Archive for the ‘Holy Family Weekday Homilies’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

On Being Sons of God!

Thursday, June 1st, 2017

Thursday of Seventh Week of Easter
Acts 22: 30, 23: 6-11; Jn 17: 20-26
Dc. Larry Brockman

Such a beautiful prayer!

We just heard Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper on behalf of us all. By this time in his life, Jesus’ prayer relationship with the Father had been nurtured and fine honed. And even though Jesus was still fully human, and had all the same limitations we have as humans, He was able to see God’s mission for him with ultimate clarity. This prayer displays how his mission relates to all of us.

I was particularly struck by this line: “Father, they are your gift to me.” That is because that line kind of sums up the Love Jesus has for all of us. This man is about to suffer incredible pain and indignity at the hands of evil men and institutions all because he was faithfully preaching the truth of God’s love for all of us. And even our representatives on earth at the time, the Apostles, didn’t understand that. One of them was about to deny him, most of them were about to hide from him, and one of them was about to betray him. And yet, He sees them, and us, as God’s gift to him. That’s how much he loves us.

He goes on to say what he wants for us- that we may see the glory of God as he sees it. He wants to share the Kingdom of God with us This is essentially a prayer in which Jesus appeals to the Father to share his divine son-ship with us. For Jesus says: “And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” In this way we are being offered the role of adopted sons and daughters of God.

That is an essential truth of our faith- that we are sons and daughters of Jesus who will share in the glory of God himself in the resurrected state after the Last Judgment. The glory that we have now as humans is a sharing in the glory of son-ship if we believe and follow Jesus.

Jesus opens this prayer to the Father by revealing to us how we might accept the offer of son-ship. For he says: “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you.” First, we are have to believe in him; and second, we have to be unified. Our unity is established by membership in the Church, and by the effects of the Eucharist, Holy Communion, that we share in common each time we come to Mass.

It is good for all of us to reflect on the deep meanings of Jesus discourse. Consider these questions: Will I deny Jesus, hide from him, or even betray him going forward in my life? Or will I repent, as 11 of the Apostles did, believe in him, and accept his offer of son-ship? And will I act in unity through the Church to spread God’s offer by word and deed to all mankind.

That reflection, hopefully, is a beautiful prayer of Thanksgiving for Jesus prayer and love of us.

Tags:
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

Waiting “A Little While” Longer.

Thursday, May 25th, 2017

Thursday of Sixth Week of Easter
Acts 18:1-8; Jn 16: 16-20
Dc. Larry Brockman

“A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me”. These were puzzling remarks to the disciples. And even more puzzling was Jesus’ explanation. “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”

Surely, the words that Jesus spoke in today’s Gospel were intended for his Apostles and disciples. The first little while thus corresponds to the time leading to his Crucifixion; and indeed, after that Jesus would be gone from them and all would seem lost.they would be weeping and mourning. And the second “little while” refers to Jesus appearances after the Resurrection. Indeed, their grief would turn to joy.

But Jesus’ words in this Gospel were also ultimately directed to all of us. For the “little while” that we live in this world, we will not “see” God the Father nor His Son in the same way that the disciples and Apostles saw Jesus in the flesh. The world and its disciples have in fact rejoiced in that, because Jesus did not “restore” any Jewish Kingdom nor did he establish any theocracy. The secular world, under the orchestration of the devil, continues to play havoc with mankind whenever and wherever it can. And so, we weep and mourn and we suffer, not unlike Jesus suffered at the hands of evil men.

But for those of us who follow Jesus, our sorrow will turn to Joy because we will see God “in a little while”. Compared to eternity, any lifespan here as a human is just a little while. And so any pain, suffering, or boredom we have to endure in this world is just for “a little while” in the end.

Recently I saw a man in the hospital suffering from an incurable disease. He had listed himself as a Catholic but had rejected the Church and God 30 years ago. He rejected God because his father suffered greatly, and despite his fervent prayer for his father, His father died. The man could not forgive God for what happened to his father. It has been that way for 30 years.

Now, he is suffering from an incurable disease himself and is facing the end of life. He has denied God and is in a panic. I could sense the horror and despair that he was feeling as he shared his life with me; he was scared that he could not be reconciled with God. I prayed over him and told him about God’s infinite mercy.

Fortunately, all of us believe in a God who is infinitely merciful; a God who loves every creature he made, and is always trying to get us back in harmony with Him. He will forgive us anything, as long as we forgive anyone who wronged us. The mercy and love of God are always there for us going forward as long as we repent and embrace Jesus beginning right now.

And the best part is that although we may have to grieve for a while, our grief will be turned to joy in just “a little while”.

Tags:
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

Let God Be Your Teacher

Thursday, May 4th, 2017

Thursday of Third Week of Easter

Acts 8:26-40; Jn 6: 44-51

Dc. Larry Brockman

“They shall all be taught by God”.  These are Jesus’ words at the beginning of the Gospel- a quote from the prophets.   

Now I am sure that most of us glossed over that when we heard it.  Of course we are all taught by God. Really?   

One of the things we discover about those who teach us at a very early age, is that to learn, we have to listen, and believe what the teacher tells us without question.  Likely our first teachers were our parents.  And fortunately for most of us, we blindly accepted the words and instructions of our parents as toddlers.  We believed; we had faith.  And so we learned the basics- how to talk, how to walk, how to eat, how to love.   

Then we went to school.  We believed that the pattern in the book is an “A” just because we were told so by the teacher.  We also believed that the sound of an “A” is “ah”.  And so, we learned to read.  Indeed, we accepted a lot about what our first teachers told us without question.   

This is the sense of what it means deep down when Jesus quotes the prophets:  “They shall all be taught by God”.  God’s word on everything is the absolute truth.  If we want; we can be taught by God by believing on Faith what he tells us because we can absolutely trust God.   

But the fact is that as we grow up,  we learned that our other teachers could not be trusted absolutely.  There were times that our parents, teachers, and other folks in authority either didn’t know the truth, didn’t tell the truth, or didn’t understand the truth adequately.  Similarly, there were things that we discovered were ambiguous- the truth wasn’t clear sometimes.  And so, we learned to “think for ourselves” and to pick and choose to believe from what we heard. 

Unfortunately, many folks have applied this rationale to the things that God wants us to learn about him.  We test everything God tells us sort of like we test the things we hear from other sources.  And when we test it, we use our rationale.  It’s as if we put our thought process ahead of the wisdom of God.   

Real Faith is coming to believe in what God has told us simply because God has said so.  We cannot always reason it out; some of it is a mystery.  That is why Jesus says we need to have faith like a little child.   

Now the story of Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunoch that we just heard is a great example of accepting on Faith what God has to say.  Here is a man who is totally foreign to the Jews.  He has somehow been attracted to the Jewish Scriptures, and is seeking the truth.  Jesus talks about such a person in the Gospel.  “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him”.  That is what happened to the Ethiopian- God was drawing him to the truth.  And Phillip opens his eyes to what it all means by relating the prophecy of Isaiah to all that happened to Jesus.  What faith this Ethiopian man had- he truly had the Faith of a child.  He accepted the word of God without challenging it.   

This Gospel addresses some of the most important elements of our Faith.  We are all called to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, rose from the dead, and gave us the Eucharist as the bread of life.  All of us are called to live a Christian life daily, and to be witnesses to the world.  We are called to live in the world- not to withdraw from it.  But to live in this secular world with conflicting values and voices, we need all the help we can get.  Jesus promises us that He is bread of life in this Gospel.  The Eucharist is that bread of life, and it is available to us as often as we seek it.  When we really believe that Jesus is present to us in the Eucharist,  and relish those few moments after we receive Him, then we will be given all the strength we need, all the graces we need, to be Christian witnesses in the face of an ever increasing secular world; to bear our share of the hardships which life brings us; to love our neighbors as ourselves; and to forgive as God forgives us. 

And those who truly believe like this will live forever.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

Living in Real Faith

Thursday, April 20th, 2017

Thursday of the Easter Week

Acts 3:11-26; Lk 24: 35-48

Dc. Larry Brockman

How strong is your faith?  Do you really believe all the church teaches about Jesus Christ?  Do you believe that God the Father sent His only Son to share our human condition, to be fully human and fully divine?  And do you believe that Jesus, although God, endured the incredible suffering and humility of the Cross?  Do you believe deep down in the Resurrection of the body and life everlasting for each one of us?  You know, all of what I just asked is part of our creed, isn’t it.  And on Easter, we were all asked to reaffirm our belief.  So do you really believe?   

Or do you hold back in reserve and kind of doubt some or all of the creed?  Before you answer too quickly, consider this.  Does doubt surface when you are confronted with your own mortality?  When you think about dying, do you wonder whether this is really all there is to life.  Or do you relish the idea of life in the Kingdom of God.  Chances are, when you think about dying, even the most faithful of us have twinges of doubt.  Maybe it is just fear of the unknown, but it might also be some doubt.  So, just how do we “cast out all fear” and embrace the unknown with real, genuine faith?   

You know, when you come right down to it the Apostles were incredible teachers on the matter of real faith.  They truly acted as all of us do- with doubt in the background.  During his lifetime, Jesus told the Apostles about the coming Kingdom of God; and he shared with them three times that the Son of Man would have to suffer horribly and die at the hands of evil men, only to rise on the third day.  But the Apostles didn’t get it; they were confused and Peter even tried to admonish Jesus not to say such things.  It just didn’t make sense that the Messiah would have to suffer.  Yes, the Apostles, the folks chosen by Jesus to spread the faith, had lots of problems exhibiting real faith.   

And right at the beginning of the Easter season, as our readings tell us the story of the Resurrection, even there we see doubt from the Apostles.  The Emmaus brothers tell the rest of the Apostles about their encounter with Jesus.  Jesus reenacts the Last Supper with them, offering bread and wine- his own flesh and blood.  And then breaks down the scriptures that predicted all that had happened to him.  It was only then that they recognized Him.  Jesus had just presided over the first Mass after the Resurrection.   

But the Apostles were incredulous- how could this be.  And then, Jesus is miraculously standing amongst them.  Jesus can read their minds, their body language, their doubt, and so he challenges them to touch him and see for themselves.  Then he eats a piece of fish- something a ghost cannot do.  Yes, it is the risen Jesus; he is a real, living person.  And Jesus then commissions the Apostles to be his witnesses to spread the good news of the gospel to everyone- everyone.   

And so, it finally begins to dawn on them.  The whole thing is really true- all of it; the incarnation, the call to repentance, the coming of the Kingdom, the suffering and death, the resurrection of the Body, salvation offered to all, and life everlasting.  It took a whole lot of convincing, but they all finally got it.  God so loved man that he sacrificed his son, and if we follow after him and take up our crosses, we will die physically, but only to be raised from the dead and live forever in the Kingdom of God.  They finally came to believe.   

That brings us to the first reading today.  Apparently the crippled man came to believe as well.  And the Apostles, now fully convinced and living in faith, were able to bring him to health through Jesus power.  And then they proclaimed that:   “God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”   

So, if you really believe, then you will turn from whatever evil is in your life, mend your ways, and follow after Jesus.  You don’t have to understand everything; you just need to believe in it because there is so much more to life than what this world offers.  There is life everlasting in the Kingdom of God.  And that is all that matters. 

Tags:,
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

Have You Stiffened Your Neck?

Thursday, March 23rd, 2017

Thursday of the Third Week in Lent

Jer 7: 23-28; Lk 11: 14-23

Dc. Larry Brockman

“They have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers”.  Such are the prophet’s words from the Lord to the Israelis.  For generation after generation after they had been delivered from slavery to the Egyptians, the Israelis became complacent with their prosperity and freedom. They were so complacent that when the prophets told them that they were drifting away from the Lord by ignoring the law that Moses had handed onto them,  they “stiffened their necks”, meaning they just kept going right along in  their former path oblivious to the words of the prophets.   

Why? Because the prophets told them what they didn’t want to hear.  The prophets kept telling them that things had to change- they had to repent and follow the Lord’s law.   

That’s exactly what the Pharisees and Scribes did in the face of miracles that Jesus worked.  These religious leaders were the standard that others were supposed to seek- the good guys.  But Jesus kept telling them that they needed to change- they needed to live the law with their hearts.  The suggestion that they were less than perfect in their religious observance was threatening to them.  Because Jesus message was so repugnant to them, they sought desperately to discredit him by claiming his works were actually from the devil.  And Jesus called them on it. Only rather than get into an argument by quoting scripture to these scriptural experts, Jesus uses plain, simple, everyday logic on them; logic that the crowd of observers could easily relate to. 

How absurd were their claims that casting a devil out of a man be seen as the work of another devil.  Indeed, a house divided against itself does not stand.  And finally, he uses the argument “you are either for me or against me”.   

The lesson for us today is very simple.  It is so easy to get into the rut of complacency in our spiritual lives.  We desperately want to feel that we are on the right track.  And so, we really don’t want to hear about having to change our lives.  We want to just keep doing what we are doing, just like the Pharisees did.  And as long as our righteousness looks better than what we see other people doing, we tend to become complacent with our current situation.  In a sense, we “stiffen our necks”.   

Perhaps that’s why these scriptures were applied to Lent. because Lent is that time of year when we are challenged by the Lord to become better people.  Yes, better than we are even if we think everything is OK. 

In the other gospels, the man Jesus cured today was not only possessed by a demon, but he was blind and deaf as well.  When we are in a rut in our spiritual lives, we are blind and deaf to God’s message.  You know what? 

God’s message on how we can serve him better is all around us.  All we have to do is listen to it.  For example, our country is filled with those who hunger and thirst, they come for help at St. Vincent de Paul and other places.  Our country is full of people who hurt- they are in hospitals and rest homes and jails; and there are many who are taken advantage of- human trafficking is a real problem right here in Orlando.  But the more entrenched we become in our daily lives, the more we “stiffen our necks” at the suggestion that we have to change.   

Next week, the parish conducts a mission- right in the middle of Lent.  It’s a great opportunity to stop and listen and take to heart the lesson of the Old Testament that we are continually being called to conversion of heart; we are continually being called to become better. 

After all, we are either for Christ, or we are against him.

Tags:,
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

Shaking Us From Our Apathy

Thursday, March 16th, 2017

Thursday of the Second Week in Lent

Jer 17: 5-10; Lk 16: 19-31

Dc. Larry Brockman

How ironic!  First, Jesus tells the parable about the rich man and Lazarus.  And in that parable, the rich man wants Abraham to have Lazarus rise from the dead to warn his 5 brothers that they need to mend their selfish lives.  But Abraham says that if people will not listen to Moses and the prophets, then neither will they listen to someone raised from the dead!  Jesus told that parable for the Pharisees and Priests benefit.  But they didn’t get the connection then, even though the Chief Priest was one of 5 brothers!  

But then, irony of ironies, Jesus actually went on to raise a person name Lazarus from the grave!  You know, Martha and Mary’s brother Lazarus.  And it was in front of the Pharisees and Priests and Scribes, too- the same people the first parable was directed to.  And do you know what the Pharisees, Priests and Scribes did?  They got so angry they actually plotted to kill Lazarus because of his testimony.  Not only that, the raising of Lazarus was one of the things that pushed the Jewish Rulers over the edge  After that they wanted to have Jesus arrested and put to death.

What this parable demonstrates today is just how difficult it is to shake people out of their comfort zone, especially when things are going well for them.  And as a matter of fact, when things are going well, people get angry when someone tries to shake them from their apathy over things that are wrong in this world.  Why, because they just don’t want to hear it.   

This was the case for the rich man; and the Pharisees were not far behind him.  People can either be too comfortable to care- like the rich man; or they have a vested interest in the status quo and don’t want to hear there is something wrong with it- like the Pharisees.   

Boy, do we have that problem today!  Our society has lost sight of evil.  Religious persecution of Catholics, Abortion, Assisted Suicide, Gay Marriage, untreated Mental Illness, Third World Hunger, and a whole host of other evils plague us.  But most of us are too busy and passive about it in our relative affluence.   

One of the things we do is to trust the Government to solve these social problems.  But isn’t that what Jeremiah was preaching against in the first reading?  Isn’t that trusting in man; trusting in secular society?  We have a responsibility to help folks who are in need and to help people see the error of their ways.  But we cannot delegate it away through the Government, especially now when the Government is so secular and when the Government has no way to pay for it.   

There is one thing all of us can do and that is to pray.  That’s what the Blessed Mother continually asks us to do when she appeared to visionaries at Medugorje and other places; and it’s what the Church is asking us to do during Lent.  Remember, we are being asked to engage in Fasting, Alsmgiving and Prayer during Lent.    And what is it that we should pray for.  Lots of things: our enemies conversion; inspiration on how we can deal with and solve our problems; that God will somehow intercede, and perhaps even send us a leader; but most of all, to trust that when we pray, our prayers will be answered.   

Sometimes todays problems seem overwhelming.  But it is then that we should remember Jeremiah’s words:  “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord; whose hope is in the Lord”.  So, pray, pray, and pray some more. 

Tags:,
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

Salted With Fire

Thursday, February 23rd, 2017

Thursday of 7th Week in Ordinary Time

Sir 5: 1-8; Mk 9: 41-50

Deacon Larry Brockman

So, “Everyone will be salted with Fire”! Yes, every one of us will be tested, that’s the fire. And the salt represents the good effects, the good taste, that the testing produces in us. The salt flavor is the cumulative goodness from our ability to resist temptation.

Now Sirach gives us an interesting perspective on temptation. He walks us through various attempts to rationalize bad behavior. And people do rationalize in this way. They say to themselves: “I can live with this temptation, flirt with this temptation, because I am strong enough”. Or even worse: “I can get away with this because I will have time to reform”. But Sirach is clear: “Rely not in your strength.” And Sirach admonishes us “not to put off our conversion”.

Jesus message echoes this yet with a little hyperbole. Not only are we to avoid temptation, but we should eliminate the source of the temptation, even if it means cutting off our feet or hands or gouging out our eyes if they facilitate our temptations to sin.

We have just finished the year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis. And so, we are all sensitized to God’s great mercy. God does love each and every one of us unconditionally, even when we are sinners. And he is constantly offering us an opportunity to repent and reform. Further, all of us have an obligation to facilitate that mercy by evangelizing our brothers and sisters who are separated from the Church.

But this morning, we are reminded of our obligation to hold firm to the law and the teachings of the Church. It’s not that God will not be merciful to us when we sin. It’s just that we ought not take it for granted just as Sirach explicitly says in the first reading.

You see, our attitude must be one of abandoning ourselves to the Lord’s will at all times, and to obedience to the Lord in the face of difficulty. Then, when we find that we have fallen, mercy will be extended to us. But if we live our lives day to day, knowing in the back of our minds that things are not quite right, but not taking the time or effort to sort out God’s message for us, then we will be like the folks in Sirach’s reading, making excuses, hoping for mercy no matter what we do and what our attitude is.

Not only that, our actions are seen by others. And so when we flaunt with temptation, we can be influencing others. For example, our children see what we watch on TV. What we do speaks louder than the words they hear in religious education classes.   A

ll of us are caught up in today’s whirlwind of daily activity. So, we don’t always take the time to listen to the Lord and reflect on where life is taking us. The message today is that we need to do that. Because we are held accountable for our actions especially if we don’t have the right attitude in our approach to daily life.

In our morning offering, each of us should spend a little time reflecting on where God is pointing us today. And understand that the devil is persistent in offering seemingly attractive and pleasurable things. But we need to contemplate the consequences of all these things. That is how we can assure that our salt does not lose its flavor.

Tags:,
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

Being Stewards of Our World

Thursday, February 16th, 2017

Sixth Thursday of Ordinary Time

Saint Onesimus

Gen 9:1-13; Mark 8: 27-33

Deacon Larry Brockman

Power corrupts. That’s really what Jesus was telling the Apostles when he rebuked them. “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do”.   And the way human beings think all started with the way man misinterpreted God’s commands to Noah. For God told Noah to be fruitful and multiply; and he gave us the flesh of animals to eat. Then he told us: “Abound on the earth and subdue it.” And subdue it we have.

And so, mankind has become master of the earth, so much so that many movements have arisen amongst the educated that take this command to subdue the natural world to the extreme. Some of the educated elite claims there is no God and they believe mankind can control our destiny totally on our own. They believe they can explain how everything came to be; and can control how everything will be. Yes, power corrupts.

It’s almost as if society has gone full circle And we have returned to the days before the flood where society forgot the God that had made them, and used the earth and its pleasures indiscriminately. For a great deal of the world, the secular vision is this: “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.”

Yet God was very clear with Noah. In exchange for the power he delegated to mankind, we were given a responsibility as well. For God said: “I will demand an accounting”; and then “I will demand an accounting for human life.” Yes, Noah and his descendants were given a New Covenant, and charged to be God’s agents for proper domination of the forces of nature on our planet. But in exchange for that new chance that the remnant on the ark was given, God demanded an accounting from us.

Are we thinking the way God does, or are we thinking as the world does? First, as custodians of the world we dominate? Pope Francis Exhortation dealt with this topic extensively. We all have a responsibility to share in the things of this world with those who are less fortunate; and we all have the responsibility to treat all of God’s creation with respect.

Second, on life issues? It is striking that God tells Noah specifically that an accounting will be demanded on each human life. In today’s world, the lives of unborn babies, older people, those who are sick, and the poor are all valued less by society. That’s because mankind’s stewardship of the world is based on mankind’s attitude about what is prudent and efficient.

This morning’s scriptures are a wake-up call for all of us. It is time to reflect on our thinking. Are we thinking as man does- based on pride and self-sufficiency? Or are we thinking as God does? For God loves all of us, all human beings equally. And proper stewardship demands that we love all equally.

We need to reflect on this because all of us will be held accountable.

Tags:,
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

Don’t Hide Your Lampstand

Thursday, January 26th, 2017

Third Thursday of Ordinary Time

Saints Timothy and Titus

2 Tim 1: 1-8; Mk 4: 21-25

Deacon Larry Brockman

We are all so fortunate. Especially those here this morning and every Thursday Morning. We are fortunate because we have our faith; we are committed; and we come here to daily Mass because of our commitment. And for many of us, we share the experience that Timothy had.  For he received his faith from his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice.  Yes, most of us were fortunate enough to have been born into our faith and we have been nurtured in it by our families.

Hopefully, we don’t take our faith for granted because it is a very precious gift, indeed.  In fact, our faith is the light that Jesus talks about in the Gospel this morning.  Because the faith that we have can illuminate others.  By our actions we can spread the light; by our inaction, we can leave others in the darkness.

Scripture scholars tell us that the parable of the lamps was probably directed at the Apostles themselves.  They had the special gift of access, direct access to Jesus.  That gave them special insight into God’s plan for salvation.  It gave them special graces in understanding the mysteries hidden from the general population; and by virtue of their ordination and commissioning by Jesus, they had special responsibilities to spread their faith to the whole world. It was not enough for them to believe in Jesus and to rejoice in the salvation he brought them.  It was necessary for them to be lamps on a lampstand, shedding their light onto all, sharing their faith in a proactive way.

Jesus even tells his Apostles to “Take care what you hear”; meaning listen up, soak it in, absorb it like a sponge because you cannot spread what you don’t know or understand.  And then he tells them that “the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.”

Jesus mandate to his Apostles is challenging.  History documents that all of them ran with their faith and acted as lampstands.  Their light shone forth; multitudes were converted to the faith by their testimony; and all of them but one, St. John, died a martyr’s death for their faith.

We live in a world of politically correct “toleration”.  Society teaches us to “live and let live”.  We are not to judge; we are not to criticize; we are not to force our beliefs on anyone else.  And so, we need to hear this parable of the lampstand from time to time.  We cannot just come to our refuge, this church, and enjoy the benefits of our faith along with our fellow believers and then enter into the world as neutral bystanders.  We, by virtue of our Baptisms and Confirmations, share the Apostles responsibility to evangelize in word and deed.

How do we do that? By not hiding our lampstands.

Rather, we need to shine forth into the darkness; by expressing our opinions on faith and morals when we are given a chance.  So, rather than politely excusing ourselves when challenged, we need to be prepared to respond with the truth, and with conviction when a Mormon or Jehovah’s Witness comes to your door.  And we need to make our positions on key issues known- like the hundreds of thousands of Christians headed for Washington DC this weekend for the March for Life are going to do.  When we dine out with our families, we can say grace together as a family in plain sight of everyone else.  The way we dress; how we relate on social media; the kind of entertainment we buy and support- all of these are ways for us to shine the light of Christ in the darkness.

Sometimes we will experience pushback from shining the light of Christ. But as St. Paul says to Timothy: “Bear your share of the hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God”.  For the spiritual rewards are great. Jesus says it this way: “To the one who has; more will be given.”

Tags:,
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

Building On The Rock

Thursday, December 1st, 2016

Thursday of First Week of Advent

Is 26: 1-6; Mt. 7: 21, 24-27

By Deacon Larry Brockman

So, it’s all about doing the will of the Father.  That’s what it takes to enter everlasting life in the Kingdom of God.  

But how do we know what the will of the Father is for you?  Well, you’re in luck, because both our readings help us with that today.  First there’s Isaiah who says two things:  That we need to dwell in a strong city; one with walls and ramparts to protect us.  And the “us” he refers to are those who keep faith and are just.  Then he says:  “Trust in the Lord forever! For the Lord is an eternal Rock.”     

Jesus says basically the same thing:  We are to build our houses on rock, not sand.  Each of us is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  Each of us needs to build a strong dwelling place for our immortal soul that is housed in our body.  But our physical self, our bodies, need a strong foundation.  And that foundation is the teaching of almighty God.

 As both readings imply, the Lord is a rock.  His truth is absolute, immutable, firm, fixed; it doesn’t depend.    One of the most serious errors of our time is the tendency to flirt with relativism.  People who flirt with relativism do think “it depends”.  They think it depends on the times; it depends on the circumstances; it depends on the individual.  But our Church, the rock upon which Jesus entrusted his teaching, says otherwise.  Our Church teaches that the truth is unchanging.  Circumstances and the times may affect our culpability in a given situation, but they don’t change the truth.

Now the Gospel contains some interesting metaphors that build on this idea of a rock sound foundation, and the consequences of not building our abode on a rock sound foundation.  First, there is the contrast between rock and sand itself.  Rock doesn’t move; sand drifts this way and that.  It seems to me that this analogy alone is enough to tell us that God’s laws; his revelations, and the nature of God himself are fixed, and that we ought not drift around from one concept to another.    The world is full of folks today who hold a sort of pluralistic world view.  It’s a given that all trains of thought in the world seem so close at hand these days with air travel, instant radio and TV and the Internet.  And so various people of faith intermingle and move around amongst each other in all parts of the world.

So some folks rationalize that God wouldn’t just reveal himself to Christians; but that he has revealed himself to Buddhists, Hindus, Moslems, Taoists, etc.  Perhaps he has; but not with the same fidelity.  Either we believe that the rock of the ages is Jesus Christ; and that no other foundation has the same ring of fidelity to it- or not.  Our foundation simply must be Christian; not a watered down pluralistic compromise that drifts around depending upon which previously remote alternate religion now dwells among us.  This is not to say that we shouldn’t and can’t tolerate and live peaceably with these other faiths.  We do that out of love of all of God’s creation.  That’s how we evangelize these others.  But we must always be focused on the rock of the ages and his teaching- that’s how we must live our lives.

The other two interesting metaphors are the wind and the rain.  We routinely associate the spirit with the word “wind”.  Recall that Jesus breathed upon the Apostles to instill the Spirit within them.  But there are evil spirits as well.  The “wind” of these evil spirits blows from all directions, and is aimed at instilling doubt and moving us away from our foundation. 

And then there is the rain and flood.  Rain can be anything from a long term, constant drizzle to a short term overwhelming deluge and flood.   Drizzle is like the effect of the media in today’s society.  The secular media is full of misinformation, pornography, hate and intolerance, and anti-Christian alternatives.  After constant exposure to it we become desensitized and our houses will shift if we don’t have the right foundation. 

A deluge would be something like the rapid fire acceptance of gay marriage and euthanasia in today’s society.  If we don’t focus on the truth, we could be swept away in these deluges, which fail to recognize God’s teaching.

Our best defenses to the wind and rain are knowledge of our Faith and constant contact with the Holy Spirit in a regular and vivid prayer life. 

Yes, it’s all about the will of the Father.  And the will of the Father is that we build our houses on a firm foundation of Faith and Christian Morals.

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »