Homily for November 30, 2014 (1st Advent B)

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

Today we begin the season of preparation.  Today we begin again.  Each year the Church gives us this season to watch and to wait.  Each year we are given this time to prepare to meet the Lord again on Christmas day.  In this season of Advent, we keep watch for the One who keeps his promise.

It was a promise at the dawn of creation.  It was the promise made to Abraham and to our fathers.  It was the promise announced by the prophets.  It is the promise of the Redeemer, the promise of love and mercy flowing from the heavens and raining down upon the earth. This promise of the love of God that no eye has seen and no ear has heard is made to you and to me.  We shall prepare to receive it, dear brothers and sisters.  We shall be prepared to receive it with the gifts of grace that the Spirit has poured out upon us, enriching us in every way.  We shall keep watch for the One who keeps his promise.

We do not know how long we will have to wait.  We do not know the day or the hour.  These things are kept in the mystery of eternity and set by the authority of the Father.  But we shall keep watch for his coming.  We shall remain like the angels who stand before the throne of the Most High God and worship him night and day.  We shall remain before him who possesses all times and all seasons.  We shall keep watch for the One who keeps his promise.

And the promise to return in glory when the gift to the Father is fully prepared is met by the promise to remain with us always, even until the end of the age.  We shall keep watch with the One who keeps his promise.  Even as we watch for the full revelation of the promise of Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ remains with us.  Heaven breaks open and we hear the voice of the Lord proclaiming his word in the Sacred Scriptures.  Heaven breaks open and the offering of Jesus Christ is made present on the altar.  Heaven breaks open and the body before which angels bow in lowly reverence becomes our food.  Heaven breaks open and we cry out in praise of the Father’s glory.

Today we begin the season of preparation.  Today we begin again.  We shall keep watch for the One who keeps his promise.

Come Lord Jesus.  Amen.

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

Homily for November 23, 2014 (Christ the King A)

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

I want to see the Lord Jesus face to face in the glory of his kingdom. I want to gaze upon the loving face of him whom I preach in faith. I want to have eyes to see him. But the gospel tells me that if I want to see the face of Jesus Christ in the glory of heaven, then I must learn to recognize the face of Jesus Christ on earth. I must learn to recognize him here. We must learn, dear brothers and sisters, to recognize him here.

He has told us where we will see him. He has told us where he is so that we can recognize him. I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me. From the voice of Jesus Christ we learn where we can see the face of Jesus Christ. In the words of the Lord himself we hear where we can see him and how we can serve him.

We do not need to travel to see the face of Jesus Christ. We do not need to do extraordinary things to serve the Lord of heaven and earth. It was ordinary acts of kindness that gained the righteous entrance into the kingdom. They were nothing extraordinary, but only ordinary things with love. The righteous recognized a need. They saw an opportunity in front of them. They looked upon something of earth and served the Lord of heaven. They responded to the needs of a beggar and served Christ the King. Though they did not recognize him, they saw the face of Jesus Christ.

We want to see the face of Jesus Christ. We want to be welcomed into his kingdom. We want to receive the words of the Father’s blessing and sit at the table of the children of God. We want to learn to recognize the face of Jesus Christ. We want to see his face in the ultrasound and hear his voice in the cry of a baby. We want to see his face in those who are hungry and thirsty so that we can feed the Good Shepherd who feeds us. We want to see his face in the stranger, and even in the prisoner. We want to recognize the face of Jesus Christ in the sufferings of earth so that we can see him face to face in the glory of heaven.

We will learn to recognize him, dear brothers and sisters, in the Eucharist. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we will come to recognize the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Seeing only bread and wine and gazing on the true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, we will learn to see him. In the Eucharist, we will see him, and he will open our eyes to see his face in the poor and the suffering. We will come to recognize the face of the Good Shepherd. We will come to recognize him who recognizes each of us as a beloved member of his flock.  Amen.

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

Homily for November 16, 2014 (33rd Sunday A)

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

We have been trusted by the Master, and in the Master we place our trust. In his infinite mercy, goodness and love, the Master, the Lord of heaven and earth, has trusted us. We have been entrusted with creation, with life, with faith, and with the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven. We have been trusted by the Master, dear brothers and sisters, and in the Master we place our trust.

The Master has trusted us with the treasures of the kingdom. We have been trusted with the treasure so that we can build up the kingdom. For the glory of the Master, and the building up of his kingdom, the Master has invited us to join in his work. For our good, and for the building up of the kingdom among us, we have been trusted with the treasure. We have, in fact, dear brothers and sisters, been trusted by the Master with the most precious of the treasures of the kingdom. We have been trusted by the Master with treasure that was worth the life of the Son of God. The Master has trusted us . . .  with each other.

Each of us is a unique, precious and unrepeatable demonstration of the love of God. Each of us was created in the image and likeness of God. Each of us is part of the treasure of the kingdom, and each of us has a part in the building up of the treasure of the kingdom. At the call of God, men and women entrust themselves to each other in the bond of marriage. In the providence of God, children are entrusted to parents, and parents are entrusted to their children. At the invitation of God, men and women entrust themselves to God through his Church for the proclamation of the faith and the building up of his kingdom. And in the mercy of God, and because of his great goodness, the Master entrusts part of his flock to a young shepherd, and a young shepherd is entrusted to the flock. Here is the treasure of the kingdom.  Here, we will build up the treasure of the kingdom. Here, we will grow together, trusting in the care of the Master. We have been trusted by the Master, and in the Master we place our trust.

The servants in the parable were given a share in the master’s money. We have been given a share in the Master’s life. He has made us sharers in the life of God. He has counted us worthy to stand in his presence and to serve him. We have been trusted, dear brothers and sisters, with the treasures of the Kingdom. The Master has trusted us with each other. Let us place our trust in the Master, and share in the Master’s joy.  Amen.

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

Homily for November 9, 2014 (Dedication of St. John Lateran)

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

The Church is built of living stones and not of brick and mortar. We are those living stones. Chosen from the most precious of materials and formed in the image and likeness of God, we are the building blocks of the Kingdom of God in this time and in this place.

And yet, today we celebrate the dedication of a particular building. We celebrate the dedication of the Church of St. John Lateran. This Church is one of the four principal basilicas of the city of Rome. It is one of the oldest churches in the world, having been consecrated in the fourth century, shortly after Christianity became a legal religion. It was one of the first sites to be publically claimed as holy ground. It is dedicated to Christ our Savior and to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.

But there is a more important reason why the whole world celebrates the dedication of this particular church building. It is not because it is old.  It is not because it is beautiful. It is because of the pastor of this particular church building. The Church of St. John Lateran is the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome.  It is place where the chair of the Bishop resides. The Church of St. John Lateran is the Cathedral Church of Our Holy Father Francis.  It is his cathedral. He is the official pastor, and we are all members of his flock. We celebrate with our Holy Father on the patronal feast of his cathedral.

Yet the Church is made of living stones and not of brick and mortar. Each of us has been made a temple of the Living God in the waters of baptism. We have been washed and anointed and consecrated. Our souls and our bodies have been publicly claimed as holy ground by the Most Holy God. It is to the soul of the baptized Christian believer that the Holy Spirit comes to worship the Father . . .  but only when the temple is prepared. 

The doors of our souls that were opened in our baptism can be closed from the inside by sin.  We can close the doors to the temple. We can claim for ourselves that which rightly belongs to God. We can take back the holy ground, but the seal of the love of God remains forever. Even in the darkest sin, our souls bear the mark of the Savior. Even in the darkest sin, the seal of the Savior cries out to the Father for mercy. It is the seal on our souls, this mark that can never be covered by the darkness of sin, which draws us to mercy of God in the sacrament of reconciliation. In the tribunal of mercy, the doors that were locked are opened by the key of the cross of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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

Homily for November 2, 2014 (All Souls Day)

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

In every celebration of the Eucharist, we encounter the love of Jesus Christ.  We enter into his radiant glory.  We are called by the radiant glory of Jesus Christ.  We are called to believe in faith, to live in love, and ultimately to die in hope.  We believe in faith and live in love and hopefully die in the hope of the glory that is to be revealed in us.  We are called by the radiant glory of Jesus Christ to the Kingdom of Heaven.  We are called to be saints.  That is our vocation and our destiny: to be saints in the glory of heaven.  We have been called, dear brothers and sisters, by the radiant glory of Jesus Christ.

We shall be purified, dear brothers and sisters, by the radiant glory of Jesus Christ.  It is the love of Christ that purifies us.  It is the love of Christ at work within us that burns away the darkness of sin.  It is the purifying love of Jesus Christ that purges the stains of sin from our baptismal garments.  It is the love of Jesus Christ that purifies us even when the days of our life on earth have come to an end.  The radiant glory of Jesus Christ continues the work of purification so that we can fully embrace the glory of heaven.  And the radiant glory of Jesus Christ invites the members of the Church militant on earth, and the saints of the Church triumphant in heaven to come to the aid of the members of the Church penitent undergoing purification.  We share in the purifying work of the love of Christ when we offer our prayers and sacrifices for the faithful departed.  We offer our prayers and sacrifices for our brothers and sisters who have died so that they may fully embrace the love God has for them.  They shall be purified and we shall be purified by the radiant glory of Jesus Christ.

We have been called and we shall be purified. We shall become holy, in this life and the next, by the radiant glory of Jesus Christ shining on us and shining through us.  We have been called and we shall be purified, but above all, dear brothers and sisters, we shall be glorified by the radiant glory of Jesus Christ.

From the foundation of the world, our loving Father has chosen us to share the likeness and the glory of his Son.  In the radiant glory of Jesus Christ we are called to the Kingdom of heaven.  Through the radiant glory of Jesus Christ we are purified, and our brothers and sisters who have gone to their rest in the hope of rising again are purified.  We are made ready to enter the wedding feast of heaven.  We shall be glorified in the radiant glory of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

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