Homily for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

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I’m trying something different for recording the homily: AudioBoo on my iPad.


(Yes, that is a thunder clap about half way through. There was a thunderstorm outside when I recorded this.)

I admit it. I like the things of the world. I like having stuff, using stuff, collecting stuff, buying stuff, and desiring more stuff. I don’t think I’m alone in this. Most, if not all of us, have, want, buy, use, and collect the stuff of the world. In itself, possessing and using the things of the world are not bad. In fact, many of the things we possess are tools which make our lives easier. We would much rather live in a house instead of a cave. Laundry machines clean our clothes easier and more thoroughly than washing them in a bucket. It’s a lot easier and faster to travel between towns in a car than by foot.

The problem with possessions is when we allow them to become attachments. Instead of the car or house being a tool to make our lives easier, it becomes something we just can’t live without. We begin to place our possessions over everything else in our lives, even our very salvation, which is what Jesus warns us against in today’s Gospel: “anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

As Christians, this warning by Our Lord should be a wake-up call. We should be taking these words and reevaluating our lives. Do I allow my possessions to dictate my life, or do I allow the things of God to lead me? As Christians, we are called to separation from the world. “In the world, but not of the world” is a common phrase that clearly expresses how we should relate to the things of earth. We can have possessions and use them, we can be involved in earthly activities, but we must not allow those earthly possessions and activities to rule our lives.

As Christians, we need to seek constantly to avoid attachments to the things of the earth, things which will one day pass away, and develop attachments to the things of Heaven, the things of God which will never pass away. This doesn’t mean that we’re all called to live a monastic or cloistered life. Even where Our Lord says that we must hate our fathers, mothers, spouses, children, or siblings, His words aren’t an encouragement to neglect our responsibilities to our families. What He is warning against is allowing anything in this world to get between us and seeking God’s will for our lives and the eternal life He promises.

By maintaining this separation from the things of the world and seeking God’s will, we are fulfilling the call to holiness that we all share. Seeking holiness is not something that the “professional religious” such as priests and professed religious do, but all Christians must spend every day of their lives striving to be holy.

There is a risk in striving to be holy: we have to be willing to accept suffering in our lives. We already know that our lives are full of suffering naturally, but seeking holiness means accepting that suffering just as Our Lord accepted the suffering on the Cross. Jesus tells us, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” To follow Our Lord means taking up our suffering in this life and uniting it with His suffering on the Cross. Through this union of our suffering with Our Lord’s, we can see that the suffering we face in this life is just as much a part of God’s will as the joys we experience in order to prepare us for the eternal life in Heaven.

Of course, that’s very difficult for us to understand, as we don’t want to suffer. We constantly seek to find ways to alleviate the suffering. The problem is that we don’t truly understand God’s will. As the Book of Wisdom puts it, “scarce do we guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty; but when things are in Heaven, who can search them out?”

We barely understand why things happen here on earth, and have almost no clue as to why God allows much of what happens in our lives. In response to our lack of understanding, we need to ask for the grace of the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds and help us to discern God’s will for our lives. Only through that discernment can we appreciate the role suffering has in preparing us for the salvation promised by Christ, but we can only enter into that discernment if we are willing and actively seeking to detach from the things of the world.

Homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

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None of us want to be humble. We enjoy hanging on to our pride and protecting it. If we do something foolish in front of others, we might talk about our “pride being hurt”. We like having people pay attention to what we want, even if it’s to be left alone. Instead of attending to others’ needs, we’re constantly tempted to attend only to our own and help others only if it fits with our plans and desires.

Pride is a dangerous vice to have. In fact, the tradition of the Church has long considered pride the deadliest of the seven deadly sins, as all other sins flow from our pride. The Catechism defines pride as “undue self-esteem or self-love, which seeks attention and honor and sets oneself in competition with God.” Through our pride, we come to think that we know better than others, and sadly, that we know better than God Himself.

Of course, this is spiritually dangerous ground to be on. When we are ensnared by pride, we are blinded to God’s will. We decide that God’s will is unimportant compared with our own. To see the results of this position, look at Satan and the fallen angels. Catholic Tradition reveals to us that at the beginning of time, God revealed to the angels His plan for salvation of humanity, which would make humans, created as lower than the angels, rulers over the angels. Out of pride, Lucifer, who was created the highest of the angels, denied God’s plan allowing these lower beings to rule over him, causing him and the angels who followed him to be cast out of Heaven.

The pride that caused Satan to fall from the heights of heaven is the same pride that causes us to question the Truth which God revealed through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Through pride, we place what we think or feel over the Truth which Jesus entrusted to the Church. If you’ve ever said something to the extent of, “I know the Church says one thing, but I believe something else,” there’s a very good chance that pride is causing the disagreement, not a true theological reflection on the Truth revealed by Christ. This statement first denies revealed Truth safegarded and protected by the Church, and secondly justifies the individual’s opinion.

Because we are prideful humans, we need to approach God with humility and heed the warning of Our Lord in today’s Gospel reading: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” We need to realize, in the words of a song performed by contemporary Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman, that “God is God, and I am not.” As sinful humans affected by original sin, we don’t have the full understanding of God’s plan for our lives, for all of humanity, and for all creation. We need to realize that we are blinded by sin, and pray for the humility to live as God wills.

Admittedly, it is difficult to pray for humility. We all want to hang on to our pride, but we can be encouraged by the First Reading from the Book of Sirach: “conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself all the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.” By truly seeking humility, we are drawn closer to God and receive His gifts more willingly. Becoming humble is painful, as our ego will take some bumps and bruises along the way, but we will receive far more joy from living a humble life than we ever will by following our pride.

In fact, true humility leads us to share our joy with others. Through humility, we are willing to joyfully give to those in need whether they can repay or not. In fact, if they can’t repay our generosity, Our Lord tells us that “blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Our humble generosity now will be repaid more so in the eternal life. Note that being humble is not synonymous with being a push-over. We should not allow generosity to become enabling of bad behaviors or sins, but we still must be willing to help where ever we can.

When we approach others with humility, we emulate Our Lord. As the priest prays at every Mass when mingling the water with the wine: “By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.” Our Lord approached humanity with true humility. May we approach Him and our fellow members of humanity with that same humility.

Teen sex may not hurt GPAs, but is that the only concern?

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Another day, another new study. A front-page article in today’s local paper proclaimed, “Teen sex not always bad for school performance“. Well, parents, I guess you don’t have to worry any more if your teens are in a “committed relationship” and engaging in premarital sex, because a group of sociologists from the U of California and the U of Minnesota have determined that “teens in committed relationships do no better or worse in school than those who don’t have sex.” Well, I guess that’s one less thing to worry about for parents, huh?

Not quite. Let’s start with a few definitions, shall we? First, what is a “committed relationship” versus “hooking up”? Yes, those are the terms used in the article (probably not in the original study, though). Is a committed relationship one where the couple is engaged, but not married yet? Is it having dated for a significant length of time before beginning sexual activity? Or is merely a monogamous relationship for a couple of months or so?

To put it simply, a committed relationship is one in which the man and woman commit themselves to remain faithful to each other for life. In other words, entering into the marital covenant. Anything else is not a committed relationship. It may not be the casual sexual relationships you see on TV and in the movies, but it is still less than a true commitment to the other. What woman wants to hear, “I love you, and I’ll commit to you until I get tired of you and want to find someone else”? Yet this is what a couple is saying when they enter into the sexual act without the bonds of marriage. It’s a false commitment.

By the fact that this study focused on teenagers, the so-called “committed relationships” are really false commitments. Legally, teens in most states can’t get married until 16 – only with parental permission – and with good reason. I would venture that the great majority of teens today are not mentally mature enough to make the life-long commitment that marriage demands. (As an aside, I’m sure every reader of this post can think of an adult who is not mentally mature enough for marriage.) Just because one has reached the age of puberty does not mean that he or she is mentally ready for the commitment and consequences that come with sex.

Now, let’s look at the other phrase: “hooking up”. As I’ve heard that phrase, it means having casual sex with multiple partners with no relationship beyond the sexual act. This, of course, is extremely dangerous physically and emotionally. The article is correct when it points out that hooking up leads to greater risk of truancy, diseases, criminal acts, and so on. It also views the other people as objects to provide physical pleasure.

The problem I have with these so-called committed relationships is that they become a long-term hooking up. Rarely does one couple remain together for the entire 4 years of high school, much less for the rest of their lives. Instead a couple will get together and date for months or a couple of years. They’ll break up, find new partners and repeat the process. They’re still having sex with multiple partners, just over several years. Sadly, this has become so prevalent that there’s a popular term for it: serial monogamy.

When these couples do break up, which will eventually happen in most cases, the emotional turmoil that is unleashed can and will seriously affect the teens at an age in which the emotions are already confused. I doubt the sociologists ever looked at the effects of the breakup of these committed relationships, and how it affects the teens’ GPAs at that point. I’m also sure they never looked at the teens’ later likeliness to enter into marriage and remain married, yet premarital sex does affect how one views marriage, especially the desire for entering into marriage and remaining within a marriage once difficulties arise. If you can enter into a “committed relationship” and break up when you’re no longer “in love” (meaning no longer feeling the mushy attraction towards the other person), why would you want to commit to someone for your entire life?

In short, the teens’ GPAs should be the least of their worries if they’re engaging in premarital sex. Sadly, the study only focused on one insignificant, unimportant aspect of their lives.

Homily for the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary

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As Christians, we have the luxury of hindsight when we read the Old Testament. We can see how the promises of God the Father are fulfilled in the person and actions of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, we can see how important figures, events and objects in the Old Covenant foreshadow the establishment of the New Covenant through Our Lord. Today, as we celebrate the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven, this hindsight makes Mary’s role in salvation clear and shows why we need to emulate Her in our lives.

When we look back at the Old Covenant, one major object stands out: the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was the holiest object for the Israelite people, as it represented the presence of God with them. It also carried three of the holiest articles given to the Israelites: the tablets containing the 10 Commandments; Aaron’s staff which budded to show the call of the Levite tribe as the priesthood of Israel; and the manna in the desert which sustained the Israelite people for 40 years.

Each of these objects foreshadow some aspect of Our Lord’s role in salvation of humanity. The tablets with the 10 Commandments are fulfilled in the commandments Our Lord gave through His teaching. The staff shows that Our Lord is the High Priest of the New Covenant which He established through His blood. The manna, the bread from Heaven, is a foreshadowing of the Eucharist, which is the true and eternal Bread from Heaven.

Even the Ark itself foreshadows an important figure in the New Covenant. Just as the Ark held objects which foreshadowed Our Lord, Mary held in her womb the fulfillment of those objects as the mother of Jesus. Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the fulfillment of the Ark of the Covenant, and is rightfully called the Ark of the New Covenant.

With this understanding, it’s not a coincidence that the first reading, which comes from the Book of Revelation, begins with the appearance of the Ark of the Covenant. If you look this passage up in your Bible, you’ll find that the first sentence of the reading has been placed in the chapter prior to the rest of the text. Some might argue that this division of the text means that the Ark is not linked to the remainder of the passage, but with the understanding of Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant, it’s obvious that the appearance of the Ark of the Covenant fits with the imagery of the woman immediately following.

This image of the “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” has been the most popular image of Our Lady almost from the very beginning of Christianity itself. In fact, devotion to Mary as the Mother of God has existed from the earliest times of the Church, and has only gotten stronger over the years. Marian devotion is popular within the Church because we can see Mary as the example for our lives as Christians. In the words of her cousin Elizabeth, this humble young woman “believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” She believed in the promise of salvation for Israel, and believed the message of the Archangel Gabriel that she was to become the mother of the one who was foretold to be the savior of not only Israel, but all humanity.

Are we willing to believe in the promises of Our Lord and respond with a “yes” as Mary did? Mary responded to God’s invitation with faithful submission and God was able to do great things for and through her. When we respond to the invitation to follow Our Lord with our whole lives, God will also do great things for and through us. To this day, Mary is called “blessed” for her openness to God’s will. The question is: do we want to follow her example and be called blessed?

Homily for the Vigil of the Assumption of Mary

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As Christians, we have the luxury of hindsight when we read the Old Testament. We can see how the promises of God the Father are fulfilled in the person and actions of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, we can see how important figures, events and objects in the Old Covenant foreshadow the establishment of the New Covenant through Our Lord. Today, as we celebrate the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven, this hindsight makes Mary’s role in salvation clear and shows why we need to emulate Her in our lives.

The first reading this evening, which comes from the First Book of Chronicles describes the entrance of the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem after David conquered the city. The Ark was the holiest object for the Israelite people, as it represented the presence of God with them. It also carried three of the holiest articles given to the Israelites: the tablets containing the 10 Commandments; Aaron’s staff which budded to show the call of the Levite tribe as the priesthood of Israel; and the manna in the desert which sustained the Israelite people for 40 years.

Each of these objects foreshadow some aspect of Our Lord’s role in salvation of humanity. The tablets with the 10 Commandments are fulfilled in the commandments Our Lord gave through His teaching. The staff shows that Our Lord is the High Priest of the New Covenant which He established through His blood. The manna, the bread from Heaven, is a foreshadowing of the Eucharist, which is the true and eternal Bread from Heaven.

Even the Ark itself foreshadows an important figure in the New Covenant. Just as the Ark held objects which foreshadowed Our Lord, Mary held in her womb the fulfillment of those objects as the mother of Jesus. Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the fulfillment of the Ark of the Covenant, and is rightfully called the Ark of the New Covenant.

As I said before, important events described within the Old Testament foreshadow the New Covenant, and this first reading is no exception. The tent which King David prepared for the Ark of the Covenant was to become God’s dwelling place with the Israelite people. The Ark was placed inside the tent, where it remained until the construction of the Temple by King Solomon.

With the establishment of the New Covenant, we no longer look to the earthly Promised Land, but have hope in a Heavenly Promised Land where we will dwell God for all eternity. Just as the Ark of the Covenant entered into earthly Jerusalem, it is fitting that the Ark of the New Covenant would enter into the Heavenly Jerusalem. We are celebrating today the entrance of Our Lady into that new Promised Land, and do so with the hope that we will also one day join her and all the saints and angels in praise and worship of God.

In order to join her in the Heavenly Jerusalem, we need to follow her example. Jesus states in today’s Gospel passage, “blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” Mary received the blessing to become the Ark of the New Covenant, the Mother of God, because she said “yes” to the Word of God who was proclaimed to her in the Old Testament and announced by the Archangel Gabriel.

We too have heard the Word of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and have the opportunity to observe what He did and said. For us to be blessed and enter into that Heavenly reward we all seek, we must follow Our Lady’s example and say “yes” to Jesus’ call to follow Him. The question is: do we want to follow her example and be called blessed?

NEWSFLASH!!! Catholic Church full of hypocritical sinners!

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I know this is going to be a shock for many people, so you might want to sit down. Ready? OK, here it is: the Catholic Church has people who are (*gasp*) SINNERS! Yes, it’s true!

How do I know, you might ask? Well, it’s rather simple: I’m a Catholic and a sinner. Not only that, but they actually made me a priest! Yes, I know, scandalous that a sinner like me – and I am a sinner – was named a priest. Apparently, Anne Rice thinks so:

For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten …years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.

You know what, maybe we should just follow her lead and bail from the Church. After all, why would we want to associate with a bunch of hypocritical sinners? In fact, let’s take it a step further:

In honor of Anne Rice, I’m never using banks again, because some people steal. (Tom Wilson via Twitter)

All sarcasm aside, sounds absurd, doesn’t it? It sounds as absurd as leaving Christianity because Christians are sinners. Yes, Christians are sinners, because all humans are sinners. We all are! Every single solitary one of us! If you think you aren’t, let’s start with the sin of pride, shall we? How about being selfish and self-centered? Yes, those are sins, and we all have to deal with them every day of our lives. We have to face sin in our lives during our time here on earth, both personally and communally.

Does this mean that people in the Church are “quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous”? Absolutely! It also means we have liars, thieves, cheats, adulterers, and all other sorts of scandalous characters who may even be the little old ladies and gentlemen who attend daily Mass at parishes throughout the world. What Anne Rice fails to see is that the Church is “a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” Every single member of the Church, with the exception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, throughout Her 2000 years of existence has been a sinner. Does that mean the Church should have never existed? No, quite the opposite! The Church exists precisely because we are sinners in need of Jesus’ guidance and forgiveness. The Church does not exist to make us feel good or cater to our whims and fancies, but to educate us with Our Lord’s teachings, offer His forgiveness when we fail to live up to those teachings, and feed us with the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus, the Son of God. Without the Church, we poor sinners would be completely lost and wander through this world just as the Israelites wandered through the desert for 40 years.

And what about Anne Rice’s statement, ‘I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity’? By the very definition of “Christian”, you can’t follow Christ without being a Christian. The word Christian means “follower of Christ”. If you follow Christ, you are a Christian, period!

How about this idea of leaving the Church to follow Christ? I’m not going to spend the energy to refute that faulty logic, because it starts with a false premise of the Church and Christ’s purpose for establishing Her. Instead, I’ll let the Curt Jester take that one. In short, you leave the Church, you leave Christ. She claims that her conscience won’t allow her to remain in the Church. I would argue that she’s operating with a poorly formed conscience, and needs to have it properly formed through the teachings of the Church.

So, is the Church full of sinners? Yes, and we should rejoice that Christ gave us the Church to lead us through our sinful lives to His salvation!

Homily for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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We all have things in our lives that we treasure: memories, events, activities, and materials that bring joy and happiness to our lives. If we’re having a bad day, being reminded of a particularly enjoyable moment in our lives can turn our emotions around. There might be an upcoming trip we’re looking forward to with great anticipation. We might have a regular activity that is the high point of our week. There may be someone with whom we particularly enjoy visiting on a regular basis.

All these things we treasure here on Earth are good as they bring a measure of joy to our lives, but are they our only treasures? Are they the only things that are important to us? We are challenged by Our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel to reevaluate where our treasure really is: “For where your treasure really is, there also will your heart be.” We place our focus on what we think is important. If we only treasure the things of Earth, our hearts will remain only on the things of Earth, but if we treasure the things of Heaven, our hearts will dwell on the things of Heaven.

It’s important for us to focus on Heavenly things. As Christians, Earth is not our homeland; we are not destined to remain on Earth forever. Instead, we have been given a Heavenly homeland, a homeland that will last forever. While we are here on Earth, we’re like Abraham who was promised by God a land for his descendants. Abraham, who “sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country,” is the example for our lives on Earth. He didn’t stop in one place, saying, “This is enough for me. I’m staying here.” Instead, he spent his life wandering throughout the land, obeying God and traveling to an unknown foreign land.

We too are called by God to wander through our lives as pilgrims to the Promised Land, but we are not seeking a chunk of ground here on Earth that God has promised us. Our lives on Earth are passing, like “strangers and aliens”. As the Letter to the Hebrews puts it, we “desire a better homeland, a heavenly one.”

While many of us might think our lives on Earth are good, we all are seeking more. This is why commercial advertising is so effective. The advertisers try to convince us that our lives would be better if we bought some product, or took some trip, or drank the right kind of beer, and so on. We are always looking for a better life, one without pain, without difficulty, without tears.

This better life has been promised to us, and it goes far beyond anything here on Earth. Jesus tells us, “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.” God the Father wants to give us the Kingdom of Heaven. He wants all of us to enter into the Promised Land where there will be no more pain, no more difficulties, no more tears. The joy that we all seek is there beyond our imagining.

On our own, however, we can’t find this homeland. If you’ve ever been out in a desolate place where there are few roads and landmarks, you know how easily you could become lost without some guidance. In the same way, we need guidance in our lives to help lead us to the homeland we seek.

Because God the Father wishes for us to enter into our Heavenly inheritance, he has given us the guidance we need to find our way home. When we follow Our Lord Jesus Christ and His teachings, we have a sure path that will lead us into our true homeland. If we wish to enter that homeland, we need to seek what Our Lord said and did, joyfully following Him. We also need to have a willingness to set aside our own thoughts and beliefs if they are contrary to the Truth revealed by Christ.

This journey through life will not be easy, but will lead to a treasure beyond our imagining. The treasure is waiting for us in Heaven. Are our hearts set on them?

Hitting for the Sacramental Cycle

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With my new assignment, I’ve been joking that I’ve “hit for the cycle” in my first month. For those unfamiliar with baseball, a batter who hits for the cycle gets a single, double, triple, and home run in a single game. Since starting here in Malta on July 1st, I’ve baptized an infant, had a wedding, performed Anointing of the Sick, and had a funeral. This means in my first month here, I’ve performed the rites that nearly all Catholics receive throughout their lives.

Sadly, for many Catholics, these are the only rites they receive, not making regular attendance at Mass or reception of Confession a part of their lives. While they may be Catholics by baptism and Confirmation, they do not practice their faith. When challenged on their lack of practice, they might say something like, “I don’t need to go to church to find God,” or, “I’m a good person. I’m fine with God.” For those who seek to follow Our Lord and realize that being a “good person” is not enough, these phrases sound like trite excuses justifying laziness and pridefulness, with good reason. Sadly, this isn’t an isolated problem, but infests the Church throughout the United States and the rest of the so-called developed nations.

The challenge for us as Christians is to open these lukewarm souls to the fire of the Holy Spirit without coming across as condemning and turning them even farther from God. As Christians, we must pray for those souls and seek to cooperate with Our Lord in calling them back to His Church. We also must seek to always invite these lost souls into a deeper relationship with Christ and His Church. We do this first and foremost through our example of life, but we also must be willing to reach out and invite them to join us. Of course, approaching someone and extending the invitation is not a comfortable action, but Jesus didn’t promise us comfort in this life. Are you willing to get uncomfortable and invite someone to step beyond merely “hitting for the cycle”?

Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Listen to the Homily

Last week, I spoke about the necessity for us as Christians to regularly spend time before the Blessed Sacrament, before Our Lord Jesus Christ present in the most unique and powerful way that He is present to us. This week, we are shown why we need to persist in praying before Our Lord and entering into prayer on a regular basis.

To truly be a follower of Christ, which is what it means to be a Christian, we need to emulate Our Lord and follow His command. Today’s Gospel reading opens with Jesus engaged in prayer, an action we see Our Lord performing repeatedly throughout the Gospels. Prayer is so important to Our Lord that He would regularly involve His disciples and even taught them how to pray.

If prayer is that important to Our Lord, it must be that important to us who claim to follow Him. Not only should we listen to what Jesus taught His disciples to say, but we should also look at how He prayed. In many places throughout the Gospels, Jesus would go to a secluded place and devote His whole attention to prayer. Note that no where does it say that he did some other activity, like fishing, while he prayed. Prayer was His sole focus at those times.

There must be times in our lives in which we focus only on praying to God. Prayer is an activity that must involve our whole attention to be effective. Now, it is very important and laudable to “pray always” by saying short exclamations of praise and thanksgiving to God throughout the day, but that must not be our only form of prayer. We must take time everyday to set aside everything in our lives for prayer.

To truly enter into prayer, there must be silence in our part. This silence is not merely a lack of speech, but also an active listening. Prayer is a conversation with God, not a monologue from us to Him, and requires listening on our part. If we want to have a good conversation with someone, we need to listen to them and focus our attention on what they have to say. Likewise, we have to focus our attention on God and listen to what He has to say if we want our prayer to be effective.

As I said last week, if we truly desire to get to know Our Lord, we need to spend time in His presence here in front of the tabernacle. By regularly and persistently coming before Him in prayer, focusing on Him, we will develop an openness: and openness to the Gifts of the Holy Spirit; an openness to the will of God; an openness to the salvation promised by Christ. It is this openness that will bring us into eternal life in Heaven. Just being a good person is not enough. We need to fully and consciously enter into prayer daily, and persist in prayer, now. Not next week, next month, or next year; now.

As Christians, we need to devote ourselves to prayer and follow Jesus’ example. Through dedication and persistence in prayer, we will be opened by God to His salvation.

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Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Listen to the Homily

  • We live in a busy world
    • Mary set aside the busyness of the world to sit Jesus’ feet.
      • Are we willing to do the same?
      • Are we like Martha, “anxious and worried about many things”?
  • If you want to get to know someone, you spend time with them. If we want to get to know Our Lord in this life so we can know Him for all eternity, we need to spend time with Him now.
    • We believe that Jesus is truly here present in the tabernacle.
      • Not just bread that we’ve stored in a box
      • Our Lord and Savior really present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
    • How often do you come to visit Him?
      • Daily?
      • Once a week?
      • When is the last time you came to the Church to adore Him, even if just for a minute or two?
  • We cannot fulfill our call to proclaim Christ unless we know Him personally.
    • “It is He whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.”

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