Homily #57 & Order of Christian Initiation of Children (OCIC)




Stanley's mom asked me to baptize him.
His mom, Karla, was a Baptist who became Catholic at the Easter Vigil.
I taught some of their classes to prepare them for membership in the Catholic Church.
Stanley's dad is standing behind the godfather who is placing his hand on Stanley's shoulder.
(Photo taken by Dennis Tremethick)

Divine Mercy Sunday, April 3, 2016
Order of the Christian Initiation of Children (OCIC)
St. Joseph's Church, Vacaville, CA
12pm Mass



Homily #57b (830am Mass)



Homily #57a (7am Mass)

 

We posed after the first anointing with the Oil of Catechumens, before Mass began.

I was blessed to be part of preparing him for the Sacrament of Baptism.
 

Photos below were taken by Dennis Tremethick.  Thank you, Dennis!

Renouncing the flesh, the world and the devil followed by professing faith in the Father, Son and Spirit.

Father Aaron is a visiting Jesuit priest that teaches 9th grade history @ Jesuit High School in Sacramento.
He reminds me of when I taught at St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School in Vallejo.

Fr. Aaron wanted to hold the Rite of Baptism book for me,
and while I was awed by this, I told him that it was okay to have one of the altar servers hold it.
Eventually, one of the servers came to hold the Rite of Baptism for me.

Stanley's parents are behind him.

His godfather is a devout Catholic that will help him live his Faith.

N.

A.

Fr. Resti helped me during the ritual.

 

Leah, one of the parish leaders, helped me.

Sacred Chrism (second anointing)

"Receive the Light of Christ."

After Mass, a single dad approached me with his two kids and asked to have his kids baptized later.  I said we would follow up with it.

Another woman having trouble with her marriage asked me to pray for her, among other requests for prayers after Masses this weekend.

As I was sitting in the chapel after the 12pm Mass but before the 2pm Traditional Latin Mass (which I do not normally assist at), someone came up to me and asked me to eventually preach the homily at the TLM.  She said someone was at the 7am Mass and heard my homily, and so they asked me.  A couple of people also suggested that I go through training to assist as deacon at a TLM (Mass in the Extraordinary Form).

 

With these 5 baptisms, I have been blessed to baptize a total of 38 beautiful souls for God.

 

 

St. Faustina
 

HOMILY #57

Divine Mercy Suday 

On this Divine Mercy Sunday, I will promote three simple points:

First, Divine Mercy—what is it?

Second, St. Faustina – who is she?

Third, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy – how is it prayed?

Divine Mercy means that God’s mercy is greater than our sins.  Divine Mercy is urgent today because, in a world that uses violence in God’s name to kill and terrorize as if it was God’s will (especially in the Middle East), in a secularized Western civilization that thinks that it can have peace without God, the world will not have peace until it turns with trust to God’s mercy. 

We will be victorious against evil in the world for us and our children in this 21^st Century not because humanity’s limited way of fixing things, but by turning to the undeserved mercy of God!  Man is most glorious when he is on his knees before God.  Pope Francis himself declared this year a Year of Mercy.  Let us take advantage of the graces of the Year of Mercy.

The message of Divine Mercy is not just a mere devotion in the Church, like some nice little devotion to have on the side every now and then, but rather it is an integral part of the Christian message.  It is so essential that the Church has placed Divine Mercy on the liturgical calendar.  It is one week after Easter Sunday. 

As we heard proclaimed in the Gospel, after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead after three days, Jesus said to the Apostles, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.  … Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven.”  Jesus sends his priests to forgive us our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  God’s Divine Mercy is found in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Penance.  Penance!  Penance!  Penance!  This is what pleases God, not violence and terror.

In the Responsorial Psalm this morning, we prayed,

“Let the house of Israel say, “His mercy endures forever.”
Let the house of Aaron say, “His mercy endures forever.”
Let those who fear the LORD say, “His mercy endures forever.”
R. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.

God’s name is repeated as mercy and love, but we have to ask for His mercy.

 

 

The second point is St. Faustina – Who is she?  She was a simple nun in Poland.  All she did her entire life was serve as a quiet cook, a gardener, and a doorkeeper or usher.  There was nothing extraordinary about her.  But on Feb. 22, 1931, Jesus appeared to her.  It’s like in the Second Reading from the Book of Revelation where Jesus appeared to John the Beloved when John was an old man living on the island of Patmos.  Jesus still speaks today. 

Jesus said to St. Faustina, “Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You.  I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and then throughout the whole world.  I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish.  I also promise victory over enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death.  I Myself will defend it as My own glory.”

As you see, red and white rays come out of Jesus’ heart in the painting.  According to St. Faustina, “the two rays denote Blood and Water.  The pale (white) ray stands for the water that makes souls righteous.  The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls …   These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when my agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross” (Diary 299). 

His right hand which has the nail marks is raised in blessing.  His face is peaceful.  His left foot is stepping forward as He is walking to us.  The words, “Jesus, I trust you!” are at the bottom.

Eventually, Jesus sends Sister Faustina to the local priest who becomes her spiritual director.  The priest asks Sister to write down her interior inspirations and her spirituality in a book that eventually was called “Diary”.  If you’re looking for good spiritual reading, I recommend the “Diary” of St. Faustina.

Here’s a sample of what St. Faustina wrote: “[W]hen you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. …” (#1602).

She also wrote, “The person of the priest is, for Me, only a screen. Never analyse what sort of a priest it is that I am making use of; open your soul in confession as you would to Me, and I will fill it with My light” (1725).

 

The last point is the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.  How do we pray it?

St. Faustina wrote, “The souls that say this chaplet will be embraced by My mercy during their lifetime and especially at the hour of death.”

Here, one uses a rosary to recite the prayers of the Chaplet of Mercy.  And while one can pray this any time, one favorite time to pray this is during the 3 o’clock hour because it is the hour of Jesus’ death.  It can be prayed for the dying and those in hospitals.  If you know people who are away from God, this is an ideal prayer for them.

In the Chaplet, we pray, “For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world”.  Here, we offer the Eternal Father the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ because it is the Passion of Jesus that pleases the loving and merciful Father.

 

So, in summary: Divine Mercy through the Sacrament of Reconciliation; St. Faustina as the Secretary of Divine Mercy; and the

Let us celebrate the Risen Christ this Easter and go to Confession soon during this Jubilee Year of Mercy.  Like St. Thomas in the Gospel, let us say, “My Lord and my God!”  Let us trust in His mercy and pray, “Jesus, I trust in You.”