"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.”  

"Be Rich in What Matters to God" (Homily #159)

12pm [audio]

5pm [audio]

“Be Rich… In What Matters to God” (Homily #159)

by Deacon Dennis Purificacion

Be rich…  Be rich… in what matters to God!  Most of us are familiar with St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower.  However, while most of us are familiar with St. Therese, many of us are not familiar with her parents who are also canonized saints: Her dad, St. Louis Martin, and her mom, St. Zelie Martin.  The Church celebrates their feast on July 12.  They lived about 150 years ago, kind of like our great grandparents.  We have actual black and white photos of this family of saints and even Louis and Zelie’s love letters they wrote to each other.


Louis and Zelie had 9 children, but only 5 daughters survived into adulthood.  The dad had nicknames for his daughters: Marie was his “diamond,” Pauline his “noble pearl,” Leonie who is a candidate for sainthood, Celine the “bold one,” and Therese who was his “little queen to whom all treasures belonged.”  St. Louis was a watchmaker, and Zelie was a lacemaker, her family business.  Unfortunately, Zelie was diagnosed with breast cancer but kept this from her husband until it was too late, and she died at age 45, leaving Louis widowed as a single parent to raise the girls.  Louis raised his girls, and two of them later took care of him in old age before his own death, after he was paralyzed with two strokes.  “In Heaven.”


So, during the process to beatify (or declare blessed) the parents with the Vatican department responsible for investigating new saints, Marie testified the following:

“My father and mother had a deep faith.  In listening to them speak of eternity, we were disposed, although quite young at the time, to look on all things of this world as pure vanity.  Mamma used to repeat wholeheartedly: True happiness is not to be found in this world.  It is a complete loss of time to try to find it here.  Under what illusions do the majority of men live!  …the heart which seeks anything outside of God is never satisfied.  … I do not want to be attached to anyone except God and my family.”


And again, Marie said of her mom, “Although she could not bear wasting things, she spared nothing when there was question of our education and spiritual welfare.  Money is nothing when there is question of one’s sanctification or the perfection of a soul.”  And “God has arranged things that way to remind us that this earth is not our true home.”  And this is the first of three main points: That the life of this modern-day wife and mother saint shows us how to be rich in what matters to God.  


The second point is on today’s Gospel where Jesus himself teaches us to be rich in what matters to God.  Jesus said, “Take care to guard against all greed, for even though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”  Our Lord is shifting our attitudes and our hearts to things of Heaven.  St. Zelie Martin and her husband clearly lived this out.  St. Zelie said material things do not define the human person.  One’s true wealth, one’s spiritual bank account, one lottery ticket, one’s Cash Creek, is to be only in God.  Our hearts were made for God, says St. Augustine, and our hearts will not rest until they rest in God.  St. Theresa of Avila said, “Only God satisfies.”  And in today’s First Reading, it is written in the Book of Ecclesiastes, “Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, all is vanity.”  Qoheleth is the Preacher who reminds the people that any type of riches, such as worldly knowledge, wealth, honor, pleasure, and ambition need to be oriented to the service of God.  These modern-day married saints show us how to become spiritually rich during our short lives on earth. 


The Martin Family especially gave importance to the greatest spiritual richness of observing the Sabbath day, the Third Commandment.  St. Zelie wrote, “All faithful observers of the Lord’s Day, perfect or imperfect, are blessed in their enterprises; in the end, in one way or another they become rich.”  In other words, my soul becomes rich and wealthy when I unite my life to the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass, when the priest offers the Body and Blood of Christ to the Eternal Father in a bloodless manner, a liturgical act most pleasing to our loving Heavenly Father.


Okay, so to recall the two of three main points so far, first, we see the life of St. Louis and St. Zelie Martin, parents of St. Therese the Little Flower, and how they were rich in what matters to God.  Second, we see how these modern-day saints lived today’s Gospel.  But here’s the third and final point:  We too can be rich in what matters to God.  


Aside from being rich by living the 3^rd Commandment of Keeping Holy the Sabbath Day, another couple of things we can do is do what St. Therese, one of the women doctors of the Church, did:


Firstly, we can live a life of prayer and sacrifice for the love of Jesus.  When St. Therese was preparing for her First Holy Communion, she was shown how to do prayers and sacrifices, to offer up little inconveniences, especially for poor sinners that have nobody to pray and sacrifice for them.


St. Therese, the Little Flower, is also known for her “Little Way.”  She used to say, “Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our acts, or even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.”



Many saints became saints because they read about and imitated the lives of the saints.  St. Ignatius Loyola did this and said, “If those saints can do this, then so can I.”  He asked, “What good is it if I gain the whole world but lose my soul?”

To summarize: (1) First, we see how an ordinary family became spiritually rich in what matters to God and eventually became a family of saints; (2) Second, we hear from the Word of God how Christ Himself calls us to be rich in what matters to God; (3) and third, we heard of some practical ways to build real treasure on earth on our journey home to Heaven.  


Be rich…. in what matters to God.  I leave you with the words from the Second Reading of St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians:

If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.
For you have died,
and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ your life appears,
then you too will appear with him in glory.

(Be rich in what matters to God.)

(the actual blood-sisters of St. Therese)

Ven. Leonie (candidate for sainthood), St. Therese's sister

Baptism of 8 Little Ones (Homily #160); Family Stops By Baptism Class; Fr. Stephen Borlaug Stops By Baptism Class (Aug. 2019)

Baptism Prep Class w/My Former High School Student, Paulyn (SPSV 2002), and Her Husband, Christopher

On Aug. 17, I was blessed to baptize 8 little ones.

I have administered the Sacrament of Baptism to 117 souls to date.

Please say a prayer for the families of:

Elijah Kainalu

Caela Rae

Kyler

Hunter James

Fabrizio Alonso

Blythe Ariah

Jacob

Kevin

Aug. 3, 2019 Baptism Class

Jesus Invites You 'Follow Me' in All Circumstances (Homily #158)

Fr. John "Jack" Mitchell, S.J.

(June 28, 2014)

My wife took a photo of our surprise visitor before my Ordination Mass to the diaconate at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento, California.

10am Mass (audio)

5pm Mass (video)

8am Mass (audio)

“Jesus Invites You ‘Follow Me’ in All Circumstances” (Homily #158)

So one day, as I was greeting parishioners after Mass, a parishioner came up to me and said, “Gee, Deacon, I really like your new grey hair.”  I replied, “I know, I know, the diaconate has aged me.”  She then said, “Oh, no, fatherhood has aged you.”  A few weeks later, a different parishioner also came up to me after Mass and said, “Gee, Deacon, I really like your new grey hair.”  So, thinking of the first parishioner, I said to the second parishioner, “I know, I know, fatherhood has aged me.”  She said, “Oh, no, the diaconate has aged you.” 😊

My mom affectionately calls my hair “salt and pepper.”  (And for the record I do love our parishioners, so thank you for letting me tell you that story.)  I bring up this true story not only to explain today’s Gospel, but because Deacon Juan Moreno and I this weekend celebrated our 5^th anniversary as permanent deacons.  Five years ago, I remember most of my hair was black, and today it is not.

I’ve been blessed to have baptized over 100 beautiful souls, help with funerals and vigils, prepare couples for marriages and sacraments, Benedictions and blessings, and preach over 150 homilies at 300 Masses and liturgies, to name some examples.  But prior to all this, while I was a candidate for ordination, the Diocese asked me, for my case, to do the 30-days Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius with a seasoned Jesuit priest for the first year.  His name was Father Jack. 

In the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, one is invited to follow Jesus in meditation.  And by the end of the year, asked the Jesuit priest, “But what if I fail Jesus in the future?”  Fr. Jack was like the wise Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid movie when he replied, “Ah, ah, ah!"  He continued, "Where are you now following Jesus?  That’s the future; let’s focus on today.  Are you with Jesus today?"  So I said, “Today, I am following him” but I then added, “What about my past, my failures, and my sins?”  And Father again like Mr. Miyagi said, “Ah, ah, ah, are you following Jesus now, today?  Do not worry about the past, and do not worry about the future.  Are you following Jesus today?”  So I said yes. 

The invitation to follow Jesus is today, one day at a time, on our journey home to Heaven.  The invitation to follow Jesus does comes not with ordination— in a sense, we have it mixed up, as if the invitation to follow Jesus is only for a select few.  Following Jesus starts with baptism!  Vatican II calls this the universal call to holiness.  St. Josemaria Escriva says, “The greatest male saint that ever lived was not a deacon, not a priest, not a bishop, not a pope; rather, the greatest male saint was a husband, and father, and a worker.”  His name was St. Joseph.  He followed Jesus regardless of his background and circumstances.

So if we want to remember this one simple point from today’s Gospel, it’s Jesus’ words to us from Luke Chapter 9, “Follow me!”  You know, there are thousands of other things or people we are tempted to follow in the world.  But are we following Jesus today, regardless of our situation, regardless of our past, our failures, and regardless of the unknown future? 

In the Gospels, when Jesus invited others to “Follow me,” he said, “Let the dead bury the dead.”  Now, let’s look at the spiritual meaning of the words of Christ here.  Jesus wants the dead failures of our past, and this should not stop you from following him.  “Go and proclaim the Kingdom.”  Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.  To another who wanted to say bye to his family in the future, the point is that no earthly worries should stop us from following Jesus now.  Jesus is shows us in Luke Ch. 9 that there really are no good excuses not to follow him.

Some might say, for example, “When my health is better, I will follow you.”  Ah, ah, ah, like Mr. Miyagi or Father Jack would say, Jesus also still says, “Follow me.”   Some might say, “When I’m better off financially, I will follow Jesus.  Ah, ah, ah!  Jesus says, “Follow me.”  If your health is bad, Jesus says follow me.  If your health is good, Jesus says follow me.  If you have no food on the table and no money in the bank, Jesus says follow me.  If you have an overabundance of food your middle name is money, Jesus says follow me.  If you think you’re too young, Jesus says follow me.  If you think you’re too old, Jesus says follow me.   If you think you’ve failed with school or work or relationships, Jesus says follow me!  If you think you’ve succeeded with school or work or relationships, Jesus says follow me.  And in my case, if my hair is black, Jesus says follow me; if my hair is gray, Jesus says follow me.  Regardless of our circumstances, all that matters in this life is to follow Jesus.  In the First Reading from the First Book of Kings, Elisha replaced Elijah but went to say goodbye to his family.  The point here is that Elisha eventually followed the way of God, regardless of his situation.

Finally, we practically accept Jesus’ invitation to follow him in the Sacraments and in the Commandments.  For those of us who are not baptized, Jesus invites you today, “Follow me.”  For those who have not been born again in the Sacrament of Confirmation, Jesus invites you, “Follow me.”  If you haven’t had your First Communion, Jesus invites you, “Follow me.”  If you need help going to Confession, Jesus says, “Follow me.”  If we are sick and in need of healing, Jesus invites you Follow me.  If we need the Sacrament of Matrimony, whether convalidating a civil marriage or couples cohabitating without marriage, Jesus says, “Follow me.”  And finally, I turn to our own priests in the Sacrament of Orders, Jesus says, “Follow me.”  Let us build a culture of vocations in our parish and invite other youth and young adults to follow Jesus in the priesthood and religious life.  I remember being with a group of bishops for Youth Day.  I asked a bishop how things were going, and one of the bishops said, “Well, Deacon, we are seeing parishes where there are no longer two priests but only one priest, and sometimes one priest is assigned to two parishes.  So let’s invite young men to follow Jesus.

In closing, the month of June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  So few have returned love.  When the U.S. bishops met recently, they noted the alarming number of people leaving the Church.  For every 1 Catholic that enters the Church, 6 leave.  And many of these Catholics leave when they are around 13 years old.  So how that we follow Jesus, go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.  Invite others to the Sacraments, especially in the Sacrament of the Eucharist which we will receive in a few moments.  While it is true that God loves you, we too should in our turn love God.  Follow me not just physically but follow Jesus’s Sacred Heart with your broken heart, regardless of our circumstances.  Love God and neighbor in the Sacraments, in keeping his Commandments.  May the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary help us to always, always regardless of our circumstances, to follow Jesus. 

Jesus says to us today, “Follow me.”

1st draft

(started writing 1st draft on the back of randomly picked paper from my daughter, Hope) 

Holy Spirit Protects Catholic Church From Officially Teaching Error on Faith & Morality (Homily #157)

(audio 12pm)

(audio 8am)

There is an important distinction between Memorial Day and Veterans Day.  Memorial Day is to remind us of members of the Armed Forces that have passed away, while Veterans Day is to remind us of those that are still alive.  It is said that there are 2 forces in the world willing to die for us: The first is Jesus Christ and the second is the American soldier.  In the first case, Jesus died for our spiritual freedom, but the American solider is willing to die for our physical freedom.  Thank you for those that have served in uniform and are no longer with us.  And speaking of being reminded of those who died for us, this leads into today’s homily.

In a couple of weeks, we will close these 40 days of Easter.  During these 40 days of Easter, the Risen Christ Jesus stayed with the Eleven Apostles before he ascended into Heaven.  Then, after ascending into Heaven, the Church prayed 9 novena days for the great Feast of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church.  This is the context for today’s Gospel: Before the Ascension and before Pentecost, Jesus prepares us, His Mystical Body, to continue His mission of saving the world through His Spirit.  There are 3 main points, therefore, in this homily from today’s Gospel:

1.) First, the Holy Spirit reminds us about Christ’s teachings through the Church. 

2.) Second, the Holy Spirit protects the Catholic Church from officially teaching error in matters of faith and morality.

3.) Third, the Holy Spirit helps us to live the official teachings of the Church on faith and morals, especially through the Sacraments and personal prayer.

Again, the Holy Spirit reminds, Holy Spirit protects, and the Holy Spirit helps…

I

For the first point that the Holy Spirit reminds us about Christ’s teachings through his Church, Jesus said, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”  In other words, the institution of the Church has not just a human element but a divine element to it. 

Think about this: If the Church does not have the divine spark of the Holy Spirit, then it is a mere human institution.  And, as a human institution, it will collapse.  If the Church can make an error in her official teachings, then that means that Christ’s mission has failed in a sense.  The resurrection will have meant nothing if God’s Church is teaching darkness and error.  And so we need the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Spirit of God himself, to teach and remind us of the truth. 

The Spirit of God, then, is active in official Church teaching.  We hear in the First Reading from Acts of the Apostles how the first Apostles and elders officially taught.  The Greek words here to describe the official teachers were “apostoloi” and “presbyteroi”.  Presbyteroi is sometimes translated as elders or presbyterate or priesthood.  When there were controversial issues, it was the apostoloi and the presbyteroi who resolved errors through official teachings.  So when the Church heard that there were some Christians going around without any mandate from them to officially teach, they sent representatives with a letter that boldly said, “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us that you must avoid paganism and unlawful marriage.”   Here, the Apostles and their Successors have the audacity to dare claim not only the authority of the Holy Spirit but also their own authority.  The Holy Spirit reminds us through formal teaching, like the Creed or the Liturgy or the Mass or the Catechism or the Bible.  The Holy Spirit reminds us.

II

Second, the Holy Spirit protects the Catholic Church from officially teaching error in matters of faith and morality.  Throughout our 2,000-year teaching history, the successors or the replacements of those first Apostles over time handed down a clear body of public declarations.  Now, just because the Church is protected from teaching error doesn’t mean that the members of the Church are protected from sin.  In fact, as human beings, they sin and make mistakes; however, when they teach with the authority of the Apostles on faith or morals, it is preserved.  We have to distinguish between official Catholic teaching versus official teachers who sin.  Peter sinned, and yet he was the official leader of the Church.  Also, the protection of the Holy Spirit is on a religious faith or moral issue and not just whatever they say goes.  For example, political diplomacy or a member of the clergy’s personal opinions for dinner are not protected by the Holy Spirit, but a moral issue like God’s plan for marriage and family is a moral issue, and as a moral issue the Church’s teaching are protected from error.  Jesus said that whoever loves him keeps to the words of his teachings.  The Father sent Jesus, and the Spirit is sent upon the Church.  So, whoever then loves the Church’s teachings loves the Spirit and Jesus and the Father.  Her teachings are his own.

III

Finally, the Holy Spirit helps us live Catholic teachings on faith and morals, especially through the Sacraments and personal prayer.  In the Second Reading from the Book of Revelation, the holy city Jerusalem came down from heaven like a bride prepared for her husband.  The city is the Church, the mystical body of Christ.  She had no need of sun or moon to shine on her, for the glory of God gave her light, and her lamp was the Lamb.  Here, the holy city of the Church of which you and I are members through baptism shines brighter than the sun.  The Catholic Church uniquely was granted by her divine Founder, Jesus, the means to conquer the evils of the world.  And we know today how evil is increasing in the world.  No other institution can claim this!  [If time permits, talk about Protestantism and warmly invite back home to the Catholic Church.]  The mysteries of faith or the Sacraments like the Eucharist at Sunday Mass and Confession, and Matrimony and Baptism and Confirmation, all of these will assist us in living Catholic teaching on faith and morality, esp. the difficult teachings.  And if there is a difficulty, remember that one thousand difficulties do not make a doubt to leave the Church.  Let it be an invitation to renew our faith in the Risen and Ascended Christ who said that whoever loves him will keep to his teachings.  During this month of May, which is dedicated to the Mother of Jesus, let it be an invitation to pray the rosary more, esp. every day, and to consecrate and entrust our weak and fallen nature to her loving and motherly Immaculate Heart.  Let the difficulty with Church teaching be an opportunity of growth [and study more] and for deeper conversion, as we prepare for the Ascension of Jesus and the sending of the Spirit at Pentecost.

So, in summary: (1) The Holy Spirit reminds us of Christ’s teachings through the Church.  (2) The Holy Spirit protects the Catholic Church from error in matters of faith and morals.  (3) The Holy Spirit helps us to live official Church teachings that come from Jesus Christ.  Just as Memorial Day reminds us of those who gave their lives so we can be physically free, let us remind Jesus who gave his life so that we can be eternally free.  God the Holy Spirit himself will teach all nations now and until the end of time.  O God, let all the nations praise you.

100th Baptism of My Former High School Student's Daughter: "Avengers of God, Assemble!" (Homily #156 for 10 New Superheroes of Heaven)

My former high school student, Regina, was a quiet kid in the back of my Religion class over 20 years ago, but now she is one of the "loudest" of them all-- by having her daughter baptized as a royal princess of the King of Heaven!

What do I mean by this?  The Catholic Church in western countries is in a state of decline.  Sacramental life across the board, such as infant baptisms, are statistically in a freefall.  Although there were 10 newly baptized that day, parents overall in society increasingly are not bringing their children to the Sacraments.  

However, through this motherly act of bringing her child to the font of baptism, she has proclaimed to the whole world the saving waters of Christ the Living Water.  This is true love: to bring a child into God's divine life.  Parents, do not deprive your children of the graces of baptism!  As Jesus commanded, "Go and make disciples and baptize them..."  And in Acts of the Apostles, entire households were baptized.

Regina in Latin means "queen."  Regina's daughter is now a princess.  She is a princess anointed with the sweet smelling chrism now united into the royal office of Jesus Christ.  I did not mention this in my homily, but if I had to do it over, I would proclaim to the world that her baby is a princess.  This was one of the readings from the Letter of St. Peter, the first Pope of the Catholic Church (1 Peter): You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people set apart; once you were no people but now you are God's people.

The congregation clapped when they heard that this was my 100th baptism.  As I think about it now, it is the lay faithful's way to celebrate that great Sacrament of Initiation in Baptism, the gateway to the other sacraments, and mystery of new life with Jesus.  

Thank you, Regina and family, for this great gift of baptism and for proclaiming this loudly throughout the world!

And as I said then many years ago -- and as I say as your "Religion teacher" now -- say your prayers every day.  

And please keep me in your prayers.  Your goofy ol'teacher is getting old.

(audio only of homily)

After everyone left the church, and I cleaned up, I sat in the pew to say thank you to God for this privilege.

I am also grateful to the family that invited me to their reception even though I couldn't make it.  It touched me deeply.

  Before I left the church, I then entrusted these 10 new disciples to the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

Gianna Renee

Gisselle Marilyn

Olivia

Edgyross

Adrian Gabriel

Alina

Jenalla Marie

Hakeem Elias

Victoria Rose

Hudson Daniel

_______

"Avengers of God, Assemble!"

Dr. John Collins (1950-2019)