Divine Mercy Sunday Homily

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

At the Easter Vigil the Pascal Candle is prepared for its use for the next year. In the ritual the priest traces the cross by stopping five times in representation of the five wounds of Christ to say, “By his holy and glorious wounds, may Christ the Lord guard us and protect us. Amen.”

These wounds assist the disciples in coming to see and believe that His Resurrection has taken place. The disciples came to rejoice at the sight of these wounds and Saint Thomas came to believe as he placed his finger into these same wounds.

Through the resurrection of the body that we profess we will be given a glorified body. Christ did not have to continue to bare these wounds in His Resurrection, but He chose to. These wounds serve as a reminder of His victory over sin and death and these wounds serve as a reminder of His love and sacrifice for humanity.

In the words of Pope Francis, “His wounds were inflicted for our sake, and by those wounds we have been healed. By kissing those wounds, we come to realize that there, in life’s most painful wounds, God awaits us with his infinite mercy. Because there, where we are most vulnerable, where we feel the most shame, he came to meet us.”

We can see how vulnerable the disciples where when the Lord came to them stating, “Peace be with you.” He also came to Saint Thomas in His own vulnerability with this same greeting and through these wounds He was brought peace.

Likewise, we must come to venerate these same wounds of the Lord in order that peace may be brought unto us. No matter where we find ourself to be these wounds serve as the answer and the hope in the midst of our sorrow and trial. We cannot just sit idly by doing nothing, but come to venerate and believe in these wounds which bring us peace.

From Saint Faustina’s diary we are told, “When it seems to you that your suffering exceeds your strength, contemplate My wounds.” On this Divine Mercy Sunday we are reminded of the mercy of God that springs forth for us from these wounds and how through them we are able to enter in and discover the peace which Christ can only bring.

Let entrust ourself to these glorious wounds, For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Memorial Mass for Pope Francis Homily

Pope Francis once stated, “The whole journey of life is a journey of preparation…to see, to feel, to understand the beauty of what lies ahead, of that homeland towards which we walk.” We gather this morning to commend him unto the infinite mercy of God in order that all the angels and saints may come to escort him into this heavenly homeland this day.

All of us find ourself on this same journey where the Kingdom of Heaven is our ultimate goal. We must choose not to squander this time set before us (no matter how long or short that it may be), but to take advantage of it with the confidence of faith.

Pope Francis served the church as pope for 12 years. Prior to this he served the church as a cardinal, a bishop, a priest, a deacon, and as one who was baptized. Despite the temptations of this life and the weight of the cross he was sent forth in service to Christ and the Church including those who are most in need.

We must take this same initiative upon ourself to place our trust in the Lord and to go wherever He calls. Baptism is not simply an action of the past, but one that continues to move us forward each day towards the Heavenly homeland.

It is for this homeland that we must now strive and for which we now hope for Pope Francis. Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Easter Sunday Homily

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

The Passion according to Saint Matthew concludes, “And he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went his way.” These words imply the sadness that took place on the day of His burial. The Resurrection had yet to take place and thus they did not yet fully comprehend all that had taken place.

In Saint John’s Gospel we hear of the hope that springs forth for “Mary Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.” Here hope slowly begins to build as the wonders of the Lord’s Resurrection begin to spread to His disciples and eventually throughout the whole world.

This stone becomes a barrier in the way of our life. We so often allow such barriers to enter into our own life and to hold us captive. It is easy to remain trapped in a life of sin or to lose hope of that which lies in wait for us. With this stone moved to the side we are able to discover the hope of life eternal and that we can indeed be liberated from the plight of sin and death.

With this stone rolled away they could see that He was no longer in the tomb. As the other disciple went in “saw and believed”, so too must we work at having such faith in the Risen Lord. No matter what we go through in this life the Risen Lord is the answer that we are in need of receiving.

We can only receive this hope if we remain firm in our faith allowing this stone to be rolled away from our midst. Today we will make a renewal of our baptismal promises. Our “I do” to these questions of faith imply our desire to roll this stone away from our life and to live for the Lord without compromise.

It was through our baptism that we rose up with the Lord to live for Him in all things. When we fail to make time for Him especially with the assistance of Holy Mass we are stating that there is something more important than Him. Our life must be changed because it has been changed through our baptism.

Let us continue to proclaim our Risen Savior with the firmness of faith. The stone has been rolled away from the tomb which means that our life has forever been changed. Let us not squander this gift, but embrace it by choosing to become a true disciple of the Lord who has been fortified by the Gospel of Christ and thus the faith that we profess with our lips.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Easter Vigil Homily

On this most holy of nights Christ our Light triumphs to dispel the darkness of sin and death from our midst. From the confines of the empty tomb penetrates a great hope throughout the whole world that Christ has risen and with His Resurrection we have been redeemed from the plight of sin.

Concerning this light we are told by St. John, “that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.”

On this night there are those who will soon enter into the life giving waters of baptism who will allow this light to enter into their life. There are also those of us who have already been baptized who will soon renew those promises begun at our baptism. To live out that which was begun at our baptism is to live for this light instead of putting our trust in the darkness of sin.

Throughout our readings we were instructed on the course of salvation history which finds its culmination with the coming of Christ, His cross, and His Resurrection. Let us not wonder away into the ways of old, but continue to move forward day by day proclaiming Christ our light by the way in which we come to live and order our life on this earth.

5th Sunday of Lent Homily (Extraordinary Form)

Next Sunday we will arrive at Holy Week through our observation of Palm Sunday. Throughout this week we journey with our Lord through His Passion leading towards the joys of His Resurrection at Easter. These most sacred of days assist us in growing in our love for what the Lord has done for us and our desire to live our life oriented towards Him.

In the final words of today’s gospel we were told, “They took up stones therefore to cast at Him: but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.” These words proclaim that it was not yet the time for His Passion, but very soon this event would come to its fulfillment. At His arrival in the holy city of Jerusalem the crowd will receive Him with joy, but so quickly demand that He be crucified.

When we look around the church we will see that the cross and other holy images have been veiled. Through there veiling they have been taken away from our sight. Hopefully there is currently a longing to be reunited with that which has been taken away from us. Through His cross and resurrection we come to be set free in order that we may see clearly again.

As the prophet Isaiah states, “as one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” Through our decision to enter into a life of sin we choose to reject Him by failing to hold Him to the respect that He is owed.

We like the crowd at Palm Sunday exclaim “Hosanna”, but we are so quickly willing to shout out all the louder, “crucify Him.” Whenever we choose to enter into a life of sin we add to the suffering of Christ. Our faith is something more then saying all the right words when people are looking on because it is also living a life committed to Him when no-one is around.

As this is summed up in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “When we deny him by our deeds, we in some way seem to lay violent hands on him. Nor did demons crucify him; it is you who have crucified him and crucify him still, when you delight in your vices and sins.”

Hopefully, we will allow these coming days of Holy Week to transform our relationship with Christ. Being a Christian is something most serious as can be seen by these days which will soon unfold before our sight. Let us enter fully into these most sacred of days in order that we come to love Christ and reject the allure of evil.

As Saint Alphonsus Liguori concludes each of his Stations of the Cross, “I love You, O my Jesus, with all my heart; I am sorry that I have offended You. May I never offend You again. Grant that I may love You always; and then do with me as You will."