of our Blessed Lord. Such rest does not disconnect us from God. Such rest is an invitation to allow God into our life and home in order that our life may be modeled after His. If we are unwilling to make time for such rest it is difficult to open our heart to God and the movement of His grace.

Be not too busy to rest. Be not too busy to pray. Be not too busy to study Sacred Scripture and the faith. Be not too busy to be here for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Each of us, despite our busyness, are in need of rest. Let us find our rest in Him.

8th Sunday After Pentecost Homily

From Monsignor Knox, “we must not read too much into this parable, but we must use our worldly goods while we still have time to do it. We must copy the steward with his urgent thought about the future.”

In the words of Saint Augustine, “The steward was insuring himself for life that was about to end. Would you not insure yourself for eternal life?”

This parable should bring forth focus on the four last things (death, judgment, Heaven, and hell). Our sight should be placed upon Heaven and we should have the desire to get there. If this is true within us we must come to order our life after eternal life before time runs out.

We know not the time nor the hour, but there will come a time when we will find ourself before God to be judged. Time was running out for the steward and he used what little time that he still had prudently. Time, no matter what our past is, we must act prudently with the time that we still have set before us. This time cannot be squandered with the false pretense that we will always have tomorrow.

God has entrusted us with so many gifts and we are called to do something with them. Earthly goods are not and evil, but we cannot not allow them to control us nor can we use them against the common good. Some order their life after the excess of earthly mammon. It is this mammon which becomes the purpose of their life. We instead are called to live freely as disciples of the Lord taking from what we have and doing something with it.

As Americans we are taught that we must invest in our future. Thus people invest their money into a 401K or Roth IRA in order that they may provide for their future once retirement comes. This parable is inviting us to invest in our future by providing for our spiritual wellbeing and letting go of all that keeps us from God.

Are we truly thinking prudently when it pertains to eternal life or are we overlooking it in order to be overly concerned with the ways of this world? The Lord is inviting us to be smart with the time that we still have and to act prudently. Use this time for prayer and the pursuit of virtue. With these elements entwined into our life we prepare ourself for that which is most important. We prepare ourself for eternal life. With the gift of God’s grace let us strive for this Heavenly Kingdom.

7th Sunday After Pentecost Homily

The Lord warns us concerning the assault of false prophets. By their fruit we will know them. It is important that we don’t use these false prophets as an excuse to why we are unable to practice our faith. We cannot abandon the faith handed onto us by Christ due to the influence of a false prophet be they a lay person or member of the clergy.

In listening to this parable we must be aware that these false prophets have always and will always exist. Nevertheless, in knowing of their existence we must understand the one whom we are called to serve. The answer to this is Christ. We are called to serve and to orient our sight unto Him always.

In our world and the everyday operations of the Church there is a lot that causes us angst. Therefore, we can transfix ourself upon something that is totally out of our control. No, we cannot allow laws to be overlooked, but usually we are only concerned with doom and gloom instead of the light that is brought forth by the Good News of the Gospel.

No matter what we believe is taking place in the world and Church we cannot allow the cursed one to lead us astray. We must remain united in Christ. No matter the assaults that come our way Christ and His presence among us in the Eucharist stays the same. Are we here for Christ or are we here for the exaltation of ourself and our own wants?

What we can do is learn to pray and offer all these things unto God. What we can do is fast and offer sacrifice for ourself and all who have turned their sight away from God. These actions will bring forth more fruit then sitting around worrying about the unknown, complaining about that which is out of our control, or loosing hope.

We must remember that Christ is the Lord. Despite any false prophets among us this never change. We are not here for them, but for Christ. This should bring the virtue of hope unto our minds. Hope is always present for Christ has triumphed upon the cross and has risen on the third day. This hope is one which can never be taken away.

As Christians we must come to know this hope for ourself and share it with all those whom we encounter in this life. We must look inwardly upon our self and make sure that we are living the faith authentically. If we fail to do so we will be known for our fruit and might even be a false prophet ourself.

Let us never be led astray, but stay united to Christ and His Church on this earth despite all those voices which would cause us to do otherwise. Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and thus we must pursue Him instead of being led away from Him. Embrace the faith to its fullest degree for we are called to enter into communion with Christ.

6th Sunday After Pentecost Homily

Our Gospel presents us with the multiplication of the loaves and fish. In the Gospels of Saints Matthew and Mark there are two accounts of the feeding of a multitude. First, the feeding of the 5,000 and secondly, the feeding of the 4,000 of which we just heard. The feeding of the 5,000 is also accounted for in the Gospels of Saints Luke and John.

The Gospels of Saints Matthew, Mark, and Luke each contain an account of the Eucharistic narrative. It is here that our Blessed Lord takes into His holy and venerable hands bread and wine saying “This is My Body” “This is My Blood.” The Gospel of Saint John is lacking this narrative, but is deeply rooted in Eucharistic theology through what is known as the Bread of Life discourse. It is this discourse which takes up the sixth chapter of Saint John’s Gospel and is given following the feeding of the 5,000.

Through the feeding of this multitude we are told that they were filled. In Saint John’s Gospel we are told that “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” Through these words we can see how the Lord fills us in the Eucharist. Instead of placing our trust in Him we attempt to be filled through other pursuits. These pursuits will always leave us wanting more.

Our heart longs for union with Christ. We enter into such communion with Him through the Eucharist. We should never allow ourself to become so busy that we forget about Christ and His abundant love for us. The Lord is inviting us to enter into such communion with Him. As Saint Ignatius of Antioch stated, “I hunger for the bread of God, the flesh of Jesus Christ; I long to drink his blood, the gift of unending love.”

Each of us has such hunger. Our bodies must be nourished by food for without food we cannot live. At the same time we must allow our soul to be nourished by the Lord. He does this for us when we present ourself to Him and come to be nourished the Eucharist. Therefore, the Lord in the working of this great miracle provided not only physical, but spiritually for them. The Lord continues to work in such wondrous ways for us.

As Saint Jerome stated, “If Christ did not want to dismiss the Jews without food in the desert for fear that they would collapse on the way, it was to teach us that it is dangerous to try to get to heaven without the Bread of Heaven.” Here Saint Jerome is supplying us with an important imagery of this Heavenly food which becomes food for our journey towards the Kingdom of Heaven.

Wherever our devotion to Him is found waning let us be reinvigorated in our love for Christ and His presence among us. The Eucharist is truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ and so our heart must long for this unity with Christ. Let us make time to pray before Him, to receive Him reverently, to make sure that our soul is found in the state of grace, and to be filled.

13th Sunday of OT Year B

It is difficult to fathom that we can let go and be happy. There is a fear that gives rise within us that when we are generous with others that our generosity will leave us wanting. Rather, we are told in our Epistle by Saint Paul, “Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less."

Saint Therese of Lisieux reflects in her autobiography “Story of a Soul”:

“I told you once how it puzzled me that God did not give everyone the same amount of glory in Heaven, and I feared they could not all be happy. You sent me off to fetch one of Father’s big glasses and made me put my little thimble by the side of it; then you filled them both up with water and asked me which I thought was the fuller. I had to admit that one was just as full as the other because neither of them would hold any more. That was the way you helped me to grasp how it was that in Heaven the least have no cause to envy the greatest.“

Here we can see that the love of God is found to be perfect and without end. It is no wonder, therefore, that Saint Paul made such a proclamation in our Epistle. In the Kingdom of Heaven we will know no end and we will be filled with true happiness. In this life we should strive to expand our ability to be found receptive of God’s love. We cannot receive that which we cannot obtain. This is always something that we can grow in because God’s love is infinite and without end.

This woman with the hemorrhage reached out and grabbed the robe of our Lord and we are told that Jesus was “aware at once that power had gone out from him.” Therefore, to this woman He gave of Himself and she came to be healed. Likewise, those of us who come to Him in our own need will be healed of each and every plight that we must face in this life.

The goal of our life is not the accumulation of possessions and passions, but relationship with the Lord. When we embrace the cross we are not found lacking, but instead receive so much through the gift of God’s grace. Through such a wondrous gift we are provided all that we will ever need to live good and holy lives and in Heaven we will be filled by God to the highest degree.

If this reality is to be made so within us we must take the risk of the woman in our Gospel and come to the Lord in faith. What keeps us from coming unto Him? By coming unto Him we are forced to abandon all that keeps us wanting in order that we may find our dependence in Him. The world will never fill us to the fullest degree, but through God we are indeed filled. Let us come to place our trust in Him.

Therefore, “Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less.