All Souls' Day Homily

Tonight is about illumination. We notice the darkness of the outside and yet from that darkness always shines forth new light. Today families processed into the Church with a lit candle and left them near the side altar of Saint Joseph who is the patron of a happy death. This candle professes Christ's saving action upon cross which through the Resurrection which brought light into a world cast into darkness. Through sin we have been cast into darkness, but Christ continues to illumine us to our proper light. In death we mourn, but in Christ our hearts are illumined as we trust in the reality of the Resurrection. We now gather and pray that all the souls of the faithful departed may be illumined towards the proper splendor of the Heavenly Kingdom.

What we attend today is a type of Funeral Mass where we come together to join our prayers and to offer them unto the Father on the behalf of all the faithful departed. It is important that we continue to offer our prayers, sacrifices, and the Holy Mass for the dead. Some claim that this practice is foolish, but Sacred Scripture instructs us differently in the Book of Maccabees: "for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death." The Gospels use the analogy of gold passing through a furnace in order that it's impurities may pass out of it.

We cannot allow ourself to lose the sight of this most important work of praying for the dead. The faithful departed who we commemorate this day were found worthy of Heaven at the point of their death, but they must first pass through Purgatory in order that they may be brought towards the great light of Heaven. Sin stains our soul and leaves behind the effects of temporal punishment. Our prayers and sacrifices help to take these temporal punishments away and to slowly bring the souls of the dead to the light of Heaven. 

If you were to throw a rock into a body of water you would see the water ripple. This is the effect of the rock which was thrown. If a child were to be throwing a football in the house and was to break a window we would see the effect of his action. The parent would then punish the child with being grounded for six months. Then through the good works of the child the parent decides to lower their punishment to three months. This is an analogy of temporal punishment and the effect that our prayers have upon the faithful departed.

In this vestment we see black which reminds us of the reality of sin and of death. This color gives us the permission to mourn, but at the same time we notice the silver and gold. This is what is taking place in the souls of the faithful departed as we pray for them. They are slowly being brought to the light of Heaven.

There is a story of a priest who asked another priest to offer the Mass for him once he died. Upon hearing the news of the priest's passing he quickly went to offer the Mass on his behalf. Once the Mass was finished the priest appeared to him and asked why it had taken him 30 years to have this Mass offered. May we not delay in the seriousness of what we are able to do to assist these holy souls. As we pray them, they in time will brought into Heaven, that will make them a saint, and then they will be able to pray for us that we may one day join with them in the Heavenly Kingdom.

As we reflect upon death may we also come to reflect upon our own life. If we have an unconfessed mortal sin upon our soul may we fear not in taking it to confession. May we practice penance and sacrifice in order that we may become detached from venial sin. May we do the same concerning the effects of temporal punishment that is upon our own soul. We must strive for sanctity and always be open to turning towards the infinite mercy of God.

May all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

All Saints' Day Homily

In every Mass there is what is known as the fracturing rite. This is when the priest takes the host ,which has been consecrated, and breaks it in half. He then breaks off a small particle of the host and places it into the chalice. These three pieces of the host are symbolic of the Church which is divided among three realities. There is the Church Triumphant (which is those who now reign with God in Heaven and thus are forever known as saints), the Church Penitent (which is those who are now in Purgatory and very much so are in need of our prayers and sacrifices), and the Church Militant (which is all of us on this earth who must continue to persevere onward towards the Heavenly Kingdom).

Throughout the next couple of days the Church places its focus upon this reality in a most special way. Today we place our attention upon the Church Triumphant as we call upon all the saints to intercede on our behalf. On Monday our attention will be shift towards the Church Penitent as we recall the need to pray for all of the dead. And finally we as the Church Militant see our goal in life which is to embrace death in confidence as we place our sight upon Heaven with our desire to be numbered as one of the saints. No matter which of these three realities that one finds themselves within we can claim with the confidence of faith that Christ's offering of self upon the cross effects all of these realities.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. The Church's calendar is filled with with the names of many saints, but we must also remember that anyone who is in Heaven known or unknown by name is a saint. The saints have lived lives which were worthy of Heaven. Each saint tells a different story, but at the story's conclusion they were found worthy of Heaven. It is now their duty to give proper adoration to God in a most perfect way as they are able to join with Moses in seeing God face to face. They now forever look upon us and pray for our behalf that we too may enter into this most beautiful relationship with God.

We, on the other hand, must continue to strive to be like them. It would be an error for us to think that sainthood is out of our reach; if we were to hold onto this notion we at the same time would be proclaiming that Heaven is an impossibility for us. We are the Church Militant because we find ourselves on this earth and thus we must continue to do battle with Satan and all of the evil spirits who prowl about this earth seeking the ruin and loss of souls. As the Church Militant we must remain obedient to our state in life and at the same time fight against the enemy who desires our soul. Sainthood is not out of reach for us, but we must strive to achieve this goal.

The Solemnity of All Saints proclaims this goal to us. It encourages us onward towards sainthood. It forces us to realize the importance of dying in the state of grace; because once we pass through the effects of Purgatory we will be assured of our Heavenly reward. May we turn close to all of the saints this day and entrust ourself to their care, especially to our Blessed Mother. Our Blessed Mother always leads us towards her Son and thus she points the way towards the Heavenly Kingdom for all of us. Each and every one of us are called to be saints, but do we truly believe this path to be possible? Each and every one of us are called to be saints, but do we desire to be numbered as one of them?

May all the angels and saints of Heaven , pray for us, and may they lead us onward towards the Kingdom of Heaven.

30th Sunday of OT Year B Homily

Bartimaeus' eyes were thrust open and thus he was finally able to behold the Face of God. This story is reminiscent of the path towards illumination that the unbaptized of our RCIA class find them-self in the midst of. Very soon at the Easter Vigil they will be thrust into the waters of baptism and will rise forth from them with their eyes being cast open to behold the glory of God. For us our eyes were cast open through our baptism, but the reality of sin continues to plague us with the sole purpose of leaving our eyes closed to Christ and His saving works.

Through the Gospel of Saint Mark we are being invited to enter into a period of conversion where we leave behind that which blinds us and thus begin to see the face of Christ more and more. Following having his eyes cast open it was the Messiah who was the first that Bartimaeus was able to set his eyes upon. Are our eyes truly set entirely upon the Messiah or have we become blind to this reality? Maybe in the casualness of life we don't even realize that we have lost the sight of Christ. Bartimaeus knew that his sight was gone and yet it was through his faith that his eyes were finally cast open.

Christ never encounters a sinner and leaves them unchallenged to persevere in their sin. To Bartimaeus He commanded: "Go your way; your faith has saved you." Christ has come to claim each of us to be His sons and daughters through the waters of baptism. We were claimed not to grow blind and lose sight, but we were claimed in order that we could be sent forth to proclaim and see the glory of God. It is so easy to get distracted upon this path and to lose sight, but instead of giving into this temptation we must trust in the Sacraments of the Church to keep our eyes cast open instead of allowing them to fall asleep under the burden of years.

Through the vision of the Messiah that Bartimaeus received he was sent forth on the Way towards Everlasting Life. We too are invited to see this vision and to set out upon it. The Way that Christ sends us out upon is not a path which only concerns us and our needs alone, but this Way connects us to God, to our neighbor, and to the life of the Church. So often we get closed in upon our own needs and thus lose sight of the Community of Faith as we turn inwards upon ourself and our own needs.

We have chosen this Sunday to be Stewardship Sunday for our parish. Stewardship is a question of supporting the financial well being of our parish and it is a question of how we can better give of our time and talents to make the Kingdom of Heaven manifest to those around us. We cannot encounter Christ, like Bartimaeus, and become closed in upon ourself (like the apostles who rebuked him and commanded him to remain silent). Instead our encounter with Christ sends us forth from here with the mission to see Christ more clearly each day by putting sin to death. This encounter with Christ gives us a glimpse of the Church as being a Community of Faith to which we must serve through our time, talents, and treasure.

May our eyes truly be opened as the eyes of Bartimaeus were in order that we may see and proclaim the greater glory of God.

21st Sunday After Pentecost Homily

Sin is serious business even if our culture rejects its existence. We notice in our Gospel a man who owed a serious amount of money. This is representative of a sum which is so great that it is impossible for it to be paid back. Through the invitation of mortal sin into our life we amass this great debt. This is a debt that we cannot pay back through our own merit no matter how much the Angels and saints of Heaven intercede on our behalf. Instead we must contritely beg for the forgiveness of God and move forth with proper amendment of life. God alone is the merciful judge who awaits our return to Him.

Upon being forgiven of his great debt this man runs into someone who owes him slightly. Despite the abundance of forgiveness that he had received from God, he is unable to share what he received with others. We desire the forgiveness of God through the Sacrament of Confession and yet at the same time we find it hard to share the mercy in which we receive with others. The purpose of this parable is to inform us of the vast mercy of God and thus too our own need to be merciful with those whom we encounter.

It is sad to see a family who has been torn apart following the death of a loved one. Especially when the root cause of this breakdown is greed brought about through inheritance rites. It sad to see them attach on to something such as this and not be able to share the mercy of God with those of their own family. We must ask ourself what grudge and offense made against us do we still passionately hold onto. We must pray for the grace to be merciful as the King in our Gospel was merciful. In the words of James chapter 2 verse 13: "For the judgment is merciless to one who has not shown mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment."

My dear brethren, God has great patience for each of us. May we likewise have patience for those whom we encounter in life. Those like us are found to be imperfect, but it is easier to be concerned with the imperfection of others while ignoring our own faults. From Saint Matthew's Gospel: " Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye."

We must therefore take the words of our Epistle to heart. If we want to avoid sin always and thus follow after the commands of God we must follow Saint Paul by putting "on the armor of God." If we want to become patient and merciful with our brothers and sisters in Christ we must do so by putting "on the armor of God." We must therefore take the truth contained within the Gospels and study them always that we may proclaim the same truth. We must put "on the armor of God" as we strengthen ourself in the spirit of prayer and partake of the life of the sacraments.

             

This day may we always be willing to receive the mercy of God and not fall into the state of serious sin. May we share the forgiveness God with those who transgress against us. May we grow in the virtue of patience that we not lash out in anger, but realize God who dwells within the human person. In all things may God be glorified.

28th Sunday of OT Year B Homily

"Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone." Here Jesus is making a profound statement to this man. He is instructing him that he has not simply come to after follow another teacher (one among many), but instead the one who he now beholds is God (the only one). Teachers lead the way towards truth, but God is truth itself. This man could have decided to follow many different paths, but instead he had come to encounter the ultimate way towards truth. For this man to attain the rewards of eternal life he is not to see just another good teacher who now stands before him, but is to see the Savior who is the only teacher.

In our modern world we like to take the practice of religion down to it's lowest common denominator. Most often this seems to be stated: "be nice to everyone." Quoting Saint Luke's version of the Golden Rule: "Do to others what you would want them to do to you." Yes, Christianity must follow this principle, but we also must remember that we have also been instructed: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your strength and with all your mind.' And, ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself." This is exactly where Jesus was taking this man in our Gospel. He was attempting to make him realize that He was not simply a teacher who is one found among many, but instead is the full expression of truth itself which must always be embraced.

From Saint John's Gospel: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." Do we really believe that Jesus is the way towards happiness? Do we really believe that Jesus is the truth that must always be defended? Do we really believe that Jesus is the way towards life? So often we avoid this way because we are not willing to let go of all that holds us back. So often we are not willing to accept that truth is real especially in matters of faith and morals. So often we are not willing to see the value of the cross from which springs forth true life. Are we in search of a good teacher or do we come here in search of God? Is it our desire to follow a teacher or is it our desire to follow God who is expressed to us through the fullness of our faith?

I find the posture that this man in our Gospel takes in encountering Christ to be most interesting. We notice that he does not come to Him standing and towering before Him, but instead he takes on a posture of lowliness as he humbly kneels before Him. His posture is reflective of the very fact that he was coming to embrace Christ. Our life is in need of Christ and is in need of His direction. We will not be sent forth from His presence to be lost in error or in hardship, but we will be embraced as He leads us out into the abundant harvest of the Lord. We should take time to allow Christ to guide us towards encountering truth and happiness. The youth of our parish should humble them self before Him that they may be guided in their vocation. We need priests, consecrated religious, and good and holy marriages that are founded upon Christ. The married and ordained should humble them self before Christ to allow them self to be kept on track towards everlasting life. Each of us are in need of Christ and the truth in which He extends into our life now matter how hard or difficult it may be to understand.

When we come to encounter Christ we can allow no earthly good to take priority over us. Christ is not just another good teacher, but He is the Messiah who has come to save us from our enslavement towards sin. Christ desires that we follow after Him and thus the truth that He always presents to us. Are we prepared to kneel and humbly follow wherever it may be in which Christ is currently calling us to follow?