Nov 2 homily Prep - Do you believe?

-Last Sunday's homily is available By email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at Sunday readings
-Check out this weeks LinC letter at LinC Letter 
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 8:00am, 12:30pm, and 6:00pm

It's not about believing in God!

What makes us Christian is not our belief in God - but our belief that God raised Jesus from the dead. If we don't believe in the resurrection, then our "faith" in God is "in vain".

All Souls Day is a poignant occasion for us to "check our faith". With Martha we really need to ask ourselves about the effect that the death of our loved ones has had upon our lives. Do we grieve like the pagans do (as St Paul warns us against)?

If we believe in resurrection our sadness is the invitation to believe. If we don't believe in the resurrection our sadness replaces our life.

So, what is it with you?  Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, eternal life, reunion in heaven forever?  Or are you disappointed with the ultimate loss of life?

Oct 26 Homily Prep

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at Sunday readings
-check out this weeks LinC letter at LinC Letter
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 4:00, 8:00am and 12:30pm

Constellations

It is a fact of reality that we cannot claim a relationship with God that does not place us in relationship with our neighbor. Many of us claim to desire and depend upon a friendship with God but cannot make room in our "territory" for a relationship in love with our neighbors. Won't work.

If we desire to enter into God's orbit (which is love) we cannot reject or avoid relationship with others. Both persons occupy that "orbit" we call loving. In fact this is so true that to the extent that we have a "problem" with one of the neighbors we are not living in God's neighborhood.

Hmmmm

Oct 19 Homily Prep - Do You See It?

-Last Sunday's Homily available at: Oct 12 Homily
-This Sunday's Readings are available at Sunday Scriptures
-Check out this week's edition of the LinC Letter
-I will be celebrating Mass at 9:30 and 12:30 on Sunday

Do You See God's Image on Your Life

Our respect life month of October continues and we have yet another teaching of Jesus that challenges our society'spervading opinion about the value of life.  On respect life Sunday (October 5) I had proposed that the mystery that God has entrusted to each of us was our very lives. We are stewards commissioned to tend to this gift of life on behalf of God.

Can we see the image of God upon the human person - everywhere?  Recognizing the dignity of every human life because it is the very possession of God, the very presence of God would determine the way we "use" such a gift, such a possession. Jesus says that which belongs to God should be given to God. What would it mean if your life was given to God?

Some of our Protestant brothers and sisters have a ceremony for infants called dedication. This is in place of infant baptism. While they use a different name to describe the two ceremonies (dedication versus baptism) I would see the same intention of Christian parents in both cases - bringing the new life in our midst to God and giving it, returning it to God.

Have you understood your baptismal life as the returning of your life to God (whose image is bourne upon your life)?  What might it mean to the way you live your life, understand your life, share your life, in the world if you were intending to "give your life to God"?

Let me know

October 12th Homily Prep - Are You In?

-Last Sunday's homily is available Click Here: October 5th Homily
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at Sunday readings
-check out this weeks LinC letter at LinC Letter
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 5:30pm Saturday, 8:00am and 6:00pm Sunday

Are You In?

The parable of the King and his Son's Wedding Feast is a great opportunity for us to reflect again upon the single most important aspect of the Kingdom of God - participation.  The choice to live life according to God's gift of the Kingdom is at the heart of this parable and the others we've heard in the last few weeks from St. Matthew.

Remember the workers in the vineyard.  The Master wasn't worried about over-paying people for too little work.  He was only concerned that everyone worked - felt welcomed to participate in his mission - his vineyard.

The King's Son's Wedding adds something to this Lord's insistence that we participate in order to have life.  It is not good enough for us to show up at the wedding - we have to indicate our sincerity by dressing (externally manifesting our faith) the part.  The wedding garment seems to symbolize ones willingness to get "cleaned up"  - "dress the part" - "conform our behavior" to that which is appropriate for the Kingdom life.

This goes back to the parable of the two sons.....talk about being "in the Kingdom" or "with the Lord' is cheap.  Our life in the Kingdom must be accompanied by a converted life.  Remember, the prostitutes and tax collectors "changed their minds" and "cleaned up their lives" at the teaching of John.  We cannot accept the invitation to the wedding feast of heaven and stay in our "work clothes" or "play clothes" or "self-centered outfit".

The master wants nothing more than our participation in the communion of life and love which is salvation.  But we have to be willing to conform to the life of heaven by the grace of Jesus' invitation.

Are you in?  Just in words?  Or by the sign of your converted life?

October 5 Audio Homily

Last Sunday's homily is available Click Here: October 5 Homily

October 5 Homily Prep

-Last Sunday's homily is available Click Here: September 28 Homily audio
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at Sunday readings
-check out this weeks LinC letter at LinC Letter
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 4:00 on Sat and 9:30 and 11:00am on Sunday.

Whose Life is it Anyway?

This is respect life Sunday in respect life month. It proposes that every human life deserves respect and defense due to the fact that life is from God, life belongs to God, God is life.  This fact is diametrically opposed to what the secular world's proposes:  that life is one's personal possession and success in life is pain-avoiding survival.

This Sunday's gospel parable teaches the virtue or vocation of stewardship, the life of a tenant or caretaker.  How would you be different in life if you believed that your life isn't yours, that your life is on loan to you by God?

Have you ever taken responsibility for something that wasn't yours?  What motivated your good care of someone else's stuff?

How would you explain this vocation of stewardship to an elderly relative who says that she "no longer wants to live her suffering life"?  How is it that so many pregnant women in our society today believe that the child in the womb is "theirs" to dispose of?

We as a Christian community have not evangelized our own membership to the Gospel way of stewardship (tending to God's gifts for God's sake). we need to reflect on the fact that "my marriage" as we often say, is God's, not ours.  My children, as we claim on our tax returns, are not ours. My body, as we mark it up with "a lot of ink" is not ours to do with as we like.

All these gifts belong to God and ought to be "handled with care" as if they we not ours.

What do you think?

September 28 Homily Prep

-Last Sunday's homily is available Click Here: Sept 21 Homily
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found here : Sunday Scriptures
-Check out the Parish LinC Letter here: LinC
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 4:00 on Saturday and 8:00 and 12:30 on Sunday

Walk the Walk

Today's challenge of Jesus to the Pharisees, his favorite interlocutors, brings down the distinction between the religion of the Pharisees and the authentic spirituality of the gospel of Jesus. Jesus's explanation of the two sons exposes the lack of sincerity and authenticity in the pharisaical observance of the law-lipservice and no life commitment. All talk -no walk!

As the followers of Jesus we can be easily challenged to do a better job and "walk we talk" but I don't think Jesus is recommending that we disregard the "talk". We can't  "trash talk" God, religion, obedience and faithfulness simply because it's not important as if the only thing that matters is loving God and religion and being obedient and faithful "livers" of the gospel . No, walking the walk is of the essence of religion and being faithful to God and neighbor in self-sacrificing love is the walk of faith. We have to always grow in our authentic "walking the talk".

What the current moment in history is calling for is to us who are faithful he walking the talk that we would start eloquently "talking the walk". I think God through the church today is more interested than ever that we would also "talk the walk"-sincerely and lovingly expressing our faith that we are living.

The new evangelization is the ability to eloquently express our sincere Christian faith and it is challenging for Catholics. We don't talk about our religion. Even those who are living it authentically. We even pride ourselves on not "talking the walk".  I believe that this generation in the world and this time in history is calling for a new "expressive religion" from sincere believers like Catholics. We call it witnessing.

Insincere radical nonsensical violent hateful religious talk or rhetoric has taken over the religious mind of the peoples of the world. No wonder 38% of people under the age of 30 do not claim any religious affiliation. Religion has a bad name.

I believe the single greatest thing that we could do as Catholics who are sincerely walking the faith (worshiping God and loving our neighbor here at St. Albert the great parish and in many places) is that we could begin to "talk the walk" - reasonably humbly intelligently lovingly and invitingly talk to the world about the faith that we walk.

Can you sincerely speak to those you love about the importance that your faith in God and your life in the church plays in your daily life? Can you talk the walk? I think the world desperately wantsto hear you "talk the walk"

September 21st Homily available

Click Here: Sept 21 Homily

September 21st Homily Prep

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email Sept 14 Homily
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at Sunday's Scriptures
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 5:30 Saturday, 12:30 at OurLady Lourdes

It's not about the pay, it's about the work!

This Sunday's gospel parable of the overpaid workers in the vineyard is the scriptural background for our parish ministry fair. As the title of this homily prep says, if we are distracted by the unfair wages being handed out than we have really missed the call of the Gospel in the text. The kingdom of God revealed through Jesus Christ is all about participation and not about compensation.

In our consumer society and materialistic world and mindset, this redirection of our focus onto participation and away from compensation really doesn't make sense. That's okay, it didn't make sense to Jesus' first audience because they, as the children of Adam and Eve, experienced life in the world and even in relationship to God from a broken perspective.

This principle of "participation instead of compensation" brings to mind the worldly approach to marriage. So often and too often people in the world today consider marriage to be a "50/50 proposition".  In other words, the spouses are overly conscious about who's doing more work in the relationship.  Of course, the contemplative approach to the sacrament of matrimony sees it as a "100/100 proposition".  Marriage can only be what God intends it to be when both spouses are in it for the "participation" (sharing of life and love without reservation) and realizing that it is the ability to "participate" that is the "compensation".

St. Albert the great parish, on this ministry fair weekend, is proposing this "participation model" in relationship to our life in the church. There is no compensation for the ministry and service that we each offer through the ministries of St. Albert. That is, of course, unless our "giving ourselves away" is the compensation that we've been looking for.  I asked our PSR students last week what is a "sacrifice". They answered readily "giving up your time and effort for the church and the good of others". I know St. Francis said it better however, "charity is it's own reward".

Anyone who is approaching the church or the kingdom of God from the perspective of "what's in it for me?" is in fact not entering the kingdom of God nor the church. The Lord calls us to the church and to the kingdom so that we can participate and sees that participation as the sharing in the life of heaven. There is no better compensation then  eternal life.

Sept 14 Homily Prep

-Hear Last Sunday's homily at this link:Sept 7th Homily
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB daily readings
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 4:00pm Saturday, and 9:30 and 11:00 Sunday(visit St. Albert Website)

Hang in there!

The image of Jesus hanging upon the cross is the image and central feature of this week's feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.  The corpus of Christ UPON the cross is the unique feature of this feast.  As with Moses and his lifted up the serpent on a pole - it is not so much the pole - but the image upon it.  So it is with the Cross of Christ - it is him "crucified and forsaken" ON the cross that transforms the cross from simple torture to tree of life.

What the church is encouraging us to see in this pitiful Christ hanging on a tree in torturous death is the "cost of love".  True love is self-sacrificing.  In fact, Jesus Crucified becomes the litmus test for all human loving.  No one since the death of Jesus can claim to truly love without sacrifice.  See how much our God loves us - he gave up everything (even his claim to divinity..."my God why have your forsaken me?") for the love of sinful humanity.  

In fact, God became sin itself in His desire to love us.  Do we recognize our sin on him?  What is the "wages of sin"?  Death: isolated, rejected, lonely, God-forsaken, extinction.  That is the fruit of our first parents in their sin.  Jesus is not only the Human Face of God but, on the cross, he is the epitome of broken humanity dead in our sin: isolated, rejected, forsaken by God, life-less.  

Like the Isrealites in the desert we can be healed of our affliction (death) only by looking at it held up before us.  But, will we look and see - and thus be healed?  Or will be look and NOT see and thus remain dead in our sin?  

Do you see yourself in the crucified Savior on the Cross?  If so, don't be afraid - be healed by God's love for you there.  If you do not see yourself in Him then there is no amount of mercy that will heal you.  You cannot be saved from that which you do not see.  Once you see your sin then you are set free.

Does any of this help you make sense out of the suffering in your life?  Is it all for love?  It can be.

September 7th Homily Link

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email Sept 7th Homily
-

Homily Prep Sept 7th

-Hear Last Sunday's homily at this link: August 31 Homily
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at Sunday's Scriptures
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 5:30 on Saturday and 8:00, 11:00, and 6:00pm Sunday(visit St. Albert Website)

Church -it's Simple, not Easy!

That's right, Church, "ekklesia" as it is called in Matthew's Gospel (the convocation, literally) is a pretty simple-sounding reality in life.  However, rather than simple I know "church" is anything but easy.  The reason we can acknowledge that about "church" is because church is a gift from God of "relationship".  And relationships are about love. And love ain't easy.

Church is the most basic and ancient of relationships.  It is modeled upon the "relationship at the heart of all reality" - the Blessed Trinity. So church is about our capacity to love one another.

A long time ago I had a well-intentioned "Catholic-living-as-a-fundamentalist" sit in my office and describe for me why she didn't want to worship with me, as she said, "You are all about religion, Father, while I am all about relationship with Jesus."  While that was a pretty insulting tactical barb she learned from her mega-church pastor, it very clearly revealed two things:
1. the lack of understanding of Jesus being preached by the non-denominationalists
AND
2. the ineffective messaging of the Catholic Church in the world today (even to our own members).

I must admit that when most Catholics hear the word Church (the English word for ekklesia ) they think of organization, hierarchy, the Pope, the Vatican, a rather cold and ancient INSTITUTION. That's a far cry from what the biblical word means (literally, "those called out") or what the church teaches and celebrates from the catechism to the Holy Mass.

The church is first and foremost the "loving relationship among believers in the Holy Spirit".  That is what I have been preaching about this summer and calling, "communion".  Church is the human, incarnate version of the life of the Holy Trinity. Communion.  Church as communion is what we celebrate at every Mass - communion with God and neighbor.  No Catholic can claim to understand Jesus if s/he does not understand him/herself as a part of the church living in communion.

The gospel this Sunday (in what is known as the Discourse on the Church) speaks of the nature of the church (which is unity)  and the enemy of church (which is dissension).  The greatest charge of the Christian disciple is to "love one another as the Lord has loved us."  If one is a "follower" of Jesus who is not living in communion with the Church, then s/he is no Christian at all.  Pope Francis said recently, "if your first name is Christian, your last name must be church."

Individualism, self-fulfillment, and the drive for personal salvation have blocked us from living the faith of Jesus which is communion in love of the brothers and sisters.  Remember, "if you come to offer your gift to God at the altar and there recall that your brother has something against you, go and reconcile with your brother, then come and offer your gift."  There is no real friendship with God when we are at odds with our brothers.

Have you understood your Christian faith to be such an inter-personal reality?  How do you understand the simple truth about church?  It ain't easy, right?

August 31st Homily Prep

Last Sundays homily is available at this link August 24 Homily
This week's scriptures are available at this link Sunday Readings
I am preaching at the 4:00 and 11:00. Masses this weekend St. Albert Website

See it, Say it, Live it!

Over the past few weeks I've been hearing the Word of God calling us to a new and deeper experience or path to life - communal life, that is. This Sunday's contribution to that discussion addresses the particular path to communion - which is beyond self!

Yes, that's it!  The life that  Jesus promises his disciples is not without the self, it is not within the self, it is beyond the self.  To have the freedom to extend one's love beyond one's neighbor with an eye on The Lord is the secret to experiencing the Kingdom present now unto eternity. It's what we call communion.  You can't have communion without bringing yourself.  But that self has got to be "self-forgetful" enough that one can "keep the heart focused upon the Kingdom that exists "beyond the self" in love.

That is the gift of grace and faith that is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  It is the power to realize that one's life isn't about preservation of the self but the liberation of the self from self-consumption which is the freedom to love. Jesus crucified and forsaken is the model for this freedom. Unity with Him by faith is the means to such freedom.  Communion with others around the table of The Lord is the sign of this new life. And love of neighbor is the telltale sign that one sees it, says it, and lives it.

Homily August 24th Prep - New Link to Last Week's Homily!

-Last week's homly is now available at this link; August 17th Homily Audio
-The Scriptures for this coming Sunday are available at Sunday's Readings
-I am preaching this weekend at 9:30 and 12:30 on Sunday St. Albert Website


Can You Say It?

Last week I was asking if you can "see what I'm saying" emphasizing the need for us to have a picture of ourselves as "a communion of the faithful" dependent upon one another for our connection to God's Kingdom.

Jesus' question of his disciples this week reveals a more powerful aspect to this picture-thing.  What if the person next to you at worship asked you the question Jesus asked the disciples....."who do you SAY that I am?  Remember how God allowed Adam to "name" all the creatures on the earth.  He had relationship with them, dominion over them, he named them.  Remember Moses asking what God's name was - if you knew someone's name you could claim a relationship to them.

So, how is your relationship with the Body of Christ - right next to you?  Do you see them and can you SAY that they are your brother and sister in Christ?  Can you SAY that they are important to your relationship to God?  Can you SAY that you have some power over their ability to meet God in this Eucharist?

There are four ways that Jesus wants to be recognized in the Holy Eucharist. In the Assembly, in the Priest, in the Word Proclaimed, and in the Sacred Species of Bread and Wine.  The FIRST place is in the community gathered.  Can you SAY who we are in Christ?  If you can't SAY it then you canT claim to know it.

Who do you SAY that I am?  That says a lot about who you SAY you are.  This is powerful stuff.

Homily Prep August 17th

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 5:30 Sat., 8:00am, and 6:00pm Sunday

Exercise! 

Everybody is encouraged to exercise.  Especially those who are preparing for a big contest.  Practice or conditioning is what we might call that.  So what all of these things are is an "exertion" of energy, effort, and discipline that apparently "doesn't count".  It's like a pre-season or scrimmage game - it's a lot of work but it doesn't really count.

All of these physical exertions are difficult but not real, they are not the "game" but they are essential to the game.

Apparaently, Jesus was putting this syro-phoenitian women through a bit of "testing", a scrimmage, an exercise that not only revealed her faith but it deepened her faith.  

Do we ever experience confusing challenges to our life plan as the preparation for the real game?  I think I have had this experience....I was led into a challenging situation in life and ministry for no apparent reason.  In fact, it felt almost "unreal" at the time.  I really couldn't understand why this particular thing was happening to me and why I was enduring this challenge.  But I hung in there. 

Then, years later, I encountered something very real that required the precise grace, skill, wisdom, perseverance, etc. that I had gained in the earlier testing.  It was then that I realized the good God at work in me "back then" Who was responsible for the success or perseverance now.

I think that's what the daily dying to self involved in spiritual discipline and devotion does in our faith lives.  Like the treadmill everyday - I can often times "feel" as if I'm going through a repetitive and disconnected exercise - only to discover that it was precisely the preparation I needed for the real struggles in life. 

Recognition vs Seeing

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 4:00pm on Saturday and 9:30am on Sunday

You Wouldn't recognize it if it Bit you on the Nose!

Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and he is alive for us.  Jesus Christ is not only risen and alive, he is present and active in our midst. This is the fundamental truth of the Christian religion.  No one is arguing about the truth of it.

What we are admitting all the time is that we do not recognize him AS HE IS.  Jesus breathed upon the apostles and pledged to be with them always. And yet we do not recognize him AS HE IS - in the Body of Christ the Church.

Many of us who claim to be "in the church" manifest our blindness to him because we are lacking in the unity he created and we are afraid of others, afraid of vulnerability, afraid of death, afraid of life.

Many who are "outside the church" secular-shaped hearts and empiricist minds observing the church from outside fail to recognize Jesus AS HE IS in the imperfect communion that he has chosen to establish(the Church).

Within the church we reveal our blindness to Jesus in our midst by our individualistic drive for control of church tradition, clinging to private devotion, and judgment and distrust of others. We're like the disciples in the storm-tossed boat. Petrified and every man for himself.

Within the society we look a lot like Peter, demanding that if Jesus (faith and religion) is really calling them to life he better prove it beyond the feeble proof that is the Church ( the only proof. Jesus prefers to give).

So, we have a church community blinded to the presence of Jesus dwelling powerfully within their mutual communal love - where and how he said HE WOULD BE. And we have a suspicious world not at all impressed by Jesus' feeble display of presence in his chosen vessel, the broken Church.

Save us, Lord!

But look who DID recognize him - the sick, the lame, the rejected, the dying.  How can you tell?  They came to him and allowed him to be strong in their midst.  No fear - all acceptance AS HE IS!  Maybe the recognition of Jesus has to do with the condition of the beholder rather than the manner of Jesus' appearance AS HE IS.

Homily Prep August 3

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
 -I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 8:00am and 6:00pm Sunday

Tempted to Isolate!

What is your gut reaction to violence, hatred, opposition, ridicule, persecution?????  Do you welcome the comfort of others, do you seek the consolation of friends, do you look for, long for and appreciate pity???  Or do you flee from, shun, and run away from human companionship?

Withdrawal(either physical, psychological, or spiritual) is the triumph of the evil one.  Withdrawal is different than retreat - the rare and intentional spiritual exercise or the conscious choice to seek God in solitude. Withdrawal is not the choice to seek God but the fear-driven lack of trust in anyone other than the self.

Jesus hears of the violent death of his precursor and kinsman John the Baptist and he "withdraws". He is tempted, just as he was in the desert, and this time to get away from the companionship. As in the desert,  Jesus is saved from this temptation to isolate, to withdraw from companionship, by angels -  those more needy than he who sought his companionship...he was rescued by empathy.

His empathy pulls him out of the temptation to withdraw and drives him outward into communion with those who longed for him.  This temptation of Christ is a sign to all of us to resist and reject the strategy of evil (withdrawal) when life frustrates us.

The. Letter to the Romans is clear - nothing should separate us from the communion with God that we have in Christ Jesus.  Easier said than done.  How many of us when we fail - first think of hiding from others?.  How many of us when we are diagnosed are tempted to hide - withdraw, not to burden others with my pain.  How many of us when reflecting upon our death have this temptation to be disposed of - not wanting others to "be looking at me"?  It's all isolation, hiding, evil.

We revolt against the pity of others who genuinely love us. We allow a lot of stuff to separate us from the love of God. A spirituality of unity or communion calls us to reject the temptation to isolation and to move into empathy, consolation, solidarity, community.

It's natural to our broken humanity - withdraw.  It is natural to our divine likeness - communion!  

Homily Prep July 27

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 5:30 Saturday and 11:00am Sunday.

Church Matters!

Is that a description of details about church life or is that a declarative statement of a truth about our lives.  Does Church Matter?!  The parables of the Kingdom of God in this week's Gospel raise the issue of how important the Kingdom of God is in our lives.  Does God matter? 

Isn't the Catholic Church famous for a rather anonymous christianity....aren't we proud of the fact that we can walk into a catholic church anywhere in the world and "be at home" there?  As I get older I would like to see us be less happy about that satisfaction.  Would that all of us at St. Albert for sure, recognized the personal meaning that worshipping in our community has for us. 

Does Church at St. Albert the Great matter?  Why does your worship of the Holy Eucharist at YOUR parish matter?  What does it mean?  Are we making a conscious decision to "go to God together" as friends, members, family, Body of Christ, Communion? 


The pearl of inestimable value is the presence of Jesus Christ "in the midst" of those who believe.  Do you find it anywhere in the world? 

Homily Prep for July 20

-Last Sunday's homily is available by email
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 4:00 Sat. and 9:30 and 12:30 on Sunday.

Mixing It Up!

Jesus, for the second Sunday in a row, is preaching from the 13th chapter of Matthews Gospel and he is commenting on the use of the "parable".  Last Sunday I introduced this situation as concluding that there are two types of people that Jesus is ministering to - those who "get it" and those "who don't".  Those who "get it" are the ones with faith.  They hear and see Jesus as he is - the Son of God, the messiah and Christ.  Those "who don't" are those without faith who need to receive the Good News in parables - a preaching that subverts their closed eyes, clogged ears, hard heads and hardened hearts. 

Jesus again refers to the need to use parable in some cases.  The parable of the weeds in the wheat is a story about this very reality:  In the world some people use their freedom to choose God while others use that same freedom and cling to the evil one.  What is startling is that those people of two very different stripes, like the weeds and the wheat, can at one time occupy the same space, they can appear very similar in their behavior, while all the time being very opposed to one another in intention.

It takes a graceful and discerning heart to see "whose who" and to put some distance between the weeds and the wheat in life.  

How firmly are you set in the ways of the Gospel (wheat)?  How discerning is your eye to recognize those among you who are not for you (weeds)?  How confident are you in separating yourself from the broken and often sinister(selfish) intentions and pathways of many people around you (media, workplace, social life, family)?

Homily Prep July 13th

-There was no homily last Sunday cause I was on vacation😀
-This Sunday's Scriptures can be found at USCCB.org
-I will be celebrating mass this weekend at 8:00am and 6:00pm

Free to See(d)

I am most attracted to St. Paul's letter to the Romans in which he speaks of the gift of faith which is liberation from slavery and freedom of the children of God.  This liberation or this freedom, this believing is what empowers and enables St. Paul to see "I consider all the sufferings of the present age to be as nothing."

What I like about that is that faith, believing in the love that God has for us does not cause us to deny the difficult and painful realities of life. Rather, faith is the freedom to see through those sufferings or better to see those sufferings as what they truly are, "nothing".

Faith like St. Paul's enables us to transform reality.  Faith empowers the believer to change or morph the difficulties of the present age into an experience of transformation in the light of the age to come. Someone has said to me that, by faith every moment, person, situation, or incident in my daily life has become either "lover" or "teacher".  What that says to me is that a believer, by faith, can "see" every feature of daily life as either the consoling presence of the love of God or a helpful or growthful opening of ones eyes to better see the love of God present.

This teaching connects  St. Paul to the Gospel text for this weekend, inasmuch as the presence and love of God (which is the reality of life) grows only in the "healthy soil" of a life built on faith.  Where there is no faith, the power and the love of God cannot enter into the human heart. Are we creating in our selves, our spouse, our children, our parish the culture of faith, an environment that is "susceptible" to God's Word, the love and presence of God can produce 100-fold?