Homily for December 29, 2013 (Feast of the Holy Family)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family.  We are once again presented with the model of St. Joseph.  On the first of January, we will celebrate the feast of Mary, the Mother of God.  These two feast days, occurring so close together in the calendar, give me the opportunity to preach about St. Joseph and fatherhood today, and the Blessed Virgin Mary and motherhood on Wednesday.  Essentially there will be one homily about fatherhood and motherhood, given in two parts and on two different days.  And because the first of January is a Holy Day of Obligation, I am confident that everyone who is here for the celebration of Mass this weekend will also be here for the celebration of Mass on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning, and will hear the second part of this homily.

St. Joseph provided for the Lord Jesus and he provides for us an image of the heavenly Father.  In his life and in his actions St. Joseph gives a model for those of us who have received the gift of fatherhood through nature or grace.  St. Joseph teaches us how to be a father.

Our reading from the Gospel today is the story of the flight into Egypt.  This event occurs after the visit of the magi and just before the slaughter of the holy innocents, when many young boys in Bethlehem were killed by the order of Herod.  Like the patriarch Joseph in the book of Genesis, the will of the Lord is made known to St. Joseph in dreams.  Today the angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream and tells him, “Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and stay there until I tell you.”  After several years in Egypt, St. Joseph is told in another dream, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel.”  This is the first thing that we learn about St. Joseph and about fatherhood.  St. Joseph listened carefully and prayerfully to the will of God.  The father must be a man who listens to God and to the family entrusted to his care.

Having listened carefully and prayerfully, St. Joseph acts in obedience to the will of God.  He takes the child and his mother to Egypt.  He does not send them to Egypt.  He takes them with him to Egypt.  St. Joseph exercises his fatherhood in obedience and by being present to the child Jesus and to his mother Mary.  The father is obedient to God and present to his family.  Acting in obedience, St. Joseph suffers for the sake of his family and he protects them.  This is the mission that the Almighty Father had entrusted to St. Joseph.  He was to be the protector of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus.  He would sacrifice himself for the good of his family.

St. Joseph teaches us that a father must be a man who listens carefully and prayerfully to the will and the word of the Lord.  He teaches us that being a father means being a man of obedient action and also being a man who is present to his family.  St. Joseph teaches us that the role of the father is to protect the family entrusted to his care and to offer himself and his own will as a sacrifice for the good of his family.  And St. Joseph teaches us that the father looks forward to the future.  After their years in Egypt, St. Joseph brought his family to Nazareth so that the words of the prophets would be fulfilled.  This is the ultimate task of the mission of a father: to prepare his children for their own mission.

May St. Joseph intercede for us that we may listen, that we may act, that we may be present and willing to sacrifice, and that we might prepare the family, or the flock, entrusted to our care for the mission of proclaiming the Good News to all of the children of God. Amen. 

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for Christmas (December 24-25, 2013)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

It was an unexpected invitation.  The shepherds in the field, who were keeping watch over their flocks by night, received an unexpected announcement and an unexpected invitation.  The angel of Lord brought the shepherds the announcement of the birth of the Savior and the invitation to come to Bethlehem.  And the shepherds went in haste to see this great thing that had occurred.

Mary and Joseph were unexpected visitors.  The innkeeper had received unexpected visitors in the City of David.  It was not the angel of the Lord that brought this announcement to the innkeeper, but a humble carpenter from Nazareth and his pregnant wife.  There was no room in the inn, but there was room in the stable.  The animals in the stable would make room for the Savior.

When the shepherds came to Bethlehem, they brought a gift for the Son of God.  It was not the gold, frankincense and myrrh that the magi would bring much later.  It was not the riches of a kingdom.  The shepherds’ only possession was the flock entrusted to their care, and the gift the shepherds brought was the gift of their presence.  At the invitation of an angel, the shepherds came to welcome the child Jesus.

The shepherds gave the gift of their presence, and the animals gave him a place in their home.  The animals made room in their home for Mary, for Joseph, and for the baby Jesus.  They would not reject him.  They would not fear him.  They would only welcome him.

Tonight it is not the voice of an angel that invites you to Bethlehem.  It is not the voice of an angel or the choirs of the hosts of heaven that announces the good news that the Savior has been born for you.  It is the voice of a shepherd who wants to give his flock to Jesus on this most holy night.

The Lord Jesus asks for the gift of your presence.  He asks for some room in your home.  That is the gift that he wants from you.  He wants the gift of your presence and a place in your home. 

And dear brothers and sisters, dear beloved children of the Most High God, the Lord Jesus has a precious gift for each of you.  It is the gift of his presence, and a place in his home.

Merry Christmas.  Amen.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for December 22, 2013 (4th Advent A)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

Today we celebrate the fourth Sunday of Advent.  It seems like only yesterday that we were beginning the Advent season.  The four weeks of preparation are now reduced to only a few days.  Our time of preparation for the great feast of our Lord’s birth is coming to an end.

On the first Sunday of Advent, we were invited to prepare ourselves for the Lord’s return at the end of history.  The prophet Isaiah invited us to wait with patience for the kingdom of peace.  On the second and third Sundays of Advent, we heard the preaching of John the Baptist calling us to repentance for our sins and directing us to look to the Lord Jesus as the promised Messiah.  During these days we have also celebrated the great feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary and we have remembered with great devotion the appearance of Our Lady at Guadalupe.  We have listened attentively to the prophetic word of John.  We have received the great gift of the Father’s love in the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary and we await the celebration of the birth of our Savior.  Today, however, in these final days of preparation for the feast of the nativity of the Lord Jesus, the Lord gives us one more gift and one more example.  Today we are given the gift of Saint Joseph, the righteous man and the model of fatherhood.

In our gospel reading today, we encounter Saint Joseph. He is a righteous man and is betrothed to Mary.  He knows that his beloved Mary is pregnant and that the child she bears is not his.  A devout follower of the law, Joseph was not willing to expose Mary to the penalties of the law.  Saint Joseph is a man of justice and silence, not a man of vengeance and impatience.  In the soul of Joseph the swords of anger had been beaten into the plowshares of peace.

In the same way as the patriarch Joseph of the book of Genesis, the Lord reveals his will to Saint Joseph in a dream.  The angel of the Lord, calling Joseph by name and recognizing him as a descendant of the royal house of David, tells him not to be afraid to welcome Mary into his home.  The angel announces to Saint Joseph that the words of the prophet Isaiah, that the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and he shall be called Emmanuel, were being fulfilled in Mary.  And now Joseph would share in the fatherly role of the heavenly Father, and he would name the child Jesus.

In his letter to the Romans the apostle Paul tells us that he has received the grace of apostleship for the sake of the name.  The apostles in the book of Acts, and generation after generation of disciples of the Lord Jesus, even to our own day, have rejoiced that they have been found worthy to suffer for the sake of the name.  Only one however, was found worthy to give the name.  Saint Joseph will stand in the temple, on the eighth day after the Lord’s birth, and declare “His name is Jesus.”

At the conclusion of his sacred dream, Saint Joseph awoke and followed the command of the angel of the Lord.  Joseph welcomed Mary and the gift of the unborn Christ that she bore into his home.  In humble silence and believing the Lord’s word spoken to him, Saint Joseph prepared for the nativity of the Lord Jesus.

My brothers and sisters let us join Saint Joseph in these final days as we prepare to celebrate the human birth of the Savior of the world.  In moments of humble silence, let us welcome Mary into our homes, so that she might present her Son to us and us to her Son.  And let us proclaim with Saint Joseph, that more than important the gifts and the gatherings and the travels, is that we have seen the promised Messiah of God, and His name is Jesus!   

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for December 15, 2013 (3rd Advent A)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

Last week we heard the preaching of John the Baptist.  This week we hear about the mission of John the Baptist.

Today in our reading from the Gospel, John the Baptist performs the last of his duties as the last of the prophets, except for the shedding of his blood.  He sends his disciples to the Lord Jesus.  The mission of John the Baptist has always been to send people to the Lord Jesus.  In the womb of his mother Elizabeth, John rejoiced at the greeting of the Blessed Virgin Mary, because he sensed that the Savior was near.  Indeed, it is an unborn child who is the first to worship Jesus Christ.  John the Baptist is the one who pointed to the Lord Jesus and said “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  And John the Baptist said of the Lord Jesus that “he must increase and I must decrease.”  It is for this reason that the Lord Jesus would say that “among those born of women there has been none greater that John the Baptist.”

John the Baptist points to the Lord Jesus.  That is his mission.  As he fulfills the mission that was entrusted to him by the Lord, John fully becomes the one that the Lord has called him to be.  As we follow John the Baptist during the final weeks of the season of Advent, we too are called to point to the Lord Jesus.  We too are called to rejoice in the womb of our mother, the Church, because the Savior is near.  And we too, dear brothers and sisters, will more fully become the people we were created to be, as our voices, our hands and our lives, point to the Lord Jesus.  Amen. 

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for Our Lady of Guadalupe 2013 (December 12, 2013)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

Tonight we gather to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  We gather to celebrate the feast of our loving mother.  We gather to remember the message that she gave to St. Juan Diego and we gather to gaze upon the image that she left with us.  We are here tonight, dear brothers and sisters, because the Virgin loves us.  We are here tonight because the Virgin invites us to life.

The Virgin of Guadalupe invites us to life in the Church.  The message that Our Lady gave to St. Juan Diego was that she wanted a chapel built.  She wanted a chapel for the people of God to gather so that they could worship the Father in spirit and in truth.  She wanted a chapel built so that the holy people of God could participate in the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  She wanted a chapel built so that the precious gifts of life in the Sacraments of the Church could be celebrated for the people of God.  The Virgin of Guadalupe invites us to life in the Church because she loves us.

Do you love the Virgin?

Do you love the Virgin enough to respond to her invitation to life in the Church?  Do you love the Virgin enough to assist at the Holy Mass on every Sunday and every holy day and not simply on the twelfth of December?  Do you love the Virgin enough to bring your children to be educated in the faith of Christ?  If you do not brothers and sisters, then you do not love the Virgin enough.

But the Virgin loves you. 

The Virgin invites you to life in the Church because she invites you to life in Christ.  She invites you to share in the life of her Son.  She invites you to grow in Christ Jesus under her loving protection.  She invites you to grow in the grace of your particular vocation protected by her loving arms.  She protects me, with her loving image and her loving hands, so that I can be a Father to you.

Let us love the Virgin of Guadalupe.  Let us respond to her invitation to life in Christ and in his Church.  Let the flowers that we bring and the prayers that we offer be our sign that we desire to love the Virgin more.  And let every breath of our lives cry out: Viva la Virgin!  Viva Cristo Rey!  Amen.

Preached in Spanish at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for December 8, 2013 (2nd Advent A)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

This week I have been assisting at a few other parishes with the celebration of first reconciliation.  It is always a great joy to help introduce the children to this beautiful sacrament of the Lord’s love.  However, I did hear something this week that I have never heard before.  A nervous child began the first confession with these words: “Bless me Father, for you have sinned.”  That caught my attention. 

And the preaching of John the Baptist caught the attention of the people in the desert of Judea so many years ago.  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is a hand.”  The preaching of John the Baptist was an invitation to turn away from sin and to prepare the way of the Lord.  It was an invitation to change their lives because the one prophesied by Isaiah, the one who is filled with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, was soon to appear.  God was coming near to them.  Life would never be the same.  They would see face to face the one who would not only cleanse them from their sins but the one who would call them to life.  John the Baptist called the people to repentance.  He called them to prepare the way of the Lord.  He called them to turn away from their sins so that they could look upon the face of Christ.

The little child this week reminded me again that I am a sinner in need of the mercy of God.  The preaching of John the Baptist reminds all of us of our need to repent and to prepare the way of the Lord.  May this season of patience and preparation be for each of us also a season of repentance so that we may welcome our God who is coming near to us.  Amen.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for December 1, 2013 (1st Advent A)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

Today we begin the season of Advent and today we begin a new year of grace in our celebration of the sacred liturgy.  The word advent means coming or arrival.  During this season of Advent we prepare for two comings of Christ.  The second coming of Christ, which we focus on in the early days of Advent, is the return of the Lord Jesus at the end of history.  The first coming of Christ is the human birth of our Lord in Bethlehem.  We will prepare for that event in the coming weeks as we prepare for the feast of Christmas.  We await the second coming of Christ with patience and expectation.  We celebrate the first coming of Christ with this time of preparation.  Advent is a season of patience and preparation because our God is coming near to us.

In our first reading we hear of the vision of the prophet Isaiah.  We hear that in the days to come that the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established as the highest mountain.  All nations and all peoples will stream toward this mountain and desire to be instructed in his ways so that they might walk in his paths.  This will be the establishment of the kingdom of peace, where the swords have been beaten into plowshares and the spears into pruning hooks.  The event that Isaiah prophesies will reach its fulfillment only when Christ returns in glory.  It will be the day on which all of creation, the whole of humanity, responds to the invitation that was sent out at Pentecost.  This universal kingdom of peace is the kingdom for which we are preparing.  The Lord Jesus in the Gospel invites us to be prepared for his return in glory.  He will return on a day and at an hour that we do not know.  The Lord Jesus invites us to prepare for that final day when he will come near to us.

During our time of preparation, the Lord Jesus calls us to be patient.  He calls us to stay awake and to be watchful.  In the letter to the Romans, Saint Paul advises the early Christians and he advises us that it is now the hour for us to awake from sleep.  Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed in the promise.  It is time for us to throw off the deeds of darkness and to put on the armor of light.  We are invited to put on the Lord Jesus.  We are invited to dwell patiently in him as we await the full revelation of the children of God.

God is coming near to us.  This is the joy of the Advent season.  The Most High God has looked upon us with such love that he desires to come near to us.  He desires to share his life with us.  That, my dear brothers and sisters, is how precious we are to God.  We are given this season of preparation so that we might watch for his coming in glory and majesty.  Until that day, when all creation is made new and all of the peoples of the earth are drawn to the mountain in the holy city of Jerusalem, God comes near to us in humility and simplicity.  Through the simple gifts of bread and wine, and the simple and powerful words of Christ the Lord, and the simple voice of his unworthy priest, God is near to us. Amen.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for November 24, 2013 (Christ the King C)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

On this Sunday we celebrate the feast of Christ the King.  This is the final Sunday of the liturgical year.  Next week we will begin the season of Advent and our time of preparation for the feast of Our Lord’s birth.  In only a few weeks, we will celebrate the feast of the New Born King.  Today, however, our readings and the prayers of the Mass draw our focus to Jesus Christ who is the glorious and reigning king of the universe.  The Lord Jesus, the Son of David the King, is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.  He is a man like us in all things but sin.  He is the one, anointed by the Father with the oil of gladness as the eternal priest and king.  The Lord Jesus is the one who reconciles us to the Father by the blood of his holy cross.  Today we celebrate that Christ our Lord has claimed dominion over all creation so that he might present to God our Father an eternal and universal kingdom, a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.

And yet, our reading from the Gospel today does not show us an image of Christ as the triumphant ruler.  We do not see him as the judge of the nations at the end of history or as the shepherd who protects his flock.  Today we encounter Christ on the cross.  In him is the fullness of divine power.  Through him all things, visible and invisible, were made.  He is the king of the angels and the Lord of all history.  But today we see him scourged, and crowned with thorns, and nailed to a cross.  The king of the universe is the crucified and suffering savior.

The crowds gathered to acclaim David as king in our first reading.  The crowds gathered at the foot of the cross to mock the kingship of the Lord Jesus.  David had been anointed by the prophet Samuel and had proven himself again and again in battle.  The rulers and the soldiers and even a crucified criminal demanded that Jesus prove his kingship by freeing himself from the cross.  They wanted him to abandon the cross.  They demanded a demonstration of his divine and royal power.

And he showed mercy.

Two men were crucified with the Lord Jesus.  One mocked him, and the other one recognized him.  The good thief saw in the face of Christ an innocent man who suffers for the guilty.  He saw a man crowned with thorns and suffering, yet one who possesses a kingdom.  Christ Jesus came into the world to establish his kingdom.  Through his passion and cross, Jesus Christ took possession of all suffering with his kingly power.  He would not abandon the cross as the crowd demanded, because to abandon the cross would be to abandon those who suffer.  Jesus Christ is king over suffering and he is king in the midst of suffering.  And when the good thief, in the midst of suffering, called upon the name of the Lord Jesus, his prayer was heard.  The voice of the penitent and suffering one resounded far more than the noise of the crowd.  His plea was heard and the Lord Jesus responded with a promise: “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.”  The good thief was given a share in the kingdom.

And we, dear brothers and sisters, have been promised a share in the kingdom.  We were claimed for the kingdom in the waters of baptism and anointed to be like Christ as priest, prophet and king.  As we now approach our suffering and glorious king we join with him in the eternal offering to the Father.  Conscious of our guilt, but more confident in his mercy, our hearts cry out in faith and hope, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Amen.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for November 17, 2013 (33rd Sunday C)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

The Lord Jesus, in our readings today has given us a warning.  He has told us that before he returns in glory at the consummation of the world, that we would be seized and persecuted and that we will be handed over to those who will criticize and mock us.  We will be called before the world to give an account for the hope that is ours.  We will be called to be witnesses for Jesus Christ.

We are often confronted by people who hate the Church and the Catholic Faith, or more often, we are confronted by people who hate what they think is the Catholic Church and her sacred teachings.  In these moments of confrontation, when what we hold most dear is being attacked and when our very identity is at stake, we are faced with a choice of responses.  We can throw the intellectual rock of our faith.  We can present the clear witness of Sacred Scripture and the overwhelming proof of history.  We can respond with righteous indignation to each and every one of the charges against us.  We can crush those who attack us with the truths of our faith.

Or, dear brothers and sisters, we can cast a fishing line.

The Lord Jesus tells us not to prepare any defense.  He tells us to be at peace. The Lord Jesus himself will give us the wisdom to make our testimony of faith that our adversaries will be powerless to resist or to refute.  This wisdom is the bait for the fishing line.  The testimony that cannot be denied is holiness, and it is irresistible and irrefutable.

We are all called to holiness.  We are all called to seek a deeper union with the Lord Jesus.  That is the overwhelming message of the Second Vatican Council.  Everyone in the Church is called to holiness, and we are called to holiness through the events of our daily lives.  Saint Paul reminds us that it is important for each of us to be diligent in our daily work. Saint Paul reminds us to follow his example of loving service.  In so doing, we will grow in holiness because we are being faithful to our vocation.  Every vocation is a path to holiness.  A vocation is given by God and embraced by us in love.  Your life as a mother or a father, as a married person or a single person, of whatever age and whatever career, is your path to grow closer to God.  The Lord Jesus calls you to holiness right where you are.  He calls you to holiness through the events of each and every day.  Our daily work is an opportunity to grow in holiness and be a witness for the Lord Jesus.

But my dear brothers and sisters, the most important thing that we do to grow in holiness, is respond to the invitation of the Lord to the celebration of the Eucharist.  It is here, where we are fed by the Word of God and the Bread of Life, that we are strengthened to be his witnesses.  We are healed by the rays of the Sun of Justice, as the prophet Malachi tells us.  We are healed, dear brothers and sisters, so that we can respond with compassion and with faithfulness and cast not rocks, but a fishing line.  Amen.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC      

Homily for November 10, 2013 (32nd Sunday C)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

On the 11^th of November each year, we celebrate Veteran’s Day.  We remember in a particular way those who have served in the Armed Forces of this country.  We remember those who served in times of peace and times of war.  And we remember those who shed their blood and gave their lives in defense of freedom throughout the world.  We remember and we honor those who remained faithful to their mission, even unto death.

In our first reading from the book of Maccabees, we hear of the seven brothers who remained faithful even unto death.  They were victims of religious persecution and they accepted death from the government rather than violate their consciences.  They believed that the law of God was more precious than the law of man.  These seven brothers were faithful unto death because they believed and they hoped in the promise of God for eternal life.  They were people of faith, who lived in hope.

The Sadducees in our gospel, however, were people without hope.  Today in the reading from the gospel, the Sadducees asked the Lord Jesus a question about particular details of the resurrection to eternal life.  The Sadducees did not believe in resurrection or in eternal life.  They rejected any notion of an afterlife.  Their entire existence was based on what could be gained in this world, with no expectation for the next world.  The question that they posed was designed to mock the Lord Jesus.  Some of this same group would likely be mocking him at his trial.  The Sadducees focused everything on attaining money and prestige and power in this life, because they had no thought of the resurrection.  They were not people of faith in the Living God.  They were not faithful unto death, because they had no hope of eternal life.

But we have the hope of eternal life.  

We are gathered as believers in the promise of the Living God.  The gospel in which we have put our faith is the message of sure and certain hope that sin and death will not prevail against those who are united to Christ Jesus.  The Lord Jesus who claimed us for himself in the waters of our baptism will receive his faithful ones as his own in the Kingdom of the Father. 

In our daily struggle against sin and temptation and persecution, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who urge us on to victory.  We are surrounded, dear brothers and sisters, by the holy ones who were faithful unto death, and who believed in the promise of eternal life.  St. Peter and St. Paul and St. Jude gave their lives and shed their blood because they proclaimed that they had seen the Risen Lord.  St. Leo and St. Ambrose lived in faith and died in hope as they shepherded the flock of God and challenged the political authorities who challenged the authority of God.  St. Padre Pio showed us the mercy of God and the wounds of Christ, and St. Francis Xavier proclaimed the Good News throughout the world.  St. Toribio Romo was killed because he preached in faith and would not abandon his flock.  St. Stephen preached boldly and served humbly and died in hope, and St. Francis proclaimed the joy of the Lord.  From St. Edward the Confessor we saw the exercise of authority with charity and St. Juan Diego brought us the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.   We have the example of the holy and prayerful mothers St. Anne and St. Monica.  St. Mary Magdalene and St. Catherine lived in powerful and tender devotion to the Lord Jesus.  St. Louise lived her faith and cared for abandoned children, and St. Therese showed us the little way of loving the Lord.  St. Josephine Bakhita and St. Faustina lived the message of mercy and welcomed people to the house of God.  St. Bernadette lived in simplicity and hope, and received the message and the waters of Lourdes.  And St. Lucy, St. Cecilia, and St. Dymphna gave themselves up to death rather than belong to anyone other than Christ Jesus the Lord.

We are surrounded, dear brothers and sisters, by a cloud of witnesses who were faithful unto death.  May they encourage us and pray for us that we might live in faith and rejoice in hope and believe in the promise of eternal life.  Amen.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe NC