The PadreCast - Faithful Catholic Homilies

The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

Friends this past Wednesday I traveled to Greensboro for the funeral Mass of Msgr. Anthony Marcaccio. He was for a time the priest secretary for Bishop Curlin (the bishop prior to Bishop Jugis and now Bishop Martin), and then he served for 24 years as pastor of St. Pius X Catholic Church in Greensboro. Not long before passing away from cancer this past July, Monsignor wrote a heartfelt message to his parishioners, his last words to them, in which he expressed His trust in God’s plan and His desire to seek God’s glory in all things, even in the midst of cancer treatment.

Even in that moment when his body began to fail, he placed his faith and trust in Christ.

The readings and prayers for this Mass confront us within ourselves a similar question. Are our hearts truly set on seeking out Christ? Or does He simply offer us some sort of benefit to our lives? Is He second or third place?

Study have been done on those who practice a religion finding that those who practice it devoutly, have happier lives, less experience of depression or risk of suicide, and economically at least in the middle to upper classes even if they did not begin there. In other words, there is a natural benefit, to practicing a religion, you will have a happier more prosperous life.

But that is not faith and would make us no different then the crowd which goes searching for Jesus in the Gospel.

They are interested in the Lord. They have just seen with their eyes His miracle and sign of multiplying the loaves and the fish. Feeding thousands. They acknowledge that it is was miraculous because they respond: “Truly a prophet has arisen in Israel and God has visited His people.”

They seek the next day, crossing the sea of Galilee not because they believe in Him but solely for the purpose of having their physical needs met.

They are Hungry.

Our Lord tells them: “You are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”

He knows they are hungry, He Himself felt it. But then He elevates their minds to what should occupy them in the first place: the state of their soul. The eternal life which can be theirs. Which only Jesus Christ can give.

Us: WE Are among that crowd.

 

The 2nd reading from the Letter to the Ephesians states that we must be renewed in the spirit of our minds.”

Renewed through learning the truth of Jesus, who He is, what He has done, and who He can be for you.

That knowledge, that encounter with His person, Also, a corresponding way of life that is not corrupted through deceitful desires.

One of my favorite books is from Tan Books, “Manual for Conquering Deadly Sin.” Which describes the 7 Capital Vices (PLACES - G) (all of our sins are in there somewhere) in detail along with the corresponding virtue and quotes from the saint. Saint after saint claims that the first of the vices (think a sin practiced so frequently that it becomes habitual), the first vice that we must conquer in our spiritual life is the vice of gluttony.

The vice of an excessive desire for the pleasure of eating and drinking:

It is the vice of the crowd in the Gospel. St. Thomas gives us 5 general ways to commit this sin:

1. Eating or drinking too rapidly or at an inappropriate time
2. “ “ rich or expensive delicacies (St. Thomas)
3. Too much
4. Greedily: eating or drinking too greedily and refusing to share
5. Daintily

This sin of Gluttony can deaden our minds and hearts from seeking out God. It keeps the crowd away from receiving Jesus’ teaching about the Blessed Eucharist in the Gospel

It also causes the grumbling of the Israelite community in our first reading from Exodus.

They Grumble against Moses and Aaron saying, “Would that we had died at the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!”

They would prefer to return to slavery. They would rather die in the various plagues sent by God upon Egypt. All of that, just to satisfy their hunger.

Find yourself and your journey towards God in that story.

Exodus is both the historical journey of the Jewish people from slavery to Egypt to the promised land of Canaan. The land promised by God to Abraham and His descendants.

 

But that journey is also a symbol for the Christian journey from slavery to sin and the enslavement to the passions of the body to freedom in Christ.

A mind which Knows Him, A Heart which Loves Him, and a body and will that can then Follow Him.

That is the begin of heaven on this earth.

Especially as we enter the Mass. The Eucharistic Fast is meant to prepare us for it.

In the Eucharistic fast, prior to Mass, at a minimum 1 hour fast from food and liquids with the exception of water and medicine, 1 hour before receiving Holy Communion. If you wish to do more, consider the modified fast under Pope Pius XII which was a three hour fast, or prior to that reform of Pope Pius XII in 1953, Fast from Midnight the night before.

It is a way of training our desires. Recognizing, yes, I am hungry, but first I need to focus on that which is more important, that relationship with the Lord, the eternal life that He can give me.

Tragically, The Crowd in the Gospel ultimately did not want Jesus or His preaching or the life He offers. Just as in our time, many do not desire Him and they even openly mock Him as was shamefully done in the opening ceremony to the Olympics. He is mocked every time He is received unworthily in Holy Communion.

Even in that He reveals His desire for the salvation of your soul.

I had the blessing of speaking recently with your former pastor Fr. Miller, who reminded me,

"To the Lord Jesus, none of that matters as long as He can save a soul. His priority and His interest is in the salvation of a soul even if it means going to the cross and being crucified, even if it means He is publicly mocked again in our time, or His body in the Eucharist is received unworthily incurring that sacrilege.”

His priority is always the salvation of your soul.

IS THAT ALSO YOUR PRIORITY?

The First question He asks in the Gospel according to ST. John,

“What are you looking for?”

If we wish to find Him AND THE LIFE HE OFFERS, it is in this word and in the Blessed Eucharist that HE WAITS FOR YOU.

A great prophet has risen in our midst. God has visited his people.

Have a few announcements this morning. The Catholic Kids Camp was a success with 104 kids in attendance. Thank you to all the teen and adult volunteers for all of their hard work, and a special thank you to the donors for your contributions to make that happen. The confirmation entrance exam is Saturday, August 3rd at 10 a.m. in the Social Hall. Please make sure your children eat before coming to take the test, and they can bring any snacks to have during the test. There will not be a makeup test. Registration for Faith formation will begin on Sunday, August 4th. In between the masses, the atrium spots are limited. It will be a first come, first serve basis. All volunteers, ushers, lectures and ministry leaders need to be up to date on their safe environment training. Please contact the office if you have any questions. Thank you.

For the last few weeks and bearing with me with the liturgy. It has been a little bit schizophrenic, and it's been an adjustment for me as well and I like to put or attempt to put an end to that so that we're united in our act of worship of God, particularly in the language that we're using the documents sacrosanct and Concilium from that Second Vatican Council. It spoke about the use of Latin in the liturgy, and it promoted it. I first explained that Latin is to be preserved in the Latin rites, so we are to use it, but it also states that it is good also to use the mother tongue, English or Spanish in our case, so that the people can actively participate. Also says we do want to incorporate Latin, especially in the ordinary of the mass. Think of the In nómine Patriset Filiiet Spíritus Sancti. Think of the act of contrition, or rather the confetti or think of the glory of the Creed that those often should be in Latin, but the people should be informed and should know how to respond so that you can actively participate. So, what I'm planning to do, following in your former pastor Father Miller's footsteps, created such a beautiful liturgy, is to maintain the use of Latin during the mass, but for ordinary time, which we're in right now, all English except for the Gloria. But then moving into those seasons of Advent and Lent, I like to do that sign of the cross, the greeting, the confetti, or in Latin, as well as the patroness order as a way to separate that season. And then when we reach Christmas and Easter, those glorious seasons of celebration. I'd like to mark that by adding, additionally, the Creed and the essay on your stay. Behold the Lamb of God in Latin as a way of celebrating even more of that sacred season using a particular language, the language of the church, Latin. But for now, English and when we get to there, we'll practice and prepare for that. And our only Luna verse for this mass chanted so beautifully here by our choir, we have the response of the crowd to what our Lord does. And they say, indeed, a prophet has arisen, and God has visited his people. In the next four Sundays, we're taking a break from that gospel of Mark and listening to the chapter of John, and he's going to focus on chapter six, where our Lord is going to reveal to the crowd and to us this teaching of the sacred Eucharist, the teaching of his body, blood, soul and Divinity, given to us in the sacrament for our life.

This summer, for the first time in over 80 years, we had this National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. And that was not a coincidence. It's been over 80 years in our great nation, but the bishops decided it is time that we must renew our devotion to our Lord in this sacrament. Who waits here for you a few years ago.

You may remember during Covid at least, maybe even up to 60% of Catholics in the pews. Either they don't know the teaching, or they don't believe in. What a tragedy that our Lord is here for us. So many people come in and out of those doors and don't recognize them here, when all the time he's here for you. He's a prisoner in that tabernacle for you. He waits for your prayers. If we're among that number, if some of us are somewhere in there, the Wednesday Hall, the hour of exposition is for you. Our capital campaign. Campaign to build that adoration chapel. To adore the Lord 24 hours a day. That is for you. That is, to stimulate your faith and help you to recognize the Lord who is present here for you. How can we come about to Eucharistic believe? Because it's something that's going to have to go far beyond our senses and far beyond our ability to perceive. So, belief is impossible, or at least is going to be very difficult if we don't understand something about God. And most certainly if we don't understand something about His Son Jesus Christ, and who he is and what he's capable of doing and the Creed. After the homily, we say, I believe in God the Father, the Almighty. We proclaim that God, who is all powerful, who made all things out of nothing. That book, first book Genesis, says, God makes the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. So, we proclaim to believe this God who can create all things out of nothing, something much more impressive and requiring much greater power than to make something new out of something already existing, such as taking bread, taking wine, and creating out of those two things.

Something new this Sunday prepares us to believe that by first showing us, revealing to us a bit more who is Jesus Christ? Because these stories in the Gospels, they give evidence that he has that same power that God has in Genesis. He has this same power to create. So, a man is sick, a man is lame on the ground, and he has to be healed.  The Lord says, I do will stand up and rise, rather rise. Stand up and he does it, or the girl has a fever and she's in the bed. Our Lord rebukes that fever and lifts her up. He raises her up. A woman with a flow of blood just touches his cloak and she's healed. Says power goes out from his body and she's healed. He's giving evidence that he has this same power that God has in Genesis to create. Today's reading is going to pray, and some bread, and some fish are multiplied to feed thousands. Once again giving evidence of that. Don't miss the difference between that first reading and the gospel, because the first reading can seem very similar. The prophet Elisha, he has these 1220 lo set before the hundred man. So, as I said before them, and they eat, and there's something left over. But no, when he says, he says, Yahweh has told me, God has told me to set this before you, and there will be some left over. So, the prophet prays, or the prophet invokes God, and then God works the miracle, not the difference between what our Lord does.

Our Lord does not pray or ask that a miracle happen. He simply blesses. He breaks and he distributes, and they multiply. He does it through his divine power. That's truly the Son of God. And that's a little bit that's something like what happens in the mass. Because what we claim in this mass, when that bread and wine is changed into that precious blood of our Lord, that precious body of the Lord, we see that that that's done by the priest who's acting in that person of Christ, so that in virtue of my ordination, I act in that person of Christ at very particular moments, so very particular moments I act in our Lord's within the same person to connect the Eucharist, to make the sacraments happen. And especially in the case of the Eucharist, the effect of that sacrament is meant to be union with God, and it's also meant to be unity with each other. During that consecration, I'll lift up our Lord in the Sacred host, and we'll actually all be gathered. Finally, in that moment of unity, maybe it won't seem like it, but all of our eyes should be turned towards the Lord. So, our Lord should be drawing us into unity focused upon him. Saint John Paul the Second wrote in a closer the Eucharist, that is, the Eucharist that forms the church. So, you, because that makes it and brings us into unity. And that's something that cannot stop your friends. Of course, I'm new here. You're not. But that unity cannot stop here at this altar, real and most certainly can't stop when we go outside of those doors.

We don't have to be the best of friends, but we must treat each other with the charity of the Lord, with the dignity and charity of Christ. One virtue to consider this week that I'm going to be practicing trying to be that virtue of discretion. So, in our conversations, saying those good things, those good things we need to say, but maybe leaving out those things that would blacken someone's name, leaving out those things that might harm somebody's reputation, all of those things, all of those virtues are assisted in a wholly worthy that is, in a state of grace reception of Holy Communion.

It elevates and gives us all of those virtues and graces to lead us into union with God, and also unity with each other.

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord

Our Lord. In this gospel, he instructs his apostles who have been working to come and spend some time away, to come and spend some time just with the Lord alone and in his presence. And there's one more privileged moment where we see the interior life of the Son of God. What is the Son of God think about? How does he behave? One more moment. In Mark's gospel, the Lord's into your life is moved with pity. He sees the need of the crowd and he's moved with pity. God is moved with pity for them. So, he goes. And he teaches them many, many things.

The next four Sundays we'll be speaking on the Eucharist. The Lord will give the crowd the teaching on that most precious gift that he gives us his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist. But today he prepares them to receive it. One early Christian writer wrote. The Lord placed before them first the food of the Word of God. And then after that he gave them the multitude food for their bodies. Leading up to his teaching on the Eucharist, our Lord provides for our every need. He is the good Shepherd in contrast to those in our first reading. Jeremiah calls out all of the prophets and the leaders who had led the people astray that led them not to God, but they led them to their selves and away from the Lord. But even in that God the Father has this plan where he says, he'll raise up this righteous shoot from the house of David. And he raises up this righteous shoot in our Lord.

Who is that good shepherd who always is looking after our souls? Let's call to mind a bit what he has done. The magnificence of what he has done. And our second reading from Ephesians, Saint Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes, and Christ Jesus, you who once were far off, have become near by the blood of Christ. He broke down that dividing wall of enmity. Before our Lord's incarnation, we were separated by God by this wall of enmity. Due to our sins. After that first sin of Adam and Eve, there's this unbridgeable gap between God and man. We have no access to God and to the father, and our Lord changes all that. There's a dramatic way where that's represented in our worship and the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.

There is this place of pardon in the innermost sanctuary of the temple called the Holy of Holies, separated by this large curtain which represented the infinite holiness of God separate from the sins of the people and our sinfulness. And then there's that curtain that's torn in two from top to bottom at the end of Matthew's gospel. As soon as our Lord expires on the cross, that curtain is torn in two.  We relive that. We don't just replay it, we relive that. And every single mass, when that priest or a decan lifts up that chalice veil. Once again, we're calling to mind when that curtain is torn from top to bottom. Why do we do it? We do it because God's about to come present on the altar. God's about to give himself to you.

 

In Christ, he has destroyed that dividing line between God and man. And now he wants to share with you his very life, his eternal life. To be ready for that. We must be purified. Psalm 24 asks the question, who may ascend that mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart.

 

We need to be purified. And there are three beautiful moments in the liturgy that purify us. One started before mass. When you come in, we should genuflect or about to our Lord's presence in the Eucharist. But then you probably blessed yourself with holy water. Venial sins gone. If you're aware of that venial sins cleansed, then the consider I confess to Almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, when the priest gives that absolution, may Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Venial sins God venial sins purified from mortal. We need confession, but for venial. Purified. There's one more most powerful moment. The most important thing we will ever do in our lives. The most important thing we'll do this morning is that reception of our Lord and Holy Communion. You receive the Lord in a state of grace. All of those sins, venial sins.

All of those faults are cleansed. Every single virtue. Faith, hope. Charity. Justice. Fortitude. Prudence. All of those are elevated because God's sharing is very self is very life with you. There's one last thing I want to speak about to help prepare us in this mass, to receive the Lord and to listen to what he wants us to do. And that is this interior silence, this interior silence. There's this book recently written by the Dominican, pardon me, by the Benedictine Father, Father Boniface Six, that I've been reading through. What is this? Interior silence. We all know that silence can take many forms. You might have an exterior silence, but you're into your life. Might be very busy. It might be very loud on the inside. In contrast, you might be in the city. You might be in Charlotte. So much busyness around you. And then you have a moment where the Lord touch your heart. This moment of silence, where the Lord really touches you and moves you. This moment of clarity and purity on the inside. How do we have that sort of a silence when we're in the mass? What can we do? Try to create this space inside you. Father Boniface Hicks calls it an esthetic silence. This space inside you. An emptiness that's waiting to be filled. So, your interior gaze is focused upon the Lord. It's focus upon the Lord waiting for his presence. And you were, in a sense, just waiting for him. And in that stance, in that spiritual stance, what then have the reading said to you? What are the gestures of the mass saying to you? What is the homily? The prayers? What is God saying to you through those? How is he touching your heart? I had one example from my prayer. Hopefully it's not too silly, but it is meaningful for me. When I was driving on my day off in the country and I knew I had probably mentioned this because I found this book so powerful, this interior silence.

 

So, I said, well, I must practice that, and I'm going to preach as the Lord has asked us to do. And so, I tried to simply be quiet for a little bit, create the space on the inside, and really listen for the Lord as absolutely, marvelously beautiful day as I create this space. Those words from the Psalm come to mind after a time. Those words of the Psalm come to mind from the rising of the sun to its setting. May the name of the Lord be praised. And I was nearly laughing in my vehicle and just smiling. I could not stop smiling. And there's the Psalm. Continue going in my heart from the rising, the sun to its setting. May the name of the Lord be praised. There's just a moment where the Lord touched my heart. Friends let's attempt to. Let's create just a little bit of space as we're moving into this liturgy of the Eucharist. Create a little bit of that space so that the Lord himself can fill it.

Healing the sick

Brothers and sisters in Christ. It is very good to be with you. I have been pastor just since Tuesday and feel like I have already lived a lifetime in just these past few days. That has been busy, but very good and I look forward to getting to know you better as I focus on what I've been asked to do of preaching the gospel and sanctifying you through the sacraments.  I also look forward to what we're going to do as a parish to focus on this mission of preaching the gospel, which Christ invites us to do. Something a bit strange happens in this gospel, but at first it seems very simple, so we might not miss it. Our Lord Jesus has been preaching in the surrounding towns. He's been healing the sick. He's been casting out the demons, and he's been raising them up. But today he sends out the apostles. Two by two. He sends out the apostles. Why does the Lord send them out as he not the Son of God? He certainly is, as his own preaching not sufficient. It absolutely is. So why does he send them out? He could have saved the entire world just by one will.

One desire of his heart. One choice as being God. But he sends these two out. Something different is going on here. That great Marian saint, Saint Louis de Montfort. He said that Christ brought more glory to God the Father through being obedient for 30 years to the Blessed Virgin Mary than if he had converted the entire world. God sees things a bit differently than we does. He sends them out because God wants us to actively participate in his work of salvation. He wants us to also have the glory and honor of participating with him in the salvation of souls. We come to mass and the other sacraments to be sanctified, to hear God's Word, to be edified, and to know how we need to keep aligning our lives to what God has asked of us. But then after that, that sanctification as not just for our own good, that sanctification is for others as well, especially for those who've been entrusted to our care. The document agents from the Second Vatican Council. It calls the church the sacrament of salvation. So, a sacrament is something that is visible, something that can be experienced and touched. The church is meant to be that within the world. And if you're baptized, you're part of the church. So, people come in contact with salvation through coming into contact first with you. What I hope the Parish of Saint Dorothy is already is, but it's going to be even more as a sacramental and a spiritual oasis, a place to encounter the living God, and then to be refreshed and to have everything you need to live out your vocation in a holy manner.

Or for our young people are so blessed with so many kids to prepare them for their vocation. It was God, the Holy Spirit. We believe in faith who chose Pope Francis our Pope because he is only one man. He has ordained Bishop Michael Martin and sent him to Charlotte to watch over every soul within the Diocese of Charlotte, but also because Bishop Michael is just one man. He sent me here to watch over every single soul that's in the parish of Saint Dorothy's, in all of our territory. He's sent me to do that. But I too, am just one man. If you don't know that already, you'll find it out. I am only one man. That means I need you and doesn't just sound good. I need you, and that's what the church expects. I need your prayers. I need your penances. But I also need your preaching and your witness to the gospel. What does that preaching mean? Only I or a deacon can preach the homily at mass because it's so united to the Holy Sacrifice. So only we can do that. But that's not the totality of what it means to preach. Any time you act in accord with God's will, you're preaching. Any time you call somebody back to the truth, you're preaching. And at times it will not be a popular message. Our Lord sends him out to preach a message of repentance. And Amos, in this first reading, he is reprimanded by another prophet because he's preaching a tough message. He's preaching the message of God. What does it mean when we need to preach that message of repentance? What does that actually mean? It's not condemnation. That's repent. It's to think again as to reconsider your life. First of all, with those priorities we need to have where God is number one for taught us, taking from the Old Testament. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength. As God absolutely number one in our hearts and in our minds, that's what we need to call others to as well. Saint Augustine wrote that we must first preach. That's first by hearing that message of salvation, that the whole world then will begin to believe. Then by believing they will have hope, and then by hoping they will have love. When you were baptized, deep in your heart was placed this love. That love of charity. That love which is shared between God the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit. That love which means to will the good of somebody else. So, friends in baptism were given this love, which should be a burning fire for the salvation of souls.

That shouldn't be an absolute furnace and a fire to save those around us. Not just ourself. But love is always diffusive, desiring the good of the other. That's what it should be with us. And that's where the sacrifice of the mass prepares us for. I want to leave you with one thought in one beautiful image before coming over.  You know, it's maybe about a bit towards the altar. And I was saying a prayer. I was asking God to cleanse my heart and my lips before proclaiming his holy word. That comes from the book of Isaiah. So, Isaiah is first cleansed by a coal taken from the altar, by a seraphim by an angel, which cleanses his lips, and then sends him out on a mission to God.

God first draws near to us and cleanses us of our sins before sending us out. That coal taken from the fire as an early image and a symbol of the Holy Eucharist. Christ living presence, the resurrected Christ present to us, who draws near to us, to cleanse us and free us, and then sends us out as well to actively work for his plan of salvation.

Welcome Father Michael Carlson

At 12:00 today, I became your pastor. I'm Father Michael Carlson at Saint Mark this morning. And now here as your pastor, and I am. I'm here for you. I am here for you to lead you as best I can to Jesus Christ through the preaching of the gospel and through the sacraments. And I will do my utmost and ask especially for your prayers, because I need. I need those. This afternoon we're celebrating these Chinese martyrs, Augustine, Zhao and his companions, about 120 from seven years old, all the way up to about 70 years old. And these martyrs to become a martyr and to give your life for Christ that requires such grace. It requires really supernaturally giving up your life, offering that greatest gift of your life to God and for God, and for that we need the sacraments. For that we need a priest. That's why Saint Augustine that was so loved in this gospel reading, we have this beautiful moment. It's one of those privileged moments in the gospel. We actually get to see the interior life of Jesus Christ. You get a little glimpse of the interior life of the Son of God, and that interior life is moved with pity, is moved with pity for that crowd, because they don't have a shepherd.

They're lost and wandering around, and they need a direction. And of course, Christ is that good shepherd. But here's the beautiful thing. That heart that love you has that Sacred Heart. He wants that to continue in every time and in every place. So that's why he raises up a priest. And every time and in every place. The Lord loves you so much he raises and calls a priest. I did not call myself or any other priest could say the same thing. He raises up a priest so that you have the sacraments. He raises up a priest so that you can have the Eucharist and have that personal contact with the living, risen Jesus. And that is what we want to preach to others. And it's not just my preaching.

It's yours as well. That is our mission.

 

Homily begins at 9:13

Trust in his Divine Providence

In the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

 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. Long time no see, thoughts since weekend and this, of course sadly, my last weekend as your pastor. And make the effort to come and preach. And of course, greet you and say goodbye to you after mass. today. it's very apropos that we have this second reading, for me, from Saint Paul to the Corinthians. He says that I might not become elated because of the abundance of the revelations. A thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this that it might leave me. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness. I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

You know, when I first got sick Ash Wednesday evening, for the next few days, I was complaining to the Lord a bit because if you know anything about Catholic priests, lent is the busiest season of the year for us. We have the most to do, whether it's confessions and sacraments and spiritual direction and all of those things. And I told the Lord, I said, you know, I don't mind being sick, but really lent, like, what are you thinking? What's going on? You know, please just give me better quick so I can get back to the people. That obviously didn't happen. And you know, I, I've never had a problem struggling with illness or such and know the Lord has taught me over the years that even such things are gifts to us. And I knew this was as well. I just couldn't understand his reasoning. And as I began to pray and complain to the Lord a bit, over the following weeks and months one of the things that did occur to me and helped me find peace is that. And this is something I've tried to teach you so often, how we have to trust in God's will, right? We have to trust in his divine providence, meaning that he governs all things well and all things work out for the good for those who love God and are called according to his plan. So, I knew this would work out to the good, but I wasn't exactly sure how. Now, I've said to you in the past that if it were up to me, I would be happy to remain your pastor till I retire. Maybe beyond that, if that were possible. Like, that was my goal, so to speak, if I ever had one had no desire to do anything else as a priest or be anywhere else. I've never been more happy in my life than as your pastor can imagine. I didn't want to give that up, but that wasn't God's will. And I think on some level, my sickness is a great mercy, actually, of God for two primary reasons. Something I've reflected on because I don't think I would have willingly given up pastor Ship of Saint Dorothy's if I didn't have to. And I think this was God's gentle way of kind of forcing me into that position. and on the other end, I think it was on some level, more merciful and gentle way. God was able to get many of you ready for me to leave. I can imagine over the last several months you thought, what if he doesn't come back, right? What if he doesn't get well enough? And so on some level, I see this as certainly a mercy. It's clear that the Lord is calling me to move on, to go do something else. Right now. It's just be sick and get better. But I wouldn't have been. I mean, if the Lord had made it known to me, I would have consented, but it wouldn't have been my idea. Let's just say it wouldn't have been something I sought out or chose on my own. I choose to step down as pastor at this time because I can't function anymore. And you need a functioning pastor. So, I think, again, it was a mercy. The Lord, in his infinite wisdom, desired me to step down and Father Carlson to step up, to become your pastor. And I think this time of trial for all of us again, is a way that God, so to speak, got me ready to step away and got you ready to see me step away and it's important to look at it from that perspective. It's the same thing any father or mother would do for their children.

When a difficult change has to happen in their life. You know, the parents always try to prepare those children the best that they can. There's still going to be suffering and difficulties and challenges, but you want to make that changes smooth as easy as possible. And honestly, I think that's exactly what this is. I see it as a mercy and a kindness, so I I'm at peace. surprisingly enough, thanks be to the grace of God.

I said to you in a video, when I announced that Father Michael Carlson would be your upcoming pastor. And it's important that you remember this. If the bishop had asked me. Father Miller, who do you want to replace you if you cannot be pastor of Saint Dorothy's now, he didn't say that. Bishops don't ask those kind of questions right. I didn't he didn't ask for my opinion, my views or what I wanted. You know, that's between him and his team and the Lord. So. But if he had put it to me, choose anyone you want, I would have chosen Father Carlson. I thought to myself. If I could not be pastor of Saint Dorothy's, that's the priest I would want to replace me. And it's sad and it should be, if you think about it, imagine you is as parents, fathers and mothers. If you had to give up your children for whatever reason it was required of you and someone else had to be chosen to take your place, this woman would now have to be the mother of your children, or this father would have to be the father of your children. You would choose very carefully one. It would break your heart to do so. And I'm assuming most of the kids wouldn't be happy about it. The teenagers would be like, yay, new parents, you know? But you know, that's a phase that passes. But for me, it's also such a consolation that the Lord shows that the bishop chose Father Carlson. And I know you'll be incredibly happy with him. I don't think you'll forget me, but within a few months, you'll realize, hey, this isn't that bad. In fact, right after Father Carlson was chosen. But before I could announce it to you, I was talking with him on the phone. And if you've seen him recently, you know he has a shaved head, like mine. And I said, you know, it's good that you have a shaved head, because I do as well. You just need to grow out a beard. And he goes, actually, I started growing out a beard a week ago, so, this is great. You're hardly going to notice any changes. What's. He's just a couple of inches taller. That's it. Basically, it's just Father Miller 2.0. I again, I see all of this as flowering of the will of God in our lives. And yes, it's through so much suffering physical, spiritual, emotional, all of these things, so many crosses that the Lord is asking us to bear. but again, the beauty of God's plan and it's not always easy to recognize, right? In hindsight, as they say, it's 2020, but while you're going through it, it feels so painful, and all change is difficult. I mean, look, we just got a new bishop now. He's wonderful, by the way, if you haven't gotten to know him yet, he's absolutely wonderful. And I'm excited for all of us. but last week he called me up and he said, do you mind if I come out? I want to spend some time with you. And he came out and he spent an hour with me just talking. Just seeing how I was doing if I needed anything. He's. He's so wonderful. Just wants to really care for not only his priests, but of course, all of all of you, his, his children. So, yes, these are changes, but they cannot be bad. They're always within the will of God. And that's the most important thing I want you to remember. If I leave a final message is trust in the divine providence. Trust in the will of God for your lives. You know, if you think about it for just a moment, everything in the life of Christ Jesus His son was already ordained.

Everything. Everything from the movement of the stars in the heaven that revealed his birth to all of the interactions and events that took place in his life. Everything was ordained by the father. God did by his hand for the sake of His Son in the salvation of souls. And you might be tempted to think, yes, but that's the Son of God. Of course that's going to happen. Yes. What? What do you think you are, your sons in the son. You are baptized into the body of Christ. This is Christ. You think his will in your lives is any less than that of his son? You think he loves you any less than he loves his own son. When you are identified with him, the will of God is just as clear and powerful and perfect.

 

But as with the life of Christ, there were ups and downs, joys and sorrows, crucifixions and resurrections. So, there will be in our lives. That's not a bad thing. It's all part of the plan. And so, remember that trust in that, you know, and if those moments of darkness come and you're having a hard time holding on to that faith, to that belief, you just cry out to the Blessed Mother for help. Keep me close to Jesus as well. Hold me. Don't let me slip. And in every prayer as we're supposed to, with the words of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, not my will thine be done.

Now there's one more message I would want to leave you with as a final homily. And that's not just, of course, trust in his divine providence and his will for our lives, for your lives, but also trust in his mercy. Often preached on that mercy and the mercy that we receive through all of the sacraments, but especially through the sacrament of Confession or reconciliation, we have been given the greatest gifts possible in these graces of Jesus Christ that is left to us in His church, and that we have not only the ability, but even the right to go to confession, to have our sins washed away so that we can stand before the face of God without fear, because we've made but we've been made clean of sin through the blood of his Son. How could we not take regular advantage of that mercy? If you remember the image that Jesus gave to Saint Faustina, Faustina was called the Apostle of Divine Mercy, or it is called the Apostle of Divine Mercy and Jesus. To try to explain his mercy, he said to us her ultimately to all of us, if you were to take all of the sins of all of mankind from all of time and put them all together, they would not equal one drop of water in comparison to the ocean. That is my mercy. All of the sins of all of mankind from all of time, wouldn't even equal a single drop of water compared to the ocean of his mercy. So, imagine you go out in a boat into the middle of some ocean. You take a little, you know, eye dropper, and you just drop one drop of water into the ocean. Could you ever find that drop again? No. It's gone. It could be oil. It could be blood. It could be sugar. It doesn't matter what you drop in there, it is now completely gone. That is the image that Christ left us through Saint Faustina. That is the font of mercy unending. And you're worried about your sin, which is not even a drop in the drop of water. Is sin terrible? Of course it is. Of course it is. Should you feel guilty about it? Of course you should. Should you hate sin, God does so. Of course you should. But should you fear for your salvation because of sin? No, it's the whole point of what Christ has done for us and the graces he has left us in His church. And it is difficult to go to confession. It takes a certain degree of humility. No one usually wants to go to another dude and tell him all the bad stuff. You wouldn't even tell your best friend. I'll remind you of something. One of my priest teachers in seminary said when he was teaching us about the sacrament of confession, he said, every human has, in a sense, three, three sides to themselves. There's they're public side. They're public face. This priest always called it their Facebook face. Right. It's what you want the rest of the world to see you as. It's not real. It's totally decorative and false, but it's what you want. People to think about you with. So, you know, you take these pictures, you say these things that you think everybody's going to love and like you for. So that's your public image. It's not real, but everybody has one. Then there's your private self, your private image. Usually only 1 or 2 people, the closest of friends, know the true you on that level. And he paused for a moment. He said, then there is your secret image, your secret self. And no one knows about that except your confessor. Those are the things you don't even share with your best of friends. You only bring them up for the sake of forgiveness. And he said this to us. He said, because you need to remember, when a soul comes to you to be forgiven of sin, it is the most vulnerable moment in the life of a Christian. And if you don't help them, gently care for them. They'll never come back to confession. This priest understood the vulnerability. It is for us to reveal our sins even to the minister of Christ. And yet, without that trust in our Lord, without that willingness to humble yourself and become vulnerable, you can't receive his mercy. You don't even want to do that for yourself. If you don't want to become that humble of that vulnerable for your own benefit, do it for Christ who became so vulnerable for you, so vulnerable that he could even suffer and die. Just do it for the love of him, even if you don't love yourself enough. Because imagine how much it would break his heart when he's gone so far to forgive you of your sins. And yet you do not accept his mercy. You know what this is like when you love someone so much and they won't let you love them, that's devastating. When they turn away from your love for whatever reason, it's the last thing that you want. And the thing that would make you happiest is if they just let you love them. And that's all. Christ. Once he wants to love you, but you have to be humble enough to let him love you. And that's it. If you ever remember anything from Father Miller, your pastor, trust in his will. Trust in his mercy.

Now, before I go, it's very important that I give a public thank you to father, in a way. And to Deacon Angelo, who served you so faithfully, when I could not. Father. And always been so generous and even adapting himself, to the style of Saint Dorothy's. And we're all very appreciative of that. When he started celebrating mass at Oriental, I was just giddy, like a schoolgirl. So, it's very happy. Thank you, father. Thank you. Take this with you wherever you may go. he's done a great job, and he's really given so much of his time. And I think it's difficult sometimes to understand how much a priest can sacrifice to serve the people. And he has done that. So, we all thank you, father. And, of course, Deacon Angelo, before I got sick, very graciously said to me one day, although he probably regrets it now. Hey, father, you know, if you need anything, just ask. So, we I have taken advantage of that. And thank you. And as meager as our thanks can be for both of you, in the end, it's the Lord who rewards. Because you've done this for him, right? This has all been done for our Lord, for the love of him. And remember that they didn't do this because they love you. I mean, hopefully they love you, but we don't do this because we love you. That's just and hopefully an afterthought. We do this for Christ. We do this for Christ.

And that's why you're here as well. You're not here for Father Miller. Father Nohe, Father Carlson, whoever you're here for Christ because he is your true shepherd. He is your true pastor. That never changes. And that's the beauty of the priesthood, is that no matter how many pastors you may have in your life and how many of us come and go, whether you like this one more or someone else, those are all okay things, but they don't really matter because in the end, it's all about Jesus Christ and the graces he gives you through the sacraments. That's the beauty that any priest can give you. Christ. Any priest can hear your confessions, consecrate the Eucharist. Any priest can do that. And thanks be to God for such a grace. And hopefully there is sorrow in parting, right? I mean, if you don't feel bad that I'm leaving, obviously you didn't like me very much and that's okay. I'm sorry for any faults on my part, for any sins and failings. I do apologize, but grief hopefully is a sign of our love as well of a good relationship that was formed that that isn't ending, of course. It's just changing. And ultimately, all of us have to have that everlasting hope of heaven that we'll all be there together for eternity in peace and good health. The hope that keeps us going. Now, this won't be too difficult for you, but as an unwritten rule, this is something Father Buettner, the previous pastor of Saint Dorothy, has taught me. And even Bishop Michael reminded me of last week when we spoke. It's an unwritten church rule that for the first year, a retired pastor does not return to his parish for at least a year. The father, Buettner you know, has come and celebrated sacraments here at Saint Dorothy's. But he didn't do it the first year he left, and I became your pastor. The reason this is an unwritten rule is because you have to accept the fact that I'm not your pastor. Well, starting Tuesday at 11, I know it's sad that I'm leaving. Sweetie, I'm so sorry. So, the only one of you who expresses ours. Thank you, sweetheart, I was I was getting upset, actually. So. So, yes, this unwritten rule and the reason that a pastor is not supposed to return for at least a year. It'll be easier because I'm sick. Yeah, I have a good excuse. But even if I get better, I won't return for a year. Even if I'm invited. Because you have to let go of the man who was your old pastor and embrace the new one. And if the old pastor keeps sticking around, that doesn't make it easy on you or on him. I will follow this unwritten rule of the church. Not being here at Saint Dorothy doesn't mean I'll never visit your houses or come for a special parish parties or things like that now and then. But sacramentally spiritually speaking, those kinds of things are out of my hands starting at 12 noon on Tuesday. Literally, my resignation letter said I resign at 11:59 this Tuesday. I that precise I had to let them know. And he will be your pastor at 12 noon. And I believe he'll celebrate the 12:10 mass on Tuesday will be first master's your pastor.

 

But again, you will find such peace and joy and happiness in him. the Lord has made such a good choice. in choosing Father Carlson and, you know, remember, don't compare him to me too much. And don't compare me to him too much. just be patient with him. Keep him in your prayers. As I know many of you have been doing. Pray those rosaries for him and continue, of course, to add me. And at the end of your prayers, you know, and it's a change for all of us. But change isn't bad. Difficult, yes, but because we know this is the will of God, we can be at peace knowing that whatever will happen and will come ultimately will be for our good.

Now, if father, in a way will permit me, I would like to give you a blessing. I know it's not kind of normal, but a blessing. before, as the end of the homily today, and I will be greeting you after mass, in the vestibule to make sure and say goodbye to all of you. Don't stand.

The Lord be with you. And may Almighty God bless you. May you turn his face toward you. May he give you peace. He who is father, son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Go in peace. Thanks be to God.

Homily begins at 9:52

Bless the Lord, O my soul and all within me, his holy name.

The gospel today shows Jesus power over sickness and death. The story of the woman with hemorrhages demonstrates great faith because she tried every remedy without success. The story of Jairus and his daughter demonstrate also great faith on the part of a religious leader. Most religious leaders oppose Jesus, but Jairus comes as a believer. The story shows Jesus dealing with people of different social standing. Jairus is well-to-do and influential. The woman is financially impoverished, but Jesus does not favor one over the other. In both stories, competent authorities have proven that no remedy is possible. For 12 years, the woman spent all her money on physicians and their best remedies failed. Both Jairus and the woman show considerable faith in Jesus. Upon meeting Jesus Jairus, a prominent member of the Jewish religious community, the gospel tells us, fell at the feet of Jesus.

He pleaded saying, my daughter is near death. Please come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live as a man of authority. Jairus must be concerned for his image, but to seek help for his daughter. He must set aside all pride. Jesus went with Jairus and on the way, the woman with hemorrhages came up behind Jesus in the crowd and touched his cloak because she believed if she just touched his clothes, she would be cured. The gospel tells us immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt she was healed of her affliction. Jesus felt power go out from him and asked, who touched my clothes? The woman confessed and Jesus said to her, daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction. Note the relationship of faith and healing.

The power by which Jesus heals is God's power. The faith of the individual is important in receiving the blessing of the healing. But always remember, faith must be present. What? The miracle does not occur. People from Jairus, his home arrived and said, your daughter has died. Why trouble the teacher any longer? Jesus saw people weeping and crying. Alerting the community to the death and signifying grief. But Jesus said to Jairus. Do not be afraid. Just have faith. Jesus told the people, the child is not dead, but asleep. And as the gospel tells us, they ridiculed Jesus. Jesus took Peter, James, and John. The child's mother and father and entered a room where the child was. Jesus took the child by the hand, and he said “Talitha Koum” in Aramaic, meaning little girl I say to you, arise again.

Mark is very emphatic. He says. Immediately she arose and walked. Jesus gave orders that no one should know this. Remember what Jesus had said at one time. He only reveals to crowds what they are prepared to understand. A leper Jesus had healed at one time proclaimed openly that Jesus had healed him, and people overwhelmed him from everywhere.

It appears here that Jesus were looking to make a very silent exit. But the story of Jairus, his daughter, is more than a healing. It is a resurrection.

 

Homily begins at 20.47

Faith means not only to believe in God, but to trust in God.

Jesus had ministered to the people all day long along the shore of Galilee, but in his humanity. Now he needed rest. The boat that he entered into, he goes to the stern of the boat, and as it says, he falls asleep on a cushion. Then the gospel says, suddenly a violent squall came and threatened to capsize the boat. The disciples woke him and said, teacher, do you not care how we are perishing? The gospel continues. He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, quiet, be still. The wind ceased, and there was quiet, calm. Then he asked them, why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?  In the midst of the storm. The disciples felt that Jesus did not care about them.

They were in fear of death. Both doubt and fear come from a lack of faith. The disciples were shocked when the wind and the waves of nature obey Jesus. Jesus rebuked the disciples because they lack faith. Their lack of faith was expressed in two ways through fear and powerlessness. There was nothing they felt they could do, but Jesus wanted them to be men of faith, overcoming fear. Jesus wanted them to experience the power of faith. Satan uses fear to enslave people and keep them from coming to God. The question is, how can we overcome fear? Jesus wants us to overcome fear by having faith in God in any situation. Jesus wants us to believe in the love of God. Absolutely. God does not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and self-control.

Faith means not only to believe in God, but to trust in God. God allows storms in our lives to draw us closer to him, to teach us lessons and strengthen our faith. God's love and power always prevail. The gospel closes with the disciples expressing their wonder and awe of Jesus when they say, who then is this whom even when and see, obey?  They now begin to realize Jesus is more than man. This led them to eventually confess that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of the living God. I have one other element which I will present concerning this homily for this simple reason. Jesus is upset when he knows they should be at the forefront, not be afraid. He chastises them because of their lack of faith.

After a day of Jesus preaching the good news, the crowd of people still sought to be with Jesus. Why? His words were captivating. They were inspirational. They gave hope. The people felt loved in his presence as his words fed and nourished their soul, especially the miracles he worked because of the depth of his compassion for those in need. My question is, what did the disciples not understand? They observed all these things when they were with the Lord, when he was doing his work, serving the people and their needs, the people that Jesus served on, that sure, they got it right, but the disciples just didn't get it yet.

 

 

I have two announcements to make. Our first registration continues this weekend for our Summer Catholic Kids Camp tracking Mary. The fee is $10 per child for five nights of fun and catechesis as they travel to countries that have been blessed with a Marian apparition. Donations are always welcome to bring this program to the children of the parish. Also, as we prepare for a summer CKC Catholic Kids camp entitled Tracking Mary. Our Knights of Columbus Council is hosting summer nights at the movies.

The children in our summer program will be visiting the countries where approved apparition of Our Lady have taken place. They will visit such places as Lourdes in France, Fatima in Portugal, and Guadalupe in Mexico. With this in mind, the nights will sponsor three family nights at the movies. Admission is free and popcorn and drinks will be available. Viewing will take place in the Holy Family Hall.

It is suggested you bring comfy chairs or blankets to sit on.

Thanks.

Word of God

In today's gospel, Mark emphasizes two parables concerning the kingdom of God. The question is, since Jesus emphasized so much about the parables, what are parables? They are short stories with a purpose. They teach moral and spiritual lessons through comparison or analogy. Jesus used everyday situations and characters to reveal the kingdom of God. They can help us reflect on our own lives, values, and choices and inspire us to seek wisdom and compassion.

In the first parable of the growing seed, the scattered seed is the Word of God, and the fruit is bears of its own accord. Well, only time will show how a person's faith will grow and develop. The quiet beginnings of the kingdom does not make the kingdom happen by force of will, the parable explains. It is a teacher's responsibility to teach.

That is, to scatter the seed. The teacher cannot force people to accept the message. It is a matter of choice. The Kingdom of God, initiated by Jesus, is proclaiming the word develops quietly and yet powerfully until it's fully established by him. The parable shows that the kingdom of God will continue to grow and spread until the end of time.

The second parable. The mustard seed. In this parable, Jesus teaches that although the kingdom of God started small with Jesus and his disciples, it would grow and spread across the world to one limited number of followers. The gospel tells us when the mustard seed is sown in the ground, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants. What it is saying to us, the kingdom of God will overtake all earthly kingdoms.

The mustard seed is a symbol in the Bible that represents faith, growth, and dependance. The mustard seed symbolizes the growth that can happen and can happen in people's lives. Through faith in Jesus Christ, with even the smallest amount of faith. A mustard seed serves as a reminder of the incredible growth that can occur as one embraces faith and believes in it.

To question why is heaven like a mustard seed? A tiny mustard seed is capable of transforming the world. That is, we who have faith and believe are capable of transforming the world. Because God's kingdom is not one of power and might, but of a reign of love. God is love, and love is forever because God is forever. Today being Father's Day, I would just like to make a few positive comments on fathers.

Being a father, myself and a grandfather from the book of Ciroc in the Old Testament, a father was the head of the family, for the Lord sets a father in honor of his children. He who honors his father is gladdened by children, and when he prays, he is heard. He who reveres his father will live a long life.

Kindness to a father will not be forgotten. It will take lasting root. Therefore, in word and deed, honor your father. As fathers, our spiritual vocation by word and example is to bring God into the lives of our families. As Saint Paul says, husbands, love your wives and pray for them. As parents, we can only continue what we do here every Sunday.

Take your children to mass. Teach your children to pray. Say grace at mealtime. Say prayers with your young children at the bed. Don't be afraid to get on your hands and knees. They learn by example. And thank God for the day that he has given us. I will conclude with the statement from Sarah here, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching.

That is why God's fourth commandment says, honor thy father and thy mother. At the conclusion of mass today, before father gives the final blessing, he will give a blessing to all the fathers, grandfathers, those who will become fathers, a blessing. So don't go anywhere. The best is yet to come.

 

Homily begins at 23:27

 

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him, says the Lord.

Last week we discussed one of the great mysteries of the church, the Holy Trinity. That there are three divine persons in one God. This week we encounter another great mystery the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, also known as Corpus Christi. Both mysteries, though not proceed by our senses, are revealed to us through God's wonderful theological gift to us.

It is called faith. We first received his virtue at baptism. The first half of today's gospel are Jesus instructions for preparing for the Passover, or what we call the Last Supper, which takes place on Holy Thursday. Let us focus when Jesus institutes the Holy Eucharist. The gospel says he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, take it.  This is my body. The word. This does not refer to the act of the breaking of the bread, but to that which Jesus gives his disciples. That is something which looked like bread, and which was no longer bread, but the body of Christ. This is my body. That is to say, what I am giving you now and what you are taking is my body. The bread becomes his very body. The Lord has said, the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh. What does this mean? The Lord maintains the appearances of the bread and wine but changes their substance into the reality of his flesh and blood. The words of consecration of the chalice. This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Clearly shows the Eucharist is a sacrifice. The blood of Christ is poured out, sealing the new and definitive covenant of God with men. This covenant remained sealed forever by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, in which Jesus is both priest and victim. Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist, body and blood, soul and divinity. Under the appearance of bread and wine.  After the words of consecration are said by the priest, the substance has been changed into Jesus. The church calls this transubstantiation. The mass looks like a meal, but the mass is also a sacrifice upon the cross. Jesus offered himself in suffering and sacrifice. In the mass, he offers himself under the appearance of bread and wine. But this is the same Jesus.

 

Saint Paul says the Eucharist is a reliving of the sacrifice of the cross. Therefore, in faith we know we are receiving Jesus. As the gospel concludes. Jesus says, I shall not drink again. The fruit of the vine. Until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom. He promises the day will come when he will meet with them again. When the kingdom of God will have come in all its fullness. He's referring to the beatific life in heaven so often compared to a banquet.

 

Homily begins at 31.06

One of the Mysteries

Today is Trinity Sunday. One of the mysteries. Great mysteries of the church, a Holy Mother. The church has taught us that there are three Divine persons and one God. We cannot fathom it. We cannot understand it. And no human capacity is even the story that goes back to Saint Augustine when he was walking along the seashore. And a young boy approaches him, and he said to him, Augustine, I know you trying to contemplate how you get 3 in 1. He says, but you shall not really know until you see him face to face and then the boy disappeared. As I said, it's the mystery of the church.

In last week's gospel, we saw the action, interaction and cooperation of the Holy Trinity. That is God the Father, the first person of the Holy Trinity, God the Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity, and God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity. What did they do? They interacted to create and establish one holy church and assist the disciples. Jesus divinely founded the church when Jesus would leave. The Holy Spirit will inspire and guide the church until the end of time, which has been the case for the last 2000 years, until the end of time. And it was all at the direction of God the Father.

Today's gospel, you might say, is Jesus farewell until his second coming. The gospel tells us when they saw him, they worshiped, meaning they bowed down to him. It also tells us. But they doubted. Why would they doubt? They know Jesus died, that he was executed and buried. They were hesitant to believe. But now they see Jesus alive again, confirming beyond all doubt that he is the Messiah. Their teacher is Lord of life. Exercising power even over death. Jesus understood their doubt, but he speaks to their faith. He calls them to carry on his work. As time goes by, the disciples will grow into the role that Jesus gives them. They will sow seeds that will take root and multiply. When Jesus says, all power in heaven and on earth has been given to me, we think of the Book of David. To him was given dominion and glory and kingship that all peoples, nations, languages should serve him. His kingship shall never be destroyed. Our Lord's kingship and authority extends over all the earth and into heaven. Jesus can command obedience from his disciples and his ability to empower them. He further tells us, go, therefore make disciples of all nations. The disciples must go, baptize, and teach the followers of these disciples.

There are people who are willing to learn. They're like students. A person committed to learning what a teacher has to teach. You must not only learn, but live what you are taught. As Jesus says, teaching them all I have commanded you. At first the disciples worked among the Jews because Jesus told them. My father said, first go to the house of Israel. But we knew what happened mostly fell on deaf ears. But now the command is to go out into the whole world. The Gentiles are to be included. Jesus instructed them, baptized in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit. Yet there is no record of the 11 themselves being baptized. In the very early church. Baptism was done in the name of Jesus. As reflected in this gospel, we see the threefold formula that was later adopted. Being baptized in the name of indicates a new relationship, a rebirth and adoption. The new relationship involves all three divine persons of the Holy Trinity in our spiritual life. As the gospel concludes, Jesus says, all that I have commanded you, Jesus does not permit us to pick and choose what we will believe or obey. Jesus teachings are authoritative. Our opinions are not. When he says at the very end that he will be with us to the end of the age, he is promising to be with us. Now and in the future, and in the timeless state of eternity.

 

Homily Begins at 18:32

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the heart of the faithful

In today's gospel, Jesus talks about the coming of the advocate who is the spirit of truth. Jesus knew the disciples did not have the courage or confidence to continue what Jesus began. In order to console them, he promises to send them the advocate who proceeds from the father. Jesus says, the Spirit will testify on my behalf, and you shall also testify.

That is, bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. Jesus says, I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. Jesus told them, The Son of Man must suffer. But the disciples were not able to see this. Why? The disciples expected a warrior king to defeat the enemies of Israel, especially the Romans.

They sought glory. They had seen the miracles that Jesus had worked, and yet they could not imagine a suffering servant. The advocate in this gospel is a teacher, a witness to Jesus. He will assume the responsibility for the disciple’s enlightenment. Jesus tells us he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but what he hears. And he will declare to you the things that are coming. Every generation of Christians faces new challenges to its faith and to its practice. The spirit of truth keeps God's word. He keeps it alive through every changing circumstance. The faithfulness of Jesus and the spirit in what they heard guarantees the truth of what they proclaim. Jesus continues by saying, he will glorify me.

He will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything the father has is mine. Earlier, Jesus had declared that his teaching was not his own but was from the one who sent him. This is how Jesus can say, when the spirit of truth comes, he will speak what he hears and not speak on his own.

Jesus has been faithful in glorifying the father, and the spirit will be faithful and glorifying the son. Therefore, we can conclude that God the Father is the master architect of what was preached and taught by Jesus Christ. And then continued by the Spirit of truth. Jesus divinely founded his church, and the Spirit of truth will guide it until the end of time. Our holy Church is run by fallible human beings. If it strays from its course, the power of the Holy Spirit will bring it back on course. We ourselves first receive the Holy Spirit in baptism and confirmation. He endows us with seven magnificent gifts. Spiritually, we are set for the rest of our adult lives. Obedience to God's commandments and the use of confession and Holy Communion keep us in God's love and grace.

They assist us in achieving our goal. That goal is our salvation.

 

Homily begins at 24:30

Go into the world and evangelize

In today's gospel, Jesus commissions the 11 notices, says the 11. Because of what happened to Judas, they had not yet chosen. Matthias says the 12th. He says, go into the world and evangelize, preach, and teach all that I have taught you to all creation. He says, the man who believes in it and accepts baptism will be saved. The man who refuses to believe will be condemned. Therefore, after hearing the word of God, it is our choice to accept it or to deny it. Our Lord uses a rather harsh word when he says condemnation, but he means exactly what he's saying. Come with me and you'll have eternal life. As we move on in the gospel, Jesus proclaims signs like these will accompany those who have professed their faith, but they must use my name to expel the demons, speak the new languages, drink deadly things that would cause harm, and the sick upon whom they lay their hands, will recover.

Notice what our Lord had said, since he had also told us, The Jews seek science, and the Greeks seek wisdom. But signs to the Jews meant miraculous things that they had seen with their own eyes. Wondrous deeds. The perfect example of what our Lord set down concerning the signs and using my name in the acts of the apostles, Saint Peter was called before the religious leaders in the temple. He's, along with another apostle. They admonishing the religious leaders that the Jews had said, didn't we tell you not to use that man's name anymore? They didn't really know what to do with him till they let him go out. But they told him again. They admonished him. Remember, don't talk in that man's name. And what happens as he's leaving the city by the gates?  A lot of people who were ill, crippled, blind, they would seek alms at the city gates. And there was one such man there. And he's asking for alms from Peter. And Peter says to him, silver, and gold, I have none but the name of Jesus Christ. Arise in war. And the gospel tells us, the man rose, and he walked in the name of Jesus Christ.

The gospel goes further and tells us that Jesus rises to heaven, is exalted by his heavenly father to the right hand. That's another significant thing for the Jewish people. They sit at the right side. That's the most honorable position. So, in the celestial court, Jesus is the most honored. As the gospel ends. It tells us the 11 preached everywhere to confirm the message and the signs that accompanied them.  Jesus was with them even from heaven. Our Lord was in their presence.

I want to say congratulations and Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers that are here. And we may have 1 or 2 expectant mothers. We congratulate you. It's not an easy thing for a man to define motherhood. But when I sat down and I thought about it, you'd be surprised what God gives you.  While we respect our fathers as the patriarch and head of the family, we love our mothers. As the matriarch who runs the family. And a good man knows a mother is the centerpiece of the family. Each mother has a spiritual bond. She can have five children, ten children, a spiritual bond with each child. Something a man cannot experience.  A mother tries to instill a moral accomplice as to the good things in life that begin with God for their children. A woman's vocation and sacrifice as a mother is the greatest dedication in humanity, and a mother's love for the physical, emotional, and spiritual upbringing of their children. Is without equal. And for each mother here. Grandmother. Maybe somebody is a great grandmother.  I say this to you. May your children and your children's children call you blessed all the days of your life. When father is near the end of the mass today, near the conclusion, he will give a blessing to all mothers at that time. Thank you.

 

Homily begins at 20:06

Jesus connects Love, Obedience and Joy

The gospel that I have just read. Jesus connects love, obedience, and joy. Jesus says he Himself found joy and fulfilling the will of His Father even in the face of adversity. That adversity was nothing less than laying down his life for his friends. By his sacrifice on the cross, this is how he can say there is no greater love than this to lay down one's life for his friends. Jesus says, you will live in my love if you keep my commandments. Even as I kept my father's commands and I live in his love, when motivated, obedience by love becomes a source of joy. Jesus said, it was not you who chose me. It was I who chose you. Though you live in this world. You must not be of this world.

I chose you to go forth and bear fruit. Your fruit must endure. It takes courage to follow Jesus. Christian discipleship is demanding. Saint Augustine and Saint Paul both taught. We are not citizens of this world. We are on a journey. Were pilgrims going through the world until we get to our promised land, which is heaven? Christians seek to experience the things that are above, not what is here on earth. To choose the city of man means to choose oneself over God and neighbor. To choose the city of God. Beings who love God and total trust and obedience. The question is, can the values of our culture be reconciled with the truth of Christ? It is in this church on this very altar, that the kingdom of God and the city of man meet.

It is here that we receive Jesus in the Eucharist. It is here we have learned, as Jesus asks, to learn how to love one another.

 

Homily begins at 20:21

Pray the Rosary

My name is Father Noe Torres, I am the Vicar at Immaculate Conception in Hendersonville and at the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Asheville and now I am here at St. Dorothy, three churches!

I will be with you celebrating the Holy mass and sacraments. If God asks us if you have done 7 works of charity before you enter heaven you will begin to remember that you only helped two or three, but you had in your life the commandments and sacraments. God invites us to fulfill and bear fruit and love, love your wife, love your children, and love your neighbor; lets celebrate with Christ the passion.

God blesses you always and don’t forget to pray the rosary every day to the Blessed Virgin Mary, I need families to pray together.

No more internet, well a little internet, but I need families to pray together.

I invite St. Dorothy to pray everyday in the home and at church with your heart.

Amen.

Homily begins at 22.30

I am the good shepherd, says the Lord

We continue to pray for Father Miller as he attempts to recover from illness. And I know it's somewhat difficult for you because you never know who you're going to get. On a given weekend, we have reached the bottom of the barrel. My name is Father Matthew Kauth, and for those of you I don't know. I work at the seminary in the rectory of Saint Joseph College Seminary and it's a pleasure to be here with you. I have been here a million times, but in many years gone by as well. So, it's good to be back.

In the sixth chapter of John's gospel, which we commonly call the Bread of Life discourse, it begins with our Lord feeding the 5000. And Saint John makes an interesting comment on that, because when Jesus has the people recline and he's about to feed them. Saint John mentions in his gospel there was a lot of green grass there. It seems like a throwaway line. Why would he bother with so few pages of a gospel and so few things to recount in space and time of all that our Lord did as he himself says, if I recounted everything that all the books in the world would contain it, why waste one line to say a lot of green grass? It is what the scholars call a memory hook. Imagine Saint John, years after our Lord has ascended into heaven and the island of Patmos exiled, recalling those moments of the one that he loves as the beloved Disciple himself. And he finally sees what happens. So often in John's Gospel, as you've noticed, no doubt that our Lord says one thing, and everyone understands something else.

They keep missing each other, as for example, with Nicodemus when he says, unless you be born from above again, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. And Nicodemus, rightly scratching his temples, thinks to himself, how in the world am I going to fit inside my mom again? And if his mother was there, she'd be saying, no way, right? But doesn't get it. In other words, speaking about something different, they constantly miss each other. But in this case, no doubt John mentions it because he sees the fulfillment of the good Shepherd. Why mention green grass? Because here's the shepherd about to feed them, and in this case, not with grass. He has them recline on the grass, and he feeds them with bread and with fish. All in anticipation of feeding them with himself and so, when you hear perhaps that favorite psalm of most Psalm 23, when you when you hear Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want fresh and verdant green, or the pastures where he gives me repose. John remembered the green grass, and he understood now with the light of the Holy Spirit, he knew why our Lord did what he did in fulfillment of that song and yet there's more to that Psalm than just the green grass and the feeding. And it's an aspect that you and I perhaps don't want to see. I would rather stop at the green grass and wanting for nothing. But the psalm goes on. Though I walk in the midst of darkness, I will not fear, because you are with me the question that is begged here is, why in the world would a good shepherd lead you into a dark valley? Wouldn't a good shepherd keep you in the sun? Wouldn't he make sure that you fed and frolicked on the hillsides as opposed to a dark and barren valley? And yet the psalm goes on. You have set a banquet for me in the sight of my foes. Why would the shepherd feed them with foes all around them? He is the good shepherd. But that doesn't make it easy. He takes you where he is going to go. Once there was a man by the name of Solzhenitsyn. You probably know who he is. A great Russian author. And in the time of the Soviet communism, he was one of the agents and because the only moral principle of the Soviets was whatever's best for the party, they typically betrayed each other because there is no morality. I remember this line that he said when he himself was betrayed and lying in a Russian gulag before he exposed it later on, and all the terrors and atrocities of Russia, he said, as he's lying in prison on a bed of rotting straw.

I thought my whole life wrongly about prosperity. Praise you, prison, for if you had not grabbed me, I would not have found my lord. How strange is that? He's lying on a bed of rotting grass, and it is the very place in which he encountered Christ. Remember, after our Lord feeds the 5000. They come after him, and he turns around and says, you're not following me because you've heard my word, or because you've seen signs, much less that the fact that you think that I'm God, you're only following me because I fed you bread is the lowest possible gift I could give you. It's the prosperity gospel. But life, as Solzhenitsyn says in that passage, is not about prosperity in the human sense. It is about the education of the soul. I want to learn to feed on Jesus Christ, on His word, on his presence. I want to know him. And if that's the case, then nothing can actually hurt me. I can walk through a dark valley, not by myself, none of the darkness of sin away from him, isolated and alone and frightened. But I walk next to him, and I will go where he goes. It's like the beautiful line from Ruth I will go where you go. I will lie down. Where you lie down, I will eat what you eat, and I will die where you die. All with the knowledge that that's not the end of the story. And the beautiful thing about Easter is those who have walked through the dark valley with him get to see the sunrise.

There's a beautiful line in Saint Paul's letter to the Corinthians, which you hear every time you go to a wedding, perhaps. Right. Love is patient, love is kind. And everyone's been married for 25 years. I know about that. And but at the end, he says Caritas know it. It's a beautiful line. But charity does not go away. It doesn't die, it doesn't leave. That is to say, friendship with Christ if you know him. But you got to ask yourself that question. Do you know his voice? Does he know yours? If you know him, if you are friends with him, then the very last beat of your heart on this earth is the first beat of your heart in eternity. That charity doesn't go away. Friendship with Christ does not go away, though everything else does. We conquer overwhelmingly. Saint Paul says, because of him who has loved us. And that is worth and Alleluia!

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

Amen

Homily begins at 26:51

Let us open our heart to Jesus

In our gospel reading today, Luke underscores the fact that Jesus is truly alive. Now, this might strike you as a very basic truth of all Christians believe but let me add a bit more to that sentence that makes it even more striking. He is very much alive in the Eucharist that is consecrated in every Catholic Mass that is offered throughout the world, every day until the end of time. This is a basic truth that many Christians do not believe, and it is this that I want to focus on today. Let's zero in on the first sentence. Zero in on the first sentence of our gospel reading, Luke begins this passage with two disciples who had met Jesus on the road to Emmaus, telling the apostles that Jesus was alive.

Here's the part that gets overlooked. And they recognized him only when he broke that bread with them. What an interesting thing to say. They walked and talked with him for quite a while, and they did not recognize him until he blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to them. That sounds suspiciously like Holy Communion, doesn't it? And speaking of Holy Communion, we know from the very earliest times that this belief that Jesus is alive and physically present Body, Blonds Soul and Divinity.

After the consecration of the bread and wine was clearly believed. In fact, it is this very belief that caused the pagans to accuse the early Christians of cannibalism. From a letter dating in the to the year 176. We read of an early Christian by the name of Athens, who wrote to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Addressing this charge, he argued that Christians are not cannibals because cannibal is and requires that the flesh of the victim be dead.

He simply observed, Christians are not cannibals because the flesh of Christ which is consumed is not dead flesh. The resurrected and fully live flesh of Christ glorified body. Our faith teaches us that with the sacrament of the Eucharist, we are invited to a profound encounter with the living Christ. It's not merely a symbolic gesture, a remembrance of past events.

Rather, it is a sacramental reality where the divine intersects with the human. In other words, at the time of consecration, the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the cross is made present to us in this Holy Mass. The sacrifice on Calvary reaches through time and touches us with grace and power. For while the crucifixion occurred at a point in historical time, it transcends time.

I find it to be so very sad that not only do Protestants not believe that Jesus is truly alive in the sacrament, but many Catholics do not believe this either. Polls show us that those who profess to be Catholic, 69%, believe that Jesus is present only symbolically in the Eucharist. Of those who attend mass every Sunday, the statistics are a bit better, but still not good.

63% believe that Christ is fully present. Body, Blond, Soul, and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist. That still means that fully one third of mass going Catholics do not believe this. You might ask, how can we witness to those who do not believe that Jesus is alive and among us today in the Blessed Sacrament? Well, my friends, I would say that actions generally speak louder than words.

As Catholics, if we truly believe that the kingdom of heaven is on earth with us now, here in this church, we must act like a king is present. We must always enter a Catholic church with great respect and solemnity. We must dress with proper dignity that is befitting an audience with the King. We must honor him with reverence, without oration, and with a profound and holy fear.

As this year has been proclaimed to be the year of Eucharistic Revival. Let me conclude with a quote from the great Curia of ours, Saint John VNA. “We know that Jesus is there in the Tabernacle. Let us open our hearts to him. Let us rejoice in his sacred presence”. That is the best prayer.

 

Amen.

Be A Man and Women of God

The Sunday is so rich, there's so much to be, to be shared and to be to reflect on. First, it's the first Sunday after Easter. The resurrection. The big deal. Resurrection is everything for us. And today we are celebrating that divine mercy that amazing sign of God's love. When he revealed to Saint Faustina, revealed to her, explain to her how much he cares about us, how much he loves us, pointing to his heart, telling us through her that his mercy is so great, and we are so oblivious. We have no clue how much God loves us. We have no idea how much, how patient He is, how forgiving he is, how many chances he gave us over and over. You see, my brothers and sisters, if we understand God's forgiveness, God's mercy, if we see our imperfect person or understand our whole attitude to life changes. Because you see, if you're aware that you're not perfect, that you make me, you are sinner and God is forgiving you at humbles you. Your nose is no longer up in the sky. You know, you feel like I'm a sinner. I'm grateful that God been patient with me. You know, you live in this humble attitude and the beautiful thing is you become more understanding to those who are imperfect. You become more patient for those who are weak, who make mistakes because you are yourself imperfect and when you see someone in imperfect, you tell them, Hey, welcome to the club. We all are sinners. We all are weak. It's like kids playing in the swimming pool. All these kids are in the water and splashing. And one kid got up and the point finger at the others. Hey, you are all wet. You're all wet. They all look at him. You're stupid. You are wet too. We all wet. We are no water, you know. That's how human nature. By being in the water or by being in the flesh. We are weak. We are sinners. Of course. We all fall short before the mercy of God. That's why the more we understand God's mercy, the more we become merciful to each other. So, this is. And what does it mean? Mercy. It means that's the sign of love. When you love somebody, you go easy on them. When you love someone, you don't hold every mistake over their head and beat them and say, look at you what you did, you know? If you love someone, you go easy on them. Them. All right let's get up.

Let's try to do better. Let's try to recover from this. Don't stay down. We help each other get back on our feet and do better. That's the whole idea. So, we did. We do need to appreciate God's love. And that's why we dedicated the whole Sunday to honor God's mercy toward us. Not God doesn't need it for us. It's for us to be aware that God that we've been we've been loved so much, we've been forgiven so much, not only number one, but to do the same to each other. Be merciful, forgiving, and kind to each other. That's. That's why Jesus today spoke about forgiveness. Forgive. You know, He gave us the power to be fit to represent him on Earth.

 

To the church, of course, to the to the consecrated priests and bishops, etc. So, what do we learn today, brothers and sisters? We have an awesome, loving God, and he love to see us live in harmony with each other patient and kind with each other. You want to break his heart, fight with each other, hurt each other. That's the worst thing you can do. If you love God, you make peace. Be the instrument of his peace everywhere you go and you, to achieve peace, it will involve sacrifice. It involves lying to yourself. That's why Jesus says blessed are the peacemakers. He didn't say. He wouldn't say that if it was easy. You don't give somebody a big reward ever. Something easy to achieve. Everybody could do it. There would be no reward. All right. Hey, you know, I know he could tell us. So today, my brothers and sisters, I don't want to go on and on. Repeat the same message. Simple. You love Jesus. Go easy on each other. You love Jesus. Prove it. Show it. Don't talk about it.

Be a man. A woman of God. God.  Man and woman of mercy. Man of women. Of peace. When people see you from a distance, let them feel happy, joyful, not run for their life. Or here comes trouble. Run for your life. Because some people, when they come in, forget about it. Forget about it. They know. All they do is criticize. They pick on you. Pick on this and gossip. Run their mouths about everything. They're a nightmare. You know, That's not us. Don't ever be careful. Don't ever be that because it's very easy. We could all do it. Don't do that. Be a man and a woman of God. Whenever. Wherever you go, bring that gentle presence of Jesus that people feel when they see you. Like I said, from a distance, their heart and elated and happy and joyful for seeing you. Bring Jesus with you. Bring his gentle presence. So, yes, Lord of Heaven and Earth, we are so grateful for you, for your amazing mercy, for being patient with us over and over. We make stupid mistakes. We say stupid things all the time, and many times we hate ourselves for the things we do or mainly for the things we failed to do that we could be doing in our life. Thank you for being going easy on us and patiently walking with us. Help us do the same. Help us be great. Show you our gratitude by being kind to each other, forgiving to each other, merciful on each other. And we pray, especially for our brothers in the world who have no hearts, who are so cruel, mean, and hurtful that they may come back to their senses and repent and stop hurting their brothers and sisters so we can truly all honor you, Lord Jesus, and make you proud all the days of our lives.

Amen

Homily begins at 22:18

The Sixth Sorrow of Mary

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

 What image comes to mind when you think of motherhood? Well, perhaps the most common image is or pictures of motherhood is that some form of image of Madonna and child that really takes center stage around Christmas time. However, this image of a mother holding her child presupposes another moment, because every birth is preceded by a conception. The mystery of our Lord's Nativity is preceded by the mystery of the Annunciation. And recalling that first joyful mystery, the Angel Gabriel delivers the divine invitation that Mary is chosen to be the mother of God's son. Our Lady is given a free choice to accept or to reject the gift of the son and to accept or reject the invitation to motherhood and so you see that the first movement of the vocation of motherhood and fatherhood occurs the moment that mothers and fathers are open to life and invitation that is sadly rejected all too often in this modern world. The Blessed Virgin Mary personifies what it means to be open to life, to receive the gift of new life. Motherhood requires a fundamental trust in the love of the Heavenly Father, and this trust in the Heavenly Father bear’s fruit.

Our Lady's Yes. Or we say oftentimes in Latin Fiat, the word meaning let it be her willing acceptance to the gift of her son is the first movement of motherhood. This first joyful mystery of the annunciation moves then to the third joyful mystery in which she gives birth to the son of God. She receives her divine Son accepts him, and then she wraps him in swaddling clothes and lays him in a manger. The son is newborn. He is full of life, Hope, expectation. This familiar image of mother and son projects the tenderness, the tranquility of the vocation of motherhood. However, this image only communicates the first part of the mystery of motherhood. Because as soon as we are born, we begin a pilgrimage towards death and it's precisely there at death that we encounter a second image of motherhood, seeing the life of Jesus and Mary.

The third joyful mystery 33 years later becomes the sixth and the seventh sorrow of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the sixth sorrow of our Lady occurs when she receives her son after his crucifixion and death on the cross. This time when she receives his body, it is lifeless, drained of expectation. The seventh sorrow of our lady occurs when she once again wraps his body in swaddling clothes. Only this time she lays him not in a manger, but in the tomb. The tears of joy that were shed at his birth have become the bitter tears of sorrow shed at his death. And yet, we might say there's a sort of a faint echo of the mother's words that can still be heard through her pain and sorrow. Fiat, let it be done to me, according to your word. Our lady continues to bear witness, even at death, to the lesson of motherhood. The fundamental receptivity to the will of God. This is foundational for motherhood. In his will is our peace. And like that serene image of the Madonna and child, the ties that's been called the mother holding her adult son lifeless body also radiates the tenderness and tranquility of motherhood. It is actually a very peaceful image. Our Lady, or rather our Lord, is comforted by our lady in both scenes, in both moments at his birth and at his death. And so we discover that motherhood begins with receiving the gift of a child. But motherhood doesn't end there. After receiving and caring for that child, every mother must give that child back to God.

Back to the Heavenly Father. The sixth and the seventh star of Our Lady completes the mystery of motherhood.

Now, this is a lesson that seems rather abstract, but it's something that I encountered firsthand a number of years ago. That's when I first learned this lesson. Many of you know my brother Mark. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer five years ago. Now, many of you prayed for him, prayed for his family and my family during his battle on behalf of Mark and his family, were very grateful for your prayers and for your sacrifices these five years. My brother Mark died in November, just days before Thanksgiving, and I had the privilege of offering his funeral mass. But 12 years ago, my sister-in-law, Pamela and Mark, Mark's wife, was pregnant with their fourth child, Elizabeth Marie. The day came for Pamela to deliver the child. However, when she arrived at the hospital, they discovered that their daughter died that day before she was born. Mark and Pamela, of course, were devastated. They began the day expecting to greet their daughter. Instead, they had to say goodbye. The joy and hope of birth was immediately transformed into sorrow and grief. In other words, Pamela expected to experience the third joyful mystery birth, but instead found herself confronting the sorrow of our lady death. As you know, this is every parent's nightmare. You see, life and death, as we know, are certainly connected. But life and death are not supposed to be so close together. Why did God permit Elizabeth to die so young without even experiencing a life out of the womb? Why did God choose Mark and Pamela to experience this grief, this sorrow, and this pain? What purpose did they serve? There were many unanswered questions, and many questions linger to this day. Now, some parents here can identify with Mark and Pamela. Some of you had have had to bury a child. Some of you will one day, unfortunately, bury a child. And the universal response of every parent who experiences the injustice of an untimely death is the same. Parents shouldn't have to bury their children. I hear this over and over again. 12 years ago, I had the privilege of offering Elizabeth Marie's funeral mass. And when my brother Mark came in carrying the tiny cast a casket in procession and into the church for the funeral up to the altar, the mysterious vocation of motherhood and fatherhood became clear. Receiving the gift of a child is only the first part of the vocation of motherhood and fatherhood. Giving the gift of the child back to the Heavenly Father is what completes the vocation. In other words, all persons belong first to God, not to us. Parents are rather stewards of the gifts that ultimately belong first to the Heavenly Father.

 

So therefore, the vocation of motherhood and fatherhood is beautifully defined by our Lady. Our lady demonstrates that fundamental receptivity to the will of God produces joy. The joy of receiving a gift. Gift of a child. But she also reminds us that the receptivity to the will of God can also include sorrow, the sorrow of having to detach from the child and giving the gift back to the father. So now we see that the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary remind us that God allowed our Lady to experience more grief, more sorrow, more pain, more agony than we could ever imagine that any of us could ever experience. And the father loved this daughter, the mother of God, more than any other human person. Our lady was not spared this grief, nor should we be expected to be spared of the sorrowful mysteries of life. So, as we enter into Passion high this week and into Holy week next week, we're reminded that motherhood is not merely captured in that sweet image of Madonna and child, but also includes the mother holding her son's lifeless body before she talked him into the womb, the womb of the tomb. But as we know, this is not the end of the story. In a fallen world, the joyful mysteries of life become the sorrowful mysteries. But you see, these only set the stage for the glorious mysteries yet to come.

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

 Amen.

 

Homily begins at 19:42

Fourth Sorrow

Third Sunday of Lent

March 3, 2024

Good morning to all of you. I am Father Brian Becker. I got a call from Father Miller earlier in the week. I know you keep him in your prayers, but please continue to do. He is having a difficult weekend with his illness, and he was asking for some assistance with the masses this weekend and he gave me a call. I'm here to be with you from Saint Joseph's College Seminary. It's my current assignment and it is one of those assignments in the dioceses, which we refer to as a full contact ministry. That's the reason that I'm up here before you with a broken wing. I was playing Ultimate Frisbee with our seminarians a couple of weeks ago, broke my collarbone and now I have this great thing that I get to offer for Lent happened. If the doctor’s prognosis is correct, I should be out of this thing by about Easter. This is what happens when you're when you're late about choosing what you're going to do for Lent. God gives you a gift. Here we are now for Lent.

Father Miller said he has been preaching to you in a series of homilies on the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady. He very gently suggested to me that, you know, if I could find a good angle, I could go ahead and continue that. And I thought that was a great idea. He told me, you’re up to the fourth sorrow that our lady meets her son on the way of the cross. Now, this is this sorrow in particular is one that that lines up very nicely with our Lenten devotions, because this actually maps directly on the fourth sorrow to the fourth station of the cross, where our lady met her son Jesus, on his way of the cross and considering this mystery, I want to share with you one of the considerations from a popular form of the stations, not sure which form you guys use in your parish devotions, but one that I have been formed in from my time in seminary was the one that was composed by Saint Alphonsus Liguori.

Saint Alphonsus has this meditation on this station and therefore also on the sorrow of our lady. He says, consider how the son met his mother on his way to Calvary. Jesus and Mary gazed at each other, and their looks became as so many arrows to wound those hearts which loved each other so tenderly. This is a beautiful image. We have several writers in the spiritual life that have a poetry about the way that they write. We've seen this in in many images. You can look at your own stations and you can see a beautiful depiction of that gaze that shared between Christ and his mother. But this is a beautiful exploration of what passed between them in those moments when they looked at each other and it's a very interesting image that Saint Alphonsus uses to describe this, that their looks became as so many arrows to wound those hearts which loved each other so much. Why this image, then? Why is this a wounding that passed between them? Well, part of what Christ and our Lady are showing us here is the true nature of charity, the true nature of the love that they shared for each other. Both of them were engaging in the way of the cross, in the way that was proper to each one of them. Christ supremely bearing all the sufferings of the sins of the world, in addition to his bodily torments, was going up to the mounts to give his life for us. And our lady, being the perfect disciple, was joining him on this journey. She, more perfectly than any human, joined with her son on his way of the cross, she united her heart to his and in a sense, she died her own death there at the foot of the cross in union with her son. And in doing this, each of them was showing perfect charity. Christ, as the author of Charity himself and Our Lady, as the one who most perfectly possessed it among men and it's a mark of that charity to be so concerned with the one that you love, that they're suffering wounds you more than the suffering that you're going through yourself. Christ bearing the weight of the sins of the world when he sees his afflicted mother, the movement in his human nature is to weep for her to be wounded, in turn by the fact that she has to suffer. This along with him and our lady following her son most perfectly does the same thing. In turn, she weeps. Not so much for the fact that she has to do this with her son and fulfillment of the Divine Plan. But she weeps because the one whom she loves so much is suffering. We have this interchange, this gaze that they share, this gaze that is full of love, and yet is one that wounds. So, meditating then on this image, we have a couple of lessons for the way that we approach Lent. One of them is the nature of our own sufferings. We're all going to have moments in our practice of Lent when the things that we take on are going to become quite a burden for us and we are going to be wrapped up in the fact that I am miserable. I didn't really think this all the way through. Maybe I wasn't quite as prudent as I should have been, and now I'm regretting what I took on. In the middle of your penance, you might find yourself wallowing in self-pity and dreaming of the day when Easter comes, and you can release yourself from whatever strictures that you've been under.

What's the remedy for this? When we find ourselves wrapped up in ourselves in this way. We have to recall the reason that we are doing these things. We are not engaging in our practices of Lent primarily for the purposes of self-fulfillment. We are not fasting for the sake of losing weight. We are doing these practices out of a desire to do as our Lady did, to unite ourselves with our Savior out of love for Him to participate as fully as we can in His way of the cross. We are uniting ourselves with Christ, journeying with Him to Jerusalem there to go up and to die with him.  When we are chafed by the things that we have visited upon ourselves or that God has given to us, what are we to do in those moments? We are to very intentionally make a gift of these things to our savior in honor of our Lady. Christ is suffering so much for us on account of the sins that we have committed.  What we do in Lent is we seek to make some small return, some small participation in that suffering that we may be redeemed from our sins and that we may merit by the sufferings of our Savior to share in the joy of his resurrection.  We give these things as a gift to our Lord. And the second lesson that we take in our practice of Lent is from the nature of this charity that is demonstrated to us by our Lord and Lady. Another thing that we can do with our sufferings is that we can give them not only to our Lord, but we can also give them to others.

 

In a sense. In addition to making this gift of the things that you are offering up for Lent to our Lord in your prayers, also explicitly call to mind those persons for whom you are offering these tendencies. This is another great way to exercise charity by what it is that we are giving up by what it is that we are suffering. In your prayers list out these people that are in your lives, perhaps those who are suffering worse than you, those who have suffered some tragedy, some illness going through a very difficult time in their life by the gift of the Holy Spirit and the operation of God's grace. This is one of the other great things that we are privileged to share in the order of charity that offering these things to God, we can also offer them for the good of our brothers and sisters here on Earth.

This is another way to keep us from getting wrapped up in ourselves, in our self-pity. And we can give these things not only to our savior, but also to our brothers and our sisters and our friends. Remember this. This is the point in Lent when things tend to start getting a little bit difficult. The initial fervor has worn off. We're into the long slog and we need something at this point to renew our devotion to what it is that we are offering to Christ. When you find yourself flagging in your disciplines, make these movements anteriorly. Make an offering of these things to your Savior. Name those people for whom you will suffer these things. And in the order of this grace of Christ, there will be a very fruitful return on these sufferings that we ourselves and those for whom we are praying will be given great graces to enter into Christ suffering so as to merit a share in His resurrection.

 

Homily begins at 21:08