Homily for May 25, 2014 (6th Easter A)

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

I will not leave you orphans.  These consoling words of the Lord Jesus, spoken to his disciples at the Last Supper, promised the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, would be given to the followers of the Lord Jesus.  The Holy Spirit would be given to us to remain with us, and to remain within us, so that we could remain in the Lord Jesus.  I will not leave you orphans.  The promise of the Holy Spirit assured the disciples that their relationship with the Lord Jesus would be changed not ended.  He will not abandon us.  He has promised us the gift of the Spirit.

The gift of the Spirit is given in response to a prayer.  The Lord Jesus said that he will ask the Father, and the Father will give us another Advocate to be with us always.  When Philip, one of the original seven deacons of the Church, proclaimed the gospel and worked mighty deeds in Samaria, the people responded in faith.  Then, the apostles Peter and John came from Jerusalem and through the prayers of these apostles, the gift of the Spirit was given to those new believers.  The gift of the Spirit is not a gift that the community can give to itself.  The gift of the Spirit is received in each generation and by each community through the prayers of the one who shares in the ministry of the apostles.  The Bishop, as a successor of the Apostles, and through his coworkers the priests, makes present the gift of the Holy Spirit through the prayers of the Sacraments.  The gift of the Spirit is given to us through our Holy Mother the Church and apostolic prayer.

The gift of the Spirit, given in response to prayer, enables us to live in the love of the Lord Jesus and to keep his commandments.  The Lord Jesus says to us in the gospel, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  These words of the Lord, however, are not a statement of love that is conditional.  The Lord Jesus did not say, “Keep my commandments and then I will love you.”  The love that God has for us comes before any commandment that he has given to us.  The Lord Jesus offers us unconditional love and invites our response of love.  The greatest commandment, the new commandment that Jesus gave at the Last Supper, sums up all of the others.  “Love one another as I have loved you.”  Our lives in Christ Jesus are a loving response to the love that Jesus Christ has shown to us.  In the power of the Holy Spirit, we strive to love as he loved.  With the gift of the Holy Spirit we are empowered to love patiently and kindly, without pride or jealousy, and unselfishly, as St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians.  The gift of the Spirit empowers us to live in the love of the Lord Jesus.

And the gift of the Spirit, given in response to prayer and empowering us to live in love, gives us the defense for our hope.  St. Peter tells us, “Always be ready to give an explanation for anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”  It is not always our faith that we must explain.  It is our hope.  Faced with trials and persecutions in every generation, faced with tragedy and loss, with disasters natural and man-made, even so, we Christians are called to live as a people of hope.  And the reason for our hope is that Jesus Christ has conquered sin, death, and the devil by the blood of his holy cross.  The victory has been won by the Savior of the world.  The only begotten Son of the Father has reconciled us to the Father.  Christ is our hope, and by the gift of the Holy Spirit, we claim this hope as our own.  The gift of the Spirit gives us the defense for our hope.

As we are gathered today as an apostolic community, we beg the Father through his Son to send the Holy Spirit upon us.  May the gift of the Spirit empower us to live in the love of Christ.  And let us rejoice for the hope that is in us, that by the gift of the Spirit the Lord Jesus has kept his promise and has not left us orphans.  Amen.

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

Homily for May 18, 2014 (5th Easter A)

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

In the Easter season the Lord Jesus has shared many things with us.  On Easter Sunday the Lord Jesus shared with us the joy of the empty tomb.  The Lord Jesus shared with us the great mercy that the loving Father bestows upon his repentant children.  The Lord Jesus shared with us the journey to the city of Emmaus and shares himself with us in the breaking of the bread.  Last week the Lord Jesus shared with us the promise of his protection as members of the flock of the Good Shepherd.  Today, as we continue this season of divine sharing, the Lord Jesus shares with us his priesthood and a place in the house of the Heavenly Father.

In our reading from the first letter of Saint Peter we are invited to come to the living stone that is Lord Jesus.  Coming to him who is the living stone we become living stones in him.  He is building the kingdom in us.  The Kingdom of the Son is to be an offering to the Father.  The Kingdom of the Son, he who is the eternal priest, is a sacrifice of love to the Eternal Father.  The Lord Jesus shares with each of us his priesthood in the waters of baptism.  We are chosen and precious and beloved.  We are chosen to be an offering to the Father with the Son and in the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Lord Jesus shares his priesthood with us so that we can share with the Lord Jesus in the love of the Father.  The Lord Jesus makes us an offering so that we can share in the offering of the Lord Jesus.  He is the High Priest of the heavenly sanctuary.  He has shared his priesthood with us so that we can enter the heavenly sanctuary with him.

On the night before he died for our salvation, the Lord Jesus shared words of consolation and promise with his disciples.  Our Gospel reading today is from the Last Supper.  He tells his disciples and he tells us to not allow our hearts to be troubled.  He promises a place in the house of his Father to those who are faithful.  The Lord Jesus shares with the disciples that he himself is the way to the Kingdom.  Through him and with him and in him we enter into the house of the Father.  Through him and with him and in him we see the face of the Father.  And through him and with him and in him we present our prayers and offerings and sacrifices, we present our lives, to the Father.  Our lives are received in the presence of the Father because we enter his presence through the sacrifice of the Son.  We enter the house of the Father through the pierced heart of the Son of God.

From the pierced heart of the Son of God flows the life of the Church.  The Lord Jesus shared the fullness of his office and ministry with the Apostles.  To their stewardship, guided by the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus entrusted the Church.  The Lord Jesus shared his ministry.  The Apostles shared their ministry.  With grace that flows from the Heart of Christ and through apostolic hands, the Church and her ministers are built up in every age so that the praises of the Father can be sung.  In every age and every place living stones are chosen and carved to be the foundation stone of the next expansion of the Kingdom.  Through the sharing of his priesthood and the sharing of the word of consolation, the Lord Jesus builds his Church in the world and his Church in Monroe. 

And so, dear brothers and sisters, this building, this holy ground consecrated by apostolic hands, and shepherded by apostolic preaching and authority, becomes the room of welcome for the house of the Father in heaven. Amen.

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

Homily for May 11, 2014 (4th Easter A)

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

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday.  The message of our readings and the focus of our prayers is that the Lord Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

The Good Shepherd calls us by name.  In the waters of baptism each of us was called by name.  We were called into a relationship of love with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  We were washed clean of original sin.  We became members of the Holy Church of God, and we were marked forever as children of God.  In the sacrament of Confirmation, we were called by name and sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The Lord Jesus is our Good Shepherd and he calls us by name.

The Good Shepherd walks ahead of us.  The Good Shepherd walks ahead of us because he alone knows the way.  He knows the way because he is the way. He is the one who is sent from the Father.  He was sent to us so that he might lead us to the house of the Father.  The Lord Jesus is our Good Shepherd and he walks ahead of us.

The Good Shepherd suffers for the flock.  Every shepherd suffers for the flock entrusted to his care.  Every mother and every father suffers for their children.  The Lord Jesus was insulted, beaten, and crucified for the flock.  The Lord Jesus was insulted, beaten, and crucified by the flock.  The sheep bit the hand of the Shepherd, yet from his wounded hands we receive the gift of life.  The Lord Jesus is our Good Shepherd and he suffers for the flock.

The Good Shepherd leads us to green pastures.  He leads us to feed us.  Each week we gather for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist and the Lord Jesus feeds us with his Holy Word.  As the Scriptures are proclaimed to us each week, we are fed by the Good Shepherd who feeds us with his Word and with his own precious Body and Blood in Holy Communion.  The Church is the green pasture where Jesus our Good Shepherd leads us.  The Church is the green pasture where the Good Shepherd feeds us.

The Good Shepherd guards us as members of the flock.  He guards us with his teaching in the Holy Scriptures.  He guards us and protects us with the teachings of his Holy Church.  He guards us from the wolves of the errors of the world.  He guards us from the wolves of idolatry.  He guards us from the wolves that seek to separate us from the flock.  The Good Shepherd has shared his role and his mission with the bishops and the priests.  He is the Good Shepherd.  Every shepherd in the Church shares in his ministry and his mission, because ultimately, the flock belongs to Him.  The Lord Jesus is the Good Shepherd who guards the members of his flock.

As we celebrate this Eucharist today, we remember that the Good Shepherd has called us by name.  We ask for the grace to follow the Good Shepherd to the green pastures and to be fed by his Word and His Body.  And we ask for the protection of the Good Shepherd, the one who has suffered for us, to guard us from all harm and lead us to eternal life.  Amen.

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

Homily for May 4, 2014 (3rd Sunday Easter A)

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

This is one of my favorite passages in the gospels.  This is one of my least favorite Sundays.  Next Saturday, our parish will celebrate First Holy Communion.  And my brief years of experience as a priest teaches me that after next week I will not see many of you again for several years.  It seems that every year many children approach the Altar, filled with joy and radiant in the grace of Christ, to receive the body, blood, soul and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ in Holy Communion, and the next week he is taken from them.  These precious children are ripped from the womb of Mother Church and deprived of the gift of Divine Life.  It is, my dear brothers and sisters, a season of spiritual abortions, and that is tragic.  So it is with profound sadness in my heart that I approach the Altar and the pulpit this weekend.  It seems so very, very sad.

The two disciples on the road to Emmaus in our gospel were walking in sadness too.  They were going home.  It would be a somber seven miles from the holy city of Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus.  They were heading home because they believed that the promise of the Messiah, the one who would redeem Israel, had been left unfulfilled.  For if these two disciples had believed the rumors that they had heard that the tomb of Jesus was now empty, and that angels had announced that the one who was crucified, dead and buried was now alive, they would have stayed in Jerusalem.  But now they were going home, as those who have no hope.

Far in their hearts from joy and hope, Jesus drew near to these disciples, though his presence was veiled from their sight.  He approached them with a simple question, “What are you discussing as you walk along?”  These two disciples were amazed that the one who had joined them did not know of the events of the last few days.  They briefly recounted for him that Jesus, a prophet mighty in deed and word and the one that they hoped would be the redeemer, had been handed over and crucified. They revealed that now there were rumors that he had been raised from the dead.  These men who were without hope and whose hearts had grown cold, were simply amazed at his lack of knowledge.  How could this person not know what had happened?  Who was it that was walking with them?

Now Jesus, amazed not only at their lack of knowledge but their lack of understanding, said to them, “Oh how foolish you are!  How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!  Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”  And then, for the remainder of this seven mile journey, this unknown visitor lifted the veil that shrouded the meaning of the scriptures.  Beginning with Moses and the prophets he revealed to those who had ears to hear that everything pointed to him.  The whole of the Scriptures, the whole of human history, points to Him. 

And when they came to the end of their journey, these two disciples could not help but invite this unrecognized visitor to stay with them. It was evening and the day was almost over.  While they were seated at table they invited their visitor to become their companion.  The very word companion means those with whom we break bread.  And in taking and blessing and giving and receiving, the eyes of the disciples were opened and they recognized the one who had joined them.  They recognized the real presence of Jesus, once physical but now sacramental.  Their hearts that had grown cold now burned with the fire of hope.  And the somber seven miles to Emmaus now gave way to a joyous journey to Jerusalem, and the announcement that the Lord Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

We come to the celebration of the holy Eucharist, often with heavy hearts.  We are burdened by the events of the week.  We are burdened by the tragedies, the sufferings and the profound disappointments.  And yet, dear brothers and sisters, in every celebration of the Eucharist, whether we are filled with joy and hope or grief and anxiety, the Lord Jesus draws near to us.  He opens the Scriptures to us.  On the blessed day that rejoices to see Christ rising from the dead, on the eighth day, Christ himself joins us.  At table with those whom he loves, he breaks the bread, and though veiled in simple gifts, he is really present to us.  Each week, we walk to Emmaus, and the Lord Jesus draws near.  May we have ears to hear, and eyes that desire to be opened.  And may our hearts burn within us as we meet the Risen Lord in the breaking of the bread.  Amen.

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