Homily for November 29, 2015 (1st Sunday of Advent)

Every now and then I will get a card in the mail from a friend or an acquaintance or someone else and it’s not a greeting card or a get well card or a happy birthday card or even an invitation. The card is an announcement about some important event that will be happening on some particular day in the distant future. The card in the mail is telling me a few little details about the event and asking me to Save the Date. Even though the event is in the distant future whoever sent this announcement wants to reserve a place in my mind and a space on my calendar.

Sometimes these announcements are for smaller events. From stores and businesses we get announcements to save the date for grand openings and sales and theaters invite us to save the date so that we can see the latest movie on its opening day. But sometimes these announcements are for much bigger events. Save the date – I’m turning 15 . . . or 39. Save the date- I’m graduating. Save the date- we’re getting married. Some events are just so important that they need to be announced early. They are announced in plenty of time so that we can prepare a place in our minds and a space on our calendar. These are the events that we think about and places where we spend the precious gift of our time. Some things are just that important. Some things deserve to be announced early.

Like the promise of the one who will open the gates of Paradise. That was announced early. Even as the gates were closing on the Garden of Eden, there was the announcement that one day someone would come with a cross shaped key to open them.  Even as Moses was dying before entering into the Promised Land, there was the announcement that the Lord would raise up a prophet like him to the lead the people. And even as the prophets spoke in times of war and exile, there was the announcement that a child would be born and a son given in whose reign is everlasting peace. Some things are just so important that they deserve to be announced early.    

The season of Advent is our Save the Date announcement. We are given this time to prepare a place in our minds and in our hearts and even a place in our busy schedules so that we can join in the celebration of the Son of God. As we prepare for the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and the return of the Lord Jesus in glory, we meet him here. The promise that was announced at the gates of the Garden of Eden and made to Moses on the edge of the Promised Land is fulfilled in our midst on the Altar. Jesus himself invites us to join in the celebration. Amen.

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

Homily for November 22, 2015 (Christ the King B)

This is a strange choice for the Gospel reading today. This passage seems like a pretty strange choice to me. After all, this is Christ the King Sunday. This is the Sunday that begins the final week of the liturgical year. This is the last Sunday before Advent and a new year of grace. And this Gospel just seems like a strange choice.

The reading from the prophet Daniel and the reading from the book of Revelation seem like good choices. They speak about power and glory and kingship and majesty and victory. This are the things I want to hear about on Christ the King Sunday. These are the words from the Lord that I want to hear. I want to hear about Jesus’ power and glory and kingship and majesty and victory over the forces of evil and darkness and violence. I want to hear the words of comfort that Jesus will conquer the darkness of the world by the light of his power and his glory. I want to hear about the judge of the nations who separates the good from the bad, the righteous from the unrighteous, and the saints from the sinners. That is what I want to hear about on Christ the King Sunday.

And yet the Gospel shows us Jesus before Pontius Pilate. Jesus is on trial. He is captive. He is suffering and rejected. Jesus is a man of sorrows. Is this really the image of the victorious king? Is this really the sign of power and authority and victory that we want to see on Christ the King Sunday?  I want to see Jesus in his power and today we meet him in weakness.

But isn’t that where Jesus meets us? Is it not when we are captive in sin that Jesus comes with the promise of his mercy? Is it not when we are bound in sorrow that Jesus comes with the promise of the resurrection? Is it not when we are suffering and rejected by the powers of the world that the Lord Jesus comes to meet us with the promise of our acceptance in him? In our weakness we meet the King of Glory. In the midst of our trials the Lord Jesus comes to meet us. He comes to meet us in the humility of one who suffers. He comes to conquer the bitterness in our hearts by the power of his bitter sufferings.

This is a good Gospel passage for today. This is good news on the Christ the King Sunday for you and for me. Our King is not so far away. He meets us in our weakness. We meet him in his humility.

In a few weeks we will meet him in a manger. In a few minutes we will meet him in bread and wine transformed by the power of his Word. Amen.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe NC

Homily for November 15, 2015 (33rd Sunday B)

On the day that I moved into my room at Seminary, I placed my favorite image of Our Lady on a nail that was already in the wall in my room. I thought that since the previous resident of this room had a picture hanging there, that it was probably a good place. It is an image of the Blessed Virgin holding the child Jesus. It is an image of tender compassion, loving concern and protection, and that is why it was the first thing that I hung up on the wall.

But then the image started to move. The image started to move slightly from the wall and then back. This was not any kind of supernatural event. It was perfectly natural because on the other side of my wall was the wall in the room of another seminarian who had recently purchased a large speaker for listening to music. The vibrations from the speaker from the music were causing the image of peace and tranquility in my room to move. So I carefully and calmly walked to the next room. I gently knocked on the door, and as it opened, I said, “My name is Benjamin Roberts from the Diocese of Charlotte. What are we listening to?”

What are we listening to? It’s pretty important what we listen to. We listen to advertisements and we buy things. We listen to political speeches and debates and we think and eventually vote a certain way. We listen to music and our emotions are moved and some people, not me but some people, dance. We listen to the news and our hearts are broken at the horrific violence in cities throughout the world, throughout the country, and even throughout our own area. What we listen to is pretty important.

And it’s so much easier to listen to what is bad. It’s easier to listen to a rumor about someone’s sins than it is to hear a story about someone’s good deeds. It’s so much easier to listen to the bad news, to focus on the bad news, to pay attention to the bad news. And when we do that, we can easily miss the Good News.

The prophet Daniel told the people some pretty bad news. He talked about a time of unsurpassed distress. Jesus told of some pretty bad news too. There will be days of tribulation and darkness. Heaven and earth will pass away. Everything in creation will be changed. The world as we know it will end. It’s pretty bad news, and it’s really easy to listen to only the bad news.

But the prophet Daniel and certainly the Lord Jesus tell us the Good News. Daniel talks about Michael, a guardian of the Lord’s people, who brings the protecting power of God to his people. Jesus promises that he will send his angels to gather his people from the ends of the earth. In the midst of all of the bad news of tribulation and darkness, the Lord shows us tender compassion, loving concern and protection. Jesus tells us the Good News. Jesus invites us to listen to the Good News.

And he tells us to tell the Good News.  When we listen to sadness and suffering, we then tell the Good News of the Lord’s presence. When we listen to trials and tribulations and tragedies, we then tell the Good News of God’s mercy. When we listen to accomplishment and achievement, we then tell the Good News of God’s protection.

There is so much bad news that we could listen to. Let’s share the Good News instead. Amen.

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

Perpetual Novena for Healing Prayers

The Perpetual Novena for Healing, prayed to Our Lady of Lourdes for those in need of physical healing, St. Maxilmilian Kolbe for those in need of healing from addictions, and St. Dymphna for those in need of healing for depression, mental illness, neurological disorders & Alzheimer's disease, began on September 14, 2012. It is prayed every Friday after the 830AM Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Monroe, NC. Petitions may be sent to NovenaforHealing@ollmonroe.org

Prayers of the Perpetual Novena for Healing

Our Lady of Lourdes

O ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother of mercy, health of the sick, refuge of sinners, comforter of the afflicted, you know my wants, my troubles, my sufferings: look with mercy on me.                                                       
By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a privileged sanctuary, whence you dispense your favors: and already many sufferers have obtained the cure for their infirmities, both spiritual and corporal. We come, therefore, with complete confidence to implore your maternal intercession.  We pray, in particular, for all those who are in need of physical healing.                                                        

(Silently remember all who are in need of physical healing, and those who have entrusted themselves to this novena)                                                         

Intercede, O Mother Most Holy, for all who await and hope for the healing of their bodies.  Intercede, O Mother of Consolation, for all who are to receive the healing of acceptance and the grace of the final journey.  Intercede, O Mother of Hope, for all who await the healing promised in the Lord’s resurrection.

St. Maximillian Kolbe

O St. Maximilian Kolbe, faithful follower of St. Francis, inflamed by the love of God you dedicated your life to the practice of virtue and to works of the apostolate. Look down with favor upon us who devoutly confide in your intercession. Having consecrated yourself to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, you inspired countless souls to a holy life and various forms of the apostolate in order to do good to others and to spread the kingdom of God. Obtain for us the grace by our lives and labors to draw many souls to Christ. In your close conformity to our Divine Savior you reached such an intense degree of love that you offered your life to save a fellow prisoner. Implore God that we, inflamed by such ardent charity, may through our living faith and our apostolic works witness Christ to others, and thus merit to join you in the blessed vision of God.             

Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe, your life of love and labor for souls was sacrificed amid the horrors of a concentration camp and hastened to its end by an injection of a deadly drug.  Look with compassion upon all those who are now entrapped in addictions to drugs, alcohol, and other harmful behaviors and whom we now recommend to your powerful intercession:                          

(Silently remember all who are in need of healing from addictions, and those who have entrusted themselves to this novena)                                      

Dear St. Maximilian, Priest of God, intercede with Christ for mercy for all who are trapped in the bonds of any addiction.  Devout servant of the Immaculate Mother of God, beg Her to crush with her heel the demons of addiction that afflicts our brothers and sisters. Obtain for us the grace never to withhold our love and understanding, nor to fail in persevering prayer that the enslaving bonds of addiction may be broken and that full health and freedom may be restored to all for whom we pray.

St. Dymphna

Good Saint Dymphna, great wonder-worker in every affliction of mind and body, we humbly implore your powerful intercession with Jesus through Mary, the Health of the Sick.  O dear martyr of purity, patroness of those who suffer with nervous and mental afflictions, beloved child of Jesus and Mary, intercede for all who suffer from depression, mental illness, neurological disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease, especially those whom we entrust to your intercession:                             

(Silently remember all who are in need of healing from these afflictions, and those who have entrusted themselves to this novena)                           

We turn to you, dear virgin and martyr, confident of your power with God and of your willingness to take our cause into your hands.  We firmly hope that through your kind intercession He will restore lost serenity and peace of mind. May He speak to our hearts and reassure us: "My peace I give you. Let not your heart be troubled nor let it be afraid." Pray for us, dear St. Dymphna, that all those suffering emotional turmoil may again know serenity and personal peace.                                          

Our Lady of Lourdes pray for us!
St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe pray for us!
St. Dymphna pray for us!