The PadreCast - Faithful Catholic Homilies

Be obedient of authority

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Seeking our Lady's intercession. Let us pray.

Hail Mary, full of Grace,

the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners

now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

 

Good morning, brothers, and sisters. Today we celebrate the great solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the universe. It's really a beautiful title, King of the universe. And we know he is the king because he said to the apostles before he ascended into heaven, he said, you know, I go to my father and your father, and I will sit on a throne at his right hand as God is clearly king and ruler of all things.  Jesus Christ has obviously, as God has, that role, that kingship. But even as a man has been anointed and established as king over the universe, now his kingdom is established. It's done. His kingdom reigns in the hearts of those who follow him. So, it's in the church and it's in the hearts of those who follow Christ.  In a sense, it's in the hearts of the people he describes in the Gospel today. Those who care for the least of these the sick and imprisoned, the hungry, the naked, the homeless, those who take care of these kind of people, Jesus calls them his brothers. Then that means the Kingdom of Heaven is in your heart and you will have a share in his kingdom when he comes in glory. That's what it means, of course, to go to heaven. But at the end of time, when Jesus Christ comes, we know that He will judge the heavens and the earth. And the best parallel to this, that Jesus gave us in his own words was when he talked about himself as a king. He said there was this king. And, you know, he had some servants and he told them to do some stuff.  Then he went off to take authority because he wanted to reign over another place as well. So he goes, Any wars on this other nation?  As a king, he wants to rule over all things. He wants to rule over all hearts. And in the end, he will. The nature of his kingdom, though, is that initially, even though he's king and can dictate to you the rules, he doesn't.  Then he went off to take authority because he wanted to reign over another place as well. So he goes, Any wars on this other nation? As a king, he wants to rule over all things. He wants to rule over all hearts. The nature of his kingdom, though, is that initially, even though he's king and can dictate to you the rules, he doesn't. He asks. He shows you how much he loves you. He dies on the cross for you. He's like, what more could I have done for you? Please obey me. And if we freely, by his grace, submit to his kingship, if we make him our king, then he will judge us and mercy. And we will go to live and be joyous and happy in his kingdom.

 

If we don't, then what does he say he will do? Right. In the Gospels, he says very clearly, those rebellious people, I will go and crush and kill. That's what I will do to those who refuse my kingship. Again, we easily fall into this mistaken assumption about our Lord is that he's always so gentle and merciful. Everybody's going to go to heaven, or he's very vengeful.

And, you know, it's black and white with God. You know, most people are going to be damned to hell. He's both. He's not one or the other. He is both in perfect measure. He's perfectly just always going to condemn everybody who deserves to be condemned. He's going to punish everybody who deserves to be punished. He's going to damned to hell anyone who refuses his kingship.  Of course, he's going to do that. But he's also perfectly loving and merciful, which is why he gives us time, which is why he lovingly invites us to obedience as opposed to command it. You know, Saint Paul has an interesting thing. He says to one of the communities to whom he was writing one of the letters in the in the New Testament. He says to them, basically, as an apostle, as your bishop, I have the right to command you to obey me. But I would rather beg you. I would rather plead with you. Please obey me. Please. I don't want to have to command. And that's the nature of Christ's kingship. He pleads with us. He does everything in his power to convince us that he is good. And he does love us. And he'll do anything necessary to redeem us just so that we will obey him. Right. What did he say? You are. You are my disciples. If you keep my commandments, if you obey me, if you obey me.  Obedience is necessary to be a friend of God to share in his rule and His kingdom.  Now we can struggle with the idea of a kingship in a kingdom, especially as Americans. Right. Because we have this idea of governance that is very different from traditional, traditional, especially biblical governance. But we like this idea of like a democracy or a democratic republic. We get to vote, we get to elect, you know, we have different branches of government and this nice division of powers. We think that is the best because that's what we've been taught. That is the best form of government. United States has the best form of government. That's how we were raised, which is, of course, as a Christian, completely ludicrous because you would think that Jesus Christ, God would have established in his kingdom the best form of government.  You just assume his governing form would be the best and you'd be right. But does he call his church a democracy, a republic? No, it's a dictatorship. That's what you must remember. A kingship is all the power and authority of the government is in a single man, one head. Now, he will have advisors if he's wise and other people, to help him administer the kingdom, administrate the kingdom?

Right. That's what Jesus did. That's why he appointed the pope and the bishops. That's why they're there. And that's why the bishops appointed the priests.  They help them administer the kingdom. But you must understand the governance of God is a dictatorship. That's what a kingdom is. And that is the perfect form of governance, because that's what God would have chosen. Now, the reason we especially don't like dictators is because they're not always as loving and virtuous and good as Jesus, because they don't always ask you to follow the rules. They simply throw you into jail and control your lives. We have a distaste for the idea of a kingdom or a kingship who has a dictator, a single ruler who governs over all things in the kingdom. But that distaste is wrong. It's not Christian. It's not virtuous or holy. Jesus Christ is our dictator. He's the best kind. But first and foremost, he's the king. He's the ruler. Yes. The ideal of kingship that Christ shows us is one who sees himself as a servant to the people. Right. That's the idea of authority. I come among you as one who serves.

That's what he taught the Apostles. That's what the Pope and the bishops and the priests are supposed to be. They're supposed to be kingly servants. But we're still kings. Like St Dorothy's is not a democracy. You don't get a vote. Like I'm the king of this little castle. Now, I'm not the high king. The bishop Jugis is the king of the little castle of the Diocese of Charlotte.  But he's not the High King. If there's a high king in this world, it's the Pope. The Pope is the high king. Now Christ is the high king of the church. In the end, he governs all things. But the Pope is his right-hand man who uses his power and an authority to rule over his kingdom on earth. Again, this is a dictatorship now, a good king imitating Christ would do so gently and lovingly. At first, they would begin with gentleness and love and compassion and mercy. But if that didn't work, then they would use all their power and authority to crush their opponents. You know how in the news, you know, we talk about Putin and in the Russian government and supposedly he's elected and he's an elected president or official now.  He's a dictator. Right. He's the king. That's what he is. And we get up in arms when we hear that he does things like crush his political opponents. How undemocratic. I'm sorry. And how many tens of thousands of years of human society have the king crushed their opponents? It's called rebellion. It's called, you know, refusal to be obedient to the authority.

I mean, the U.S. government does that. Right. What do you think happens in every country throughout the world? You question those who govern, you get squashed. I'm not saying you can't try to rebel, but don't complain when you get crushed. It's the same with Christ. When we rebelled against him. In the end, he will crush us and cast us into the outer darkness, or there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Now, why is all of this so important? Now, a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to preach on it. Last week I wasn't here, but it worked out better this weekend. Right. A couple of weeks ago. I don't know how many of you keep up. I'd rather you not, because honestly, it just breeds confusion and people get frustrated.

The Holy Father removed the bishop of Tyler, Texas, and this was like a big controversy in the church. no. This holy and conservative bishop has been removed by this liberal and sinful pope. Scandal. Terrible. We need to riot. We need to, if not, write, protest. Go out and march. Prayer. Rosaries. God, give us a good Holy Father. That's so foolish. It's so ignorant. Anyone who would think that way has no idea who Jesus Christ is and what his church really is. Again, it's a dictatorship. Our Holy Father doesn't need a good reason to remove anyone. He's the Pope. He can just decide. I don't like your haircut. You're no longer Bishop of Charlotte, and there's no one in the church that can stop him. Now, you may say he doesn't have a good reason to remove the bishop of Tyler, Texas. Well, how do you know? Did the Holy Father tell you, his reasons? No, he did not make public his reasons. But you don't have a right to the reasons. I'm not saying it would be wrong to share them with you, but it's the same in your in your household.

 

You know, when parents tell their children to do this or that, they don't have to give a reason. It's nice if you do, but let's say you do give a reason. None of the ten times your child is going to say, I disagree with you. That reason does not follow in my head, which is why it doesn't matter whether you have a reason, because children are to obey, because you're the king of the castle.

It's a dictatorship, kids. The family is a dictatorship. Ultimately, Dad is the high king. Mom shares in that kingship. And that's the way it goes. Now, yes, God wants them to be a loving king. A loving dictator, but they don't have to be. When they spank that little bottom, you deserve it. What's the old military phrase? Thank you, sir. May I have another? All right. That's what they want from you. When they say jump, you say how high. The nature of authority, the nature of authority is very important. If we don't understand this, it's very easy for us to go against Jesus Christ himself. And so, I'm going to tell you this. Jesus Christ, the king of the church, one of the bishop of Tyler, Texas, removed. He wanted it. Why does he want it? I don't know. I'm not Jesus. He didn't tell me. I have some theories, some ideas, but. But it's speculation until the king lets me know. All I know is that he wanted it. You know. I know you wanted it because the Pope wanted it. Why did the Pope want? I don't know. He wanted it. Why does he want it? I don't know. I'm not Jesus. He didn't tell me. I have some theories, some ideas, but. But it's speculation until the king lets me know. All I know is that he wanted it. You know. I know you wanted it because the Pope wanted it. Why did the Pope want? I don't know. He wanted it. Why does he want it? I don't know. I'm not Jesus. He didn't tell me. I have some theories, some ideas, but. But it's speculation until the king lets me know. All I know is that he wanted it. You know. I know you wanted it because the Pope wanted it. Why did the Pope want? I don't know.

We can speculate. I will tell you this and I only point this out after doing my research, is that that Bishop had been disobedient to the Holy Father directly disobedient on several occasions before he was removed. And you could say, well, he was justified. The Holy Father was wrong in trying to get him to do that thing or that thing. I'm sorry. What? How do you know the Holy Father was wrong? Well, because in my mind, that's not what Jesus wants. You're the sheep. You're the child trying to tell the shepherd how to govern the flock. How many times do your own children make that same mistake against you and think they don't have to obey?

And yet God's going to punish those disobedient children just as much is going to punish you because you disobeyed. You went against the lawful authority that he has established in his kingdom, in his church, and that Bishop disobeyed the Holy Father directly even after he had been commanded to do something. If I was the Pope, I would remove him now? Yes. Are there other bishops in the world that we would like to see removed more than that, Bishop? Sure. Do I think it would be wonderful if the Holy Father removed all of them? Absolutely. But I'm not the Pope. I don't make those rules. You can't be more Catholic than the Holy Father.  

You just can't be more Catholic than him. Now, before the pope formally removed this bishop, he sent him a formal letter. And in this formal letter, he kindly requested that he resign his office as bishop of Tyler, Texas. The Holy Father made this request. Now, those of you who understand authority. Was he asking him to step down? Was he saying, would you please consider this when somebody who has authority asks you to make your bed, are they just asking, like if you want you know, if you feel up to it, you know, please do the dishes. Well, I mean, you said please, but I just don't feel like it. No. When your parents, when your priest, when your bishop, when the pope asks you to do something, it's a polite command. It's what Saint Paul did. I could command you. I'd rather ask you. I'd rather beg you to obey. The Holy Father was giving the Bishop of Tyler, Texas, a way to bow out gracefully without losing any of his respect.

That's what he was doing. That was a good thing. This is what Bishop Julius does. Our new whenever we have new seminarians, it's always at least one of them that makes this mistake. They'll get a letter from the bishop saying, I kindly request your presence at this event, and then one or two of the seminarians won't come for me to recall them. Why weren't you there? I didn't think I had to be there. Why did you not think you had to be there? Well, because the bishop just said, I request your presence. You didn't say I require your presence. Okay. Don't do that again. When your bishop kindly requests your presence. That's a command. It's just a polite way of doing it. Why? Because he's the dictator. He's the king. You don't refuse the king. You don't refuse the king anything. If you can help it. That's the same with the Pope. Honestly, I'd like to even say that's the same with your pastor. But again, supposed to be a kindly king. I request I don't command. I could not go to, you know, let God judge you in the end.

I'll just, you know, suffer the consequences. When the Holy Father asked him to step down, he was giving him a polite and gentle way of saving face. But he refused his commander. He refused his king, the representative of Christ on Earth. And what did the king have to do? What did the pope have to do? He had to formally remove him. Right. What other recourse did he have? I didn't want to do it this way. I tried to do it the nice way. You refuse the nice way. Now I'm going to crush you. And yet, is this Bishop humbly accepting this removal? No. He's still in public media, and he's still causing discord and disharmony and disunity in the body of Christ.

And he's doing it with all the most polite and gentle words justifying his behavior for this reason for that reason. Just like any child would do to justify their disobedience. And I would generally never correct a bishop. However, he has made this public, right? I must correct it because remind you, my people, that we are faithful to the Holy Father, whether I understand him or not. Why? Because we are faithful to Christ, whether I understand him or not. Why? Because he is the king. That's why he is the dictator. And we must submit to him in all things. We always have to be careful with this. Never allow this American political philosophy to cloud our understanding of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Yes, he is good and loving and merciful, but he is a king. And if you don't submit to that love and that mercy the way he has asked you to, he will cast you into the outer darkness. He will separate the sheep from the goats and only the sheep will share in his kingdom. The goats will suffer for the rest of eternity.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Homily begins at 20.27

 

Mass Etiquette

Have you ever wondered why we do what we do during Mass? Is it tradition or Church law?

We invite you to listen to Fr. Miller's homily on the Mass Etiquette.

 

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begins at 20:21

Jesus call to Love | PadreCast Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The reading for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time call to love.  And in the Gospel Jesus give us The Great Commandment that will be used for our judgment.  He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and wht all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." 

 

Ex 22, 20-26; Ps.18:2-3, 3-4,47,51; 1 Thes 1:5c-10; Mt 22:34-40 

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begins at 23:51

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Making the Rosary an Intentional Habit

If you’re looking to grow your spiritual self, one of the best things you can do is to make praying the Rosary an intentional, purposeful part of your everyday life. Part of that is finding a rosary you can easily bring with you, no matter where you go.

https://catholicwoodworker.com/blogs/older-posts/why-the-holy-rosary-is-important

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit seeking our Lady's intercession. Let us pray.

Hail Mary, full of Grace,

the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

 

Good morning, brothers, and sisters. The Holy Father has asked all the bishops of the world to ask all the priests of their dioceses to preach about the synod that is going to start this week. Right. If you remember the title, it's called the Synod-on-Synod, which I think is a terrible title, but it is what it is, right. Starts this week, I believe it's on Tuesday. We of course, need to keep that in our prayers. But what is a Senate and ultimately what does it mean? A synod is a gathering of bishops usually called by the pope to assist him through advice and direction in his governance of the universal church. That's what a Senate is, an official synod. A gathering of bishops. So that's what's happening in Rome this week. There's this great gathering of bishops called by the Holy Father, and they're going to be discussing synods. Synod is the concept, the idea that you gather a group of people together to seek their advice and wisdom so that you can make the best decisions. Now, you know, there's been a lot of fear and in controversy, if you keep up with, you know, conservative Catholic news.  Everybody's terrified of the church is going to fall apart and it's all ludicrous. You got to worry about that kind of stuff. What is a synod and why is senility important? And therefore, why is the Holy Father having the synod on this at all? You must understand something about the Church of Jesus Christ. It's not a democracy. It's a dictatorship. We call it a kingdom. Meaning there is one head who rules over all with absolute power over life and death. Now his number one emissary in the world is the Pope. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church. He does not need any advice from any bishop anywhere to make his decisions. He's got all the authority resting first and foremost with him. But is that the way that Christ taught the apostles to lead? No, of course not. What did he do at the Last Supper when he ordained them? He showed them by washing their feet. If I've come among you as one who serves, you do likewise. And so even though all the authority of Christ is centered in the Holy Father, the Popes have always led by calling synods or councils. This is where they can get advice and direction from their bishops to hopefully make the best decision for the church with of course, and then through the mind of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. It's just a very humble and appropriate thing to do. I mean, can one man, the pope, know everything about the church throughout the whole world?  Of course not. There’re just too many things going on. His bishops are his best advisors. But if you think about it logically, can every bishop know what's going on in all his diocese? No, of course not. Of course, he can't. He's just one bishop.

 

What does he have to do? He must call a synod of priests.

 

He gets his pastors, his priests from all over the diocese and he brings them together and he says, okay, what's going on? What do you think we need to be working on here and there? But can every priest or pastor of a parish know what's going on in all his parish? I can tell you personally he cannot.  And so, what does he do? He calls a synod of his parishioners together to advise him on different areas. You can call it a parish council or a finance council or whatever you want. But ultimately, all they are synods. It's a calling together of advisers so that the King St Dorothy's and the King. I mean, Christ may be the king of kings, but Bishop Dugas is the king of Charlotte. Pope Francis the King of the world. Christ the King of heaven and earth. Does a king need adviser? If he's a smart king. He would recognize that. But does he need advisers to make decisions for the kingdom? No, he doesn't, because the authority in power rests with him. You see, the pope doesn't have to listen to any of the bishops.  There have been heresies in the church that were so prevalent that when the bishop called a synod, most of the bishops were heretics. Study your church history. But in all this instances, was the church led astray? No. The Holy Father called them all back to repentance. You don't have to worry about any negative influence on the Holy Father.

 

You must understand this as Pope. He doesn't have the power to go against God. He doesn't. He can't. He cannot. When he took upon himself, when he I should say, when he accepted the role of the papacy after he was elected, he could have refused it after he accepted it. He basically divested himself of some of his own free will.  You don't realize this about authority. The greater the authority an individual has, the less free will they have, at least on a certain level. The Bible is clear on this. It says that God directs the hearts of the powerful and he leads them wherever he wants them to go. God does this. When you think of the heart of a person, you think of their desires, those inner movements, the things that they want, and on some level, their intentions.

 

How many times throughout the Old Testament when God was going to punish his people for their sin, did he inspire a foreign king to say, oh, look, Israel, they've got a lot of wealth and gold and we could make a lot of good slaves, Let's go fight them. Do you think that foreign King knew that the Holy Spirit was inspiring him to do that?  No. He thought it was a good idea. Or maybe some of his counselors recommended it. But in the end, when they went and enslaved the people of Israel, that was God's will. All they did was accomplish what God had inspired their leaders to do. And this is a concept that, especially in this first world country, we don't understand.

 

We think because of this perverted philosophy that we have in this country, that authority is given from below. Meaning I decide who's my president, my senator, my congressman, or we decide, at least as a group, we elect, and we empower. No, that is according to Catholic tradition and teaching heresy. It's just heresy. It's outright heresy. Why? Because the Bible is clear.  All authority comes from God above. No authority comes from below. That's like giving your children a vote. And what mom and dad decide to do on behalf of them. Is that really a smart idea? I mean, is that what you want, parents? Because if that's the philosophy of our governing, of our government in this country and we're trying to spread that philosophy to the rest of the world, why do you think the world is going to hell in a handbasket, as we like to say?

 

Yeah. Give children a vote and see how things go in your family. What is the point of solidarity if those in power, in authority don't need the advice and direction? Again, there are two things. Either a wise or holy leader would know they can't know everything. And so, he seeks advice and direction and counsel from everybody and then makes his decision.  That's the first. And the second is this. And this may be more important than many of you realize. People need to be heard. I very recently heard a quote from Martin Luther King, and he said that is it Martin Luther King Jr Junior. Yeah, I know. Was missing something. So, Martin Luther King Jr. and he said that rebellion or revolution is the reaction to a people who are not listened to. Now, why does that happen? I want you to think of it in regard to your own personal life, just you individually. Saint Paul talks about this struggle that we have within each of us. He calls it the flesh warring against the spirit. And in one place, he says, I do the things I don't want to do, and I don't do the things I want to do, like my mind, which is centered up here in my brain, which is on the top of my body called my head is supposed to make decisions for the rest of the body.

 

I'm supposed to know what is good and true and the right thing and then do it. But how often is that not the case? How often do I know what I should do? But I don't want it. And I do something different. Maybe wrong. The heart is not always in line with the head. There's not good communication.

 

We even talk about that psychologically. The idea that your heart and your head need to learn to communicate better. But something that you might not know about the heart is this. If the head is constantly trying to control the heart without listening to it, the heart rebels. I'll give you a simple example. I'm sure all of you, for the most part, have experienced at some point in your life during Lent, where you took on a penance that was stronger or harder than you could handle.  And within a week you just completely gave up. And it doesn't have to be a penance during Lenten, it could be any task. You thought, I'm going to do this, I'm going to make myself do this, and then you just pushed yourself to do it as hard as you could, and you fell apart and completely abandoned it. That is the head trying to force the heart when the heart isn't ready.

You think that's just a sign of weakness? No, that's a state of being. It's a reality. The heart is not supposed to be forced. It's supposed to be encouraged. Yes. You must discipline it sometimes. Punish it. Yes. But ultimately, you invite, you draw out. Saint Paul says this constantly in his letters when he's writing to a specific town, he says, Look like a command to you.  I could command you to obey me. I've got the authority. I'm the apostle. But I would rather encourage you and invite you. It's the same with our God. He doesn't need your opinion when he makes decisions for your life. He's God. But how often are we taught by the Saints that He wants to know what's on your mind and heart?  Not because he's going to agree with you. Because it's important that you be heard. Ultimately, that's the secondary level of Senate. As you know, in the last year, year and a half, the Holy Father has asked us as parishes to have these little meetings of the minds where you get to reveal to me all the things on your mind and heart.

And then I share those things with the bishop, and the bishop shares those things with the Pope and so on. Sometimes that's all you need to do to feel better is just speak your mind, somebody to listen to you. It's not always going to solve your problems, but honestly, it usually makes you feel better, and it calms your spirit.  If we're not humble enough to listen to one another, then eventually that simply leads to rebellion. I'm certain that this Synod is the will of God inspired by the Holy Spirit. You know why? Because Pope Francis decided on it. And he's the Pope. And if he decided on it, then it's the will of God for us. That means there's something in this, some lesson that the whole church needs to learn.  You don't have to be afraid of the heretics. You don't have to be afraid of them. Do you really think for a moment that the Church of Jesus Christ is going to fall apart? I mean, after 2000 years, you really think it's suddenly going to happen now. Our Lord has promised us it won't happen. It can't happen until he comes again in glory.  At that point, it's too late, so who cares? There's no reason to worry or be afraid. Yes, there are heretical bishops. Of course, there are. There always have been in the church. Surprise, surprise. The Holy Spirit is not going to allow Pope Francis to make any decision for the body of Christ that goes against the will of the King.

 

On some level, that's the power of infallibility. It prevents the Holy Father from speaking error in official capacity. And there are many of you who can say, But Father, what about that one time when Pope Francis said this? What about that one time when Pope Francis didn't do that? Was he speaking definitively on some issue of faith and morals?  Was he changing church? Church teaching was giving a private opinion. I mean, you can disagree with his private opinions. That's perfectly fine. Isn't everyone entitled to their private opinions? No, I don't necessarily agree with everyone's opinions, and they can share as they want. And yes, it can have certain effects in our lives. But I don't worry about those things. I don't focus on them. They're not my concern. In fact, it's usually best if you have a weak faith in this area to stay away from that kind of news, because obviously it just disturbs your faith, causes you to have worry and anxiety. If your faith is not strong enough that Jesus Christ will not let his church go astray, you need to not watch the news, read the news.  Just stay away from it. As parents, you keep your children away from certain news because you don't think they're mature enough for it. Have you ever thought that maybe you're not mature enough for certain news? But, Father Miller, I'm an adult. Yes. That's the same argument your children use. I'm not a baby, but it doesn't mean you're mature and doesn't mean you're wise. All I know is that Christ will not fail me and that his church will always be here to guide me. And all I must do is stay faithful to her by my fidelity to our Pope. That's it. I do that even if I make some mistakes along the way. God, in his mercy, will bring me back in. The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begins at 18:56

Twenty-Second Sunday Ordinary Time

The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Seeking our Lady's Intercession. Let us pray.

Hail Mary, full of grace.

the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners

now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

 

Good morning, brothers, and sisters. I actually feel much better than I sound.  I you know, I was sick for several days. I do apologize that I was unable to celebrate the sacraments for you, but I feel fine. I just kind of lost my voice this morning. Our Lord's words to Saint Peter and the Gospel today are quite profound and we must remember that he speaks to them not only to Peter, but to each one of us. He says, get behind me, Satan, you are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do. Now, if you recall in the Gospel of Matthew, right before this gospel event, Jesus had just renamed Simon Peter and given him the keys of the Kingdom and established him as the first head of the church.

 

The Pope, all the other apostles were present. Everybody witnessed. Jesus just changed his name from Simon to Peter, made him the head and then the first thing he does after this is call him Satan first. He's the rock. Now he's the tempter. That's what Satan means. We call him Satan because it means to tempt the tempter, the one who tempts Jesus says, You're an obstacle to me. Now I just made you the first Pope and now you're not even following me. You're an obstacle. You're trying to lead me away from God's plan, not towards it. Now, if the first Pope can do that, anybody can do that. And if you can imagine, if you're there at that moment, along with the apostles and Jesus turns his back on Peter and says, get behind me, imagine how painful that must have been for Peter.  I mean, we use that expression, right? You turn your back on someone. The idea that you've rejected them turned away from them. It seems very devastating, only because you have no idea what Jesus is really doing here. He's not rejecting Peter. He's still the first Pope. He went on to continue to do so and became a saint. The reason Jesus turned his back on him was he was reminding Peter; I lead you follow the same reason I have my back turn to you.  When I celebrate mass, it's because I'm leading you to Jesus. We're all following Jesus. We all are facing. Jesus is back. He's the shepherd, right? We're the sheep. We follow him. This wasn't a rejection of Peter. This was a reminder. I am the one you follow. Wherever I lead, you go. And then Jesus says so clearly. Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me and our second reading, Saint Paul, gives us a beautiful reflection on on this specific teaching of our Lord Paul's theology. Of course, the theology of Christ is very clear about the relationship between a disciple and the Lord and their suffering.

 

Saint Paul says, I urge you, brothers, and sisters, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice wholly and pleasing to God your spiritual worship.  He is telling us that the way we worship God is by offering our bodies as a living sacrifice. He says, do not conform yourselves to this age or any age in which you live, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. The way you think needs to change. If you speak the way that humans speak, that's because you think the way that humans think.  This is why, Peter, why Jesus reprimands Peter and the apostles. He says, you must discern what is the will of God, what is good, pleasing, and perfect. And Jesus clearly gives us direction again when he says Whoever wishes to come after me must first deny himself, then take up his cross, and only then can he follow me. You want to follow Jesus, right?  Ultimately, our goal is to follow Jesus to heaven. That's where we want to get Jesus not only opened the way to heaven, but He is also the way so conformity with and through him is the only pathway to heaven.  We've got to follow him and be conformed to his life.  He says, you want to follow me? Fine. First, deny yourself.  What does that mean? At the heart of self-denial is penance, meaning giving things up that you desire, that you want self-denial as opposed to self-fulfillment. I want this so I achieve it or obtain it. If I'm not willing to do penance, mortification in my life, give up things that I want, then I am not following Jesus Christ, period.  Because you haven't even begun. Remember, self-denial is just the first step. This is why the church gives us a whole season called Lent, in which we practice self-denial. Why every Friday of the year, barring feast days and celebrities, we're supposed to be fasting from something meaning denying ourselves something that we want food, drink, sleep, warm showers, whatever it is true, Christians live a life of self-denial.  It's not like every second and every moment there are days and solemnity and reasons to celebrate. But self-denial is a natural thing for us. Or at least it should be. In fact, it must be for anyone who claims to follow Christ. But that's the first step. You're not following Jesus unless you practice self-denial. After you've gotten at least consistent about self-denial.  Then there's one more step before you're following Jesus. He say, first deny yourself, then take up your cross. What does that mean? Obviously, Jesus is referring to his own cross that he is going to be taking up very soon. And what is his cross? Every cross that comes from God, I don't think the devil wants me to talk about this.  I'm losing my voice. So, every cross that comes from God is built on the cross of Christ. And there are two sides to that cross in our Lord and our Lady revealed to us kind of the fullness of the ways in which we are going to be asked to suffer by God. All of them are unjust. That's the first rule.  The first rule of a cross is that it's not fair. It's not just you shouldn't have to suffer it. If you should have to suffer it, then it's a punishment. It's not a cross. You deserve it, right? I mean, when I do something wrong and I get punished for it, that's not a cross. I was supposed to get punished.  The whole point of the cross is that I didn't deserve this. I did nothing wrong. I was in the right and I'm still suffering. So first, it's unjust and it can be unjust in one of two ways. It can be unjust because you, the individual, are suffering unjustly or someone you love is suffering unjustly, right? Jesus. And enduring His cross was innocent, and yet he willingly endured it and carried it. He took it up himself, knowing it was the will of the father to save us from sin. But Mary, her cross, along with her son, was very similar. It was unjust and yet it was different. You see, she would have happily died on the cross in place of her son. When you love someone that much, you'd gladly suffer if it would alleviate their suffering.

 

But if she had taken away the cross from her son, we would all go to hell. You see, if Jesus had not accepted this unjust suffering, we'd be damned. And if Mary did not accept that her beloved son had to endure this unjust suffering, we would all be damned. No souls would be saved. Both the son and the mother had to accept the cross as it was within the plan of God,

 

in your own life again, look at these crosses that God asks you to bear. Are you taking them up or do you fight against them? Did you know you can always reject a cross? I mean, you might not be able to stop yourself from physically suffering it, but you can deny and reject it in your heart so that it does no good for you or anyone. It bears. No fruit provides no special graces. People waste suffering all the time. I mean, you can offer up any suffering, even the things that you deserve, but most especially those crosses that we don't deserve, those are the best. And if I were to give this homily to just any Joe Schmo and secular society, they think I was insane.  This way of thinking doesn't make sense to them. Why? Because this is the way God thinks. That's what our Lord is telling us. Whereas the rest of the world thought the way Peter thought. God forbid that you should have to suffer and die. God forbid. Not only Satan thinks that way, and yet that's the way of the world.  In fact, for many of us, right. That's the way we often think, isn't it? God forbid that I should have to suffer this that Satan, God forbid that you should have to suffer this, that Satan. That's not the way the Lord thinks. Saint Paul is right. We have to be renewed in our minds. And this isn't an easy thing. It takes time, takes the sacraments and grace and prayer. But ultimately it comes down to these three things. If you really want to follow our Lord, you begin with self-denial. Practice penance and self-denial, giving things up even each day. It could be something small. Somebody in your family wants to do something. You don't want to do it, so you deny yourself and you do it with them, or vice versa.  That last piece of cake or pie in the fridge, you know, nobody's around. And if you ate it, nobody would know. Do you leave it there for somebody else? You walk away self-denial. There are so many little ways in which we can practice that without self-denial, we'll never get to a point in which we can take up our crosses daily again.  That's the second stage. It's learning to suffer unjustly that we Christ and the Blessed Mother did. Then lastly, we do all this following Jesus. So, if you want to know if you're following Jesus, these are the two things you need to work on. If you want to know if somebody else is following Jesus, then you will see them doing these two things,

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begins at 20:02

 

Twenty-First Ordinary Time

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit seeking our Lady's intercession. Let us pray.

Hail Mary, full of grace.

The Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus,

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners

now and at the hour of our death, Amen

 

Good morning, brothers, and sisters.

 

Oh, I don't know how many of you read in the news that, uh, this coming Saturday evening at our local civic center here in Lincolnton, they're putting on a drag show. And if you don't know what a drag show is, I'm very pleased. But sadly, I'm going to have to give you some idea. Otherwise, the rest of the homily won't make much sense.

 

So, a drag show is when men dress up like women or women dress up like men and perform lewd acts and dances and songs on stage that people pay to go see. That's what a drag show is. It's disgusting from beginning to end. Uh, and I want to let you know that next Saturday, uh, right after the vigil mass, so around 6:00, I'm going to expose the Blessed Sacrament.  We'll have adoration from 6 to 9. Anyone who can come and make it, we'll just be praying, interceding for our town and our nation and all these issues that we see in the world today. There is some talk of some people gathering down by the civic center and just like praying a rosary quietly outside. I'll send out a connect the dots and let you know either way if that's going to happen.

 

A little while ago, they tried to do this in Hickory, and there was such an uproar they had to cancel it. I hope we have still another seven days. Maybe we could cancel it altogether. But this is just a good opportunity to talk about the church's teaching on sexuality and why, in particular homosexuality, transgenderism and all of these topics. These issues are wrong, right? Why they're not in line with God's plan. And the simple reason is the teaching that we have. And if you look up the catechism of the Catholic Church on the Sixth Commandment, it tells us very clear that in the beginning God made them male and female, and he told them to be fruitful and multiply. The differences between our genders, male and female and our complementarity allows for the reproducing of more human beings, more children made in God's image and likeness. That's why the family and marriage relations are based on this distinction. What happens in people and in the society, in a culture where there is homosexuality, at least if it's promoted or at this point in our country, transgenderism and all these things, the first thing you need to know is this is nothing new.

 

Like, it's not negligible. I'm not saying it's a huge percentage, but it's significant enough to be a problem and to have always been a problem since and entered the world. We can't just shrug it off as if it's not that big a deal. It is a big deal. But the church's teaching on it is very clear and distinct.

 

If you're not sure, just get your catechism. If you don't have a catechism, get a catechism right in the back. There's an index. You can look up any topic that you want. And in this topic on the Sixth Commandment, it gives us very specific teachings, beginning with paragraph two, three, three, one. I don't expect you to remember that, but church documents are always numbered by paragraph, not pages.  And in this section, it deals with our Lord's teaching on proper sexuality and relationships between husbands and wives and men and women, chastity holiness and sends against chastity. And we know from the Sixth Commandment there are many different sins against chastity, right? Adultery is a sin against marriage in the family and chastity. Right? Fornication is a sin. Lust, pornography, these kinds of things are all sins against chastity, and therefore they are disordered, and this is an important way to remember or certain word to use to remember what sin is. Sin is a disorder, meaning God has ordered creation and us to act in a certain way, to perform deeds in a certain way. And when we sin, we're performing deeds or actions or words or thoughts in the wrong way. Therefore, it's disorders.  But there is also a subcategory of sin that is. Yes. And so therefore disordered. However, it's also unnatural. And homosexuality, transgenderism. And all this falls in that subcategory. Yes, it's disordered, but it's even unnatural. Sadly, when somebody commits adultery, it's a grave sin, right? you could go to hell for that if you die. Unrepentant. But in the end, that's at least natural. It's between a man and a woman. But when it's two men or two women, you've crossed the lines of nature. And those sins are particularly problematic in a culture. This is precisely why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, where we get the word Sodom Sodomites. You can see plenty of sins of adultery. As evil as it is in any culture throughout time.

 

God doesn't destroy a nation for that. But when a culture has gotten to a point at which it has promoted unnatural, sinful acts, not just allowed or condoned, promoted, unnatural, sinful acts, eventually God must step in. And if that culture can't change, he destroys it. It's the same thing he's done for the last 10,000 years. You can study history.  These problems have existed in all cultures, and when the culture supports it, the culture collapses, implodes on itself. Usually uses some type of war or natural disaster. So yeah, get ready for that. I really don't have to worry about it too much because, you know, whenever these things happen, they always attack the Catholic priests first.  I'm going to be martyred long before any of you will be attacked.  You know, I've got it a much quicker out. I'm just saying. But we as a people, we as disciples of Christ, we must follow the church and the teachings in this regard. But we can't shirk our responsibility. Now, I'm not saying we need to go out and picket. I'm not a big fan of that kind of stuff.

 

Quiet prayer outside of a place. Good adoration before a lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Very powerful. Don't underestimate that. You know, I don't think he's the bishop there anymore. He may have retired, but in Nebraska, when I was in seminary, a lot of their seminarians were in the same class with me. And whenever an abortion clinic would open up and again, that's an unnatural sin, you know, to kill your own child. Whenever an abortion clinic would open up in this bishop's diocese, he would get donors and they would either buy or rent a room in the building above the building or across the street from the abortion clinic and set up perpetual adoration. And within one week that abortion clinic would close. That's all they had to do. There were no abortion clinics in his dioceses because every time they tried to open one, they would just somehow miraculously close it down in a week.

 

So don't underestimate the power of prayer, especially in regard to adoration. That's why we're going to have adoration next Saturday. As Catholics, we obviously have to stand against these sins as we have to do with any sin, right? The church's teaching is very clear. And remember, it matters what the church teaches, what the pope and the bishops have taught for the last 2000 years, because as we heard in the gospel, Christ gave to Peter and the apostles the keys to his kingdom, and he said, what you bind on Earth is bound in heaven.  That's a very important point. The church has clearly handed on this teaching, which comes from Christ directly to us. It has been maintained and unchanged for 2000 years and thousands of years in the Israelite religion before that. This this teaching will never change, and we can't yield on this point. However, we must have compassion on these men and women who struggle with these issues.

We must have compassion. The church is very clear on that because they are our brothers and sisters, because they also are made in God's image and likeness and that God wants to save them and heal them as He does each one of us. And when it comes right down to it, I'm no better than them, right? You're no better than them.  We might not fall into those same types of sins, but we're all sinners in need of redemption. But something I do want to share with you, kind of like as an end to this homily today, the church says she doesn't know why men and women struggle with these issues because we don't know why 100%. You read that in the catechism.  We don't know why. We just know it's disordered. It's unnatural. It's not in line with Christ plan. We need to, in a wholly and virtuous way, oppose it. But we don't know the reason why people struggle. And if you talk to them, many of them will tell you it's not a choice. I've always been this way. Now I'm going to give you Father Miller's personal opinion, and I think this opinion carries some weight because I've been working with homosexuals for over 20 years.

I've known a lot of them personally and my family, friends, parishioners, just it's long time. And I've noticed certain consistencies about their struggles and I'm going to give you my theory as to why men and women struggle with these things, even transgenderism nowadays. A lot of it is just very popular, especially transgenderism. So that's a kind of a separate topic.  It's kind of more of a father in many respects. But that aside, how can someone become confused about their sexuality? Well, we know it's not genetically designed, right? God genetically designed us to be heterosexual. Why? Because that's natural. It's the way nature itself works. But that doesn't mean disorder can't enter into nature. Right? When God made Adam and Eve, they had perfect eyesight.  I was born with bad eyesight. So, what happened? Well, that's genetics, right? Over the millennia of human existence, because of sin disorder has gone not just into our thoughts and words and actions. It's gotten into our very DNA. These disorders create bodily disorders. So bad eyesight, you know, we can get corrective lenses, but even anxiety and depression, we know has some type of a genetic connection.  That doesn't mean your body is going to make you anxious and depressed. But some people are more inclined towards anxiety and depression because of a genetic predisposition. And if the circumstantial circumstances of their life are right, then they fall into that very easily and struggle with it throughout their lives. Now, we shouldn't go around and say, oh yes, being having bad eyesight is perfectly normal and healthy.

 

 

No, you fix it or being anxious and depressed is perfectly normal and healthy. No, you fix it. You have to recognize what is healthy and what is unhealthy. Whether there is some genetic predisposition towards these kinds of sexual disorders, it doesn't mean it makes that person into that way. So, what are the factors that I'm aware of in regard to how men and women struggle with this issue?  Well, I'm going to separate them because they're very different. How men struggle and how women struggle with temptations of homosexuality and transgenderism and the issue comes primarily sorry, gentlemen, on the fathers. When young men first we're just going to deal with them. When young men are growing up between the ages of one and ten is, give or take, they are genetically designed by God to want to be like their daddies.  It's just based programing, right? Even ma'am, all mammals have that same programing. Human beings are just a bit more complicated because we have these spiritual souls. This little boy wants more than anything in the world to be like his dad, to grow up, to be the kind of man his dad is. Now, if that's a good man, then wonderful.  If it's a bad man, well, it doesn't matter. He's still going to grow up to try to be like his dad one way or another. But when a dad has either no relationship with his son during those formative years or a very bad relationship where he's putting down his son during those formative years, this creates a psychological wound in the young man, because subconsciously he believes he doesn't measure up as a man and fathers, I'll tell you the best thing you can say to any of your sons, regardless of their age, is, well done. I'm proud of you. That's the way I would have done it, because those little boys can say, oh, Dad agrees with me. Your dad thinks I did a good job and that means I'm like, Dad, the most important.  But when he doesn't get that again, this wound is very deep in him because he wants to be a man. He wants to grow up to be a man like his dad. If dad doesn't communicate that that is possible, then he must question his very being. But does that desire to be a man ever go away? Nothing psychologically that a young boy needs.  He's program said to desire that. But if he's never thought that it was possible and it's not his fault, then by the time he hits puberty, guess what happens? Suddenly this surge of hormones and sexual desire gets muddled and confused with this wound. And instead of desiring to be a man, he desires to be with a man. And this is true across the board and I'll tell you, out of all of the men I've known and worked with in this area who struggle with homosexuality, they would rather be with heterosexual men than homosexual men. And that tells me that, again, it's because it's a disorder based on their desire to be manly, but it's not their fault. It's not a choice that they made. Most of them truly are deeply wounded. And if it's anybody's fault, it's their parents’ fault. It's more their father's fault than their mother's. But mothers, you can assist in this as well. When a mother puts down the father, the husband in front of the children, especially the son consistently when she disrespects him in front of the children, this is very dangerous when she keeps them from their father, very dangerous as well.

 

Now, again, yes, issues are far more complicated than I can explain in one simple homily. My point is, especially with men, you have to remember that this is a deep wound and it's not a simple option that they made most likely from the moment they went through purging up purgatory. Puberty does feel like purgatory, doesn't it? From the first moment they went through puberty, they have felt attracted to men.  But on a subconscious level, they've always been attracted to men in the sense that they want to be a man. But because of the brokenness that they receive from their fathers and their mothers, this has become confused. Now, can it be healed? Yes. Can they find grace and chastity? Yes, of course. Now, when women struggle with homosexuality, it's a very different it's a completely different scenario.  However, it still has to do with us fathers. It's still the father's fault, primarily. Interesting. I'm not saying mothers you don't contribute. Of course, you do. You're a part of that. But it's far more the father's fault than the mothers. In both cases. You see, women are designed very different from men in the fact that they're far more relational.  They need relationships more than anything. They must have them. And again, being natural, they're inclined to seek a man in their life like their father. That's the normal thing to do. The way they see their mom and dad interact during those formative years, 1 to 10 years old, is how they think men and women are supposed to interact. Whether that's a good example or not, that's their perception. But when their father presents to them either fear or disrespect, if the father puts them down and doesn't cherish them, doesn't teach them how much they are loved a lot of times, and because of various other wounds, they cannot entrust their heart to a man. But they must entrust their heart to somebody, and the only ones left to them are women. Logically, they both make clear sense. But again, in both cases, I've seen it time and time again. I have never encountered a homosexual man or woman who hasn't fallen into these categories. There still may be things I don't know about it, but what I do know is that you and I have to be compassionate with them.  We must see that it's not a simple choice that they made. Do they need to strive for chastity? Of course, they do, just like you and I do. We all need to follow Christ and his teachings. Of course, we do. I can't condone those sins in that lifestyle, but I'm not going to condemn those people it's this struggle that we have here.  We have to stand against all sin, but especially unnatural sin, even if we're persecuted because of it. But we need to pray for the healing and the grace that's needed. And these poor men and women and even those who support them. I'm sure that many of these crazy politicians and parents and families and everything who are supporting these lifestyles and even transgenderism in children, I mean, God forbid you cross a line when you go there, but I'm sure that many of them have good intentions.  As crazy as they are, they actually want to do what's best. Now, again, good intentions aren't enough. You need good actions. You need the truth. Jesus says it's the truth that sets us free. But the truth is that this needs to be stopped and we need to stand against it. And we have to be compassionate and understand and patient and merciful with everyone who struggles with these topics in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

 

I've spoken so long, and we have to have my brothers and my sacrifice to be acceptable to God. Your life, the sacrifice, O Lord, gain for yourself of people by adoption. The one sacrifice offered once for all these so graciously on us, we've grown to have some unity and peace in your eyes, to our little boy or little more and be with you all that you are.  Thanks to all our God is truly our duty and our always and everywhere you find Lord, Holy Father Almighty. And due to the law, the rules will produce star rule for school mystery left to the law of the city, by which he has freed us from sin. And the glorious glory of being all those entering a royal for the nation of people, for your own laws that has gone blue for all claim everywhere your own lives.  You were born. You have called us out of the darkness into your all. And so with the angels and darkening you with the drones and all the and with all the rules and the followers and all that, these singing examine all of your eyes without waking up and your song and all you there for the most merciful father would make humble prayer and petition through Jesus Christ your son that you accept his offer to be offered universally for the Holy Please to grant to throughout the whole world, together with your servant, Francis Peter, our little holding on the Catholic Apostolic faith.  And for that we offer you the sacrifice of when they offer it for themselves and all for the redemption of their souls. The local council in Rome to the eternal God, living union with those for this matter, and any manner, especially the glorious and the Virgin and Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed Joseph. First about the Blessed hospitals and Peter and Paul and yours.  We ask that through their merits and prayers in all this, we may be depending on your protection and therefore Lord, in our service and your appeals delivered from the eternal damnation of different life. And those practices are pleased with this offer in every respect it spiritual and accepting that it may be coming for us. The body of your most beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, on the day before, be blessed to suffer because the grandest quality is venerable and with eyes.  Your God is when if knew facts. You said the blessed growth and David, his disciples said, take this on and this is my Lord, this will be given to you in a similar way. When the supper was and he took this precious chalice, this and once more giving you thanks, you send the blessed and gave the chalice to his disciples.

 

Take this all and this is the challenge of my love before you and for the forgiveness and memory of his story of their world order. As we celebrate the more blessed, the resurrection from the dead and the glorious of your son, your servants and offer to your glorious Majesty from the gifts that you have given this cure with this belief in this spotless brand of internal and pleased to look upon these offerings with a serene and to accept as once you are pleased to accept the gifts of your servant, able to justify the sacrifice of Abraham, our father, and we all sacrifice and humble you, Almighty God gives be borne by the hands of the Holy angels in your offer on the site of all of us, in this participation that we all received in this building body. Love your soul and be filled with every grace and heavenly blessed are also, Lord your servant members of the House, the family who have gone before us with the sign of faith and best in this grand final word and all the sleep in a place of refreshment for Christ.  Our who was also your servant to those opposed to us. Some share the Holy Apostles and Stephen Matthias, Barnabas and the owners and see whether they're going on there with Christ. You continue to make all these little you sacrifice less than in the stone through him and with and Oh God Almighty fallen in the unity of the whole.  You all know, Lord, I'm goanna ask you all for the run of the Saviors come and then go on to we dare to say our other and to and from the US, from the Lord. You are doing that by the help of university, you may be always free from sensation, from all this strife. As we await the blessings of the coming of our Savior, Jesus, brought by us.

 

 

Oh, Lord Jesus Christ. Who said, You? He saw what He saw. Give you love not in our sins, but on the faith of your care and your world, who live in rain forever and never. The piece of the Lord be with you all the way. Oh, God takes away the sins of the world. Blessed call for the suffering of the light on our street and on your body, on my hands.

 

In the name of the Father,

And of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 

Amen

 

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our youtube channel. Homily begins at 23:44

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Seeking our Lady's intercession. Let us pray.

Hail Mary, full of grace,

the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners

now and at the hour of our death.

 

Normally I do announcements at the end of mass, but this week I've got a lot of announcements to make.  I promise you just going to do the announcements now, give you a very short homily, promise very short, so you don't have to worry.  We'll just going to go through the elements because there's a lot of them.

 

Obviously, we have faith formation, registration today. It'll be after the mass in the parish hall. Please go to the ladies at the left. When you go into the hall from the church, they'll be signing up, all your children for faith formation this year. And I'm going to introduce our new DRE, who'll be replacing Meg Barrett, who served us for many, many years. Dyann Maldonado, you can meet her. She'll be there helping take registration if you want to get to know her.

 This Tuesday is a holy day of obligation. It's the solemnity of the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven. Mass this Tuesday will be at 7 p.m. in the evening to make it easier for you to fulfill your obligation and I'll have confessions from 5 p.m. to 6:45 p.m before mass. So, again, holy day of obligation this Tuesday. If you can't get here at Saint Dorothy's, just look for masses at other parishes. The office here will be closed on Tuesday for the solemnity.

We are having a planned giving meeting with the dioceses on Wednesday. That's August 16th, 7 p.m. in the hall. Anyone who would like to either head up or be on the committee please attend. This is basically how to help, you know, make sure we're have good funds coming in to take care of ourselves as a parish.

 Our return to God group is meeting this Saturday, August the 19^th at noon, at the Old Court Square downtown. Again, once a month they meet outside, and they pray the rosary and some other songs and devotions for our country. It's really a great group. It's a great witness to the local community.  I encourage you to attend.

My email address for those who need it is on the monitor slides in the foyer. It's on our website and if you ever wanted to ask me any counselor counseling or spiritual direction questions, you can email me there and nobody else is going to read it. Don't worry about it.

Our altar guild needs at least two more people to help. Normally the altar guild is composed of ladies, but if some of you guys really like to iron and se w and do this kind of things, you're welcome to join. We just need two more people to help with the altar guild If you please pray about that. If you're interested or able, please see Yvonne Toro or Wanda Kaczmarek for more information and to sign up.

I'm also in need of money counters. I have some, but I need more. Usually, they meet on Mondays. It usually takes about an hour and a half, give, or take.  And since we have different teams, you don't have to do it every week, but it just helps us.  It's very important. I obviously prefer not to handle any of the money myself. I can never be accused of anything. I don't touch it. I just sign the checks. That's what I do. Just sign the checks. But if you're able to volunteer, please call the office and contact Alison. We will. Now, this is a special one.

We are now offering the second level of the catechesis of the Good Shepherd program. This is for ages 7 to 9.  If you're familiar, the room back there, what used to be the old cry room is where we have the catechesis of the Good Shepherd program and it's up to the age of six by far.

It is the best catechesis in the world. It's the best way to teach the faith to children of various ages. But we've only had the opportunity to have the first level. I think there are three, so that's up to the age of six. So now we're going to be starting seven through nine. It's the second level. It's really special. If you have a 7- to 9-year-old and you want them signed up, please do so as soon as possible. It's kind of first come, first serve because we can only handle so many in a class. So again, this is very special. You definitely want to have your children involved. It'll meet Sundays between the masses, as is typical for these programs.

And please grab a bulletin and read it on your way out. I'm calling it a book ten this week because it’s not tiny. It's huge. It's like packed with a lot of information. So, there's a lot of there in there to read and to catch up on, especially if you have children and faith formation.

Now, I put something in the bulletin myself, a little letter that I wrote to you, and that's why the homily can be short today, because you can just read the letter and it's going to explain everything that I'm going to summarize in the homily. So, it's always a sensitive issue to talk about loud children at mass and crying babies. Right. It's always a sensitive issue. You know, you either fall in the camp of, you know, these babies should not be in the church because they're disrupting everybody, or God doesn't care if they're screaming. He would rather than be in his house. So usually, as is true, that, you know, the path is in the middle somewhere, you know, yes if your baby is screaming, if your children are talking, please take them out, calm them down, bring them back. Okay. But I would rather than be in here making noise than not at church at all. Now, I'd rather than be in here quiet, but I'd rather them make noise than not be at church. You know, it's so important. It's so necessary. The children from the earliest ages just be used to worshiping with the whole community to be a part of the body. One of the reasons I hate cry rooms and why I was happy to get rid of ours many years ago is because you're basically ostracized, ostracizing families and these children to the cry room.  And yes, it makes it a little more peaceful in the body of the church. But that's not good. We need to be more patient. We need to be more understanding with the babies’ making noises and the little ones fidgeting and talking now and then. Now, yes, parents need to discipline them and correct them and calm them down and do what is necessary. Right. You don't want your children or your babies to disrupt everyone else's prayer. But I want you to think of the gospel today where Jesus again walking on the water, this profound miracle, and Peter at our Lord's Command, steps out of the boat and starts walking on the water towards Jesus. He is doing something that is impossible. He's walking on water. Jesus can do it. Makes sense. He's God. Peter's not God. He is doing something impossible by the power of God. So, what is he start to sink. Jesus says it's because his weakness of faith. Why did you doubt Peter? Why did you doubt? But what led Peter to doubt? It says while he was going towards Jesus, he was looking at Jesus.

 

 But then he turned his gaze. He. He looked at the waves in the wind. And that must have caused some consternation, some fear, some concern. And so, he doubted. He thought, oh, my goodness, I'm just a man. I can't do this. And he's right. He's just a man. But that's not the point. The point is, with your mind focused on Christ, you can do the impossible.

So yes, at Mass when babies are screaming, and children are fidgeting right, Yes, it's naturally impossible to focus naturally. But if you're doing your best to keep your eyes on Christ, it's not going to be much of a problem for you. So don't blame the babies. Don't blame the children. Obviously, they're babies and children. They're culpable. But don't even necessarily blame the parents of those children for your distraction. Focus harder, keep your eyes on Christ, and you can do the impossible despite the distractions. Close your eyes. Honestly, celebrating mass order in time is really nice because I don't have to look at you most of the time. So, we're doing all kinds of stuff.  That's why I always recommend for people you want to sit close up in the church. Fewer distractions. You should fight for the front pews, not the back ones. But that's another story now. Clearly, we have to do a better job of focusing on our Lord when we pray, when we worship, despite the distractions, we can't use those as an excuse and then get upset at other people.

However, we have our first reading today, which is the Prophet Isaiah going to encounter God. And we know the story well. There's this great storm, there's fire, there's an earthquake, and God is not found in any of those cacophony. He is found in the tiny, quiet voice. This is why you need to teach your children to be quiet.  That's why it's so important you practice with them not just at church but at home. How to sit still and quietly. Because if they cannot quiet their bodies, and if they cannot quiet their minds, they will not be able to hear the voice of God because God does not yell, not like me. Sometimes he whispers. And you parents, it's your responsibility to teach your children to discipline your children.  To do this. And it's not easy, obviously, when they're baby babies, you know, you just do what you can. If they're screaming, take them out, calm them down, bring them back. But by the time they begin to speak, or at least have words, at that point, you can start disciplining. And that may be a difficult concept for some of you.

Just read a couple of books on parenting. You know, talk to grandparents who done it before you and learn some lessons. And if it's just too hard to spank that little bottom, you know, because they're just so beautiful and you love them so much, just wait till you have a few more kids. You'll be spanking bottoms every day.

Okay? You know now, yes, we need to be patient and understanding. You know, consider this. If you see a Catholic parent here, especially with more than one child and the other spouse is not here for whatever reason, and they've got a crying baby or a talking child, instead of like giving them the evil stare, you know, which is completely uncalled for, turn around to say, hey, can I help? Is there anything you need? We want to make sure that no child feels unwelcome in God's house and no parent of those children feels unwelcome. It doesn't mean they don't need to discipline a little better. Again, that's between them and the Lord. But we don't want, especially by our judgment, that's our own sin. But even by any expression or word of ours, to push them away again, I would rather a crying, screaming baby be here than not here, but I would rather than be here quiet. It's just for us learning to be both patient on our end and as parents disciplining and correctly correcting and taking care of the noisy children that God has given us on our end. For more details, you can read the letter in the bulletin, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube Channel. Homily begins at 20:11

 

 

 

The Transfiguration of the Lord

The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Seeking our Lady's Intercession. Let US pray. Hail Mary full of Grace. The Lord is with the Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of the womb. Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.  Good morning, brothers, and sisters.

Earlier in this week, I was reading a book entitled The Rights and the Obligations of a Pastor. It's something the church put out just to help us pastors remind be reminded of not only what we're supposed to do as pastors, but even our rights as pastors, things that we can expect for ourselves and our ministry.

 

And one of the things that really stood out to me and during the rest of the week, the Holy Spirit continued to emphasize, was the importance of a pastor to educate his people on proper use of the media. I think it's a topic I probably don't preach on enough, but it's something most everybody struggles with to a certain extent in this day and age.  And I had forgotten that this Sunday was the Transfiguration. So, I was kind of preparing this homily in my mind. And when I realized it was the transfiguration, I realized it was going to work quite perfectly. And let me explain why. So, the media has this unique ability and whatever form you use it, whether you're watching movies, television, listening to the radio, Facebook, Twitter, what's the short video on Instagram? TickTok, tick tock. Right. Whatever you're doing, it engages you so powerfully. It's so many of your senses all at once. But that's exactly what happened at the Transfiguration like these apostles have. There was no Twitter back then. No, no cell phones, nothing. They have no idea of digital media and what it can do for you. It on radio is nothing like that.

And our Lord takes Peter, James and John up this high mountain and completely wows them. Right. He's lifted from the earth. So, he's. They're levitating. His face is transformed. He begins to radiate like the sun, and his clothes even become light as light. And, you know, then, miraculously, two dead people appear beside him in glory. Start conversing with him. This technology that we have has a similar ability. Obviously, it's nothing compared to the spiritual reality. We're thinking about today. But in a sense, that's exactly what's happening. When you can just turn on your phone and spend hours going through TikTok videos. I mean, you could spend the rest of your life just reviewing TikTok videos. I mean, there's a lot of videos out there and people are making more every day. And why is it so tempting? Why is it so easy for us to fall back on media, especially in movies, TV, radio, the Internet, Google, YouTube, all that stuff? Why is it so easy for us to fall back on that? It's because it's incredibly engaging to all our senses and faculties, so much so that we literally need to put no effort into it. It takes less brain cells to watch a video than to do almost anything else because it's an entirely passive act. The video is doing all the work for you. You don't even have to use your imagination. It's giving you the images. So, we often use this to relax. We don't have to do anything. Again, like I said, it's a very passive act and it's very engaging. It stimulates our senses, and it can give up, you know, a type of euphoria, type of high. Now, this is not sinful in and of itself, right? Take, for example, alcohol. The Bible is very clear on alcohol. If you're sick, have a little wine for your stomach. If you're depressed, have a little wine, it'll pick up your spirits a little.  You know, it's not saying go get drunk. But, you know, these things are meant to lift us up when we're down, when we're struggling. So, it's okay that we use the media to a certain extent for this reason. You know, you know how if you watch a happy movie, you feel happy at the end? Well, if you're sad, that's a great opportunity to watch a happy movie. It'll pick you up, you know, don't watch Old Yeller if you can remember that one, you know, cried every time at the end. That's not a happy movie. So beautiful movies, just not a happy movie. So, but it's not a bad thing that we have this beautiful technology and invention and art in a certain sense. Music, movies, videos that can pick up our spirits when we're down.  But if it becomes a crock, a crutch, if it becomes a crutch for us, that we can't get through difficult times without it, that we can't handle the everyday problems of life without it, that is just unhealthy. That's just unhealthy. But it's not surprising we prefer it. Think about what Peter said on the mountain today, right? He's experiencing this with James and John, this amazing glory, and he says what all of us are thinking, Lord, it is good that we are here.  Yes, this is good. And then he says, Can I make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah? Why? Because he doesn't want to ever come down from the mountain. If he can convince Jesus and Moses and Elijah to stay up there, then they can stay in this beatific vision and this glory forever. That's what he wants.  He wants this taste of heaven forever. Well, that's the same temptation we have with this media. It's so easy to ingest and it oftentimes can make us feel good. So, we just fall back on it and it becomes a crutch for us. And then we never grow in the ability to handle the real problems of life. You know, like I said, it's one thing to watch a happy movie because you're in a bad place and that can help.  It's another thing where you never deal with your problems. You just watch movies or listen to music or watch Tik Tok, whatever it is. If that's your go to for helping you resolve the emotional and mental problems of your life, you're in great danger because it weakens you. Peter, James and John would have all been happy to stay on this mountaintop, but our Lord takes them back down into the valley of life.  He says, Nope, we're not going to stay up here. This is a taste of heaven. This is what you'll get in heaven. But life is hard. Life is difficulty, you know, and you have to learn to deal with the problems of life. It's believed that our Lord gave them this vision of His glory to prepare them for his suffering.  They already believed him to be the Son of God, but to actually see that glory revealed in Him strengthened their faith so that when they were there at his suffering and death, it would help them maintain faith and get through this dark night, this rough time in their life. Ideally, it's Christ in our faith in him that's supposed to get us through the challenges of life.  But if I'm using all of these tools, this technology to be my support, then I'm not leaning on Christ. Then I'm never going to grow in strength. All it's going to do is continue to weaken me and make me ultimately dependent upon it, somewhat enslaved to it. How often do you experience the fact that you're like, you can't go a day without checking your Facebook or watching YouTube or listening to music, whatever it may be?  Again, these things are not necessarily they're not evil in and of themselves. Human invention, naturally. They're just kind of neutral. You don't need them in life, but they do make life a lot easier and to a certain extent, a lot better. I mean, you can have like thousands of songs, you know, right there at the tip of your fingers.

 

Now, obviously, I do have to speak for a few minutes at least about the fact that there are many things in this technology and in the media that are just intrinsically evil, right, that we have nothing to do with. We need to always repent of and avoid at all costs. You know, the big one is pornography of any form, right?  Whether it's visual, whether it's audio, just music, and it's the words in the lyrics, you know, those kinds of things are just very clearly intrinsically evil. But I would say there's an even more dangerous intrinsic evil in any of this social media because it's more subtle. I mean, the big obvious stuff, I mean, pretty much everybody admits unless there's something really, really, wrong with you, but it's the more subtle evil.  And it makes me think of something that the Blessed Mother said to the children of Fadiman 1917. So, 1917. This is what Mary said. In the future, Satan will put a black box in everyone's home through which he will speak to them a black box. So, nobody knew in 1917 what that could mean. And not too long after that, the television was invented and from the television it just got shrunk down smaller and smaller.  So, a phone, a cell phone is pretty much just a tiny TV with absolute access to all the information. We have still the same thing Now. Prophecy given by our lady wasn't because it's just going to be used for really obvious stuff. Satan is far more intelligent than you and I on a natural level, and subtle evil is far more dangerous than the obvious kind.  And so, it's just the small falsehoods and heresies, the tiny imperfections in stories and songs and ideas and movies that ultimately begin to influence us. Little by little. This is even more dangerous when you allow your children access to these things without parental control or oversight.  Obviously, one of the basic things we need to do with our children is not give them a cell phone necessarily. You know, again, as long as it's guarded every now and then, you can do that, not turn on a movie or the TV. That shouldn't be the normal thing that we do, exceptions to the rule. That's fine.  I mean, honestly, as a child, I somewhat resented my parents growing up because they wouldn't let us do all that kind of stuff. You know, most of the time we could only watch television on Sundays as a family, usually an hour or two of Disney. When Disney was still family. Yeah, so whole another homily, the occasional movie now and then that we would rent that they were very careful, uh, you know, about the rating and make sure they already knew what was in the movie.  We weren't allowed to have video games at home. I was so envious of my friends. Justin, I know, but I was very envious. And the normal thing mom and Dad would say is, go outside. It's nice, stay in play or go read a book. I don't want to read a book. I don't want to go outside. Right. Why?  Because multimedia is easy. It's so easy to relax, too, and to find enjoyment. And it takes no work on our part. But that's the danger in it. It's too easy to use regularly. It can't be our go to for relaxation because then it becomes a crutch, and we are never able to grow. When we look at the number one problem of our culture and all, first world cultures, right now in the world, predominantly it's this incredible access to the media.

 

24/7 and we wonder why the younger generations are growing up to have so many problems with self-discipline and self-control and conviction, how they want everything handed to them, because that's what the media does. It hands you everything you want. Your senses don't have to work at all. They just absorb. It becomes a philosophy that begins to govern the minds of these young people.  Why do you think socialism and communism is on the rise again? It's not a surprise. Makes perfect sense. It all ties back to the easy access from an early age. Parents, we have a serious responsibility with our children. I forgot to preach on this last night, but there weren't as many young parents. They were mostly grandparents last night, so it's not as big a deal.  But as a rule, parents, this is what I'm telling you. If if you give your children a cell phone, that's a big if. I'm not recommending it. I'm just saying if you do, let's just say at 5:00 every evening, you take it away and lock it away in a drawer somewhere. That's it. They don't need it for the rest of the night.  Usually bad things happen when the sun goes down. And if you don't have very careful controls, that child should never have it. And I don't care whether you trust your child or not. You know why? Because you shouldn't trust them. They're children. You say, Well, I'm a teenager, I'm a little older father. You should be trusted even less.  Think about all the trouble you get into. I trust your five-year-old sibling better than I trust you. Not because I don't want to trust you. I wouldn't trust myself at that age. I don't even trust myself. Now, why should I trust any of you? I trust the Lord. That's about it. It's about as far as it goes.  Most of us don't have the capacity to parent ourselves. That's why we need parents. But what happens when I'm grown up and I have my own house? Who's going to parent me? Well, that's the challenge when you don't have a parent to restrict your access to these things and to force you to make better choices, and when you do just out of weakness and habit, fall back into these bad habits, well, that's where you do need help.  You can't do it on your own. So, God willing, you can get some help from your spouse, from a sibling, a friend. You know, let's create a support group. One of you can invent in a media anonymous, you know, you know, you're just addicts, and you can't control it. And you meet together in groups and help each other.  Help support each other. Hey, it's not a bad idea. Maybe there's something already out there. Ultimately, we're not meant to do these things alone. Anyway, Life is hard enough. We're supposed to support one another in these things, but no child should ever be given free access to the Internet, ever. And if they're ever on a computer that has the Internet, the parents should be sitting there watching the computer with them at every moment.  It's as simple as that. There's too much danger out there. And so, I think, in my opinion, two of the greatest inventions of the last hundred years is the splitting of the atom and technology. And do you know which one I think is more dangerous? It's not the atom. Technology is far more insidious, and its use is far more subtle and damaging.  If kept unchecked. It's not bad in and of itself. Just like nuclear energy, it's how you use it that matters. So, we need to be very careful in our own lives with our own children. Obviously, we need to avoid the this clearly evil content, but we have to be even more aware of the subtle lies and deceptions that begin to creep into our mind because of the movies we watch or the music we listen to.  Don't underestimate its power. And I'll remind you of something in the early church. I think if I'm correct in this, I mean, even in the Old Testament, it was believed that Lucifer, Satan, the enemy, one of his gifts from God when he was still an angel, one of his responsibilities as the Seraphim was to direct music. And oftentimes he would be pictured with wings made of pipe organ pipes.  So, when he flew through the air, the air would pass through the pipes, and it would make sound. Now God gave him this power so that singing could be used to glorify God. But when he turned from God, he now uses this power of music to not praise God, of course, but to turn others from God and mind and heart.  So, it's not surprising that music has regularly been a tool used to draw people away from the truth. And the reason it is whether it's in a movie, a video or just a song itself, you're listening to. I mean, think about it. When was the last time you watched a video that didn't have some soundtrack in the background?  Do you know why they do that? Because it works. Music has an ability to weave through all your intellectual defenses and penetrate more deeply into your mind and heart. That's why we love it so much. It moves us. And when you add a message, even a subtle one, along with the music, the message is basically implanted in you.  And if you're not paying close attention to the words, then even though you say, oh, Father, it doesn't really affect me, right? I mean, I just listen to it because it’s good music is good tempo and beat. It makes me feel good. If you honestly believe that you are ignorant, you know nothing about human psychology and it's okay to be ignorant, but it's not okay to stay ignorant.  Don't underestimate the power of music in any form. We have to be very careful with all of these things. Otherwise, without realizing that the devil may be planting subtle seeds within us. His seeds, not those of the Lord. And whenever the Lord speaks of seeds, He's speaking of truth. Well, the devil doesn't plant truth. He plants lies. There was a philosopher. I can't remember his name, but he wrote over a hundred years ago. But he said, if you can give me all of the control of the music in a culture, I can completely form the next generation. This is all I have to do is have complete control over what music they listen to. And then I can make of them almost whatever I want.  That's the power of music. So, in all of these ways, we need to learn far more discipline. We need to restrict our own use of these tools, and that's what they are tools. We shouldn't necessarily remove them completely from our lives because it's a part of life right now. But we need to be far more prudent, far more careful, and not allow them, even in subtle ways, to draw us away from the law.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy .

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube Channel. Homily begins at 20:10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKiW-j308Ek&t=1249s 

 

 

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Seeking our Lady's intercession. Let us pray. Hail Mary full of Grace. The Lord is with the Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy wound. Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Good morning, brothers and sisters. Something that's been on my mind, uh, quite a bit recently. Uh, a topic on which to preach has to do with proper Catholic guilt. It's something that especially we older Catholics know about. You know, Catholics have that good Catholic guilt when you commit a sin, right? You feel shame and and you know, you regret what you've done.  So as Catholics, we're raised with all of the teachings of Christ and the church. Right. We know what sin and what's not sin. And when we break those commands of God, when we sit in that way, then that that feeling of shame and guilt comes up in us. Right? And this should be, we think, a good thing, right?  You know. Well, I don't know how many of you notice, but I was using a few different words there, and you might not realize that they don't all go together. I certainly talked about Catholic guilt, sorrow for sin, but I use the word shame. Most people, who are trying to be holy and good think that they should feel ashamed after they fall into a sin.  When you're in sin, you should feel ashamed. And yet this is completely false. That has nothing to do with Catholic guilt or sorrow for sin. In fact, that kind of shame that we feel after we sin is it’s a sin ultimately in and of itself, not necessarily a deadly one, but it's based on pride.  And the best way to understand it is, is how we see it in children. Right? When you catch a child doing something they know they're not supposed to do. Right. And you've told them many times not to do what's there. Normal response. Don't look at me. Right. That's shame. The idea is I've done something wrong and I'm embarrassed.  I'm ashamed. And I want to hide from that shame. I don't want you to see me. That's what shame does.

Many of us may have even been raised. Or maybe you've said this to your own children. After they've done something wrong. You should be ashamed of yourself.This is a terrible, terrible thing to say. None of us should ever feel shame after we sin. And I can prove it to you very easily when I am in sin. What does God want of me? He wants me to admit that I've done wrong. Repent of my sin and make up for it by doing some type of penance.

Right. That's what the Lord wants. That's what Catholic guilt or Catholic sorrow for sin is supposed to be. But when I feel ashamed, the last thing I want to do is go to confession and admit I did wrong because I'm embarrassed. I want to hide. I want to run away. I don't want anybody to see it. Our Lord would never want you to feel shame after you've fallen into a sin, because that shame actually keeps you away from his mercy and forgiveness.

I mean, he died in the cross 2000 years ago to forgive you. He wants you to bring your son to him, to ask for forgiveness and to receive his mercy. That's why he went through everything. And yet, when we feel shame, we're disinclined to do that, because that's what shame does. By its very nature, this feeling that we get.  It makes us want to hide and stay away from anyone that could see our reason for shame. Now, that's the opposite of repentance, right? That's the opposite of repentance. Because if I'm feeling ashamed, I don't want to admit to you I did wrong. I don't want to admit to God I did wrong. I don't want to go to confession. I don't want anybody to know. I don't even want to know about it.  And that's exactly why our Lord would never want his children to feel ashamed. What he wants you to do is feel sorrow for your sins and guilt or remorse. The nice thing about sorrow for sin and guilt and remorse is that actually draws you to repentance. You want to fix what you just did. You want to go to confession and make it right, and you want to do some type of penance.  That's the purpose of guilt and sorrow. It actually draws us towards reconciliation, whereas shame pushes us away. Now the world again is the one. The world, the flesh and the devil are the ones who tell us that we should be ashamed when we sin. Do you really think God is surprised by your sin? Oh. Oh, my goodness. Look what he did.  Look what she did. I never even thought they could do something like that. Do you think the priest is surprised by the sins that you confess? Oh, no one has ever confessed that before.  I mean, this is what we do for a living, right? We hear confessions most of the time. There is. I've said this before. The only thing you can say that I've never heard before is cannibalism. But honestly, if I heard that, I wouldn't be surprised. I know that's kind of sad, but, you know, that's human sinfulness that you can't surprise a priest if he's been a priest more than three months.

You're not going to surprise him. The only thing keeping us from this reconciliation with God is this inappropriate sense of shame. It does nothing. In fact, it keeps us from his mercy and his peace, which is why he rejects it, why he doesn't want you to feel it. Do you know what the real purpose of shame was? Why God created it?  Shame was supposed to be felt before you send when you're tempted. If shame inclines you to hide or push away from something, then if I'm tempted to a sin and I feel shame, I'm going to hide from the temptation. I'm going to leave. I'm going to push away from it. Right. That's actually the proper use of shame. But once I fall into a sense that it's useless, in fact, it gets in the way. You have to learn to reject that temptation. And that's what I'm calling it, a temptation to be ashamed after you've sent. I mean, you did it right? It is what it is. It's already done. How do we fix it? That's what matters. And that's what proper Catholic guilt and sorrow for sin is meant to do, is to draw us to repentance, reconciliation so that we can be at peace with God and He can be at peace with us.  That's what he wants. And so, a meditation, a good meditation that can help you remember not to give in to this temptation of shame after you've fallen into a sin. Is this 2000 years ago when Jesus was dying on the cross, He thought of you. He thought of you by name. Now, in his human nature, with his human intellect, he couldn't have done that.  There are too many of us throughout space and time. But remember is God also. And so, in his divine intellect there on the cross for those hours, he thought of every human being who would be in need of his forgiveness. And by name, he thought of you, and he said to his Heavenly Father, I die for him. I die for her.  Every sin you've ever committed up to this point and the ones you will commit in the future, he's already died for. He wants to forgive you If your shame gets in the way of that and you need to get rid of it. It doesn't help you at all. It doesn't help him. Ultimately, this love of Christ is the pearl of great price that we hear about in the Gospel.  It's the treasure buried in the field. When you find this kind of love, you'll give up anything for it. That's what the merchant did, right? He sold all his possessions just to own this pearl. This great love that our Lord has for us. Anything that gets in the way of you receiving that love, it needs to be cast aside and needs to be removed from your mind and heart.  So, I encourage you all to meditate upon this. Love that when he was dying on the cross for you, he thought of you by name.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begins at 21:55

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit seeking our Lady's intercession. Let us pray. Hail Mary, full of Grace. The Lord is with the blessed heart among women, and blessed is the fruit of Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Good morning, brothers and sisters. In our first reading today from the prophet of Isaiah, there's a very important phrase that helps us understand the nature of grace and the will of God in the world. It's the final line of that. The Lord is speaking through Isaiah to us. He says, my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will achieving the end for which I sent it.

The church teaches that when God wants something to happen on Earth, He provides all the graces necessary for it. He rains these graces down upon the earth and it is accomplished. His will is accomplished. Why? Because nobody can thwart the will of God. Whenever God wants something that happens when your will is omnipotent, all powerful, then who can stop you?

One of your own creation? Certainly not. No human, no demon, no angel could force the will of God when he wants something to happen. Now, how does this work? However, when God wants to use us, and we may be resistant to His will? Well, what the church says is God's grace flows down upon a land of people because he wants something to happen.And if the people to whom he sends the grace initially reject the grace, it simply flows like a stream to somebody else who's open and willing. If for some reason the ground is rocky and hard, then that water is going to flow elsewhere to fertile soil. Right? And then the fruit will be born in that fertile soil. This is one of the reasons why we have saints. You know, if everybody was a saint, there wouldn't be any saints. What do I mean by that? Because the saints stand out from the crowd. They're almost extremists in grace and in holiness. But you wouldn't need anyone to be that extreme if everybody was as holy as they were supposed to be. If everybody were receiving the grace that God poured out upon the earth. You wouldn't have these exceptionally virtuous and holy people. They were created because the rest of us didn't accept the grace since they were opened. All of the excess grace simply flowed into them, and God's will was still accomplished. He just did it through one person instead of many. Now, knowing this, we can be and should be to a certain extent, a little concerned, because that. Does that mean I'm losing grace? Well, it's certainly possible. Right. God is constantly pouring out. His grace is upon us. And if I'm not open, if I'm not fertile soil, then the grace simply runs off or it doesn't bear the fruit in me that it was supposed to bear, and they bear to someone else. The saints talk about the graces that the Blessed Mother distributes.

They said that in heaven, oftentimes when she's appeared, she has ten shining rings on her fingers and each ring is a separate grace. And when people ask her, obviously, it's all from her son. But when people ask her for intercession, she pours out, you know, these rays of grace upon them. Now, if people don't receive this grace, then other people can scoop it up and there have been saints who say to the Blessed Mother, I want all of the graces that other people reject. I'll take them. Give them to me. I'll use them. Please don't let them be wasted. Send them my way. It's something that you need to consider praying for. But again, if you're not that fertile soil, are you going to be using those graces? Just because you asked for grace. Doesn't mean you absorb the grace. The church teaches that grace builds on nature. Grace builds on nature in a simple way. To understand that is obviously, you know, I will never have the grace to fly like an eagle. Sorry, I don't have wings. It's not my nature. It's not natural to me. But if my nature, which is human, is tainted or corrupted because of sin or vice in various ways, again, grace is prevented from working. Not because grace isn't powerful. Isn't God because I'm blocking it. That's why conversion is so necessary. That's why the ground that Jesus describes in the Gospel today needs to be renewed right there. Roxanne, you need to get those big rocks of sin out. If there are thorns in it, you need to uproot those weeds, Get rid of those, too.

Right. If it's if you're really packed down soil like a pathway that need to, you know, what's it called till, till very go till the soil. Right. Loosen up the dirt so that the grace can penetrate and bear fruit. That's our response. We want to be open to as much of the grace as that God is pouring out upon us each and every day and yet so many things, primarily our sins. But it doesn't even have to be sin. It could just be some area of ignorance, something you need to learn, or some lie you're believing that you need to reject that's blocking the life of God from flowing within you. Now there is a consolation to a certain extent, because Isaiah clearly tells us that God's grace is is like water right at the beginning of the passage. He says, Justice from the heavens. The rain and snow come down, the rain and snow. It's not just rain. That is the analogy for God's grace. It's snow, too. You may say, Well, okay, fine, it's frozen rain. What's the big deal? This is a very important distinction that if you're not a farmer, you might not appreciate. So when I was in seminary, some of the guys were from Nebraska and a lot of farmland out there and they would tell me that if they didn't get a good snowfall that winter, then their crops would not grow as well in the summer. The reason is because as the rain is falling and the air is so cold, it's crystallizing. When it becomes a crystal, it actually traps nitrogen inside the crystal framework. And then when you have, you know, 30 feet of snow piled up on these fields as it's been snowing all winter long, when the spring comes in, that snow begins to melt. All that nitrogen that was trapped in the crystals is now saturating the soil. And plants need nitrogen. They need a lot of it. And so what these farmers have to do when there's not a good snowfall is they have to buy nitrogen and soak their land in it, which is very expensive. So snow has a purpose even in bearing fruit. But there's something fascinating about snow, which makes it quite distinct from rain, is that snow can't run off. Snow stays where it falls until it melts. Oftentimes when we're praying and asking grace is for ourselves or asking grace is for someone else. You know, we might worry, well, if God's pouring out the grace and they're not open to it, maybe it's just flowing off to somebody else and my prayers are wasted. I shouldn't have been praying for them. Well, God can send grace like snow to somebody who has a cold heart, so to speak. And when that grace falls upon him, it simply waits. It sits there and it piles up like the snow and winter. And the moment the thaw comes, and that person begins to open their heart to God's grace, suddenly what happens? Boom. Just this rush of of life flows into them. So, you don't have to worry when you are uncertain whether a person is receiving the grace or open to the grace. That's that's not within our power to know necessarily. But either way, God gives grace as rain or as snow. Right. Ultimately, the desire is to bring about holiness in our lives.

Now, again, as Jesus says in the gospel, we're the ground that needs to receive the rain and the snow. That's that's what we are. But there are many things in our lives that prevent us from bearing fruit, from allowing that rain to really transform us and nourish the seeds that Christ has planted. So, the main way that we remove those problematic areas of our soil is kind of summed up in part in what Saint Paul is saying in the second reading. You know, he begins by saying that I consider the sufferings of this present time or as nothing compared to the glory to be revealed in us. If you know anything about Saint Paul, you know, he brags about the suffering he goes through for Christ and the kingdom. He glories in it. It's his share in the cross of Christ and it was through his suffering that God brought about His conversion and His Holiness, Paul realizes that suffering is the key to transformation, right? Christ suffering can transform us from sinners to saints. Our suffering is also part of that sense we share in the life of Christ. That doesn't mean we only get the good stuff from Jesus. No, we get all the stuff.

Yes. The greatness and the glory, the divinity, but also the broken humanity and the cross. All that suffering is the key that God will use in your life to help make you richer soil. But if you constantly run away from the cross and run away from the suffering, it's never going to work, right? If you're the path on which the seed cannot penetrate, the rain simply flows off. To break up that soil is going to, in a sense, harm the soil, at least its current state of being. One of the problems in the spiritual life for somebody who's open to grace is the fact that a person who's that open more easily suffers. Somebody who's hard hearted doesn't suffer as much. That's why a lot of times we like to be hard hearted. We actually do it to ourselves because we have suffered, and we reject it and we can't handle it. So, in our hearts, problem is a hard heart can't receive the word, can receive the seed. They understand what I'm talking about. It's not easy, by the way. Always think that that's what all of our adult prayers sound like to God. It really doesn't matter how you say it. He just hears a little child crying and screaming. So, but that hardness of heart. Right. We do that because we don't want to suffer because we're afraid. Because we know if we soften our hearts, you can wound again. But without a soft heart, there is no salvation. Right. Jesus Christ became in fleshed so that he could suffer and die. We need that same courage. We have to be open and willing to suffer. It doesn't mean we rush to the cross. If you know anything about Saint Francis of Assisi, I always love him. A lot of people don't realize this, but he really wanted to be a martyr. Obviously, he wasn't. But he really, really, really wanted to be a martyr.

So, he got permission from the pope to go to the Middle East. Again, this was like, you know, 15th century to go to the Middle East because he wanted to try to convert the Muslim sultan, basically the king of Islam at the time. So, Pope gave him permission. He goes there and he finally gets an audience with the sultan, which is quite impressive.

Some Catholic monk from another country has come to talk to him about Jesus. You know, he's not convinced. And Francis says, look, I can prove to you that my God is the true God, but yours isn't so, and says, okay, how? He goes, I want you to build a giant bonfire and I want you to choose a representative from your highest priestly class and both of us will walk into the fire and whoever walks out alive, their God is the true God. And the Sultan was like, okay, sounds like a good plan. Let's do it. So, he got his, you know, a priestly class together, and they built a giant bonfire. And, you know, everybody was gathered around, and Francis was standing there ready to walk in, and none of the sultan's imams would go in.

 

They were all so terrified. They refused. The sultan even threatened them, but they wouldn't go in. And so Francis said, Don't worry, Sultan, I'll just go in by myself. My God, I'll still prove himself. And he starts walking into the fire, and the Sultan sends his soldiers to tackle him. So, they tackle Francis. And don't let him walk into the fire.

Francis says, why are you stopping me? He goes, because what will happen if you walk out is I'll have to become Christian. And he sent him back home out of the country. The point with somebody like that is they weren't afraid of suffering or death. They weren't afraid of anything. If it brought them closer to the Lord, if it served the kingdom of Heaven. No. Yes. Saint Francis kind of ran towards suffering God doesn't ask that of you. Okay. It's okay. But he does say you should not run from suffering. You know, when you have a toothache, go to the dentist. But until you can get that Novocain. Offer it up. Offer it up. Right When you're struggling with a problem at home or at work in society and you're doing everything you can to fix it, that's fine. But until then, offer it up and ask the Lord to use this suffering to make you fertile soil. We don't have to be afraid of suffering, not with the grace of God to strengthen us and to heal us regardless of the thing we must endure. And so, lastly, I'll end by sharing another story from Saint John Vianney. He's the patron saint of parish priest, the French priest. Hundreds of years ago, he would often have the devil, like certain other saints, appear to him and physically beat him up. Don't worry, God doesn't normally let this happen to people usually have to be really, holy to get this. You're not going to get it. I'm not going to get it.

Don't worry about it. So. So the devil would appear to him and beat him up. You know, and he would offer up that suffering and the devil would do this because John Vianney was such a great saint. He was bringing so many souls to Christ, and the devil just wouldn't go into a rage and, like, physically beat him up.

But obviously God was letting the devil do this. The devil couldn't do it if God didn't allow it. John Vianney knew this, and so he would offer up all the suffering that he was getting directly from the hands of the enemy. But he gave a name to the devil. And whenever the devil would appear, he'd call him the grape and he's like, oh, you've come the grape and now you might not know what that word is. I don't know if they even use it in French anymore, but are you familiar with that three-tooth prong you use for gardening? Right. To break up the soil if you're pulling up weeds or anything. Right. You know, you've seen those little handled things with three prongs on it and French. That was a grappling Do you see John Vianney would call the devil this because he says you're just making me fertile soil, soil for the grace of God. All the suffering you're giving me is just sanctifying me. Thank you. He was grateful to the devil for doing this. Now, you might not be there yet, right? You might not be ready to be grateful for the sufferings that you endure. But you should be. If they are doing that much good in our lives, not only should we be grateful for them, but we should also ask for them now, in zeal. Sometimes people ask for suffering, but it's imprudent because they're not ready. So I usually don't recommend you just ask for suffering because God will give it to you and you probably don't know what you're asking for. So, you always want to go through the Blessed Mother. So Blessed Mother. I know I'm going to have to bear some cross to receive this grace for virtue, whatever it may be, or grow in holiness. In this way, I put it in your hands. You talk to Jesus between the two of you, you decide how this is going to happen. She always does a better job of praying on our behalf than we do on our own. But if the devil himself, as John Vianney teaches us, can be a tool in the hand of God for sanctifying me, then why should I be afraid of any suffering? But it takes profound faith, profound trust in the Lord to accept that and to see in and through the suffering the hand of God sanctifying me and opening me up to even more life and grace in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

 

 

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begins at 21:54

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit seeking our Lady's intercession. Let us pray. Hail Mary, full of Grace. The Lord is with the blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of the womb. Jesus, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Those of you who don't know Deacon Martin is one of the deacons of the diocese. He and his family are visiting today. So we're very to have you served with us at the altar. So you can tell my voice is not exactly all present. This is kind of normal after such a good retreat. So the retreat just went so well on so many levels.

A lot of spiritual healing for a lot of families and couples. And so normally, this is the price I have to pay for it. So gets sick afterward. I'm not feeling great, but I'll be fine in a couple of days. I just won't be chanting today and this retreat in particular, even though I got so much from it, was what we call a domestic church retreat.

You've heard me speak of them before. It's a lay group where couples meet in what they call circles, usually five, six, seven couples in a group. They follow this program to help them grow in the relationship with God and the relationship with one another. Again, it's just to help improve their marriage and therefore their family and ultimately all of society through that.

It's really a great, great group. And one of their obligations is to do a weeklong retreat each year with their whole family. So there were a dozen or more families at this retreat of all different sizes, and they were all there just again, trying to continue to grow in holiness and to get to know the Lord and his will in their lives better.

And I was the priest on the retreat again, very beautiful retreat and a lot of graces for myself and for all of the couples and kids who were present. I thought it was appropriate then to talk about something that's been on my mind recently. A Catholic, but from this parish had been sharing with me a program that they had learned that was going on in the diocese in Texas.

This program is made for couples, engaged couples who are getting ready to receive the sacrament of matrimony. Usually here at Saint Dorothy's, obviously when a couple comes forward saying, Hey, we're engaged, we'd like to get married, I just do all of the meetings with them, you know, all of the preparation work. And they fill out paperwork and all of that stuff has to be done.

But this is a slightly different model that's been used in that diocese and to great success and instead of the priest or the deacon or whomever doing all of their classes, the couple chooses a married couple as their sponsor, basically their mentors. And then we give them the material, write the books and whatever they need. And this married couple helps guide them and prepare them for matrimony.

I still meet with them, but, you know, the couple does a lot of the work with the engaged couple. And one of the beautiful things about this is when young people are engaged to get married, they always have a couple that they admire. It's kind of like this image of perfect marriage in their mind. And it honestly might not be their mom and dad's marriage.

Sadly, ladies and gentlemen, you know, that's the case. So, I mean, maybe it is fantastic, but if it's not, they still have kind of a quote unquote, model marriage in their mind. They can think of a married couple that they want to emulate. And so wouldn't that be a great benefit if that married couple, God willing, were open to helping mentor them, to share with them what they've learned in their own married life and in a sense, what's helped them succeed.

So I really want to implement this here at Saint Dorothy, and obviously I can't do it if you're not willing. So, you know, I want each of you couples to really pray and think about this. You know, if a engaged couple approached you and said, you know, I would really like you to be our mentor through our marriage preparation, obviously that would be a great honor.

But it's a responsibility to you know, you have to have quite a few meetings with them and go through the material. And my hopes is not just that will benefit this newly engaged couple in their married life and family life, but I think it will benefit you because honestly, even if we have a good marriage, at least externally, it looks like we have a good marriage, Right.

Going over these church teachings and going over these things with young couples is going to help renew your relationship as husband and wife. It's actually going to benefit you greatly. Now, some of you may think, well, I just don't have time for that. You know, work, kids, school, sports, church, everything. Fair enough. I completely understand. But there's an easy way to do this without really overly burdening yourself with all of the responsibilities you already have as a married couple with family and that's having the engaged couple simply come to your home, have dinner with you and your kids.

You don't even have to clean the house because this is life. They need to know that this is reality. You know, whatever you're feeding the kids hot dogs and macaroni and cheese, they get to eat, too, right? Because you want to dispel this idealized version of marriage and family life. They usually have. Oh, yeah, It's going to be, you know, roses all, you know, for the rest of your life.

That's just ludicrous. Everyone knows who's been married for any length of time. That marriage is a battle. It's a war, basically. Sadly, sometimes it's a war between husband and wife. That's  not what it should be, right? It should be husband and wife against the evil one with the help of God. The battle is this. So Satan does everything in his power to try to separate husband and wife.

Why? Because unity, true unity is the hallmark of our God. Because he is a perfect trinity, a perfect unity of multiple persons. So anything that reflects unity is of God. So when a husband and a wife and children and parents are close, when they have good relationships, the devil and the demons hate that and do everything in their power to break up that unity.

So the war should be between the devil and his minions and each couple and family. Sadly, he convinces us that the war is between husband and wife or parents and kids or children and siblings, you know. So being able to witness to this not only for your own benefit, but for these couples who are preparing for this holy sacrament in this holy life is going to be good for everybody.

And even, God willing, not just in anticipation of their vows, their wedding, but even after their wedding, having meetings with them, you know, every couple of months. Invite them over. How you guys doing? You know, have you had your first fight yet? How did it go? You know, just continuing to share with them. Now, I wasn't really planning this, but it occurred to me this morning there is a couple that I'm going to point out in our parish today that is really a great model and could potentially be a mentor.

And I normally never do this in homilies, but this is an exceptional one. And they're going to be gone next weekend when they celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. And that's the color voters. Georgian roads. Calaveras, 60 years. I'm sure they've never fought once. And if they have, George was always wrong. But obviously they're doing something right. They're doing something right.  And we can all learn from them. One of the beautiful things that George himself takes great pride on and as he should, is that all of his children and grandchildren are still practicing Catholics. Sadly, in this day and age, that's amazing. You want to make sure your kids stay Catholic? I'm sure George and Rose can give you some pointers there and may have them give you a talk one day just for the parish.

But there are other couples here, many of them. You might not be married 60 plus years yet, but you have things to share. You have your experiences. And again, it's not just for the benefit of these potentially engaged couples, but it's for your benefit. As spouses, you get to go over and renew the very things that brought you together as husband and wife.

Sadly, so often after many years of marriage, just because of the chaos of life and kids and everything, you forget why you married that person. Now there is one added benefit that honestly is not the reason I would like to implement this program at Saint Dorothy's. I just think it's kind of an icing on the cake. And that's if you the couples are really helping and participating in so much of this marriage prep for these engaged couples.

I don't have to do it anymore. Makes my job much easier. In some way, this is an extension of that group, the domestic church, because the idea is that couples helping couples, you see, it's all about unity and working together. Sadly, we live in a culture, predominant culture, in regards to first world countries in general, where we become so fixated on our own little families and our own little lives that we really don't have good unity or relationships with other families, which means we have to go out of our way to make it happen.

Another desire of the demonic is to give us so much to do in our lives. We don't have time to have good relationships. That's evil. If you study church history, well, you'll find over the last 500 years or more that every time there's a new invention that makes life easier. I remember reading the paper Papal Bull when the train was first invented, you know, a couple of hundred years ago, out of the wind.

And the Pope said at the time, this invention, the steam locomotive that can transport people and goods across countries in such a quick amount of time is obviously going to be a blessing for the culture, but it's going to transform how we live our lives. And we need to be very careful how we use it. Every time a new technology, regardless of its benefits, is created, it speeds up our lives and that's not a good thing.

That's not a good thing. It's okay to have these technologies and to use them, but that just means we have to willfully slow ourselves down. How difficult is it for us to put down our phones and turn off the TV and the radio and just sit outside and watch the sunrise? We struggle with prayer so much in our own lives, let alone in our families again, because of that frenetic nature of life.

This is not of God. Do you know why? When you pray, it takes forever for God to answer. He moves slowly for a reason. He's trying to teach us. Take your time. Slow down. You get frustrated parents with your children when they want a response right away. But I need it, whatever it is. And you're like, No, you don't. You don't need it yet. You'll survive. Do you think your prayers are any different to God? You're I need it now. God, it has to change now. God, Really? Last time you thought that it didn't happen. Why should it be different this time? God has blessed us here at Saint Dorothy's. Really? Has in so many ways, an important, I'd say responsibility we have is to do our best than to tear those blessings with others.

And it's one thing to go out and serve others outside of our parish. That's fine. That's good. We should be doing that. But it's always more important to take care of our own first. That's our primary responsibility and then go out and help those in need for yourselves. You need to feed your children before you go out and feed the poor.

Find where you can thrive in community with your brothers and sisters in Christ and support one another. There's only one of me. I can't do it all. And so again, I just ask you couples to pray and consider this. If a couple and engaged couple approached you and said, Would you guys mentor us? Be open. Invite them to your home.

Just let them see family life. Talk to them again. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. I'll give you a book that'll kind of guide you through all of the talks you're supposed to give. And ultimately more conversation than anything. Helping prepare them for. Yes, the struggles, but also the rewards of marriage. In the name of the Father and of the Son.  And of the Holy Spirit.

 

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begins at 19:04

My Loss is My Gain | PadreCast Twelfth Sunday Ordinary Time

John's words should ultimately become our own. In what ways can I decrease, so that Christ can increase in me?

Saint Paul got to a place in his life in which this had totally taken place. Saint Paul said very beautifully: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me." Paul had decreased to such an extent that there was very little of Paul left. It was just Jesus.

One of the fears that we have in the spiritual life is if I really die to myself in this way then what am I? Who am I? I lose myself. Psychologically, this causes people angst and they don't want to let go of that self-identity. "This is who I am! How could God ask me to give this up?"

Most people have no idea what human nature is all about. Let alone, true identity. They don't realize that one of the basic designs God has placed in the whole world is that through death, comes life.

The perfect example of this has always been the seed. A seed is a very specific thing. But in order for it to become what it was meant to be, you have to bury it in the ground (that's interesting, we do that with dead things) and it has to die to being a seed. Once it starts to grow, it's no longer a seed anymore. It's a plant. It's what it was meant to be, but it has transformed. It had to give up its current mode of existence and become what it was ultimately designed to be.

For each of us, there's no difference. We get confused about what it means to be human, to be alive, and be an individual. We don't realize until we die to these obsessions we have in regards to our own identity and personality, and start to live for Christ, then we'll never find ourselves truly.

Just consider for a moment five saints you know about. All of them sought total death to self and conformity to Jesus Christ. And yet all of them are so unique. No two are alike. Yes in virtue they're alike, but in personality they are all so very different. You don't lose yourself when you decrease in this way as John tells us.

In fact you begin to find your true self in Christ.

Pray for the grace to die to yourself. Start in just small ways. Usually when we think about the things we could give up our initial reaction is: "Uh, but. . . it's mine!! But. . . I like it!" See how easily we find this attachment to something so physical and truly unnecessary.

If I can't detach from earthly things, then how am I going to be ready to die when the Lord asks me to detach from life itself?

This is why so many Christians, sadly, struggle with death. At the end of their life, there they are. They're grasping. Grasping onto life. They don't want to let go. I'm not saying you should throw your life away. But what are you afraid of?

Do you believe that Christ is the resurrection and the life? What are you afraid of?

I'm afraid because I have not yet died to myself. Because I have not yet decreased in the right way. . . .

In our own lives, certainly there are things we are aware of that we are attached to. But, trust me. there is so much more that we can't even perceive it. Now, our Lord is not going to ask every person to give up every last little thing. But are you willing to give it up if He asks for it? That's the question.

 

Jer 20:10-13; Ps 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35; Rom 5:12-15; Mt 10:26-33

 

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begins at 20:03

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Tithing to the church - do you know what it has to do with theologically and according to the Scriptures? It has to do with your keeping 90%.

The Bible says if you do not tithe to the Lord, the 90% He lets you keep will not be enough to meet your needs. The imagery the Bible uses, is that you carry your coins around in a purse, a little drawstring bag. The Lords says, "If you do not give my tithe to Me, to the temple of God, the house of God, then it's like walking around with a hole in your purse." You're going to lose the coins you thought you were protecting. So you won't have 90% to take care of your needs. You'll have much less and therefore, you're going to struggle. Basically, our Lord is saying, "If you give me 10% - since everything you have is Mine - I'm letting you keep 90. You give Me My 10% and I will make sure that the 90% I let you keep takes care of everything you need. You don't give Me My tithe, and I give you no promises. You're on your own."

This is a challenge in faith for each one of us. Do I trust the Lord enough to give Him 10% ? . . .

 

We need to entrust our financial status to the Lord. The way we do that is by following his financial recommendation....

What's interesting about all this teaching is that in the New Testament there are no teachings about tithing, about how much you should give. In the New Testament, the expectation is you're going to give most of your money. Now, there's no command on this, there's no teaching on this. But that's the expectation. God has just given you everything - salvation! - you owe Him your very lives. . . .

 

So, test God's Word. Work towards giving that tithe, that 10%. If you can give more, fine, give more. If you can't give 10%, fine, just give what you can give. But put God to the test and see whether His Word is proved true. That when you strive to do His will, to follow His commands and teachings, see if He doesn't reward and bless you and help take care of all your needs.

 

 

Ex 19:2-6a; Ps 100:1-2, 3, 5; Rom 5:6-11; Mt 9:36—10:8

 

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begins at 18:37

Do What I Say | PadreCast Solemnity of Corpus Christi

The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. Of course "source and summit" means our faith flows from the Eucharist - from the Body of Christ - and it goes back to the Body of Christ. It begins and ends with Jesus. . . .

Since the Eucharist is His real presence, and Jesus is the source and the summit, then the Eucharist is the source and the summit. All other Sacraments lead from the Eucharist and to the Eucharist because it is the Real Presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. We know this to be true because this is what He taught.

The Church gives us a small segment of this teaching from the Gospel of John today. If you want to focus on that, read chapter six where Jesus clearly lays out His Real Presence. The fact that we - if we're going to be His disciples - we need to eat His Body and drink His Blood. Many Christians think He's just speaking metaphorically. Or analogously. Or symbolically. "Jesus didn't literally mean eat My Body and Blood!"

The problem is, the language of the text in its earliest sources, the word Jesus uses to these Jews is mastacare which means to physically chew and swallow. Jesus was telling the Jews: you have to physically eat My Body and Blood if you want to have life in you. That's why at the end of this passage, many of the Jews, and many of His disciples, turn their back on Him.

Jesus turned to Peter and the other eleven and said, "Are you going to leave Me too?

Peter put up his hands and said: "Lord, where else can we go? Only You have the words of everlasting life." Meaning: I don't really know what You're talking about, but I trust You. The Apostles themselves did not understand this teaching until the Last Supper, when Jesus took the bread, and He took the wine, and with His power as God He said: "This is My Body. This is My Blood." The first consecration.

Now, if Jesus wasn't God, then that's just symbolic.

But since He's God, every good Jew knows that when He says something, it happens. When He created the universe, He simply spoke, and it came into being. He is the creative force.

So if He takes bread and says, "This is My Body", guess what? It's not bread anymore. If He takes wine and says, "This is My Blood", it's not wine. It has been transformed. Or transubstantiated as we say. The substance has changed.

That's why we as Christians have always believed in the real presence of Jesus in the holy Eucharist. The scriptures are clear on this and the tradition has always maintained it.

But Jesus says very clearly in the gospel, "If you don't eat My Body and drink My Blood, then you don't have any life in you." Why is this so essential for our lives? . . .

There are probably many, many people throughout the world who never receive holy communion, and they're still alive, right? They're not dropping dead like flies.

What is Jesus talking about?

He was obviously not talking about physical life which is maintained by merely physical food.

Jesus is talking about the divine life He has given you in baptism. That divine life, that spark of divinity, that now lives in you - the Holy Spirit - will die in you if you don't feed it. And the only food that nourishes that divine life is His Body and Blood. . . .

 

Our fidelity to the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament makes or breaks someone's faith. The Lord says to you, "If you're not eating My Body and drinking My Blood, you have no life in you. You will spiritually die because you'll spiritually starve." That's why this teaching is so important. The Eucharist is our life. 

 

 

Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a; Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20; 1 Cor 10:16-17; Jn 6:51-58

 

 

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begins at 21:21

These Three Things | PadreCast Trinity Sunday

This weekend, we welcome Fr. William Lesak, USN (Ret); State Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus

 

So there are the three. Those are the things you and I must do everything we make the sign of the cross.

To see Thee more clearly Lord in the world in which I live. To love Thee more dearly in all the things that are broken out there in the world. And to follow Thee more nearly as Your disciple walking together in solidarity with others.

That's what you do. That's what I do.

So when someone asks you why you do the sign of the cross? Now you know.

 

Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9; (Ps) Dn 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56; 2 Cor 13:11-13; Jn 3:16-18

 

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begns at 15:52

A Recipe for Salvation | PadreCast Pentecost Sunday

Bread. It's the easiest way to understand these mysteries of salvation.

Today - Pentecost - the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and the Virgin Mary and appeared as tongues of fire.

So, why is bread the perfect analogy, the perfect example that God has given us to understand all of these great mysteries?

It's because Jesus chose bread to be the main symbol to be used in the Eucharist, which is His Body, His Real Presence among us.

Jesus is the One Who chose bread to be used at the Last Supper, and that we've used ever since. But remember, He's God, which means He designed bread. He knew that once He created humans, they'd harvest wheat and grind it up, mix it with some water, and bake it. And voila: this great substance that everybody all over the world has eaten since the beginning of time. This most basic form of nourishment was the main tool He wanted to use in nourishing of His Body, and in making Himself present for the rest of time.

There's a basic rule about Eucharistic bread - and it comes from the Last Supper: there can only be two ingredients to this bread. Flour and water. It's forbidden to use any other elements. Because at the Last Supper, that's what Jesus used. Unleavened bread. This is the same bread the Israelites used at Passover right before their Exodus from Egypt - they had to flee quickly and didn't have time to let their bread rise. They didn't use yeast, they just baked it and ran.

Now, this isn't an accident, it's not a coincidence. Our Lord designs these things. . . . There's got to be a reason why He wanted this very simple form of bread to be used in His Real Presence.

It's because of what each of the elements of bread symbolizes. There are three main elements to this bread, even though there are only two ingredients.

The first element of course is the grain. But it's not just grain - you don't take the grain, mix with water and bake. You have to grind up the grain first, that's an essential aspect. Grind it into flour. The Fathers of the Church tell us that Our Lord, knowing - designing - the way to make bread this way, did so because He was going to use bread to symbolize His presence (I mean "symbol" in the sense that it looks like bread but it's actually His Body). And His Body was ground up in His Passion, was it not? The grinding of the grain was to symbolize the death that our Lord would have to endure to redeem us. Not just grain picked off the ear. It has to be crushed into powder. Like His own Body. This new flour symbolizes for us our Lord's redeeming act. What He endured in order to nourish us and give us everlasting life. But grinding the flour, that's just the first part of making bread isn't it?

You need water. If you don't have water, I'm sorry, you can bake that flour as much as you want. It's not going to turn into bread. So you mix in water. . . . Why would our Lord have designed it that way? Because for us to share in the Passion of Christ Who wants to redeem us, what do we need? We need to be baptized. What's the main element in baptism? It's water! That's not a coincidence! That's not an accident. These aren't just interesting connections, our Lord designed it to be the way.

So, His saving act: the grinding of the wheat into flour.

Our participation in that act - the water that washes away our sin and unites us with the Body of Christ.

But again, flour and water doesn't make bread. There's still one essential element that is required.

And that's fire. . . . .

 

You see the last gift given - the Spirit - to complete the work of Christ and to form the Church in the world, was fire.

 

 

Acts 2:1-11; Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34; 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13; Jn 20:19-23

 

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begins at 25:33

Call out in Confidence | PadreCast Ascension Sunday

So many people nowadays think they can just talk to God on their own and He's gong to listen? None of us - none of us - deserves to be heard by the Father. Yes, He hears everything because He's God. But do you think for a moment He's going to grant any favor that you've asked? What have you done for Him? How many times have you failed Him? And suddenly, because you're in need now, you want something. Why would He listen to you?

 

That's what today's feast is all about.

 

Because we have and Advocate Who sits before Him interceding on our behalf. Every day.

Not just the Advocate Who was sent, that's the Holy Spirit. But Christ Himself - our Mediator. He stands before his Father - in His human nature - pleading on our behalf. And the sacrifice, the sweet smelling oblation He offers, is His own Body. He's the unblemished Lamb that was slain. He is the High Priest of the New Covenant. Now forever before the throne of His Father, interceding.

If I pray on my own, my prayers are not heard. But if I pray with, in, and through the Body of Christ then they must be heard. Because: where is Jesus? He's at the right hand of the Father. I have no fear, no concern at all. I know my prayers are heard by the Father because Christ is praying on my behalf.

That's the beauty of the nature of Christ's Body. We know that the Church is His Body. We all, members of that same Body. . . . as long as I'm connected with that Body, when I pray, the Head prays. If the Head prays - the head is with the Father, and the Father hears the prayer. Not because of any merit of my own. The Father hears the prayers because the Head merited the grace for me. The Head was worthy. The rest of us body, well, we deserve what we get.

As long as I am praying with, in, and through the Body of Christ, I have no doubt, no fear, no concerns that my prayers are not heard and favorably answered.

Jesus says: Whatever you ask the Father in My Name, He will give you. Not on a whim, but in union with Me. Meaning if you have the mind and heart of Christ and you ask the Father for anything, He's going to grant it.

This is why our Lord had to ascend. He's never left us. He's still here in the Eucharist. But He's also at the right hand of the Father constantly interceding for us.

When we pray as a body, it is the prayer of Christ. When I offer this Holy Sacrifice, it is the sacrifice of Christ. The Father looks down on His Son's Body and He grants Her this grace, these blessings, this mercy that She asks for.

 

Acts 1:1-11; Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9; Eph 1:17-23; Mt 28:16-20

 

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begins at 25:41

Explain Yourself | PadreCast Sixth Sunday of Easter

 

Without faith you cannot believe. Without faith you cannot hope. There is no hope without faith and belief: in Christ, in what He has done for us, in the gifts He has given us.

Without faith and hope, you can't love. You'll be so filled with anxieties and stresses and the problems of the world.

It is precisely faith and hope that empower Christian love to manifest in the world.

As St Peter says in our second reading today: Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.

What does he mean by this? He mans that we who are filled with God, with the Holy Spirit, should stand out from the rest of society to such a degree that people will approach us and say, "Hey, you're a little different, what's going on? Where is this hope coming from?" Some might walk away, but some will be curious. They'll think: "I want what you have. Where did you get it? How can I get it too?"

You need to be prepared to explain to them where this hope comes from.

Yet many Christians don't have hope. How is that possible? Why aren't you constantly, at least by your life, testifying to this hope? You look around; friends, family, coworkers, where ever you happen to be; you look around and there isn't much hope. This is a problem. Hope is an essential Christian virtue. . . . why doesn't it shine out in the world?

This world is in darkness compared to what we are offered as disciples of the Lord. Yet it doesn't seem to contrast that greatly when we are out amongst others in society.

Yes, we have hope in Christ. But we don't have enough hope in Christ. Not yet. . . .

The test to know whether all of your hope is in Christ, or only some of it, is: can you ever lose hope?

Everything will fail you in this world at some point. Everything. Your gifts, attributes, possessions, skills, relationships. Everything will fail you in this world at some point. If your hope in in those people, those relationships, or those things, when it fails, you will lose it. You'll lose hope.

But if my hope is in Christ, nothing effects that hope. If God is actually living in me, in reality living in me, then how can any of these worldly problems affect me? . . .

 

The moment hope is lost, you begin to doubt faith. . . . the reason you lose hope when you fall back into sin - even after leaving the confessional is this: your hope wasn't in Christ, it was in you.

If your hope is in Jesus Christ you can't lose it. No one can take that from you. No one.

 

If my hope is solidly rooted in Christ, His love for me, and His Church and her Sacraments, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, then the loss of anything in this world cannot take that hope from me. And that hope will manifest anytime someone sees me. It'll be even stronger light in the darkness when they know you are suffering. When something tragic or bad is happening, and you still have a smile on your face. . . . Peter tells us all: Be ready to give an explanation for this hope.

 

Acts 8:5-8, 14-17; Ps 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20; 1 Pt 3:15-18; Jn 14:15-21

 

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begins at 20:56

The early Church created this ministry | PadreCast Fifth Sunday of Easter

The word "deacon" means servant. That's their job. They are there to serve. To serve the needs of the Bishops and the priests. And there to serve the needs of the faithful.

Deacons are ordained to "Christ the Servant". Priests and Bishops are ordained to "Christ the Head".

A deacon's role first and foremost is to serve in those areas of the Church where the Bishops and the priests just don't have the time and energy. . . .

So what does the Church look for when we interview candidates for the diaconate formation? We look for someone who is

• reputable / respectable
• wise / holy
• filled with the Spirit and faith
• already serving his local community in some way, has a service-minded heart
• has raised his children well

The primary role of the deacon is to proclaim the Gospel - he has that right. Because of that he can also preach with the permission of the priest celebrant. If Holy Eucharist is being distributed under the form of the Precious Blood, that is also his by right according to a deacon's role in the liturgy.

Deacons also teach; faith formation, catechism, they help prepare couples for marriage and their child's baptism. There are any number of things they do.

For any men discerning the diaconate, if you get accepted to the program, there are many years of formation - intellectual and spiritual. You want to make sure you're properly formed and prepared to be ordained to minister in the name of Christ.

There is another thing any man getting ordained to the diaconate must promise when he gets ordained. That is: if he is married, and his spouse dies, he is forbidden from ever remarrying. If he is not married when he becomes a permanent deacon, he takes a vow of celibacy like a priest and he's never allowed to get married.

Another thing to consider is that a man cannot be ordained to the diaconate - even if the Bishop wants him, even if he wants it - without his wife's permission. She must consent to it. One of the things expected of the wives in the diaconate formation program is that they - in so far as they are able - participate in their husband's formation. The role of the deacon's wife - though it is not liturgical - because of the husband's elevation in this official capacity in the Church, is elevated in the eyes of the people. What we find is that because of this, other women and people in the parish seek them for advice and direction. So we want to see that the wives of the candidate not only encourage and support their husband's calling, but are willing and able to accept the responsibilities of being the wife of a deacon.

Because the formation is so time-consuming, generally we're looking for someone who has already raised his children. If he has kids, for the most part they are out of the home, or almost. We wouldn't want him to be take away from his primary vocation which is his family. The scriptures attest to this. If a man is called, one of the signs you look for is: has he raised his children well?

The role of deacons in the Church is apostolic. Christ did not Himself create deacons. The Apostles did. The early Church created this ministry. They recognized a need and were guided by the Holy Spirit in doing this.

 

If any of you men have considered or may potentially consider this vocation one day, think about it, pray about it. And what you'll do as a community, if you see a man who could serve the Lord in this capacity, certainly pray for them. Maybe ask if them: Have you ever thought about being a deacon?

Pray for our deacons in the Diocese, for their wives and families. For them men and their families who are in formation.

And pray for a deacon for our parish too.

 

 

Acts 6:1-7; Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19; 1 Pt 2:4-9; Jn 14:1-12

 

You may watch the Mass in its entirety on our YouTube channel. Homily begins at 24:03