Feast of the Holy Innocents Homily

Merry Christmas. Today we find ourselves on this fourth day of the Octave of Christmas where we celebrate this Feast of the Holy Innocents. This day is unlike the Feast of Saint Stephen which was celebrated on Wednesday. Saint Stephen was able to face martyrdom through his acceptance of the Christian faith. The Holy Innocents were mere children and thus unable to accept the faith for themselves. Despite this fact they were put to death due to Christ's coming into the world.

This feast should make us think of all the innocent lives that are lost and are abused. The life that is lost through the sin of abortion. The life that was lost a few weeks ago in Sandy Hook, Connecticut through the tragic shooting. The many children who are abused within the world. Even ourselves in the times that we have been treated unfairly or have treated others unfairly. May we allow the Holy Innocents to guide us in our prayer for all of these souls and to help us along our path towards the Christ child.

Christ was also an innocent child who came into the world and was eventually led to the wood of the cross to die for each of us. May we continue in this Christmas season to draw our lives towards the Christ child in all that we do.

Feast of St. Lawrence Homily

1st Reading: 2 Cor 9:6-10

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 112:1-2,5-9

Gospel: Jn 12:24-26

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr. On days when we celebrate the lives of martyrs red vestments are to be worn. When I think of the color red I think of three attributes that go along with it. First red is the color that informs us that we need to stop. We see red stop signs and red lights all the time and we know that our response is to stop. The martyrs took time to stop within their own lives when they drew themselves closer to the reality of the cross. Secondly, red makes me think about death. The flag of our nation has red stripes to call to our minds all who have lost their lives to fight for our freedom. The martyrs were put to death because of the faith that they professed. We all know the story of Saint Lawrence who was grilled alive with his famous quote: "I am done on this side, turn me over." Lastly, red makes me think about love. Red is a color that is used a lot during Saint Valentine's Day and love is an important reminder for us because the martyrs loved Christ so much they were willing to die for Him.

In our Gospel we are told that we must die to ourselves if we are to truly have life and we are told if we are unwilling to die to ourselves we will never have life. In this passage we are not being told that life is a bad thing, but are being told of our need to stop during our busy lives and to draw ourselves closer to God. In stopping we need to die to ourselves, so that our disordered passions may be redirected towards the cross of Christ. When we begin to put sin to rest we can finally go in love because we are held in true relation with the Father.

In our Catholic tradition fasting has always been held in high importance. Fasting is our ability to stop in our lives, die to our self, and be redirected out of love to Christ. In the Code of Canon Law we are told: "The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent." Today is Friday and we should reclaim this day as a day of penance. We should allow this day to lead us towards the love of Christ. At one time Catholics were known as the weird people who did not eat meat on Fridays. According to Canon Law: "Abstinence from eating meat or some other food according to the prescripts of the conference of bishops is to be observed on every Friday of the year unless a Friday occurs on a day listed as a solemnity." We need to reclaim our tradition of stopping on Fridays and doing something to join ourselves with the cross of Christ. Giving up meat, a favorite food, spending more time in prayer praying before the Blessed Sacrament, praying the Holy Rosary, or some other act of piety or charity needs to be done, so that we can die to our passions and out of love draw ourselves closer to God.

Feast of the Transfiguration Homily

1st Reading: Dn 7:9-10,13-14

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 97:1-2,5-6,9

2nd Reading: 2 Pt 1:16-19

Homily: Mk 9:2-10

In order to come to a fuller understanding of things we sometimes need to see what we are talking about. I personally have never been to Jerusalem, but have heard that going here is a very powerful experience because it brings the mind to better picture and understand the stories of sacred scripture. I have been to Rome which was a wonderful experience in picturing the life of the early Church. I also had the opportunity on this same trip to travel to Assisi where I was able to experience the city where Saint Francis dwelt and it definitely gave me new understanding and appreciation for this great Catholic saint.

When Christ went up the mountain with Peter, James, and John He was wanting these men to come, see, and understand a deeper reality of the faith. There are two other occasions in the Gospel of Mark where Christ takes these three aside. The first came in Mark 5 where He takes these three along to witness a dead girl being restored to life. The final time that He takes these three with Him was in Mark 14 where He brought them to the garden before His Passion. Each of these events were brought about so that they could give sight to their understanding of Christ's upcoming death and resurrection.

In order to bring understanding to the Transfiguration we must hear what came before this passage in sacred scripture. Prior to this passage Jesus told His apostles that He would die and would then rise again on the third day. It was here that we get the story of Saint Peter being so filled with fear that He protests against Him only to be put in his place by being told "get behind me Satan." When Christ went up the mountain He desired to give new life to the faith of the apostles. He wanted to open their eyes so that they could see the reality of what was quickly approaching. Before their eyes appeared Moses, representing the Law, and Elijah, representing the prophets. They came to understand that Christ was the fulfillment of the Law and that Christ was the person that all of the prophets where pointing towards. They realized at that moment that Christ was the object that connected the Old and the New together. They came to realize through the Transfiguration that Christ was truly going to die upon the cross and then rise in glory. That is why Peter wanted to stay on this mountain to pray because he knew when they walked back down that Christ's death would quickly approach.

We have all been invited to share in this event of the Transfiguration. Each time that we attend Mass, pray the Rosary, enter into silence before the Blessed Sacrament, or at home we enter into this invitation to open our hearts and souls more and more to the reality that is taking place before our eyes. We are being invited to join Christ upon this mountain top, so that our faith may forever grow to all ends of the earth.

Feast of St. James Homily

1st Reading: 2 Cor 4:7-15

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 126:1-6

Gospel: Mt 20:20-28

What does it mean for us to be great? People often like to debate who the greatest sport star ever was for a certain sport. In the wake of the Olympics we have many people who are trying to prove how great they are because they plan on winning the gold medal. Surely if a person was to win a gold medal in the Olympics we would be forced to admit that they must be great. Of course in using great in this manner we are paying attention to the great talents that these people have in overcoming others in a certain event to prove that they have the best attributes to make them great.

Our Gospel gives us a different glimpse into the reality of what makes one great. This list that is given to us does not contain winning sports events and thus becoming the greatest at something. We are instead given a list of attributes which shows our need to lower ourselves to others especially to Christ. This call for humility to enter into our lives is a very different definition to great then we would give to the debate of who is the best at a certain field. This form of greatness is placing Christ at the head of our lives and thus allowing Him to work within our lives instead of trying to prove that we are great by doing it ourselves.

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint James, who was an apostle and martyr. We can defiantly say that this man was great because he was able to live out these attributes of greatness within his life. Saint James was able to be a servant of the Gospel and to go into the world and live out this service to all people whom he encountered. His service to the Gospel eventually brought him to death from the sword of Herod making him the first martyr from among the twelve disciples of Christ. May his example encourage us to search for greatness in our lives by lowering ourselves to Christ through humility, so that we may rejoice with Him continually.