Homily for Today.

HOMILY

About how we all are free only if we are slaves of Christ

"For the slave called in the Lord is a freed person in theLord, just as the free personwho has been called is aslave of Christ" (I Corinthians 7:22).

The great news that Christianity daily announces to the world is that nothing is evaluated at full value according to its external appearance but by its essence. Do not evaluate things according to its color and shape but by its meaning. Do not evaluate a man by his position and property but by his heart - by his heart in which are united his feeling, his reason and his will.

According to this, for the world always a new teaching; he is not a slave who is outwardly enslaved; neither is he free who possesses outward physical freedom. According to secular understanding, the slave is one who enjoys the world the least and a free man is one who enjoys the world the most. According to Christian understanding, a slave is one who least enjoys from the living and sweet Christ and the free man is one who enjoys most from the living and sweet Christ. Further, according to secular understanding, the slave is one who carries out his own will less frequently and who carries out the will of others more frequently, and a free man is one who carries out his will more often and even less often the will of others. However, according to Christian understanding, the slave is one who carries out his will more often and even less often the will of God, and the free man is one who carries out the will of God more frequently and who carries out even less frequently, his own will. To be a slave to the Lord is the only true and worthy freedom of man and, to be a slave to the world and to one's self, sin and vice is the only fatal slavery. Of the kings on the throne, a man would think: Are there any more free men on earth than those? However, many kings were the most base and the most unworthy slaves of the earth. Of shackled Christians in the dungeons, a man would think: Are there any more miserable slaves on earth than they? However, the Christian martyrs in the prisons felt as free men and were filled with spiritual joy; they chanted Psalms and raised up prayers of gratitude to God. Freedom which is tied to grief and sorrow is not freedom but slavery. Only freedom in Christ is tied with unspeakable joy. Lasting joy is the mark of true freedom.

O Lord Jesus, the only Good Lord, Who grants us freedom when You tie us stronger to Yourself, make us Your slaves as soon as possible that we would cease to be slaves of cruel and unmerciful masters.

To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.

Tuesday Homily: Believing in the Love God Has For Us

Right at the beginning of his letter announcing the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict wrote, "To profess faith in the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - is to believe in one God who is Love." Pope Benedict then cites St. John from today's first reading, who tells us, "In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only-begotten Son in to the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins." 

Our Catholic faith, the faith in which each of us is called to grow during this Year of Faith, is fundamentally a faith in God who is in love with us to the extreme. Given the choice between having us perish in our sins or allowing himself to take on our flesh and be crucified as the Lamb of God to take away our sins, God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - showed his real essence as love by giving up his life to save ours.

To believe in God means to believe in this love. That's the essential message that St. John preached to the first Christians and that Pope Benedict has been trying to communicate to all of us since the beginning of his pontificate. The first encyclical a pope writes is normally a program for his pontificate, an indication of what he thinks is most timely and important for Christians to grasp and to live.

It's highly significant that in Pope Benedict's first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love), he wrote boldly and clearly about how love is the "heart of the Christian," and the key to understand who God is and who we are. The Pope says that the "summary of the Christian life" of faith, the "fundamental decision" of the Christian life, is found in St. John's expression, "We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us." That's why he wanted in his first encyclical to write to us about "the love that God lavishes upon us and that we in turn must share with others." 

We see that love enfleshed in the Gospel reading. When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart exploded with merciful love for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And then he did two things for them. It's easy to focus on the great miracle of the multiplication of the five rolls and two small fish, which is a foretaste of the even greater miracles of feeding contained in the Holy Eucharist and the eternal wedding banquet. But what I'd like to ponder today is the first of the two great deeds Jesus did, the one that in some ways was an even greater priority for him  out of love for us.

St. Mark tells us that the first thing Jesus did was to "teach them many things." Jesus had come down from heaven to teach us the truth about God, the truth about God's love for us, and therefore the deep truth about who we are and whom we're called to be. This points to the reality that to teach the truth in love is one of the greatest acts of mercy. Without the truth, one remains blind and lost. This is one of the most important purposes of the Church and for every Catholic. 

At St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, this truth is depicted very powerfully in art. At the very back of the basilica, one of the most famous pieces in art history is found, done by the great sculptor Bernini. It's called the "Altar of the Chair" and it was so beautiful and influential that art historians say it launched the baroque era.

At the top of the altar, there is the brilliant translucent image of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove surrounded by angels. The Holy Spirit is descending upon a huge bronze chair that houses what in the 16th century was believed to be the actual chair on which St. Peter used to teach the people of Rome. (Much like today when the judge gives his authoritative rulings from the "bench," in the ancient world, kings, magistrates, rulers used to teach and give formal pronouncements seated on a chair, which became a symbol of their authority.) 

Peter's chair was the symbol of the teaching authority of the Church and particularly of the Popes, the successors of St. Peter, who are Christ's vicars on earth. The most formal teachings of the Church were called "ex cathedra," meaning literally from the chair. The Holy Spirit is descending upon the chair to depict that, according to Christ's promise, the Holy Spirit teaches the Church everything, leads us into the whole truth and reminds us of everything Christ has taught  (Jn 14:26; Jn 16:13). 

Sculpted onto the back-rest of the Chair, however, is what is most relevant to today's Gospel: it's a depiction of Peter's feeding Christ's sheep. This is a reference to the end of St. John's Gospel, when Jesus asked Peter three times, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" (Jn 21:15-17). After Peter three times had replied in the affirmative, Jesus responded, "Feed my lambs," "tend my sheep," and "feed my sheep." Peter's love for Christ, his obedience to caring for and feeding Christ's sheep, is seen above all, therefore, in his teaching the truth of Christ authoritatively in his name. 

And each of us is called to love the sheep and lambs Christ entrusts to us in a similar way.
Just as Christ, the Good Shepherd, looked with compassion on the crowd and taught them, so the Church's compassion for the crowd is to teach them this truth as well, the truth that sets them free, the truth that helps them become more and more like Christ, who is the Truth incarnate. Our compassion for those in need must involve this element of teaching. 

To "instruct the ignorant," is one of the spiritual works of mercy that the Church has carried out from the beginning. It has inspired those in the Church to pass on the truth of Christ, by founding Catholic schools and universities, by doing catechesis, by RCIA, by talking one on one with friends, by leavening the "marketplace of ideas" with the truth that comes from Christ. 

Today, in the face of so many people in our culture who are lost, who don't know the purpose of their lives, who often go from one pleasure to the next so as not to confront the most fundamental questions of existence, who don't know the difference between right and wrong, who do not even realize that there is a heaven and a hell not to mention what actions could land them in either place - in the face of so many people who are indeed like sheep without a shepherd, the great act of compassion that the Lord wants from us is to teach them about him, to share our faith, to share the good news of great joy that God is love and that we have come to believe - and are inviting others to believe - in that love that God has for us..

But we cannot give what we don't have. In order for us to be able to give the truth of Christ to others, we first have to know Christ and what he teaches us, and through living that truth come to abide in Him who is the truth. Just as the Good Shepherd goes in search of his sheep, so good sheep must go in search of the Good Shepherd.  For us to be capable of bringing Christ to family members and friends, coworkers and fellow students, we need first to bring ourselves to Him, to spend time with Him, to be fed by Him and the Church he founded so that we can in turn feed others. This points to the importance of one of the most important aspects of the Year of Faith now underway.

For us to believe in the love the Lord has for us and to love others as he has loved us by continuing his mission of compassion in the world for all sheep without the Good Shepherd, we need to know the truths of the faith very well. And since - except in the case of a few rare saints - God does not give this knowledge by infusion, we, like the first disciples, need to allow the Master to teach us. How does he do so? He educates us through Sacred Scripture, particularly the Gospels and the writings of his first apostles. He teaches us through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, written for adults in the 1990s, which is the summary of everything the Catholic Church he founded and sent the Holy Spirit to guide believes. He teaches us through the successors of St. Peter, who in their various homilies, encyclicals and other documents, apply the truths of the faith to modern questions and problems. He teaches us locally, through our pastors, through Catholic newspapers and solid websites, through adult education opportunities, through religious education.

To be a good sheep of the Good Shepherd, to receive rather than refuse his compassion, we need to be faithful disciples. The word disciple in Greek means "student." To be a good disciple means to "study" our faith, to sit at the feet of Jesus the Master and allow him to teach us. Recent surveys have shown that very few Catholics, including those who are very faithful, study their faith. One recent poll showed that only three percent of Catholics who come to Mass faithful every Sunday ever read the Bible on their own. I think the percentage of those who have studied the Catechism or read papal encyclicals is much lower.  While most American Catholics would never be satisfied with merely an elementary school education in math or reading, many do not seem to be troubled at all if their education in the faith stopped in the eighth or tenth grade with Confirmation. 

When "adult issues" come up - like whether it is moral to have recourse to in-vitro fertilization, stop nutrition or hydration for a terminally ill loved one, conduct embryonic stem cell research, support same sex unions, defend torture, do unnecessary work on a Sunday, and so on  - many adult Catholics do not know what the Church teaches; after all, these issues are not normally taught in fifth or sixth grade catechism classes. 

When friends confronting similar situations are lost and confused and ask for our advice, while we can extend a certain sympathy, we cannot extend Christ's compassion, because we do not know Christ's teachings well enough to do so. All we can give is our "honest opinions," but - and now we have to be honest - often these opinions are formed more by popular culture than by the Gospel.

Rather than imparting the truth revealed to us by God, we, despite our good intentions, often pass on a popular falsehood. On other occasions, even when we know what Christ's teaching is, we do not know it well enough to be able to answer common objections; as a result, lest we embarrass themselves and the Church, we often stay silent. Our friends and family, who are often searchers without a guide, end up remaining lost.

A truly compassionate doctor or nurse seeks to learn everything possible to care for patients and help them get better. A truly compassionate Christian needs to know everything possible about the truth Christ reveals to care for their family members, their friends and acquaintances, their fellow parishioners younger and older and help them not only get better spiritually but get to heaven.

Today Christ the Good Shepherd, the incarnate love of God, looks on us with great compassion and gives us out of love an invitation to make a commitment to study our faith hard and well, so that we may be able to love others as he loved us, by passing onto others all of the truths he has passed on to us. Love and truth go together. We believe in the love God has for us! We believe in the truth he has taught us! We believe in him and all he has done and said!

Father Roger Landry is pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River, MA and national chaplain of Catholic Voices USA. His homilies and articles are found on catholicpreaching.com.

MONDAY HOMILY: Light in the Midst of Darkness

The forces arrayed against Christianity can be daunting.  It seems as though the average person has no power or influence to change things for the better.  However, the Christian is not called to be "average," but to be a saint.

SUGAR LAND, TX (Catholic Online)  Beginning around 740 years before the birth of Christ, the Assyrian empire invaded and occupied the land of Israel.  As part of their strategy of subjugation, a substantial portion of the local population was dispersed, being replaced by people from other conquered lands.  More deportations followed in subsequent centuries. 

While a few Jews remained, Galilee and the surrounding territories were given over to Gentile settlement.  Thus the words of the Gospel of St. Matthew, quoting the prophecy of Isaiah:

Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,

the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles,

the people who sit in darkness

have seen a great light,

on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death

light has arisen

(Matthew 4:15-16).

When Jewish patriots reconquered Galilee in the century before Christ, the region once again became home to large numbers of Israelite settlers, who returned to their ancestral homeland.  It was probably during this time that Joseph's family, and perhaps Mary's too, returned to Galilee and settled in a new town they called Nazareth.  In fact, archeologists tell us that the area around Nazareth was only occupied when a group of descendents of King David made it their home in the late second century B.C. 

Due to these migrations, Galilee underwent a series of transformations.   From being part of the Kingdom of Israel, it was repopulated by Gentiles.  As a result, Jesus' base of operations, while traditionally a part of the Jewish homeland, had a mixed population and a culture that was Greek as well as Jewish.  In addition, the land was by that time occupied by the Romans, who brought their own religion, customs, and laws.

This cultural climate forms the backdrop to Jesus' public ministry, so much of which was carried out in Galilee.  Isaiah describes this land as "overshadowed by death" (Matthew 4:16).  The Jewish inhabitants of Israel would understand this reference immediately.  Ravaged by war, destruction and exile; torn apart by forced evacuations; existing at that time under the yoke of an oppressive foreign government, Galilee was an early experiment in ethnic cleansing.

But as so often happened in Jewish history, a remnant of faithful remained.  They honored the covenant and awaited the coming of the Messiah.  He is the light of Isaiah's prophecy, who brings hope and healing to a world torn apart by human pride and excess.

There is another sense in which the land was overshadowed by death.  In addition to the litany of human suffering and injustice inflicted upon the Chosen People, they were living in a fallen world, one in which the grace of God was not fully operative. "Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam" (Romans 5:14).  Only God can remove the darkness of sin, and he chose to send his Son as the instrument of that liberation.

The first step in being freed from the darkness of sin is conversion.  "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand," Jesus proclaims (Matthew 4:17).  This is always the starting point of the Lord's preaching.  Openness to conversion and interior repentance, even if it is not yet fully realized in us at any given moment, is the beginning point of our redemption.

"The first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion, effecting justification in accordance with Jesus' proclamation at the beginning of the Gospel.Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, thus accepting forgiveness and righteousness from on high" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1989).

Like the Galileans of the first century, we also live in a culture that seems to be "overshadowed by death," with little reference to God or to authentic human flourishing.  The forces arrayed against Christianity can be daunting.  It seems as though the average person has no power or influence to change things for the better.

However, the Christian is not called to be "average," but to be a saint.

"A secret, an open secret: these world crises are crises of saints.  God wants a handful of men 'of his own' in every human activity. And then...pax Christi in regno Christi - the peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ" (St. Josemaria Escrivá, The Way, no. 301).

Are we ready to embark upon the adventure of sanctity?  At the beginning of a New Year of grace, and within the context of this special Year of Faith, there is no time better than the present moment for accepting our divine vocation to grow in holiness of life.  This is not simply a work of human effort, as if our wills were sufficiently powerful to shield us from all sin and temptation.  It is first and foremost the work of the Holy Spirit, who wants to transform our lives and to enrich them with the fruits of holiness. 

This is why, despite the darkness around us, we are people of hope.  The light of Christ is still radiating his divine energy and power, which is why St. Paul can encourage us to be "children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life" (Philippians 2:15-16).  May we take up that charge and live it with serenity and peace.

As ever, we turn to our Blessed Lady.  Alone among all creatures, the light of Christ filled her completely.  She is ever ready to intercede for us, teaching us how to approach her divine Son in holiness of life.

Fr. Stephen B. Reynolds is pastor of St. Theresa Catholic Church in Sugar Land, TX, a suburb of Houston.  You may visit the parish website at: www.SugarLandCatholic.com.

Homily

HOMILY About submission to the Will of God "Your will be done, on earthas in heaven" (St. Matthew 6:10). Blessed be John the Baptist, for he fulfilled the Good News before the arrival of the Good News! Going into the wilderness, he gave himself up completely to the will of God, both body and soul. The will of God was carried out in his body on earth as well as in the heaven of his soul. Neither hunger nor wild beasts did harm his body throughout the many years that he spent in the wilderness. Neither was his soul harmed by despair because of loneliness, nor pride because of heavenly visions. He did not seek from man either bread or knowledge. God granted him everything that was necessary for him because he gave himself up completely to the will of God. Neither did he direct his footsteps in the wilderness nor away from the wilderness. An invisible rudder from on high steered his life. For when it was necessary for him to depart the wilderness and go out to meet the Lord, it is said: "The Word of God came to John" (St. Luke 3:2). As an innocent youth, in this manner John spoke simply about his communication with the powers of heaven: "And I did not know Him [Christ] but the One Who sent me to baptize with water told me, `On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, He is the One Who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' Now I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God" (St. John 1: 33-34). How tenderly and simply he speaks about heavenly things! How he is as awesome as a lion when he speaks out against the injustice of men, against Herod and Herodias! The lamb and the lion dwell in him together. Heaven is as close to him as a mother is to her child. The will of God is as accessible and clear to him as the angels in heaven. O Lord, Most-wise, direct the lives of us sinners in the wilderness of this life according to Your will as You directed the life of St. John the Baptist. To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.

Reflection, Contemplation & Homily

REFLECTION

God permits humiliation and ruin to befall a proud man when he thinks that his strength is secured forever. When the pernicious Roman Eparch [Governor] Tarquinius beheaded Blessed Timothy, he summoned St. Sylvester and threatened him with death if he did not reveal Timothy's inheritance and in addition immediately offer sacrifice to the idols. Without fear and trembling, this discerning saint responded to the eparch with the Evangelical words: "You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you" (St. Luke 12:20), "and that with which you boast that you will bring to me (i.e. death) will occur to you." The proud eparch shackled Sylvester in chains and threw him into a dungeon intending to kill him shortly. Having done this, the eparch sat down to eat lunch, but a fish bone caught in his throat. From noon to midnight, the physicians struggled to save his life but all was in vain. At midnight, Tarquinius gave up his proud soul in greatest torments. And so the prophecy of St. Sylvester was fulfilled, as also were the Biblical words: "Pride goes before disaster" (Proverbs 16:18).

CONTEMPLATION

To contemplate the Guardian Angel:

1. How he stands at my right side upholding me in everything until I depart from the law of God;

2. How I have offended him on numerous occasions and how I drove him away from me transgressing the law of God.

HOMILY

About how the Kingdom of God is gained with the heart and not with the tongue

"Not everyone who says, `Lord, Lord'will enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (St. Matthew 7:21).

Brethren, one does not gain the Kingdom of God with the tongue, but with the heart. The heart is the treasury of those riches by which the kingdom is purchased; the heart and not the tongue! If the treasury is full with the riches of God, i.e., a strong faith, good hope, vivid love and good deeds, then the messenger of those riches, the tongue, is faithful and pleasant. If the treasury is void of all those riches, then its messenger [the tongue] is false and impudent. The kind of heart, the kind of words. The kind of heart, the kind of deeds. All, all depends on the heart.

Hypocrisy is helpless before men, and is even more helpless before God. "If then I am a father," says the Lord through the Prophet Malachi, "If then I am a father where is the honor due to me?" And If I am a master, where is the reverence due to me?" (Malachi 1:6). That is, I hear you call me father, but I do not see you honoring me with your heart. I hear you call me master, but I do not see fear of me in your hearts.

Our prayer: "Lord! Lord!" is beautiful and beneficial only when it emerges from a prayerful heart. The Lord Himself commanded that we pray unceasingly, but not only with the tongue to be heard by men, but rather enclosed in the cell of the heart so that the Lord could hear and see us.

Lord, majestic and wonderful, deliver us from hypocrisy and pour Your fear into our hearts so that our hearts could stand continually upright in prayer before You.

Reflection, Contemplation & Homily

REFLECTION

How do you respond to those who say that Christ the Miracle-worker cannot fit in our logic? Simply reply: You fit into His logic. In His logic, all eternity fits and all the nobleness of time and, then, if you wish, a place will be found even for you. If a barrel cannot fit into a thimble, you can fit a thimble into a barrel. Blessed Clement of Alexandria says; "Philosophers are children until they become men though Christ. For truth is never thinking only." Christ came to correct man and, therefore, men's logic. He is our Logos and our Logic. That is why we must direct our reason toward Him and not Him toward our reason. He is the corrector of our reason. The sun is not regulated according to our clock, but our clock is regulated according to the sun.

CONTEMPLATION

To contemplate the Lord Jesus as the Divine Word [The Logos]:

1. How the Triune God created everything by His Word, i.e., by Christ the Lord;

2. How senseless is every man, who distances himself from Christ, the Word of God, and in whom there is no Christ.

HOMILY

About pride

"Pride goes before disaster,and a haughty spiritbefore a fall" (Proverbs 16:18).

Of all that exists on the four corners of the earth, what, O mortal man, can make us proud except stupidities and demonic illusions. Did we not enter into the world naked and wretched and are we not going to depart this world in the same manner? Everything that we have, did we not borrow it; and by our death, are we not going to return everything? Oh, how many times has this been said and overheard? The wise apostle says, "For we have brought nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it" (I Timothy 6:7). And, when we offer sacrifice to God of ordinary bread and wine, we say, "Thine own of Thine own, we offer unto Thee" (Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom). For nothing that we have in this world is ours: not even a crumb of bread nor a drop of wine; nothing that is not of God. In truth, pride is the daughter of stupidity, the daughter of a darkened mind, born of evil ties with the demons.

Pride is a broad window through which all of our merits and good works evaporate. Nothing makes us so empty before men and so unworthy before God as does pride. When the Lord is not proud, why should we be proud? Who has more reason to be proud than the Lord, Who created the world and Who sustains it by His power? And behold, He humbles himself as a servant, a servant to the whole world: a servant even to the death, to the death on the Cross!

O humble Lord, burn up within our hearts the devil's sowing of pride with the fire of Your Holy Spirit, and plant within it the noble sowing of humility and meekness.