Thur 3rd Week of Advent Homily

Today's reading from the Prophet Isaiah tells us about the great love of God. Isaiah says "My love will never leave you."

Yesterday evening I got the opportunity to sit in on our high school religious education classes. I joined our Confirmation class for the first 30 minutes and then joined the Freshmen for the final 30 minutes. When I walked into that room they were speaking about the Nicene Creed and attempting to go deeper into the theology that it presents. The Nicene Creed says: "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son." This line of the Creed presents the love of God to us.

It is only through the Trinity that we can find perfect love. It is through the Trinity that we can see that it is possible to love unselfishly. The Father perfectly loves the Son and this love flows into the Son. What would happen if there were only two persons in the Trinity instead of three? If this were true their love would be exclusive and would not be so great that it is being freely given. This love that is present inside of the Trinity is shared with us daily. No matter where we find ourselves today may we trust inside of this great gift of love and trust that even among our struggles that it is still present and will never leave us.

It will only be a matter of moments before we will come before the Altar of God to receive the gift of love that is found inside of the Eucharist. It will be here that we will receive Christ's Soul and Divinity and thus share His never ended love with us. May we allow this great love to draw us closer into union with Him!

Wed 3rd Week of Advent Homily

Change is not something that happens easily. It is tough to change towns, schools, or work places. It is hard to face the change in life when you have to come to terms with the death of a loved one. I am sure that things were tough for Saint John the Baptist's disciples when they realized that the Messiah had finally arrived. We have a change of the guard going on, but these disciples had to trust inside of the change that was to take place within their lives.

Today we celebrate Saint John of the Cross who challenges each of us to trust in change. Through his writings he has left us poems which challenge us to accept change within our hearts, so that we may be more receptive of God's love.

Saint John of the Cross realized how tough the acceptance of change is first hand. He got together with Saint Teresa of Avila and began to reform the Carmelite Order that he was a part of. These monks did not accept this change and so they captured Saint John of the Cross, beat him, and threw him into prison. It was from the darkness of this small lonesome cell that he would come into contact with the light. From a small window light would come into his cell and he would write his spiritual poems. He began to draw closer and closer into this light until he had left the darkness behind and was in union with God.

May we allow Saint John of the Cross to intercede for us today, so that we may leave the darkness of sin behind and begin to accept the change needed in our life that will bring us into union with the light of God.

3rd Sunday of Advent Year B Homily

Two weeks ago I was home for Thanksgiving break and I knew that once I returned to school that I only had two weeks of school left in the semester. The rule for us is that we can leave for our break following our final test. Therefore I looked ahead at my schedule and I saw that I could leave on Tuesday instead of Friday if I made the proper preparations with my school work. The preparations that I made was well worth it in the end because I was able to get my three papers out of the way before Tuesday. As I got into my car that day following the community Mass I had a lot to rejoice about.

During the Christmas season we are constantly reminded of the preparations that we need to make if we will be ready for Christmas. You know that we are in the Holiday Season when you cannot sit down at a restaurant or shop in a store and not be reminded that they have gift cards that can be purchased. Only a few days ago I was eating at Applebees and it was one of the first things out of the waitress' mouth. With two weeks to go until Christmas commercials are reminding us of layaway deals and sales to remind us that we still have a lot to take care of before Christmas gets here. People are spending time feeling out Christmas cards and checking names off of their list as they prepare for December 25th. There is a lot of preparations that needs to be done as we get closer and closer to this day, but this preparation needs to also happen in our faith journey.

It is during the season of Advent that a voice calls out "Make straight the way of the Lord." Today we celebrate Gaudate Sunday which is Latin for the english word rejoice. Throughout these readings we are called to rejoice. The first word out of Saint Paul in today's second reading was to rejoice. The community in today's first reading from Isaiah were also instructed that they need to rejoice. Saint John the Baptist had reason to rejoice because he was sent to proclaim the coming of Christ and Christ had finally arrived. The Church rejoices today as we prepare for the coming of Christ on December 25th which is only two weeks away. Keeping in mind that we have only two weeks before the season of Advent comes to a close we must ask ourselves what preparations need to be taken care of in order for us to rejoice with Christ on Christmas Day because we were able to "make straight the way of the Lord."

Saint John the Baptist's voice cries out to us today from the desert. This voice comes to us instructing us that we need to do everything possible to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. It is impossible to prepare for this coming if we do not take the time out of our day to enter into the desert. The desert is the place that the Israelites walked through as they headed towards the promised land and is where Christ spent 40 days prior to entering into his public ministry. The desert is a place to go for prayer and for preparation. Of course nobody has forty days to enter into nonstop prayer, but we cannot make the excuse that we do not have the time for prayer. Prayer is essential for our preparation for the coming of the Lord. If we fail to take time out of the day for prayer how can we hope to rejoice this day that Christ's birth inside of a manger is drawing closer each and every day?

We should make every preparation possible for the coming of the light of Christ. This light desires to come into our hearts and homes and to dwell with each of us. Are will willing to accept the light of Christ into our hearts and homes or are we content with where we find ourselves today? If we are ready to answer this challenge to prepare the way of the Lord we will be able to rejoice here today and more importantly to rejoice during this Christmas season that the Son of God came to dwell with each and every one of us. Through our preparation this light of joy will become familiar to each of us instead of us not knowing that it is currently here with us.

Let us each rejoice with the community of Isaiah. Let us rejoice that Christ has come into the world and conquered sin and death. May we join in the preparation of this Advent season, so that we may make peace and justice spring up inside of our lives and homes. Peace and justice will indeed spring up inside of our lives and homes if we allow the light of Christ to enter into our lives. No matter what struggle or heartache that we currently feel Christ is knocking on our doors wanting to enter into our lives.

The problem we have is that this world is a loud place that has a lot of things to do. We have work, we have to study, we have sports, we have Christmas parties, and Christmas shopping to do and each of these things can get in the way of our preparation. May we no longer neglect God in our lives and may we give religion more priority within our lives. We cannot have this happen over night, but we must make proper preparations, so that we will have room for Christ to enter through the doors of our lives. With Christ present here with us we have every reason in the world to rejoice.

Therefore my brothers and sisters in Christ may we rejoice at the coming of Christ. Through this rejoicing we will prepare our hearts and homes for this great gift. Through this preparation we will proclaim: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed." We should rejoice today because our souls will indeed be healed if we can trust in the light of Christ that desires to dwell with each and every one of us.

Immaculate Conception Homily

Yesterday many members of our parish gathered together to decorate for the Madrigal dinner. One of the requests that was made was to find eight boxes of white lights. Father Jim and I took this task upon ourselves and headed to Lowes, Wal-Mart, and Big Lots to look for these lights. Only if the request was to come back with colored lights because they were available in massive supply. After finding only 4 boxes out of these three stores we realized that accumulating eight boxes was hopeless.

Our society wants us to realize just that. Our society wants us to believe that all is hopeless. Look at the media and all that it has to share with us and we will begin to see that their is no hope. We are told about the importance of our individuality which only means that we cannot infringe upon someone else's beliefs. In order to fit into the order of society we need to blend in with the crowd and never express our own beliefs. In a world where there seems to be no right or wrong answer it seems like we have no hope. If we turned on the television, radio, or browsed the web this afternoon we probably heard about that the shootings that took place at the Virginia Tech campus. With sad news like this going on in the world around us it is easy to believe that we have no hope. In our own lives we can think of examples of sickness, death, losing a job, or other things which presents to our minds that we are hopeless.

It is through the Immaculate Conception that this hopelessness is overcome. No matter how great the sin of Adam and Eve was, Mary has come into the world free of sin. The Immaculate Conception is the white light of virtue shining brightly among the darkness of sin. This white light shines out among the individuality of the world and expresses the truth of Christ our Lord. This white light shines brightly during our saddest moments with the hope that one day we can again feel joy.

May we allow this great light to shine brightly within our own lives, so that our faith may be transformed into something greater. No matter what state of mind we find ourselves in today the Blessed Virgin Mary is present extending her hand to take. May we grasp upon it and allow her to take us to Christ. As this great exchange takes place she whispers into our ears that all is filled with hope if you can trust in me and my son.

In today's Gospel passage an angel appeared to Mary and told her that she was to bear a Son. This news came as shock to her ears, but she was willing to trust fully in God. She knew that accepting such a great honor would bring her much heartache, but she still accepted this invitation. She knew that by accepting this invitation people would begin to talk behind her back concerning who the father might be. Mary was young and filled with much fear, but she was willing to be humble of heart and lay everything down out of love for God.

Yes my brothers and sisters the world can seem to be hopeless. All can seem to be dark inside of this world. We do have a lot to fear! At the same time we have the Immaculate Conception where Mary has overcome the sin of Adam and Eve. We have this lady humble of heart who is ever present to intercede for us during our greatest needs. May we allow Mary to intercede in our lives today, so that we may ever grow closer into union with God.

Tuesday 2nd Week of Advent Homily

My mother handed me a twenty dollar bill and gave me the simple task of walking into a grocery store and purchasing a loaf of bread. The task was simple enough, but once I got to the bread isle I had realized that I had misplaced the twenty dollar bill. I was filled with so much fear at that moment because I knew that my mother would not be happy. All inside the world was blocked out for that brief moment as I franticly retraced my steps hoping to come across the money laying on the ground. Eventually I checked my pocket for what had to of been at least third time and the twenty dollar bill was miraculously there. Now that I had found what had been lost I was able to regain focus upon the world around me that I previously blocked out.

I am sure that each of us here have misplaced something and have followed the same pattern of events. When something important or dear to us gets misplaced we are filled with fear for that brief moment. The Shepard who lost one sheep had to of been filled with this same fear and concern. His concern was so great that he blocked out the fact that he had 99 other sheep and retraced his steps until he was able to find the one that had been lost. After finding this one sheep he was finally able to regain focus upon the world that was around him.

Each of us here today are preparing for the end of this academic semester. Some of us are overjoyed that the end is finally here, some of us fear a test or paper that lies on the horizon, and others are unsure of what life will hold for them after this year. May we who feel as if we are lost trust in the great Shepard who is Christ our Lord instead of trusting in the fear of the unknown that lies within our hearts. May we use the remainder of this 40 Hour Devotion to draw closer into union with Christ, so that we may be fed by this great Shepard. May our fears be calmed through the reception of this Eucharist, so that we may again set our focus upon the world around us and do so in connection to Christ our Lord.