5th Sunday After Easter Homily (Extraordinary Form)

If we would of keep reading the next verses of this Gospel we would of heard, “I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

These words put into perspective the many difficulties of this world in which we live. There is always something more for us to fear. Be it something taking place in the world or in our own life. There are those struggles with temptation which seem as if they will never be conquered along with everything else that constantly beats upon us in this life.

The apostles will soon come to that moment in time when the Lord will no longer be with them physically. His words to them are important because they are perfecting them to be found ready for that which will soon await them. In the days which lie ahead they will come to be tested and will come to Lord for the peace that the Lord alone can bring to them.

Throughout the Easter season the Lord is recorded coming to them stating, “Peace be with you.” These words of comfort were so needed because their hardships were great. After His Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost their life would not be any easier and yet they endured in proclaiming the Gospel to the nations, even when their own life was asked of them.

We must long for this peace that is brought to us by Christ alone. Without being found receptive of such peace we will always be on the edge for this world can never fulfill us. We will always be left longing for something else to fulfill, but will never find what we are after unless we find it in Christ.

For this reason we must continue to come to the Lord in prayer. Here we come to place our trust upon Him not just through a proper use of words or actions, but our being has faith in Him. Such faith changes who we are as a human person and allows us to live freely as disciple of the Lord our God.

Such faith ushers peace and joy into our life. Even when we are in the midst of the cross all hope is not lost because such hope continues to spring forth through the reality of the empty tomb and the fact that the Lord has risen. May we have such faith in these sacred mysteries which have come to redeem the world of sin and death.

Through our encounter we all that Lord has done we will come know peace despite world which continues to proclaim trouble.

4th Sunday After Easter Homily (Extraordinary Form)

June 8th will be the Solemnity of Pentecost. It is on this Sunday that we acknowledge the fact that the Holy Spirit came upon the Church as a strong driving wind. In our Gospel Christ was preparing His apostles for this eventual encounter with the one who was to come.

We cannot fall into the error of thinking that the Holy Spirit was created at Pentecost. At the Lord’s baptism the Holy Spirit came down upon Him. In the Nicene Creed we profess, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.”

The Holy Spirit has always been present for the Holy Spirit exists eternally from the Father and Son who have existed for all eternity. Even at the moment of creation we are told of the Holy Spirit present as “a mighty wind sweeping over the waters.”

Acknowledging the importance of the Holy Spirit might raise the question of why the Holy Spirit was withheld from the Lord’s disciples until Pentecost. Such a separation points to the fact that they were not yet perfected in the love needed to receive such a gift and that they were currently with the Christ who was present with them physically in the midst of their tribulations.

In our Gospel the name Paraclete is given in relation to the Holy Spirit. This word “Paraclete” means “Advocate.” An advocate is a word used to refer to a lawyer or attorney. The Holy Spirit works in such a way in our life for the Holy Spirit helps us to win in the midst of all that is going against us.

As was mentioned in my homily from two weeks ago the woman caught in adultery was told to “go and sin no more.” On her own merit she would never be able to accomplish such a task. She had spent her time filling her life with something other then God. It is the Holy Spirit which comes to bring forth the love of God into our heart in order that we may embrace Him by our life.

Let us always remain open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit which are being made manifest within us. Give not into despair, but place your trust in the Holy Spirit which sanctifies our heart. Even when it seems as if we have been left alone we must remember that is not the case for the Holy Spirit is our advocate who is always with us.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send for your Spirit and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen.

5th Sunday of Easter Year C Homily

In late July 1941 Saint Maximilian Kolbe heroically chose to take the place of a prisoner who would be put to death. After surviving starvation he was finally put to death by lethal injection on August 14th, the vigil of the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. He was later canonized on October 10, 1982 as a martyr of charity.

The actions of Saint Maximilian Kolbe make Jesus’ words from our gospel manifest, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you should love one another.” The culmination of this love is displayed to us from the cross. It was here that His love was so great that He will willing to endure the pains of the cross without reservation in order that we may redeemed.

In the words which would be later spoken in Saint John’s Gospel, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” This points towards the cross and the life which springs forth from its midst. In the midst of every suffering, temptation, and joy let us dare to look to the cross for from it we see displayed love which knows no end.

The word “charity” comes to us from the Latin word “caritas.” “Caritas” is a form of love. Not just any love, but a love which is perfect, mutual, and flowing over. This love is best displayed to us in the Most Holy Trinity as well as from the cross. Here we are able to see that love which is found to be perfect, mutual, and flowing over.

We so often fail to have such a sacrificial understanding of love. Love is lowered to something mundane that can be cut off at any moment when it no longer fulfills us. Love can never be abusive. Love is not to exalt me in my pleasures and desires. Love is to look outward to the other and to give entirely of our self unto them seeking nothing in return.

This commandment given to us by Christ is most revolutionary and difficult. It is revolutionary because it demands that we think about love in a different way then what the world usually understands it to be. It is difficult because it challenges us to transform the way in which we look upon others.

In our prayer must ask how we are being called to enter into such love. Look upon the crucifix and from this glimpse of perfect love be challenged to expand in your love for others.

We are probably not being asked to lay down our life in such a heroic manner as Saint Maximilian Kolbe. Nevertheless, his ability to love came from his trust in the Lord and what was portrayed to him from the cross. Likewise, the cross must be the source of our love for the cross challenges us give freely of our self to the point that our love in flowing over and seeking nothing in return.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.

3rd Sunday After Easter Homily (Extraordinary Form)

To put our Gospel passage into its’ proper context, it proceeds the passion, death, and resurrection of the Lord. Here His disciples were told, “A little while and you shall not see Me: and again a little while, and you shall see Me.”

As the disciples were undergoing these events in the life of our Lord I am sure that these moments felt far from “a little while.” Having to watch the Lord endure His Passion and death had to of felt like an eternity. The sorrow which filled them as He was placed into the tomb had to be great and those three days had to of felt long.

In our own life the sufferings that we endure can feel like they take forever instead of just “a little while.” In these moments we can be led to believe that we are going through these things all alone. It is so easy to lose hope when all that we know is sorrow and loss and are unable to see anything greater which comes from it.

Nevertheless, as a Church we continue to be in the season of Easter. Through this season we are able to see that death was not the end. As mention was made in our Gospel to this woman in labor, so too can we proclaim that Christ is the “firstborn among the dead” and through Him God has “loosed the birth pangs of death.”

In the midst of our own crosses, temptations, and sufferings we must come to place our faith in His cross and Resurrection. Through these two realities we are able to discover hope in the midst of all that we are called to endure in the life. No matter how great the weight is let us always remember that we do not have to endure this alone.

On May 29th the Church will observe Ascension Thursday. On this day we remember that He was taken up to Heaven. In this separation it would seem that the disciples again were left all alone, but they were promised that the Holy Spirit would come just prior to where our Gospel picked up.

As a Church we know this to be the Solemnity of Pentecost and as is seen within the sacrament of confirmation. Likewise, the Holy Spirit continues to come down upon us so that we may enter into the abundant harvest of the Lord with the assistance of God’s grace.

Let us place our trust in such assistance for we are not alone on this path which leads towards Everlasting Life. No matter what we endure in this life our hope is found in the Lord for His mercy endures forever.

4th Sunday of Easter Year C Homily

On this Fourth Sunday of Easter also known to us as Good Shepherd Sunday we are able to proclaim: Hebemus papam! We have a pope!

It was only a little over a year ago, May 7th, that this diocese came to receive the news that we finally have a new bishop.

We never know who the next pope, bishop, or pastor will be. Each them come with their own outlook on the world and interests. Each them come with their own strengths and weaknesses. Nevertheless, they have been given to us by God in order that they may be good shepherds of Christ’s flock.

I rejoice for the gift of Pope Leo and Bishop Mark. No matter what comes in years ahead, even when another pope or bishop is eventually named, I trust in those words that our Lord spoke to Saint Peter, “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”

Let us continue to pray for Leo our pope, Mark our bishop, and all clergy of the Church including myself that we may remain Good Shepherds molded after God’s heart.

Not only are we the clergy called to follow after God’s heart, but the universal call to holiness is extended to all be they a member of the clergy or of the laity. Be they married, single, or part of a religious order; all of us are called to holiness.

We can only pursue holiness if we are willing to hear Christ’s voice and to follow wherever that voice leads. Prayer must be a priority for our life because this world is filled with so much noise that is hard to hear such a voice unless we work at it and nurture it.

At times it can seem that this world has been thrust down into a period of darkness, but we must remember that it is Christ who has lifted us out of such darkness. If we hear and follow His voice we will have nothing to fear for we will be brought to the light of eternal life.

In the words of Pope Leo XIV, “For we are the people whom God has chosen as his own, so that we may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Let us pray for Leo, our Pope. May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.

2nd Sunday After Easter Homily (Extraordinary Form)

On this 2nd Sunday After Easter we are reminded that Christ is the Good Shepherd.

In scripture it was the good shepherd who left the ninety-nine in order to go in search for the lost sheep. Upon finding the lost sheep he returned it to the flock with it placed upon his shoulders. This image is represented in the pectoral cross which was worn by Pope Francis during his papacy.

We receive here a reminder of the need for the Church to go in search for those who are lost in order that they may be returned to the graces which are present within the Church. This Good Shepherd Sunday reminds us of the compassion that the Lord has for each of us; that we too may remain in the confines of the sheepfold or return to it if we have wondered away.

As Psalm 23 states of the Lord who is our shepherd, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” Here we are reminded of that relationship that must exist with the Lord. Whenever we place our trust in Him we are given the assistance needed to endure in the midst of our sufferings, difficulties, temptations, and crises.

In the Gospel of Saint John we are told that we must hear, know, and follow the Lord. These three verbs negate a need to enter into relationship with the Good Shepherd. With so much that overwhelms on us in this life it becomes so easy to push this relationship off to the side and fill this void with something which can never fulfill.

If we are to hear, to known, and to follow after the Lord we must make this relationship a priority. In order to hear, we must stop despite the busyness of our life and dare to enter into the silence of prayer. In order to know, we must open our heart and mind to the deposit of faith. In order to follow, we must realize that we are being sent forth from the Lord’s midst in order to live the faith that has been handed onto us.

As the Lord states in the Gospel of Saint John, “They shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” The keyword here is “one.” As we profess in the Nicene Creed, “I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.” When the path gets difficult such as the need for an annulment, embracing conversion when it is difficult, or any other cross that comes our way we cannot go down the easy path because this leads us away from this unity and away from the Lord whom we should hear, know, and follow.

This Good Shepherd always goes in search for us, but as He told the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more.” Let us come to know this Shepherd and remain united Him at all times for He is the Good Shepherd who provides for us in the midst of all of our needs.

3rd Sunday of Easter Year C Homily

The apostles had a difficult time catching fish until the Lord came in order to help them. Prior to His Resurrection we are told of a similar account when they were called to follow after Him. It was only after they were willing to listen to Him that they caught an abundant catch of fish.

Likewise, the Lord must be the refuge of our life. We so often attempt to find our refuge in a multitude of other areas. In doing so we are so quick to move the Lord far away from our midst as we place our trust in something else.

This evening the children of our parish have the opportunity to receive the Lord for the first time in Holy Communion. Hopefully this first communion will simply be the first of many times that you come to receive Him in the Eucharist.

No matter how many times we have come to receive Him we cannot act as if what we receive is just mundane food. The Eucharist is special not because we receive bread and wine, but through the reality that what we receive is truly Christ present with us Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.

As was stated at the Second Vatican Council, “The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life.” This is to say that we should live our life oriented towards Christ and His presence in the Eucharist.

Whenever we lose sight of the Eucharist we allow ourself to lose sight of the Lord. If we lose sight of Him we are like the apostles unable to catch any fish because our faith is found to be lacking. With our sight placed upon Christ we are able to catch abundantly because of Him.

For this reason we must frequent the sacrament of confession because it heals our relationship with the Lord broken down by sin. For this reason we must assist at Holy Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation because here we make time to be with the Lord. For this reason make time for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament because here we place our attention upon Christ. Parents must lead the way in living such an example and integrating it into the life of the family.

My dearest children we rejoice with you this day because of Christ and your willingness to receive Him. Continue to keep your sight upon Him and be willing to go wherever it is that He leads. The unknown can seem to be scary, but it is not scary if we place our trust in the Lord.

Through our “Amen” given at the reception of Holy Communion we come to place our trust in Him and His mercy which endures forever. May the Risen Lord continue to come to us in order that we may be sent forth to proclaim Him in thought, word, and deed.