Homily for January 26, 2014 (3rd Sunday A)

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

The message was simple.  The invitation was clear.  The response was immediate.

After his baptism by John and after the time of temptation in the desert, the Lord Jesus began his public ministry.  John the Baptist had been imprisoned by Herod and the days of his preaching had come to an end.  Now the Lord Jesus preached the same simple message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  In the place where the Lord had promised, through the prophet Isaiah, to reveal himself and to be a great light for the people who sat in darkness, the Lord Jesus began to preach.  The message was simple.  It was a call to conversion.  It was a call to walk in the way of the Lord Jesus.

The message that Paul proclaimed was simple as well.  Writing to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul warned against divisions and proclaimed the message of unity in Christ Jesus.  Saint Paul echoes the prayer of the Lord Jesus, that all may be one.  We have just concluded the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  This week has been celebrated for over a century between the eighteenth and the twenty-fifth of January.  It is a time for all of the followers of the Lord Jesus to pray, in a particular way, for the unity of all Christians.  The Second Vatican Council addressed the issue of Christian unity as one of its chief concerns.  The Council, however, before it addressed issues of dialogues or common projects or common prayers, invited all Catholics to deepen our relationship with Christ and his Church, so that we might grow in holiness and be authentic witnesses of the Gospel.  The message was simple.  It was a call to conversion.  It was a call to walk in the way of the Lord Jesus.

When the Lord Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers.  Casting their nets into the sea, for they were fishermen, Simon Peter and his brother Andrew heard the words that Jesus addressed to them.  “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  In the midst of their ordinary work, Jesus called them.  For James, the son of Zebedee and his brother John, the call of the Lord Jesus came to them as they were mending their nets in the boat with their father.  In the midst of their ordinary work, Jesus called them.  The invitation to follow Jesus was clear.  Each day, in the midst of our ordinary work, being faithful to the duties of our particular vocation, the Lord Jesus calls each of us to follow him.  We are called each day to follow the path of conversion.  We are called each day to grow in our love for God and our love for our neighbor.   The invitation to follow Jesus is clear.

When Peter and Andrew, James and John heard the call of Christ to follow him, their response was immediate.  They did not stop to count the cost of discipleship.  They did not even ask how they would benefit from following Jesus.  Encountering the person of the Lord Jesus and clearly hearing his call, Peter and Andrew left their nets and they followed Jesus.  James and John left not only their nets, not only their livelihood, but they left their father as well.  They left the comfort of their careers and their family to follow the Lord Jesus.  Nothing could be more important that answering the call.  Nothing could be more important than responding immediately to the invitation of the Lord Jesus.  The Lord Jesus may not call us to leave our professions and our families to follow him.  For most of the disciples of the Lord, you are called to follow him in the midst of your work and your family life.  The call might be different, but our response can be just as profound.  Our response to the call of Christ can be just as immediate.

As we celebrate this Eucharist, we ask the Lord for the grace to hear his call to conversion each day.  We pray for the unity of all of the followers of the Lord Jesus in the Church which he founded.  And we ask for the grace to follow the example of those early disciples and respond immediately to the invitation of the Lord Jesus.  Amen.   

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

Homily for January 19, 2014 (2nd Sunday A)

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

There are a several anniversaries that I celebrate.  December 16^th is my birthday.  March 29^th is the day I was ordained a deacon, and June 6^th is the day I was ordained a priest.  One anniversary, however, is more important than all of the others.  It is the 9^th of April: the day that I was baptized.  More important than the day that I was born into this world is that day that I was born of water and the spirit.  More important than the day I became a Father in God is the day that I became a child of God.  Everything in our lives, everything in our lives of faith, flows from the waters of baptism.  Today in our reading from the Gospel, we hear the testimony of John the Baptist about the baptism of the Lord Jesus.  Last week we heard the event of Christ’s baptism.  Today we are given another opportunity to reflect on the meaning of baptism.

Baptism gives us our identity.  In the waters of baptism we are claimed by Christ.  We are adopted as beloved children of the Most High God.  The Lord Jesus, as the beloved Son of the Father, gives each of us a share in his own relationship with the Father.  As he is the beloved Son, in him we are the beloved children.  In baptism we receive our identity.

Baptism draws us to the celebration of the Eucharist.  In baptism we receive a mark on our souls that can never be taken away.  We cannot ever lose the mark or character of our baptism.  We can lose the grace of baptism through sin, but we cannot lose the mark.  The mark on our souls allows us and invites us to participate in divine worship.  The mark on the soul of a baptized child of God gives them a place in the celebration of the Eucharist.  We receive the privilege and the obligation to join in the celebration of the Eucharist so that the daily sacrifices of our lives of faith can be united to the one sacrifice of Christ.  The mark on your soul enables you to offer yourself completely to Christ as he offers himself completely on the Altar.  With the mark of Christ the High Priest on my soul, and the royal mark of the baptized on your souls, we join in Christ for the single act of worship of the Father.  And from the acceptable sacrifice, we receive the grace of the sacraments.  

Baptism admits us to the sacramental life.  St. Ambrose and St. Leo the Great teach us that when the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, the power and presence of his earthly ministry passed into the sacraments.  In the celebration of the sacraments of the Church, we encounter the presence and the power of the Lord Jesus.  Baptism admits us to life in union with Christ Jesus through our participation in the sacraments.  The life that we receive in baptism is strengthened in the sacrament of Confirmation.  When the divine life and the grace of God are rejected and lost through serious sin, the life of grace is restored in the sacrament of reconciliation.  When illness and suffering afflict us, the sacrament of the anointing of the sick unites us more deeply to Christ and strengthens us with his healing grace.  In the sacraments of vocation, we share in the love of Christ and bring new life to the Kingdom.  And in our reception of the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion, we are transformed into the one that we receive.  

Through our participation in the sacraments of Christ, we grow into the likeness of Christ.  We become the people that we were created to be.  We claim our identity as beloved children of the Loving Father.  We offer our lives in union with Christ our High Priest in the sacrifice of the Eucharist.  And through our sacramental life on earth we are prepared to embrace the eternal life of heaven.  Amen.   

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

Homily for January 5, 2014 (Epiphany of the Lord)

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

One of the last gifts that my maternal grandfather gave to me was a book.  I think that I was about thirteen years old.  It was a book of prayers.  It was a book of prayers written specifically for a teenage boy, and my grandfather said that the book was something he thought I might need.  Normally a book tells a story.  This particular book foretold my future.  The gift was an indication of the life ahead.

It was the same with the three gifts that were given to the Lord Jesus by the magi from the east.  The gifts that the magi brought to the Lord Jesus were an indication of the identity of the child and of his mission.  In these gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh that were given to the child Jesus, we see who he is and what he has been sent to do.

Gold is the gift for a king.  It is the sign of royal dignity.  The Lord Jesus was born to be king of Israel, yet from all eternity he reigned in heaven.  Jesus Christ is the king who will establish a universal kingdom, a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.  He is the king who conquers sin and he will conquer death forever.  Jesus Christ is the king who will take his place at the right hand of the power and majesty of God the Father.  The magi bring him gold, because the child is a king.

Frankincense is the gift for a priest.  Frankincense is used as a sign of honor and reverence and it is a symbol of prayer.  We use incense in the celebration of the liturgy to signify and honor the presence of Christ in the altar, the words of the Gospel, the holy gifts, the priest, and the holy people of God.  Christ is the High Priest of our confession of faith.  He is the one who was sent from the Father and he unites us to heaven’s unceasing song of praise.  He is the one who returns to the Father offering the blood of sacrifice.  The Lord Jesus is the high priest who enters the temple that was not made by human hands.  He is the high priest who lives forever to make intercession for us.  The magi bring him frankincense because the child is a priest.

The gift of myrrh is prophetic.  Myrrh is very, very expensive.  It is possible that the gift of myrrh was more valuable than the gold or the frankincense.  Myrrh is used to prepare a body for burial.  This gift is given because the Lord Jesus was born to die.  The Lord Jesus is the king of the universe, the high priest of our confession, and he is the lamb of sacrifice.  He is the victim and the acceptable offering for the sins of the world.  Through him, all of the other sacrifices of the temple will come to an end.  Through him, and with him, and in him, all of the sacrifices of our lives of faith will be received in the presence of the Most High God.  The magi bring him the gift of myrrh because the Lord Jesus will die for the sins of the world.

In the early years of his earthly life, the magi brought the child Jesus the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  These gifts were an indication of who the child was called to be.  We were not brought gold, frankincense and myrrh, but in the waters of baptism we were given faith, hope and love.  These divine gifts were given to each of us as an indication of who we are called to be.  May our faith, which is more precious than gold, our hope, which does not disappoint, and our love, which is stronger than sin and death, bring us closer to the Lord Jesus and prepare us for the eternal life ahead. Amen.

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

Homily for January 1, 2014 (Solemnity of the Mother of God)

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

On Sunday we celebrated the feast of the Holy Family and we looked to St. Joseph as a model of fatherhood.  Today we celebrate the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, and we look to her as a model of motherhood.

On other days, we celebrate a particular grace or a particular privilege given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, such as her Immaculate Conception or her Assumption into heaven.  Today we celebrate her vocation and her most exalted title.  The Blessed Virgin Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ.  She is the Mother of God.  As we learned about fatherhood from St. Joseph, we learn about motherhood from the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Mary listens carefully.  Mary is first a woman who hears the Word.  When the voice of the Angel brought the invitation of the Lord to the Virgin Mary, she listened carefully to the words of the Angel, and she responded freely and joyfully.  She accepted the gift of motherhood.  She recognized the gift of her vocation.  She rejoiced that through her the promise of God would be fulfilled.  This too is the work of the mother in the family.  She is one who listens to the Word of the Lord and the words of her family.  She is called to assist in forming Christ in her family so that the promises of God will be fulfilled in them.

Mary serves obediently.  After the Annunciation, Mary travels in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth.  Mary’s encounter with the Lord and the gift of motherhood inspired her to service.  This too, dear brothers and sisters, is part of the work of motherhood.  A mother thinks more about the needs of her family and the needs of others than she thinks about her own needs.

Mary suffers compassionately.  At the foot of the cross of the Savior of the world, the mother of the Savior suffered intensely.  Though she bore no physical wounds, the heart of Mary was pierced by the sword of sorrow as her Son suffered for all of us.  She suffers with her child, as every mother does.  The suffering in the heart of a mother is known to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The suffering in the heart of every mother is shared with the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The suffering heart of the Mother of God joins with every mother in her suffering.

Mary listens, she serves, and she suffers.  But the most important thing that we celebrate today is that Mary bore the Son of God.  The eternal Word of God dwelt in her womb.  From the moment that she said “I am the handmaid of the Lord” and she conceived the Lord Jesus, heaven was no longer up, because the king of heaven was within her.  The Word became flesh in her womb.  Mary became the first tabernacle.  She is the bearer of the promise and the presence of the Holy One.  And that too is the role of the mother in the family.  She is the bearer of the promise and she is called to be the bearer of the presence of the image and likeness of God.  The mother then, my dear brothers and sisters, is worthy of reverence.

As we offer the gift of our reverence and veneration to the Mother of God this day, we thank the Blessed Virgin Mary for listening carefully to our prayers.  We rejoice in her maternal service and her presence with us in our times of suffering.  And we pray that she, who carried the Son of God in her womb, will carry each of us to the kingdom of her Son.  Amen.  

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