Homily for October 26, 2014 (30th Sunday A)

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

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  With clarity and simplicity the Lord Jesus commands us to love.  With the authority of the Son, the Lord Jesus commands us to love the Father.  With the authenticity of a life of justice, compassion, and truth, the Lord Jesus commands us to love our neighbor.  With clarity and simplicity the Lord Jesus commands us to love.  But dear brothers and sisters, there is a love that comes before the giving of the command.

We do not love God because we have been commanded.  We love God because we have responded.  We did not begin this relationship.  We were not the first to profess our love.  It is God who has loved us from all eternity.  It is the Lord God who needs nothing, who has desired us in love.  We were created in the love of God so that God could share his love with us.  We do not love God because we have been commanded.  We love God because we have responded.

Our response of love to God’s love calls us to turn away from every idol that seeks our worship.  Our response of love to God’s love calls us to reject every invitation that does not come forth from the mouth of God.  Our response of love to God’s love calls us to give ourselves totally and completely, without condition, without reservation, and without exception, into the hands of the Living God.  We lift up our hearts to the Lord because the heart of the Lord is pierced with love for us.  We do not love God because we have been commanded.  We love God because we have responded.

Our response of love to God’s love calls us to share that love with our neighbor.  Remembering that our ancestors were once slaves in Egypt, our response of love to God’s love calls us to combat every denial of human dignity.  Remembering the poverty of the Savior in Bethlehem; our response of love to God’s love calls us to see the holy face of Jesus Christ in the face of the poor and the suffering.   Our response of love to God’s love is offered to God in our worship and extended from God in our service.

We do not love God because we have been commanded.  We love God because we have responded.  We have been claimed by the love that God has for us.  With the apostle John we have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.  This is the love of God that surrounds us before any command of God is given to us.  This is the love of God that fills our souls with the light of glory and makes of us radiant signs of the love of God.  Radiant, dear brothers and sisters, in the light of the love of Jesus Christ, we shall be signs that light the way to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Amen.

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

Homily for October 19, 2014 (29th Sunday A)

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

Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.  The coin made in the image and likeness of Caesar belongs to Caesar, but we were made in the image and likeness of God.  We do not belong to Caesar.  We belong to God. 

Caesar has his legitimate power.  Caesar can take us to war.  Caesar can take us to jail, but Caesar cannot take us to heaven.  Salvation does not belong to the government, but to the Most High God.  Every government that has promised its people salvation has eventually made its people into slaves.  This is not our destiny, brothers and sisters.  We have been created and consecrated as sons and daughters for the Kingdom of Heaven.  We do not belong to Caesar.  We belong to God.

And God is worthy of our worship.  We enter into this Church each week, and hopefully we enter into prayer each day, because the Lord God is worthy of our praise.  In worship we respond in love to the love that God has shown to us.  We come to worship to give to God what belongs to God.  We come to worship to give of ourselves, of our time and of the fruits of our labors.  We come to worship to make our offering to the Father through the sacrifice of the Son and in the power of the Holy Spirit.  In worship we give to God what belongs to God, and we belong to God.

But God has also sent us to Caesar and to our society.  We have a mission, dear brothers and sisters.  The whole people of God have been sent on a mission by God.  We have been called to the altar to praise the glory of the Father in the midst of the Church, so that we can proclaim the goodness of the Father in the midst of the world.  We come to worship and we are transformed so that we can be the transforming presence in the world.  We are sent to Caesar and to our society as salt and as light.  The Christian people are called to bring the purification of what is bad and the preservation of what is good to our society.  The Christian people are called to bring illumination to the darkness whenever Caesar and the state have rejected what the Lord God has declared.  This is our mission to Caesar and to our society.  

We owe to Caesar and to our society the voices of the Christian people proclaiming the dignity of life, of marriage, of family, and the dignity of every human person created in the image and likeness of God.  We owe to Caesar and to our society the voices of the Christian people proclaiming the dignity of workers, care for the sick and the hungry, and compassion for the dying.  We owe to Caesar and to our society the sanctifying presence of the people of God in the midst of the world.  We will change the world and our society by being in it, not by hiding from it.  We owe to Caesar and to our society the radiant glory of the Son of God seen in our lives and heard in our voices.

My dear brothers and sisters, let us be seen and heard.  Amen.

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

Homily for October 12, 2014 (28th Sunday A)

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

The Prophet Isaiah spoke of a feast for all people.  The Lord Jesus spoke of a wedding feast.  Saint Paul wrote about the source of all strength.  Our readings focus today on the invitation of God, the celebration of God, and the power to respond to the invitation.

In our reading from the Gospel we hear the parable of the wedding feast.  The king in the parable had prepared the wedding feast for his son and sent out servants and messengers with the invitation.  The servants and messengers were met with rejection.  Some were met with violence.  The invitation that was freely and generously given was freely and selfishly rejected.  The king extended the invitation to all who could be found.  The king would share the joy of the wedding feast of his son with everyone who would respond to the invitation.  This was the extension of the invitation of God to all peoples.

In our reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah, we hear of the feast for all peoples celebrated on the mountain of God.  On this mountain, the Lord God provides an abundant feast of rich foods and choice wines.  It is the banquet of the Messiah.  It is the banquet that celebrates that death has been conquered and the veil has been lifted.  It is the banquet where forgiveness has been granted, the reproach and the punishment have been removed, and the people cry out in exultation at the glory of God.  On this mountain, the hand of the Lord God feeds his people in abundance.  On that mountain, all who would respond to the invitation of God join in the celebration of God.

At this altar, all who will respond to the invitation of God will join in the celebration of God.  This is the wedding feast of the Son of God.  This is the banquet that celebrates that death has been conquered and the veil has been lifted.  This is the banquet where forgiveness has been granted, the reproach and the punishment have been removed, and we cry out in exultation at the glory of our God.  Not only with the Church on earth, but with angels and archangels, with thrones and dominions, with the cherubim and seraphim, and with all the saints in glory, we cry out Holy, Holy, Holy.  We come to the wedding feast of the Son of God because we have responded to the invitation of God.  We have come to Christ and we celebrate with Christ in the power and the strength of Christ.

Saint Paul reminds us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.  In Christ we hear the invitation of the Father.  In the power of Christ we reject every invitation that does not come from the Lord God.  In Christ we reject every invitation of earth, so that we can accept the invitation of Heaven. In Christ, we receive our wedding garment.  We received our wedding garment at our baptism, with the instruction to bring it unstained to the wedding feast of heaven.  We cleanse our wedding garment in the sacraments of reconciliation and Holy Communion.  Through Christ and with Christ and in Christ we receive the invitation of the Father.  Through Christ and with Christ and in Christ we accept the invitation of the Father. 

We have come to the holy mountain at the invitation of God.  In his goodness he has called us to wedding feast of his Son.  He has given us our wedding garment.  Dear brothers and sisters, let us enter the feast.  Amen.

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

Homily for October 5, 2014 (27th Sunday A)

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

Today is the third consecutive Sunday when we have heard a parable about a vineyard.  Two weeks ago, we heard of the laborers who were hired at different times throughout the day.  We heard of the generosity of the master and the privilege and rewards of serving in the vineyard.  Last week we heard of the two sons who were invited by their father to go and work in his vineyard.  One of the sons was obedient and one of the sons was not.  Last week we were invited to ponder our response to the invitation of the Lord.  On this Sunday, in the final parable of the vineyard, the Lord invites us to harvest the fruits and account for our stewardship of the vineyard.

The prophet Isaiah and the Lord Jesus both express to us the care with which the Lord tends the vineyard.  The Lord provides for the protection of the vineyard.  The Lord sends laborers into the vineyard to care for its growth, and the Lord expects a harvest at the proper time.  The vineyard was entrusted to stewards.  Their responsibility was to care for the vineyard on behalf of the owner and provide the owner with the harvest.  The stewards in our parable today forgot that they were stewards, not owners.  When the owner sent messengers for the harvest, the stewards rejected, stoned and killed one of them.  When the owner sent more messengers they were treated the same way.  The stewards wanted to keep the harvest for themselves.  Finally the owner of the vineyard, believing that the stewards would respect his son, sent his son to the vineyard.  The stewards killed the son because he was the heir of the vineyard of his father.  They did not kill him because they wanted to keep the harvest.  They killed the son because they wanted to keep the vineyard.  They forgot that they were stewards, not owners.

This final parable of the vineyard summarizes for us the history of salvation.  The precious vineyard is the creation of the Lord.  The people of the world are the stewards.  The messengers are the judges and the prophets.  The son who dies at the hands of the unjust stewards is the Lord Jesus.  The parable summarizes the past.

And yet, my brothers and sisters, this parable speaks of the present time as well.  We are part of the vineyard of the Lord.  In fact, each of us, each of our lives is a precious vineyard of the Lord.  Each of us was created from the infinite love of the Father.  We were claimed by the Son in the waters of baptism, and anointed by the Holy Spirit.  We have been made the stewards of creation and entrusted with the gifts of his grace for our salvation and for the building up of his kingdom.  We desire to be good stewards.  Therefore, my brothers and sisters, we must heed the message of the law and the prophets.  We must receive the Son with reverence, joy and thanksgiving.  This means for each of us that we must constantly be attentive to the vineyard of our own soul.  We are called each day to remove the weeds and anything that is harmful from our lives so that we can offer an abundant and fruitful harvest to the Lord.  We are invited each Sunday to listen attentively to the words of the prophets, apostles, and the Lord himself.  We are invited to follow the instruction of Saint Paul and set our minds on what is gracious, pure, just, and holy.  Setting our minds and hearts on these things and seeking to welcome the message of the Lord, we will be formed as good stewards of the vineyard.

As we celebrate this Eucharist today, we ask for the grace to remember that the Lord has made us stewards of his gifts.  We seek to remove from the vineyard of our lives anything that is harmful.  And we ask for the grace to receive the Son of God with gladness and offer to him an abundant harvest. Amen.   

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