under construction
10 November 2019
31 October 2019
Go Beyond Minimum Requirements of Faith: Parable of the Unprofitable Servant (Homily #164)
#164b (12pm)
#164c (5pm)
At the very beginning of today’s Gospel, he heard proclaimed something that we modern people understandably say. We hear how the Apostles asked Jesus, “Lord, increase our faith.” It’s a sincere request.
And so Jesus in response tells the parable story of the unprofitable servant. Now imagine this: A worker wakes up at 4am, goes to work, and comes home at 11pm at night. That’s a 19-hour day. But after coming home dead-tired and ready to go to sleep to work the next day, the boss calls this hard-working servant, “Come here and make me some dinner.”
Jesus of course is not saying do abusive work relations, if that’s what we think then we are missing the point. Wisdom, let us be attentive! Rather, Jesus is teaching us how this hard worker represents our faith in God. Let those who have ears, listen! In order to grow our faith, we have to work hard ourselves to increase our faith. We have to constantly exercise faith in God, to form a habit of faith. We have to, like this unprofitable servant who worked 19 hours and then some, begin our belief in God from the very beginning to the very end of our spiritual lives.
The Dominican theologian Fr. Garagou-Lagrange, says, “If we are not progressing forward in our spiritual life, we are actually going backwards.” Ask ourselves right now in our deepest conscience and in our hearts, “Have I honestly progressed forward in my faith?” “Have I moved beyond the minimum?” If no, then we know what to do. If we said yes, we are actually not done! And here’s why: While faith is a gift and requires our best human effort, while Faith is a free divine grace, but faith requires constant practice. It’s not enough to say, “Well, I’m done with Confirmation, I graduated, (which is a silly statement btw), or I’ve been baptized and go to Mass…sometimes…or “I’ve been saved”.
Rather, just like the unprofitable servant who works the whole day and night and more yet still says, “I am a useless worker.” So too after spending all our efforts to believe in God, we too should say, “I am not done with increasing my Faith.”
The unprofitable servant does not say, “Ahhh, what a good worker I am.” So too with our faith, we cannot say, “Ahhh, I’m a good person, I don’t kill, I do this or that, I’m spiritual, I’m not religious or dogmatic. I’m such a good person and don’t need to go to Confession. I don’t kill, so I’m going to heaven.” On the contrary, the person of faith says, “My faith constantly needs to increase.” The unprofitable servant says, “The POWER of the name of Jesus is more powerful than any evil in my life.” The unprofitable servant says, “Sunday Mass and Holy Days of Obligation are just the bare minimum. Confession at least once a year is just the bare minimum. Loving God and neighbor and the less fortunate are just the bare minimum. Even the Seven Sacraments of the Church are just the bare minimum.” The person of faith says, “My faith needs constant growth. I am doing only what I am supposed to be doing. It is my duty to do this minimum thing anyways.” A person of faith goes beyond these minimum requirements of what you’re being asked to do to increase your faith.
Finally, here are some practical, centuries-tested, saint-making, beyond-the- minimum ways to increase our faith. First, there is difference between a Sacrament and a sacramental. A sacrament was divinely instituted by Christ. But a sacramental was instituted or approved by His Church. While a sacrament is required as the bare-bones minimum, a sacramental while not strictly-speaking required but highly recommended to grow in holiness. For example, after the Mass and the Sacraments, the holy rosary is a powerful sacramental. This month of October is the month of the rosary. It is also Respect Life Month, where we honor the new poor, the new orphans, those in the womb that do not have anyone to speak for them except us. “It’s not enough to say, ‘I don’t kill’ Well that’s great, but let’s go beyond that and protect life. Another sacramental is Holy Water. I would encourage us to have Holy Water at home and use it. Another sacramental is the brown scapular. A scapular goes around the shoulders and is meant to show that someone is consecrated to Mary. The Miraculous Medal is another powerful sacramental and has a record of bringing about conversions, healings and even miracles.
In closing, we have heard in the Word of God how our Faith is represented the Parable of the Unprofitable Servant who, “I am a useless servant. I have done only what I was obliged to do.” May our faith, too, go beyond the bare minimum crawling so that we can run and fly in the heights of sanctity. As St. Paul in his Second Letter to Timothy in today’s Second Reading wrote, “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self control, so do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord.”
17 September 2019
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)
* * *
A Message to
Former Catholics to Return Home to the Flock of the Church:
Rescuing the One
& Strengthening the 99 Sheep
(Homily #162)
24th
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 3rd largest group being
the Catholic Church, do you know what the 2nd largest group is? The 2nd 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.
___
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
01 September 2019
"Practice Humility & Avoid Pride" (Homily #161)
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| (incorrupt body of St. John M. Vianney) |
Video of Homily #161a @ 12pm Mass
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 1st 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.”
30 August 2019
"Be Rich in What Matters to God" (Homily #159)
“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 3rd 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.
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.)
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| (the actual blood-sisters of St. Therese) |
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Ven. Leonie (candidate for sainthood), St. Therese's sister
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17 August 2019
Baptism of 8 Little Ones (Homily #160); Family Stops By Baptism Class; Fr. Stephen Borlaug Stops By Baptism Class (Aug. 2019)
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| 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
30 June 2019
Jesus Invites You 'Follow Me' in All Circumstances (Homily #158)
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Fr. John "Jack" Mitchell, S.J.
(June 28, 2014)
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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)
“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 5th 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.”
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| 1st draft |
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| (started writing 1st draft on the back of randomly picked paper from my daughter, Hope) |
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