Homily for February 22, 2015 (1st Sunday of Lent B)

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

Every Lent I seem to do the same things.  I think about the great season of Lent and the joy of preparing for the great feast of Easter, and I start to plan.  I will make this sacrifice.  I will not eat this particular food.  I will say these additional prayers.  I will take more time to be alone with God alone.  I will be nicer.  I will be more patient. 

And then, in the midst of all of those plans, I am surprised when Lent begins.  It happens so quickly.  One evening it is Ordinary Time and the next morning is Ash Wednesday.  I have to make my list of prayers.  I have to remember which foods I promised not to eat.  I need to choose another sacrifice for Lent.  I need to make another promise to God.  I need to slow down, but quickly.  There is so much to do.  There are so many promises to make and promises to keep.

Every Lent I seem to do the same things.  But maybe this Lent, things could be different.  Maybe this Lent, I will not worry so much about the sacrifices that I should make.  Maybe this Lent, I will not worry so much about eating this food or that one.  Maybe this Lent, I will not try to add any more prayers to my day.  Maybe this Lent I will choose only one thing, because only one thing is truly important.  Only one thing really matters: following Jesus Christ.

We will follow Jesus Christ, from the baptism to the desert, and from the desert to his preaching.  We will follow him with the sick and we will follow him with the sinners.  We will follow him up the mountain.  We will follow him to the Upper Room.  We will follow him to a court room, and to a lonely cross.  We will follow Jesus Christ this Lent.

This Lent, things will be different.  We will not focus on our sacrifices, but on His Sacrifice.  We will not focus on eating this food or that one, but on being fed by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.  This Lent, we will say our prayers, but we will focus not on the number of prayers, but on the God to whom we pray.  This Lent, things will be different.

The Lord Jesus began his preaching with a simple message: “The Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel.” We begin this season of Lent with a simple goal: to follow Jesus Christ.  He will lead and we will follow.  He will speak and we will hear.  He will feed us and we will be filled.  He will promise, and we will be changed.

This Lent will be different.  Amen. 

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

Homily for February 15, 2015 (6th Sunday B)

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

He was willing to admit that he was sick.  The leper was willing to admit that he needed healing.  And he begged that the Lord Jesus would be willing to heal him.

The law required that lepers live outside the city.  They were isolated.  They were separated.  The lepers had to constantly announce that they were unclean.  The lepers were forbidden from approaching people until they were healed.  They were isolated.  They were separated.  They were rejected.  They were alone.  The lepers were far from society, but the Lord Jesus drew near to them. Jesus entered into the isolation.  Jesus broke into the separation.  

The leper kneeling at the feet of Jesus did not first announce his sickness.  The leper did not first reveal his pain.  The leper confessed his faith in the power of God present in the Lord Jesus.  The leper announced his belief in the divine power and made a claim upon the divine will.  And then he was willing to admit that he was sick.  He was willing to admit that he needed healing.  And he begged that the Lord Jesus would be willing to heal him.

The healing took place very quickly.  The compassion of the heart of Christ extended his hand in healing.  The Eternal Word spoke and the leper was healed.  The leper was given a command to show himself to the priest so that the leper, now cured, could be restored to the community.  The leper was given a command to offer a sacrifice, an act of thanksgiving to God.  He was given a command to be silent, so that the mission of the Lord Jesus would not simply be bound to physical healings. The leper was willing to admit that he was sick.  He was willing to admit that he needed healing.  And he had begged that the Lord Jesus would be willing to heal him.

We may not be lepers, dear brothers and sisters, but our souls are blemished by sin.  The unkind word, the temper lost, the broken trust and the broken promise stain our baptismal garments and lead us into separation and isolation.  In our rejection of the law of God we lessen our share in the life of God. We become separated, isolated, and alone. 

But the Lord Jesus draws near to us.  The Lord Jesus, by the grace of his call, invites us to admit that we are sick.  The Lord Jesus invites us to admit that we need healing.  Not in the public streets do we admit our weaknesses and our sins, but in the sacred and secret tribunal of the mercy of God.  We come to the Sacrament of Reconciliation to confess our faith in the goodness and the power of God.  We come to admit our need for healing.  We come to admit that we have broken our promise, but we know that the Lord God is faithful to his promise.  Through the ministry of his priest, the Lord Jesus stretches out his hand in healing.  Through the voice of his priest, the Lord Jesus speaks the word of mercy and the word of healing.  He is willing to heal us.  He is willing to forgive us.  Dear brothers and sisters, let us run to him!  Amen.

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

Homily for February 8, 2015 (Patronal Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes)

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

The calendar brings us to the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the scriptures bring us to Cana in Galilee.  We come to the parish feast and to a wedding feast.  We come to the celebration of our life together and to the celebration of two lives being joined together.  It is a day of celebration, and the Mother of Jesus is there.

In Cana in Galilee, at the wedding feast they had run out of wine.  In Lourdes in France they had run out of hope.  And the Mother of Jesus was there.  Like the caring and attentive mother described by Isaiah, the Mother of Jesus cares for her people.  She brings comfort.  She brings hope.  And she brings Jesus.

It was a mother’s concern that noticed that the wine had run short at the wedding feast in Cana in Galilee.  It was a mother’s concern that noticed that the jars were empty.  And it was a mother’s concern, expressed in a few simple words that invited the response of the Lord Jesus.  The mother of Jesus noticed.  The mother of Jesus spoke.  The mother of Jesus interceded at the wedding feast in Cana in Galilee.  The jars were filled with water, the wine was made from the water, and the wine was shared.

It was a mother’s concern that was shown to Bernadette in the grotto near the city of Lourdes in France.  To a poor and humble girl, Our Lady appeared.  The Mother of Jesus gave Bernadette a message inviting the world to conversion.  The Mother of Jesus gave Bernadette an invitation, inviting the whole world to come in procession.  The Mother of Jesus showed Bernadette a spring from which flows the waters of healing.  The Mother of Jesus invited Bernadette, and all of the world, to come closer to Jesus.  The message was given, the processions began, and the waters of healing were shared.  

A parish feast and a wedding feast come together in one day.  We are here, dear brothers and sisters, because of a wedding feast.  Not in Cana in Galilee, but in heaven and on earth.  We join here in the wedding feast of the Lamb of God.  We join in this feast so that we can be fed and so that we can share the message of conversion, of consolation and of healing.  We come to the parish of Lourdes to be filled with the living waters that flow through the city of God.  We come here because we need to be filled. 

Called by the invitation of the Lord Jesus we come to this wedding feast, and we are noticed by the mother of Jesus.  She has noticed that we are empty.  She has noticed that we need to be filled, and she presents us to Jesus.  At his command, we shall be filled with the waters of life like the empty jars at Cana.  By his power, the mere water in our lives shall be transformed into the wine of the kingdom.  And at his invitation, having received the water of Baptism and having been transformed like the wine of the Eucharist, we shall be shared.  Amen.    

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

Homily for February 1, 2015 (4th Sunday B)

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

The word of Jesus Christ brings healing and liberation.  The preaching of Jesus Christ brings awe, amazement and wonder to those who are willing to hear him.  And the authority of Jesus Christ sets us free, to live in the freedom of the children of God.  The word of Jesus Christ brings healing and liberation.

He is the true prophet.  He is the one who is raised up after Moses, the one on whom the Spirit of God dwells, and the one through whom the people of God shall experience true and abiding freedom.  Moses led the people of Israel out of the slavery of Egypt.  Moses led the people through the Red Sea upon dry land.  Moses led the people through the desert.  He gave them the law of God.  He gave them the law of God so that they could live in freedom and not return to the slavery of Egypt.  Moses stood before the Lord and interceded for his people.  Moses led them and he fed them.  He prayed for them and he taught them.  He loved them, and he brought them to the Promised Land. 

Jesus Christ is the prophet like Moses.  He brings healing and liberation by divine authority.  In the synagogue of Capernaum, by the power of his word, the Lord Jesus brought awe, amazement, and wonder to those who heard his preaching.  He spoke with authority.  In the synagogue of Capernaum, the Lord Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to be silent and to release the man the spirit held in bondage.  He spoke with power.  The Lord Jesus preached with authority about the kingdom of God and he preached with the power to inaugurate the kingdom of God.  This is greater than Moses.  This is greater than all of the prophets.  Jesus Christ does not speak with the message of a servant.  He does not speak with the voice of an angel.  Jesus Christ speaks with the power and the authority of the Son in the house of the Father.  And by his authority and with his power, Jesus Christ brings healing and liberation.  Jesus Christ brings us healing and liberation.

We were not slaves in Egypt, dear brothers and sisters, but we have been led to freedom just the same.  At the word of Christ and by his authority, the Church silenced the unclean spirits and cast them away from us on the day of our baptism.  Not through the Red Sea, but in the water that flows from the heart of Christ into the baptismal font, we have been led.  We have been given the law of the kingdom and we are fed at the table where the Lord of heaven and earth is the host, the table, and the meal that is given.  At his word, and by his authority, Jesus Christ has set us free to live in the freedom of the children of God.  Amen.   

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