My Scout Troop was very competitive and would always set out to receive first place in every competition that we entered. There was no better treasure out there then a first place ribbon and a trophy for best over all troop. No matter what obstacle we would face we would come together as a troop to overcome it, so that we could always be named the best overall troop. Knot tying, first aid, fire building, orienteering, and other activities were a few things that we had to master in order to journey towards our treasure of first place.
Our religious experience should send us on a journey to get closer and closer to the divine. Upon this journey obstacles will arise and try to send us on a detour, so that we may become lost and never find the treasure that lies in wait for us.
No matter where we find ourselves today God is calling out for us to stay on the path and one day reach the treasure that we are in search of. Each time that we receive a Sacrament of the Church in a proper state the needle of the compass points us towards this wonderful treasure that is lying in wait for our arrival. As we draw closer and closer to our goal our appearance will indeed change because we have drawn closer and closer to God. The people in today's first reading could not glance at Moses due to how radiant his skin had become due to his relationship with the divine.
Today we dare to draw closer to God to receive Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and in doing so may our appearance change to be in union with God and may it give us the strength to continue our journey towards the Kingdom of Heaven which is the treasure that we are in search of.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Memorial of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne Homily
Sunday was always a special day for my family. We would travel 30 minutes to get to the closest Church to attend Mass. My grandparents would always meet us and we would attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass together. Following the Mass we would gather at their home to eat and spend the day enjoying each others company as a family. I with great gratitude give thanks to my parents and grandparents for the time that we spent together on the Holy day because it instilled in me the importance of Church in my life.
Today we gather together as a family for the memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne. We remember not only the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but the grandparents of our Lord, Jesus Christ. These saints had great effect upon their daughter, Mary, because they raised her in a household which reflected moral values and respected the Jewish faith. I am sure that they had relations with her Son and helped to teach him as they did his mother.
Tradition states that Saint Anne was unable to bear a child and many interpreted this as divine displeasure towards her family. Due to this Saint Joachim would travel off to the desert to fast and do penance for 40 days. Eventually an angel came to the couple and they were promised a child. Even prior to the birth of Mary we can see the tradition that this family had great faith and trust in God that would be worth wild to be handed down to their child.
On this wonderful memorial may we call to mind our parents and grandparents and all that they have handed onto us. In a special way we join our prayers especially during this liturgy for them. For parents and grandparents here today we call to mind our great responsibility that we have been in trusted with in handing on the faith to others. May Saints Joachim and Anne walk with us today to help us to always draw others to the greater glory of God.
Today we gather together as a family for the memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne. We remember not only the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but the grandparents of our Lord, Jesus Christ. These saints had great effect upon their daughter, Mary, because they raised her in a household which reflected moral values and respected the Jewish faith. I am sure that they had relations with her Son and helped to teach him as they did his mother.
Tradition states that Saint Anne was unable to bear a child and many interpreted this as divine displeasure towards her family. Due to this Saint Joachim would travel off to the desert to fast and do penance for 40 days. Eventually an angel came to the couple and they were promised a child. Even prior to the birth of Mary we can see the tradition that this family had great faith and trust in God that would be worth wild to be handed down to their child.
On this wonderful memorial may we call to mind our parents and grandparents and all that they have handed onto us. In a special way we join our prayers especially during this liturgy for them. For parents and grandparents here today we call to mind our great responsibility that we have been in trusted with in handing on the faith to others. May Saints Joachim and Anne walk with us today to help us to always draw others to the greater glory of God.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
16th Sunday OT Year A Homily
I have been in this parish for about a month and the biggest complaint that I am informed of is the inability to hear. Each of us has a desire to hear what is going on within the walls of this Church. Hopefully once all is said and done with this current sound system update we will be able to hear clearly. I remember one of my first daily Masses at this parish when Father Garrity was preaching and turned to me during his homily. Speaking to me I only heard the word "green." He wanted me to get something green, but what I had no idea? I walked into the vesting sacristy where he pointed and went in search of something green. The only thing that I saw was the green vestment that he wears, but why would he want that? I grabbed that green garment and walked back into the Church with it. Father Garrity then looked as confused as I was. It turned out that he was wanting a green battery. Only if I could of heard better!
In today's Gospel Christ has a desire for us to clearly hear this parable. He tells us the parable once and then we are given it a second time, so that we may better hear what we have been told for "whoever has ears ought to hear."
In our spiritual life we want to overcome false messages which get in the way of Christ's love. Adam and Eve committed sin in the garden and thus their ability to hear God clearly was blurred. Through the waters of baptism we were allowed to hear Christ clearly, but sin continues to come into the world and call out to us in a roaring manner. Messages have been sent out from the evil one which strike our beliefs to the core. You are tired, so do not go to Mass today! Everyone else is doing it, so can it really be so bad! Once can not hurt, so try it! Is it really wrong if nobody was around to see it? These demands come to us everyday and their sole mission is for us to give in and stop hearing the voice of comfort which is sent to us by Christ our Lord. The devil is yelling out to us, so that we can resemble the weeds mentioned in the parable proclaimed in the Gospel. May we never allow ourselves to enter into this state, but tune our ears towards Christ's infinite mercy.
With our ears turned towards God most high we can truly hear the call of His voice. We will finally be able to transcend the calls of evil because our ears will be tuned to a different voice. As we continue to trudge along the path towards holiness the voice of the evil one will no longer be heard because we could think of nothing more beautiful then the voice of God. Trusting in this voice will not cause us to end up resembling useless weeds which need to be plucked up and destroyed, but instead a good seed will be sown.
As nice as this may sound we know that it can be hard to listen to God when His voice is bouncing off of the walls and you can not make out anything that is being spoken. It is the desire of God that his voice may clearly come to each and everyone of us. We must continue to allow ourselves to be nourished by the word of God and by all the Sacraments that the Church has to offer. Sin clouds our ability to hear God, but the Church has been given the gift of the Sacrament of Confession which can help us to enter back into this spoken relationship. When we feel weak and as if we have had enough because we are unable to hear this beautiful voice may we join with Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans by allowing the Holy Spirit to come into our lives and help to lead us down the path that we must encounter. This path may be hard, but may we truly be able to hope to continue to hear your voice within our lives O Lord for by doing this we will finally be able to have the comfort that we are in search of.
Christ is calling out to us and he wants us to hear him clearly. At the same moment the devil does not want us to hear Christ and wants to put things in our way that will buffer him out from our ears. Every time that we renew the vows of our baptism we are asked if we "reject Satan and all of his works." We cry out "I do!" In our lives we must remember this cry to the ears of Our Lord and reject the things which will make us hear Christ less and less.
If the attitude of this Church resembles our spiritual life it is our goal to overcome our inability to hear and to finally be able to come in contact with the Word of God that is continually being spoken to each one of us.
In today's Gospel Christ has a desire for us to clearly hear this parable. He tells us the parable once and then we are given it a second time, so that we may better hear what we have been told for "whoever has ears ought to hear."
In our spiritual life we want to overcome false messages which get in the way of Christ's love. Adam and Eve committed sin in the garden and thus their ability to hear God clearly was blurred. Through the waters of baptism we were allowed to hear Christ clearly, but sin continues to come into the world and call out to us in a roaring manner. Messages have been sent out from the evil one which strike our beliefs to the core. You are tired, so do not go to Mass today! Everyone else is doing it, so can it really be so bad! Once can not hurt, so try it! Is it really wrong if nobody was around to see it? These demands come to us everyday and their sole mission is for us to give in and stop hearing the voice of comfort which is sent to us by Christ our Lord. The devil is yelling out to us, so that we can resemble the weeds mentioned in the parable proclaimed in the Gospel. May we never allow ourselves to enter into this state, but tune our ears towards Christ's infinite mercy.
With our ears turned towards God most high we can truly hear the call of His voice. We will finally be able to transcend the calls of evil because our ears will be tuned to a different voice. As we continue to trudge along the path towards holiness the voice of the evil one will no longer be heard because we could think of nothing more beautiful then the voice of God. Trusting in this voice will not cause us to end up resembling useless weeds which need to be plucked up and destroyed, but instead a good seed will be sown.
As nice as this may sound we know that it can be hard to listen to God when His voice is bouncing off of the walls and you can not make out anything that is being spoken. It is the desire of God that his voice may clearly come to each and everyone of us. We must continue to allow ourselves to be nourished by the word of God and by all the Sacraments that the Church has to offer. Sin clouds our ability to hear God, but the Church has been given the gift of the Sacrament of Confession which can help us to enter back into this spoken relationship. When we feel weak and as if we have had enough because we are unable to hear this beautiful voice may we join with Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans by allowing the Holy Spirit to come into our lives and help to lead us down the path that we must encounter. This path may be hard, but may we truly be able to hope to continue to hear your voice within our lives O Lord for by doing this we will finally be able to have the comfort that we are in search of.
Christ is calling out to us and he wants us to hear him clearly. At the same moment the devil does not want us to hear Christ and wants to put things in our way that will buffer him out from our ears. Every time that we renew the vows of our baptism we are asked if we "reject Satan and all of his works." We cry out "I do!" In our lives we must remember this cry to the ears of Our Lord and reject the things which will make us hear Christ less and less.
If the attitude of this Church resembles our spiritual life it is our goal to overcome our inability to hear and to finally be able to come in contact with the Word of God that is continually being spoken to each one of us.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Thursday 14th Week OT Year I Homily
I had just ordered my food at a Japanese restaurant and was waiting for my food to arrive when I decided to pray Daytime Prayer. A man walked by my table and glanced at what I was doing and asked if I was praying the Bible. I said I was praying the Psalms which were found in the Bible and that I was studying to be a priest. The man smiled and said he had something in his car that I would like. He came back with a newspaper which explained why the pope was the Antichrist.
We have a faith which is worth sharing with the world. It can be easy to get caught up in the importance of the faith and desire to run into the world and share it with everybody that we meet. This excitement that we might want to share is fine, but we must also remember that we will not always be accepted. Christ understood that people would come into the world who would not follow along with his teachings, but instead of getting caught up we must wipe the dirt off of our shoes and move onto the next city. When people challenge our beliefs or want to press you to turn away from what you believe we must take this passage to heart and remember that not everyone will be converted at that moment.
When we enter back into the world what experiences will look us into the eyes. I never would of figured that I would of been challenged while eating Japanese food, but it happened. It would of been pointless for me to allow this moment to hurt me because I needed to get up from that table and continue to go into the world and live out my Christian mission. May we go out from here and bring Christ into the world and fear not when we are not accepted because we have so much work to do we must continue to bring Christ into the world even if we are not accepted.
We have a faith which is worth sharing with the world. It can be easy to get caught up in the importance of the faith and desire to run into the world and share it with everybody that we meet. This excitement that we might want to share is fine, but we must also remember that we will not always be accepted. Christ understood that people would come into the world who would not follow along with his teachings, but instead of getting caught up we must wipe the dirt off of our shoes and move onto the next city. When people challenge our beliefs or want to press you to turn away from what you believe we must take this passage to heart and remember that not everyone will be converted at that moment.
When we enter back into the world what experiences will look us into the eyes. I never would of figured that I would of been challenged while eating Japanese food, but it happened. It would of been pointless for me to allow this moment to hurt me because I needed to get up from that table and continue to go into the world and live out my Christian mission. May we go out from here and bring Christ into the world and fear not when we are not accepted because we have so much work to do we must continue to bring Christ into the world even if we are not accepted.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Sacred Heart Adoration Homily
We have gathered here today in adoration of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar to call to mind the merciful heart of Jesus. Jesus is present here with us and is calling out to us that we need to humbly kneel before Him, so that we can be drawn back towards His love for us.
From the beginning of time man has sinned against God. Adam and Eve were created free from sin, but due to their sin man has inherited original sin. Moses showed the faithfulness of God for the Israelites and yet they ended up complaining and turning away from that mercy that was shown for them. Christ came into the world and died to save sinners and give us the ability to turn back to our original state of innocence. Despite this great love we continue to be ungrateful and continue to give offense against Our Lord. Despite our sin we must remember that we have not been cast out, but that Christ is present with a merciful heart and desires us to return to his mercy.
In the message of the Sacred Heart we are promised that Christ has mercy that He desires to share with us. The Sacred Heart of Jesus desires that our world will be transformed from it's state of sin and return to Him. Promises were given to St. Margret Mary from the Sacred Heart which speaks to each person gathered here today.
There is no greater place for us to come then here in devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is present here and it pouring his infinite mercy out upon each of us. May we pray that our families will be transformed, so that all we do will be in union with the Sacred Heart. May we pray that our parish will be transformed through the Sacred Heart that those far away from the Church may return to Her and those active within the Church may grow in their mission of holiness ever growing closer to Christ and His Sacred Heart. Let us pray for those in the world who are sick and on their deathbed that they may trust in the Sacred Heart at the moment of death. Through this Holy Hour may we encounter the Sacred Heart and transform our lives to new heights.
From the beginning of time man has sinned against God. Adam and Eve were created free from sin, but due to their sin man has inherited original sin. Moses showed the faithfulness of God for the Israelites and yet they ended up complaining and turning away from that mercy that was shown for them. Christ came into the world and died to save sinners and give us the ability to turn back to our original state of innocence. Despite this great love we continue to be ungrateful and continue to give offense against Our Lord. Despite our sin we must remember that we have not been cast out, but that Christ is present with a merciful heart and desires us to return to his mercy.
In the message of the Sacred Heart we are promised that Christ has mercy that He desires to share with us. The Sacred Heart of Jesus desires that our world will be transformed from it's state of sin and return to Him. Promises were given to St. Margret Mary from the Sacred Heart which speaks to each person gathered here today.
There is no greater place for us to come then here in devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is present here and it pouring his infinite mercy out upon each of us. May we pray that our families will be transformed, so that all we do will be in union with the Sacred Heart. May we pray that our parish will be transformed through the Sacred Heart that those far away from the Church may return to Her and those active within the Church may grow in their mission of holiness ever growing closer to Christ and His Sacred Heart. Let us pray for those in the world who are sick and on their deathbed that they may trust in the Sacred Heart at the moment of death. Through this Holy Hour may we encounter the Sacred Heart and transform our lives to new heights.
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