20th Sunday of OT Year A Homily

The Lord exclaims some pretty interesting words to this Canaanite woman: ”I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

This echoes back to the words of the prophet Jeremiah, “My people have been lost sheep: Their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: They have gone from mountain to hill, They have forgotten their resting place.”

Here Jesus is reminding that His earthly ministry was to the people of Israel. It was these people who were chosen by God as His chosen people. As is stated of them in the Book of Deuteronomy, “The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.”

This mission of Christ is further reflected in the Gospel of Saint Matthew, “And he shall bring forth a son, and he shall call his name Jesus: for he will save his people from their sins.” This Canaanite woman falls outside of this chosen people. Nevertheless, the Lord heard her cries and through her faith He was moved to give her aid.

So too the Church has been extended throughout the world. As the Lord stated at His Ascension into Heaven, “Go out and make disciples of all nations.” As members of the Church we are the people that Christ has come to save. Nevertheless, there are those times when we chose to reject Him and the message of salvation that He brings into the world. With this we become “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

It must become our mission to set our sight upon Him. It is easy to reject truth when it makes us uncomfortable. It is easy to get caught up in the ways of the world and to push Christ off to the side. As those who have been claimed for Christ through the waters of baptism we must live each day for Him.

In the sacrament of confession we come to heal that which has been broken down by sin as we proclaim, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David.” In all that we encounter and do we must profess our faith in Him and state, “Lord, help me.” Truly may we come to allow the Lord to help us as we kneel at His feet in humble prayer.

The Lord’s response to this Canaanite woman invites her to partake of the Master’s table. So too do we humbly come to receive our Lord who feeds us in the Most Holy Eucharist. May we remain united in our practice of faith through this most wondrous of gifts. Through the Eucharist we come to receive our Lord who is in present with us Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. In all things let us not become lost sheep, but sheep who humbly come to follow and love their Shepherd.

Assumption of Mary Homily

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. 

It was in the year 1950 that Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of Mary as an official dogma of the Church stating, “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”

This does not mean that the Church created this teaching some 73 years ago. This is a teaching that had existed throughout the Church’s history. As early as the 8th century this feast was celebrated in the West. In the 5th or 6th century celebrated in the East. Even early texts only a few hundred years after Christ attest to this reality.

One of them stating, “And when the third day was ended, the voices were no longer heard; and from that time forth all knew that her spotless and precious body had been transferred to paradise.”

This concept of being “transferred to paradise” is not something unique to Mary. In Sacred Scripture we also hear of this concerning Enoch and Elijah. Of Enoch: “Enoch walked with God, and he was no longer here, for God took him.” Of Elijah: “As they walked on still conversing, a fiery chariot and fiery horses came between the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.”

Of these figures Mary is most important for she is without sin. Through her Immaculate Conception this includes original sin. Her whole life was lived in acceptance of God’s will. It was she who overcame the cunning of the serpent as she stepped on his cursed head. It is she who points us toward our ultimate goal of paradise where we will be with God forever.

Concerning the importance of establishing this feast Pope Pius XII stated, “while the illusory teachings of materialism and the corruption of morals that follows from these teachings threaten to extinguish the light of virtue and to ruin the lives of men by exciting discord among them, in this magnificent way all may see clearly to what a lofty goal our bodies and souls are destined. Finally it is our hope that belief in Mary's bodily Assumption into heaven will make our belief in our own resurrection stronger and render it more effective.”

With this celebration we come to set our sight upon God and this goal of Heaven. So often we can get caught up in the here and now and forget about this ultimate goal. At the end of time the resurrection of the body will take place where our soul will be rejoined to our body. Mary already shares in this reality as she continues to point the way to her Son. Every minute of her life was lived for God and she did not get caught up in these worldly allures. Through her intercession may we to continue to run the race that leads to Everlasting Life.

Queen assumed into Heaven, pray for us.

11th Sunday After Pentecost Homily

In the Rite of Baptism we find the Ephpheta which is taken from this Gospel passage. At this moment the priest touches the ears and lips of the child stating, “May the Lord Jesus, who made the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak, grant that you may soon be able to receive His word and profess the faith to the praise and glory of God the Father.”

Through baptism this is what has taken place within us. Through these life giving waters all sin was washed away including original sin and we rose forth from those life giving waters whiter then snow. Through baptism we were sent forth to hear the word of God and to speak the word of God. It was sin that kept us from such a reality, but through our encounter with Christ we came to be healed.

Our Epistle presents us with Saint Paul who confesses, “For I am the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am and His grace in me has not been void.”

What we should know pertaining to the past of Saint Paul was that he was once known as Saul. He persecuted Christians and had them put to death. Nevertheless, on the Road to Emmaus he encountered the Lord who called him to surrender his life to Him. In return Saul was baptized and left the waters of baptism as Paul. He rose from those waters able to hear and speak.

From Romans we are told by Saint Paul concerning the importance of baptism, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Through this gift of baptism we must “walk in newness of life.” Despite his sinful past Paul came to live for the Lord. Despite the psychical ailments of the man in our Gospel he came to be healed through Christ. So too when it pertains to each of us. We have been healed by Christ through baptism and therefore must walk each day to live for His greater glory.

Temptation and sin will continue to creep into our life, but we cannot allow ourself to lose faith for God pours forth the gift of grace upon us. Through this gift we come to be strengthened to live for the Lord and to die to self. We open wide our heart to be found receptive of such a gift especially when we return to the sacrament of confession to be touched by the power of God’s mercy. It is this mercy which opens our ears to hear and our lips to speak.

Therefore, let us be sent forth from here like this man in our Gospel. May our lips come to proclaim the Gospel and may we come to hear all that the Lord asks of us and like Saint Paul may we be found willing to respond to Him by our life.

19th Sunday of OT Year A Homily

The Lord was not present in the heavy wind, the earthquake, nor the fire. Instead God came to Elijah in the form of a tiny whispering sound.

So often we desire for the voice of God to come easily without having to do any work in order for us to listen. There are many voices which constantly compete for our attention and these voices cause us to lose sight of God and His voice. Our culture is built up around a desire for an increase of pleasure, wealth, and power. These pursuits cause us to loose sight of God and make it difficult to listen to that tiny whispering sound.

Each of have been called by God to pursue holiness in our everyday life. To embrace one’s God given vocation is a way in which we come to pursue this reality. If one is to respond to God’s call to be a priest, enter religious life, or enter into holy matrimony they must discern God’s call. We can only discern God’s call if we are willing to slow down and enter into prayer. We must desire to enter into relation with Him in order that we may hear that tiny whispering sound that comes to us in little ways.

Life would be so much easier if God were simply to come and smack us across the face to tell us what we are to do, but it doesn’t work that way. If that is what we are waiting for to move forward in the spiritual life we will be waiting for ever. We will desire to hear God in all the big ways such as wind, earthquake, or fire and fail to listen to that voice which simply comes in a tiny whispering sound.

Just like our Gospel the storms of this life will give rise and beat us about. In the midst of these storms it can be hard to hear that tiny whispering sound that is voice of God, but we must remember that this voice is always present. The Lord reminds His disciples of this when He comes walking on the water and calls out to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

We must desire to hear this voice that continues to come to us if we are to remain attentive and have faith. Through faith we cry out, “Truly, you are the Son of God.” This is a profession of faith which serves as a reminder that Christ remains present in our midst to this day and we must continue to open up our heart in order to hear His voice amidst the many noises and distractions of this life.

Let us continue to find our peace and joy in God. Let us make our homes places of prayer where we make entering into relationship with God a priority that cannot be sacrificed. There will continue to be a lot the goes on in the world around us and in our own life, but we still need to listen, to be present, and to be held in relation with Christ. Let our life be refuge of prayer that remains open to hearing that tiny whispering sound that is God’s voice.

Transfiguration of the Lord Homily

Today we observe the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. This feast gives us a glimpse into our humanity and how we are to more perfectly reflect God’s glory. As Anastasius of Sinai sums it up, he “will give us a share in his radiance, renew our spiritual nature and transform us into his own likeness, making us for ever sharers in his Godhead.”

Despite the sin that creeps into our life we are called to embrace this reality. Humanity has fallen, but through Christ we have come to be healed, perfected, and clothed in the glory of God. Our celebration of the Lord’s Transfiguration points the way towards what God desires to be worked within us.

As we are instructed in 2 Corinthians: “And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”

This concept of being veiled should remind us of Moses. Moses who went up to receive the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and to bring the Israelites into covenant with God as His chosen people. From Exodus we are told, “As Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while he spoke with the Lord.” Due to this we are further told, “When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever Moses entered the presence of the Lord to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out again.”

At the Transfiguration of the Lord we are told, “And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun.” What takes place within the face of Jesus is found to be far superior then what took place within the face of Moses. This serves as an instruction on the Lord’s divinity and that He was not only fully human, but also fully divine. Jesus radiates this divine glory to the point that his garments also appear to be as white as light.

In the Church we are surrounded by the use of veils. We notice that the tabernacle is veiled and that the chalice is veiled. These veils serve as a reminder of the sacred for that which is sacred has been veiled from our sight. In the Book of Exodus a veil is placed over the tent which holds the ark of the covenant which is literally the presence of God. This veil would continue to veil the sacred in the Temple in Jerusalem. As was stated by Saint Thomas Aquinas: “We cannot be enlightened by the divine ray except they be hidden within the covering of many sacred veils.”

It is is Jesus who gives a glimpse of what dwells behind this veil to Peter, James, and John upon Mount Tabor at the transfiguration. It was here that what was veiled came to be known and looked upon. At this they fell prostrate and the Lord touched them saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.” They were given this glimpse into Heavenly glory in order that they would continue to run the race towards Everlasting Life despite all that would befall them in this life especially the coming of the Lord’s Passion. As this veil is slightly lifted giving us a glimpse into the sacred, may we place our trust in Him and be not afraid.