A Message for Former Catholics to Return Home to the Flock of the Church (Homily #162): Our Lord Rejoices When He Finds You Returning!

Video (5pm Mass)

Audio (12pm Mass)

(My schedule: 2 homilies,  2 follow-up mtgs. for marriage prep & 1 house blessing)

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A Message to Former Catholics to Return Home to the Flock of the Church:

Rescuing the One & Strengthening the 99 Sheep

(Homily #162)

24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sept. 15, 2019

According to data from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) and also the Pew Research Center, 1 out of 10 Americans is a former Catholic.  There is even a story that while the American Association of Retired People (AARP) is largest group of people in the U.S., with the 3^rd largest group being the Catholic Church, do you know what the 2^nd largest group is?  The 2^nd largest group is former Catholics!

From the number’s perspective, this situation in the Church in the United States is called “disengagement.”  Disengagement [disaffiliation] means that there are members of the flock that are leaving the Church at an alarming rate.  Many of these are identifying as “nones” (meaning either no religion or atheism).  

This reflection on concrete numbers on the declining state of the Church in the U.S. leads us to today’s Gospel on the Parable of the Lost Sheep.  There are 2 simple parts to this homily.  First, there is a message from the Word of God for former Catholics (disengaging from the Church as the “one lost sheep”).  Second, there is a message from the Word of God for active Catholics, the 99, to find them.  Christ reaches out to the lost sheep and Christ strengthens and equips the 99 to outreach to the one.  This hits very close to home and is not just statistics because, after all, how many of us have family members that either practice their Faith lukewarmly or half-heartedly or who have either left the Church?  

I.

In today’s Gospel, Christ gives a message to former Catholics to return home to the flock of the Church.  To those who have left the practice of the Faith after they were baptized and even confirmed, the Word of God proclaims this message to you: Our Lord rejoices when he finds you!  “And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep’” (Luke 15).  

Jesus also calls his friends and neighbors over one lost sheep.  Jesus is showing us the dignity of one soul.  With all the people that you see around you, he is focusing on just you.  He calls one person by name.  Jesus does something very illogical and against human wisdom: He leaves 99 to search for YOU.  St. Thomas Aquinas said that everything in the created world is not equal to just one immortal soul.  It was also said that when you were in the presence of St. John Paul II, he was just focused on you.

And even family members or friends who love us dearly treat us like we are not a number.  If that is true for us humans who love imperfectly, how much more true is it in the spiritual world of God who loves perfectly?  You, the one, are so wonderful to Jesus that when he finds you, he places you on his shoulders with great joy.  He delights that you, and just you, are on his gentle shoulders.  He focuses on just you.  He has a unique mission for you, and no one else can ever take your place in his Sacred Heart.

II.

Now let us turn to those of us in the 99 that Jesus apparently leaves behind in this second part of this homily.  For us who come to Mass regularly, the 99, the message of the Word of God today is this: Rejoice with Our Lord!  Rejoice when a fallen brother or sister has returned to the Flock of the Church!  What did the man with the found sheep do upon his arrival home?  He called together his friends and neighbors and says, “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.”  What does the woman who lost one coin do when she found it?  She called together her friends and neighbors and also said, “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.”  

So, the first way to strengthen and equip us, the 99, if you will, the so-called regular churchgoers, to search for the one, is to have strong hearts and attitudes.  Our hearts are one of happiness and delight and welcome.  St. Jacinta was the youngest of the 3 shepherd children that Mary appeared to at Fatima.  Even at her young age of 10, she was ready to offer all she had for the value of just one soul, that one lost sheep.  And St. Faustina, the Secretary of Divine Mercy, wrote of Jesus’s love for souls.  She wrote that Jesus showed her that love for the salvation of souls is measured by the willingness to suffer for these souls.  The more one loves the more he is willing to suffer for those he loves.  St. John Bosco, the great priests who serve youth, said, “Souls, souls, souls…give me souls…take away the rest!”  Our hearts, our labors, our sufferings for love of souls— all of these come from the foundation of prayer especially the Holy Mass.  We rejoice best at Mass.  The Mass is the great feast of heaven where angels rejoice in those that were lost but have now been found.  Let us come frequently to Mass and for those whose state in life allows it consider daily Mass.  

Finally, as important as the numbers are, as alarming as the numbers may show, today’s Gospel reminds us of the dignity and significance of that one soul that is faithful.  Even Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has referred to what is a called the Benedict Option.  The Benedict Option is where even though we are experiencing a smaller Church, it is more important that we be a more faithful Church.  We may be smaller, but we are faithful.  As St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said to her novices, “I don’t want numbers.”  She wanted fidelity.  

In closing, again, Our Lord rejoices when he finds a lost soul that returns to the Church.  And we too rejoice with Our Lord and strengthen our hearts.  So be faithful, even when the rest of our family or friends or neighbors are not faithful.  Be faithful and be the woman who turns her house upside to find one little lost coin, be faithful and be the man who rejoices and places the one lost sheep on his shoulders.  Be faithful like Moses in today’s First Reading from the Book of Exodus, who intercedes for God’s lost people.  

Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord to them, go and invite others to Mass, go and welcome back others to the practice of the Sacraments, go and invite lukewarm or inactive or former Catholics home to the Flock of the Church.  "Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord!"  As the Responsorial Psalm today says, “I will rise and go to my father.”  Let us too go and rejoice.  Let us rejoice go labor with Christ, the Good Shepherd, for that one lost soul.

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Comment:

An Amazing Homily by Deacon Dennis. Absolutely brilliant, inspirational, and heartfelt. I feel privilege to have studied under Deacon Dennis and the friendship and privilege of knowing him and his beautiful family. We miss you dearly

 

"Practice Humility & Avoid Pride" (Homily #161)

(incorrupt body of St. John M. Vianney)

Video of Homily #161a @ 12pm Mass

5pm Mass [audio only]

There is a true story told about a parish priest named Fr. John Vianney.  He barely passed his classes in the seminary.  His grades were even less than average, and he wasn’t all that popular or talented.  Eventually, his bishop assigned him to a small parish in the remote part of his Diocese.  However, in time, Father John was so successful bringing souls to God that even the devil himself directly harassed this priest.  You see, Fr. John did many prayers and sacrifices for those entrusted to his spiritual care, even hearing Confessions up to 16 hours a day. 

At night, the devil tried to bully and intimidate Father John.  Father just joked and said, “Oh, that’s just the devil upset.  He lost 10,000 souls today.”  The story here ends with Satan eventually saying to the priest, “I can imitate everything about you, except your humility.  I cannot imitate humility.”  “I cannot imitate humility.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches us about the necessary virtue of humility.  Jesus said, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”  In this homily, I will make two simple points: First, practice humility as seen in the lives of Christ and the saints.  Second, avoid pride, the opposite of humility.

I

So first point: Christ and the saints teach us to be humble.  Christ himself is our model of true humility.  In the Gospel acclamation, we hear of Jesus’s Sacred Heart, “Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart.”  The word ‘humility’ comes from the Latin word “humus” which means the earth.  In the Bible, humility means to be “poor in spirit,” the 1^st Beatitude.  Blessed are the humble, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. 

Humility means the truth.  Humility means know yourself.  St. Bernard said humility is a “virtue where a someone knows himself as he truly is” or someone knows herself as she is.  St. Thomas Aquinas said humility is part of temperance or “keeping oneself within one’s bounds.”  St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, “If you are humble, nothing will touch you; neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.”  Here, we don’t think more of ourselves, but at the same time, we do not think less of ourselves.  Here are some very practical ways of living this: When someone gives you a complement, like you’re pretty or you are skilled at this or you have a beautiful house, simple say thank you or acknowledge in your mind or words that it is God who made you this way.

The Protestant writer, C.S. Lewis, said that humility doesn’t mean thinking less of yourself, but it means thinking of your self less.  I’ll repeat that.  In other words, don’t think more of yourself and don’t think less of yourself.  Rather, think of your self less.  We moderate or temper our self-worth.  Who are we in God’s eyes?  This is the true of the dignity of the human person. 

The world misunderstands the power of humility and think it’s a weak thing.  But the Word of God shows us that a humble person is an attractive person.  In the First Reading from the Book of Sirach, it is written, “My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.  Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.”  Christ and his saints teach us to be humus, the salt of the earth.  So yes, it is very possible to be in a powerful state of life in the world and be humble, as the saints show us.  The greater we rise in the world with material blessings, or even with spiritual blessings in the Church, the humbler we should be.

II

Having looked at the virtue and power of humility in Christ and His saints, let’s look at the second main point: Avoid the opposite of humility—sinful pride.  Like in the story of Father John Vianney, evil does not know how to be humble.  The pride here is the sin of pride.  It does not mean something like taking pride in your school or taking pride in your kids or grandkids.  Even St. Paul talks about the good pride of following Christ, and when we recite the Creed, the Church says, “We are proud to profess it in Christ Jesus Our Lord.”  Rather, the sin of pride is defined as the “undue self-esteem or self-love, which seeks attention and honor and sets oneself in competition with God” (CCC 1866).  It is one of the seven capital sins because it leads to other sins and vices. 

[CUT OUT, IF NO TIME:] BTW, if you want a practical way to remember the 7 deadly sins or the 7 capital sins, you can think of the term: SEAL GAP or PALE GAS.  I got these from Jesse Romero and Dr. Taylor Marshall.  Pride, Anger, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Avarice, and Sloth.  Or Sloth, Envy, Avarice, Lust, Gluttony, Anger, and Pride.]  

[Pride is the worst of all sins, and was the downfall of Lucifer, who was at first a good angel, made by God, but because evil by his own free choice.  They wanted to put themselves above God with pride and envy.  But while there is no repentance possible for the fallen angels, the demons, there is repentance for us humans while still alive, because of God’s love and mercy.]  A very first practical way to avoid pride is to remain in the state of sanctifying grace, to have the friendship of God in the soul, and avoid deadly or mortal sin which destroys the life of grace in the soul.  Just as God is drawn to humility, pride repels God away from the soul.  If we fall into the sin of pride, get back up and return to Confession. 

Also, another way of practically avoiding pride is to accept all of the teachings of the Church on matters of faith and morality (and even of disciple).  Pride rejects the Church’s teaching, especially her moral teachings.  It says, “I know better than God” in my moral life.  Rejecting the Church’s teaching is a form of sinful pride actually puts our salvation in jeopardy.  But let this be a moment of sincere change or sincere.  Humility says, “I don’t entirely understand why the Church’s teaches this, but I ask for the grace to accept.”  Pride is arrogant.  But like the Second Reading, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews gives us a glimpse of the need of the Body of Christ, the Church, the New Israel, of which you and I are members by baptism.  “You have approached Mount Zion, and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.”  May we have the humility to accept all the teachings of the Church and avoid the pride of rejecting the teachings of Jesus Christ which have come to us through His Church.

III

In closing, we saw two main points and how to practically live the Gospel: Practice humility & avoid sinful pride.  

[CUT OUT, IF NO TIME: Let the words of our parish patroness, St. Catherine of Siena, help us: “If we know who we are, we will set the whole world ablaze.”  As we receive the Holy Eucharist in the few minutes, if we know who we are in the Eucharist, let us thank God for all the gifts He has given to us; and then let us set the world ablaze through the virtues of love, prayer and humility.]  

And may the Mother of Humility, Mary, help us to be humble so that everything we do, say or think may be pleasing to God, the Father of Love. 

“Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”