"I do believe. Help my unbelief.": 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
​
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
“I do believe, help my unbelief!”

• I love this verse that was not used today at Mass, but in Mark 9:24
• For me, I trust with these same words…yes, I trust in God as much as I can.  At the same time, there can be times that I need his help as a human, with analogical thoughts and data, where God knows what I do not know

“Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the kingdom and cured every disease among the people.”

• And yes, Jesus did this
• Once again, we humans do the best ordinary ways to serve those who are sick—physically, mentally and spiritually
• Yet God, as God, may give extraordinary gifts!

So here we go with this parable that we may not understand the depths of Jesus teaching to a mother and her daughter who was suffering

• Is he a misogynist to this Samaritan woman as he didn’t answer her question?
  • Well, no…remember how Jesus revolutionary visit the Samaritan woman at the well in the Gospel according to John?  Or the women he mentioned carrying his cross?  All of which was illegal in the Old Testament Law?
• Or, is he calling her a dog?
  • Well, no…he is God!
• I think this woman was strong, yet also humble
• And Jesus was not being mean to this woman though the disciples probably was: “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”
• How did this woman protect and seek help, continuing with perseverance, seeking healing, for her daughter?
  • “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”  Then Jesus said to her in reply,
    “O woman, great is your faith!  Let it be done for you as you wish.”  And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.”

Jesus, I do believe, but help my unbelief!  May we persevere, seeking for his help, and with him, help us to grow with faith!

“What will separate us from the love of Christ?”: 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

“What will separate us from the love of Christ?”

·      A great letter to the Romans by St. Paul

·      As he continues

o   “Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly
through him who loved us.”

·      I must keep focusing on this, especially when I have moments of nervousness, not knowing the finish line

·      No matter what, we must know of his love, seek to his love, not what we can achieve

And with His love, we heard from Isaiah again:

·      “All you who are thirsty,
come to the water!
You who have no money,
come, receive grain and eat;
Come, without paying and without cost…”

o   Again, this probably makes sense when our lives our comfortable

o   But what if you are literally thirsty?  No food?  No money?  Free?

§  These are different around the world in reality.

§  And of course, Jesus is also showing our spiritual journeys

Finally, the connection of the above: five loaves and two fish

·      Is the crowd fed?  Yes, with a full belly.

·      Is the crowd fed in a different way, too?  Yes, with a chance to see how God shows us the more important lives beyond this place.

·      Body and soul seeking the revolution of redemption.

·      Devil tempted Jesus: “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” He said in reply, “It is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’”​

Elijah, Peter, and Ourselves: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Elijah and Peter have similar experiences

Elijah on the high of a mountain, in a cave

• Seeing some dominant and chaotic stuff
• Wind, that crushed rocks
• Earthquake—what? Imagine that one…could you be crushed or falling down and simply die?
• Fire
• “After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this,
• Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.”

Now Peter’s experience

• Jesus was walking on water and they thought he was a ghost!
• Peter, with his headstrong individual asked to walk on water: “Come”

§  He did so, then, similar to Elijah, “Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened;”

§  By the way…isn’t this us today?

§  “…beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 
Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter,
and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?””

§  And this too?

Now, aren’t some of us like Elijah, strong, faithful, and trust in what he saw and how he reacted?

·      Aren’t some of us acting like Peter, wanting to walk on water, focusing to Jesus Christ, but realizing our fear with all the challenges we see, like the wind, like the storm, like the waves?

·      Or, aren’t most of us doing both?

“Lord, save us!”  And he will

Or, “Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.”

And he wants to do that too!​

We need Understanding Hearts and Right versus Wrong: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Triathlons
·      Swimming in tough water
o   Even in calm water—zig-zags vs. straight lines
o   Large waves—where am I going?
o   Bumping each other like minnows in a bucket
o   Where’s the buoy? 
o   Get me out of this swim!
o   Another image for me right now
Here is a great conversation between God and Solomon—the son of King David:
·      “The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.”
·      Pause…
·      Take your name instead of Solomon…imagine this dream at night and God said the same question: “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.”
o   As typically we ought to ask God for prayers—intercessions
o   NUANCE: But again, what if He asks YOU?
How would you answer…not a genie, but God?
·      A long life?  Health?
·      Riches?
·      Life of our enemies?
·      Power?
·      Fame?
·      Popular?
·      Possessions?
·      “I serve you in the midst of the people whom you have chosen,
a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted.
Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart
to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.”
Solomon’s answer was understanding
·      Isn’t that a key of life?  Or, as we say throughout our history, the virtue of prudence/wisdom?
I think that virtue is crucial today.  
·      What about some upside-down situations today?
·      Again, Covid-19?
o   School that is quickly coming?
o   No sports on TV?
o   No movies in Holywood popping out?
o   Carazy news?—right from wrong?
o   Protocols?
I hope that we may what pray for these virtues—an understanding heart, wisdom, prudence, a map no matter what situation we are in  
·      And the beauty is that this question from God is a question to help us on our journey
·      At the same time He is the one to follow
·      And the closer we are with Him, we must be with Him

·      And when we are feeling distance from God, this is how we can see His will​

Seeds and Sower, Ears and Eyes: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
We heard several times today about seeds
·      In Isaiah
o   “…till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to him who sows…”
·      Responsorial Psalm
o   “The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest”
·      Gospel according to Matthew
o   The sower that sowed on different ground, and the most important to be on rich soil
Each of these are the seeds of God’s Word
So today, I want to speak about this deeper, even beyond the prophetic and Jesus parable…why?
·      Jesus challenged his disciples against a secular (or back then, a pagan culture):
o   “‘You shall indeed hear but not understand you shall indeed look but never see.  Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted, and I heal them.’”
I mean, how often is the Scriptures in our public venue today?
·      And dare would I also add that we do have citizens that are pagan, heretics, polytheism, atheism, communism, socialism, capitalism, scientism, when God is left alone
·      Have you ever read, prayed, or listened to God’s Word every day?  Do you hear or see how God’s Word does affect in our society?
·      Or, do you remember how often our presidents normally used the Scriptures in their talks (like Abraham Lincoln emancipation of slavery?)  Or Marten Luther King, seeking peace and justice?  Or our Astronauts orbiting around the moon by reading Genesis 1?  Or our public venue with the 10 commandments, on our money, on statutes?
Sadly, many, many people do not hear or see the best news, the most important news, even though that our Bible is not written with our 2020 data.

Please read that Bible and you’re learn a lot, and grow closer to our savior!​

Hospitality from Judaism, Christianity and Today with Covid-19? 13th Sunday in Ordinary in Time

13th Ordinary Time

This weekend, here is a curious gift that we ought to give to others in the Old and New Testaments: Hospitality
·      I bring this up, even in the Covid-19
·      And listen to the very first words in our first reading from Elisha:
o   “One day Elisha came to Shunem,
where there was a woman of influence, who urged him to dine with her.  Afterward, whenever he passed by, he used to stop there to dine.  So she said to her husband, “I know that Elisha is a holy man of God.  Since he visits us often, let us arrange a little room on the roof
and furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp,
so that when he comes to us he can stay there.”
Sometime later Elisha arrived and stayed in the room overnight.”
During the Jewish culture, from the very beginning of humanity, and around the world today is amazing to still seeing hospitality
·      And Jesus challenges us not to just do this to our family and friends, as, in one place said that pagans, tax collectors and sinners to the same
·      We are called to give hospitality for those we do not know, the poor, the sick, the hungry, the thirsty, etc.
And here is the deep questions now: how do we show hospitality during Covid?
·      I personally think this is the opposite of our individualism—keeping safe our family first, others second
o   Well God wants us to support all of His sons and daughters
·      How are you showing hospitality before, during or after this virus? 
·      Yes, we must make good decisions as we would speak about the words like prudence and wisdom, but we are not in this world, but of this world
·      We literally have had saints that did give hospitality during the worst pandemics, injustice, and violence, like St. Damian as men, women and children were isolated on Molakai, like St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta who housed in the ghettos in Calcutta, like Dorothy Day, who took any ethnicity or even religion for food and shelter, Pius XII who saved thousands of Jews during the third reich, St. Katharine Drexel with Black and American Indians, priests who tried to dissipate the lynching in Duluth, and any other saints or individuals with missions 

So how are you called to give hospitality, even during this challenging time?​

Spiritual War with the Wheat and the Weeds: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

The spiritual war
·      Recently I have mentioned the City of God vs. the City of Man
·      Or our parable this weekend, again with seeds, but with the enemy
o   “The kingdom of heaven may be likened
to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.”
§  Wheat and tares…wheat and weeds
·      Welcome to humanity!
So there we have, with the good fruit, and the bad fruit, the team with God, and the team with Satan
Yet we have more when we are with God
·      For instance
o   Wisdom: “But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency,
and with much lenience you govern us;”
o   “Lord, you are good and forgiveness…”
o   And in a special way during this time is that the Holy Spirit will even give us power without speaking:
§  “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.”
And at the end of our lives, God is the Judge
·      And we ought to listen to the response to this parable with reality:
o   “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,
the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.
The weeds are the children of the evil one,
and the enemy who sows them is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels,
and they will collect out of his kingdom
all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

·      Today, many of us don’t want to hear these words from Jesus, bought we should.  Like last weekend, we have ears, and we must hear!​

​14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Happy Independence Day!

Once again, what perfect readings from God and the connection between this weekend in the Liturgy as well as the weekend in our Country

And during this weekend, I’ll simply begin with Covid-19, and chaos as while we must learn, listen and discern how God has called us to do in our lives, we also need time to rest, celebrate, and worship, especially at MASS

Zechariah:
·      “Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion,
shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king shall come to you;
a just savior is he,
meek, and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the foal of an ass.”
·      “His dominion shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
·      (Jesus would go into Jerusalem to offer his life for us…)

Gospel in Matthew 11: 
·      “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Jesus Christ gives us love as he is love.  He has given us blessings, grace and mercy around the world.  And∑ He is THE person to show us all levels of our lives…to serve him well and take time for rest.  Both the above are like marathons, but even longer for our entire lives on earth.

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Some upswing great news…

• First baptism from the beginning of Covid
• And, we have a new Bishop on the way: Bishop Elect Michael Malloy.
  
• My experience

    - Bankruptcy, death of Bishop Paul Sirba, Covid, chaos, and we learned of our new Shepherd on the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ on Friday And, it has been grateful for the Holy Spirit, especially in the readings for several weeks in a row as God’s Word has been crucial

• I mean, let us quickly listen to each of our readings today, in the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and please soak these into your discipleship, your discernment, and your connection with God:
•   Jeremiah: “Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD, for he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!”

         -   While this prophesy of God through Jeremiah was written 2800ish years ago, how does this speak to us, and you, today?
         -   How do we affect and support the LORD’s rescue of the poor who are oppressed by the “power of the wicked?”

• Responsorial Song: “For the LORD hears the poor, and his own who are in bonds he spurns not. Let the heavens and the earth praise him, the seas and whatever moves in them!”

       -   Once again, OT in the Wisdom book of the Psalms
      -   How do we hear the poor?  How about in our own community?  Around our state?  Country? Around the world?  1/3 of people in the world do not eat or drink well, or even with clean food or clean drink.  1/3!
       -   Or, what about those in “bonds,” those in our country, especially those that were written in a letter from our Bishops: “open wide our hearts the enduring call to love a pastoral letter against racism”: American Indians, Black and Hispanic brothers and sisters

• Romans: “But the gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died,how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many.”

       -    And praise God, that against all of our own sins, that Jesus Christ DID give the opportunity for salvation
       -    How do we walk together with and towards Jesus Christ?

• Matthew: “Jesus said to the Twelve: ‘Fear no one.  Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.’

       -   ​No matter what chaos, darkness, sinfulness, judgement, even death itself: FEAR NO ONE!
I hope these readings, even deeper in their fullness today, connect with each of our individual responsibilities, and when we seek that truth, then go to Confession, then we may show your mission which is different with each person.

May we always follow Jesus Christ, especially when we must lock in with Him, and not our worldly sinfulness

​Come, Holy Spirit.  Come, Holy Spirit.  Come, Holy Spirit.
To many of you in our family, welcome home!  

• And I am seeking the Holy Spirit that this may bring us together, not only for the Covid-19, not only for the chaos in our state and around our country now, but individually opening our hearts from the Holy Spirit.

After Jesus rose from the dead, took time on earth, he told his disciples: “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
As we come to the apex of Jesus birth, presentation in the Temple, the temptation of the evil one, teaching, healing, forgiving, the passion, crucifixion, death, resurrection, ascension He sent the Holy Spirit.  BOOM!
​

• “And suddenly there came from the sky

a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Each of you who has been baptized, who have been confirmed, you have given the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.

• And as you know the tough stuff we’re going through now, even more the extreme mission to open our hearts to receive His gifts:

1. Wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord

• And His fruit:

1. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

• Each of us have different gifts, different fruits, different charisms
• But we must use them together!

1. “May the glory of the LORD endure forever;

​
may the LORD be glad in his works!
Pleasing to him be my theme;
I will be glad in the LORD.”
Come, Holy Spirit!

​Holy Trinity
We continue to move forward in Ordinary Time, though it is interesting that, in some ways, we “slowly” begin this season on this weekend and next.

• The Holy Trinity this weekend
• The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ
• Pretty cool as we continue to enjoy Ordinary Time

The Holy Trinity

•  A paradox
• Three persons, one nature

Some quick, but sacred scriptures
This weekend I would like to share some of the challenging times in which the Trinity has been with me, and many of you

• First, I cannot tell you how important it is to pray during this chaos in our Country: Covid-19, and the latest with the death of George Flloyd, violence, looting and destroying property
• Pray…and how should we begin and end our prayers?  The Trinity: the sign of the Cross
•  At this time in my priesthood, I must pray with the Holy Hour every day.

1. This is the only way that I could receive the mission to God and His people
2.  And God has given what I believe is THE kernel of the Bible, John 3:16
3.  “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.”

So seek the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

• And how has these three persons with one nature soak His love in our minds, bodies, and souls beyond our personal prayers?
• Let’s think of many quick ways we may do so:

1. Mass which is now public, or via Internet

     - “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”

1. Anointing of the Sick
2. Burials and waiting for a funeral
3. A marriage that is coming forward, though still waiting on protocols
4. Confession

In every level of our Catholicism and Christianity we must follow God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit
So may we conclude this homily with a traditional prayer to our Trinity

•  “Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen”

Corpus Christi
This past week I spoke to my family during one of our Daily Masses that continues to ring in my heart

• The Sermon on the Mount of the Beatitudes with happiness, another way of our mission in different ways

    -   And what do we need in our community, our family, our country? “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
    -   Peacemakers…so crucial
And we hear about peacefulness in our readings today:

• Responsorial Song: “He has granted peace in your borders…” as the Israelites left Egypt and was fed with Manna
• Or, in the amazing Sequence that we do not hear them often but during excited Masses: “And his rule for guidance taking,  Bread and wine we hallow, making  Thus our sacrifice of peace.”

I bet most of us would be agree how important it is for peace, or peacemakers

• But the reality is, peace in our secular world is way different than our discipleship from Jesus Christ

    -   For instance, Jesus Christ said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.”
     §  Now this could be a whole different homily (sword is not a physical sword)
   §  But will the “world”—think, think, think, the world, not the globe, but humanity full of sinfulness, violence, wars, distruction
    §  Has Jesus called true peace with God Father, Son, Holy Spirit like last weekend?
Or, what did Jesus speak in John 6 as we celebrate the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ this weekend?

• "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,

you do not have life within you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”

• That’s where peace is!  The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ!
• Not about peace, but IS peace with the Trinity
• And while peace is very important in our lives on earth, peace is greater than a physical community, but the true peace from Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life

Finally, we are not either/or, but both/and

• We must have both peace in this world as we are of the world, and peace in our spiritual walk

The Ascension of Jesus Christ

Earlier this week, I enjoyed the Gospel according to John before the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

• Jesus said to his disciples:

“A little while and you will no longer see me,
and again a little while later and you will see me.”
     -   Now, we know the story, right?
     -   But be in the minds if you were a disciple of Jesus in about 30 year AD
     -   I’m guessing that I too would be thinking with my buddies, after I left my family, job, area
§  So some of his disciples said to one another,
“What does this mean that he is saying to us,
‘A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me…”

• Then imagine all the words without telephones, cell phones, twitter, Facebook, tic-tock? but were hearing different stories that Jesus rose from the dead!

     -   Wouldn’t we each simply say: no way, conspiracy, they’re nuts!
     -   Only to realize that you, like St. Thomas the doubter, saw him!
Now we are in the 7th week in the Season of Easter, and where are the disciples in their story?

• Back to Jesus, praising him for life, understanding a big piece of truth, seeking truth, and chuckling at themselves what he had said, “A little while and you will no longer see me…then you will see me…”
• They, or we, must have finally understood about Jesus
• 
  

But we STILL did not!

The Ascension = Boom

• “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”

When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.:
But we, like the disciples, must once again think “Wait, what?”
​

• And we continue this story next weekend

​The Walk on Emmaus: Thursday in the Easter Octave

“Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her,
ablaze with light from her eternal King,
let all corners of the earth be glad,
knowing an end to gloom and darkness.”
Happy Easter, brothers and sisters!  Happy Easter.

• I hope that as we gather together spiritually, that we can be physically with each other soon, and the donut sign is still where the donuts will be back as well.
• I bet that our students will also be excited that Lent is over, and they will receive candy after they memorize their Bible verses, and they will already have a pile of them as they were gone.
• I am so glad for Easter.  And we get to celebrate, not just this evening, but for 8 days.  8 days!
• “I am the light” and the Light destroys darkness
• Sun light later each day 
• Porch lights going around the country every evening at 9:00pm
• Lighthouse on Lake Superior 
• Lights around the country
• Lights on stadiums
• For many people recognize these lights for the coronavirus, but we know that it is Jesus Christ is THE light!
• And if you haven’t already, please turn on every light in your house!  I know we did as I need some sunglasses in our true home!
• And as I am beginning to read the City of God, know that we are always against the City of the World 
• Again, the City of God is the light of Christ, the city of the world is dark!
• We began this liturgy with the Easter Candle, and listen some of the powerful words again, (and perhaps you didn’t hear me, or understand my singing) or, it is odd this year, but most years you may remember how this one light, when it is passed to others, can light up a room
• “This is the night

of which it is written:
The night shall be as bright as day,
dazzling is the night for me,
and full of gladness.
On this, your night of grace, O holy Father, 
accept this candle, a solemn offering…”

Let us live in the light of Jesus Christ, not only in the fight against this virus, not only in the fight against the sins and evilness in this world but  
​

• “May this flame be found still burning

by the Morning Star:
the one Morning Star who never sets,
Christ your Son,
who, coming back from death's domain,
has shed his peaceful light on humanity,
and lives and reigns for ever and ever.  AMEN!”  And happy EASTER!

​6th Sunday in Easter Season

We have been talking A LOT of our hands!

• Wash our hands
• Wash our hands again, and again, and again
• And not only wash our hands, but make sure we are wearing gloves on our hands
  

As this has some important information to curve the Covid-19, in this “short time period” (which also feels like forever), could you think about how much we use our hands?

Start with Mass

• The Lord be with you
• Using our thumbs to make the cross on our forehead, lips and chest
• Holding the host going into the Body of Christ and the Chalice as the wine turns into Jesus Blood
• Receiving communion by the Minister, or receiving the Body of Christ (which will be the only way to receiving communion with the hand) Or how about other sacraments?
• Anointing of the Sick—both hands over a persons head

  -   The oil placed on their forehead and palms of their hands

• Confession

  -   The forgiveness in the Sign of the Cross—that’s right…another way with our hands

• Baptism

  -   Hands pouring water on a baby or adult over their foreheads

• Confirmation

  -   Hands with Chrism Mass on the confirmand’s forehead

• Marriage, not with my hands, but their hands with rings

Or others

• Blessings, sprinkling with water, etc.

Remember today and the days come forward, that our hands are not just used for this virus, but our spiritual journey, as St. Peter and St. John told us today:
​

• “…they laid hands on them

and they received the Holy Spirit.”

5th Sunday in Easter

Happy Mothers’ Day

Fascinating story of time

• There was a bird that lived in a nest on the bottom of the Mount Everest
• He flew up to the top of Mount Everest and chiseled a rock on the summit for 30 seconds
• The bird flew back to the nest and stayed there for 10,000 years
• It then went back up to that rock again, thirty seconds to chisel it again, for another 10,000 years again
• If this bird had enough time, Mount Everest would be flattened
• Think about that one, which, at least, fascinates my brain
• Now, let’s bring this story back into the Scriptures
• Remember where St. Peter was called “the Rock”?  (No, not the nickname “the Rock” by Dwayne Johnson!)
• Matthew 16:18

  -   “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…”

• And then St. Peter, who was called the Rock, that Jesus built his Church wrote in our 2nd reading:

  -   “Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings
but chosen and precious in the sight of God,
and, like living stones,
let yourselves be built into a spiritual house
to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

§  “Therefore, its value is for you who have faith…”
  -   “…but for those without faith
  -   “The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,
and

A stone that will make people stumble,
and a rock that will make them fall.

They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny.”
Finally, that analogy with that bird…

• ·      That story was certainly not perfect, especially that one bird simply could not be alive for billions of years and decimate Mount Everest
• ·      But let’s move that, not from that story, but the reality, of the Rock that Jesus Christ built his Church…and not just in our time and space, but for eternity

4th Sunday in Easter

The sheep and the Shepherd

• This analogy is us as the sheep, and Jesus Christ as the Shepherd
• And we have some essential places in the OT, the NT, the Gospel according to John and the 1st Peter and more
• But I do want to begin with a caveat with us the sheep

  -   Pope Francis spoke to his priests and bishops to “smell their sheep”
  -   But I think it is quite clear, as this coronavirus began, we were seeking, yes, as God’s servants, but to TRULY know THE Shephard: Jesus Christ

St. Peter wrote in his first letter he taught, like Jesus, to those who became scared after Jesus Christ died on the cross

• ·      What did his disciples do? 

  -   “For you had gone astray like sheep…”
§  His disciples were locked in an upper room, terrified to be killed, like their leader
§  Imagine their fear for three days having no clue what was going on, especially as they gave up their jobs, their families, their houses
§  And what quickly occur?
  -   “…but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.”
§  Jesus was back!

• Now let’s look at what we are facing today with our society, similar in the chaos of Jesus death

  -   Fear, scared, nervous, polarization, gossip, news that was false, 24/7 news—some of the not good smell of our flock
  -   And here is where our true Shepherd always protects us, feeds us, and laid down his life for us
  -   Therefore, we really have only two options
  -   The first is what we heard in John 10: “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy…”
§  How are we not focusing to our Shepherd, or the thief: evilness, sin, the world, vices, or sins?
  -   Or, honing into Jesus own words? “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

• Psalm 23, which I have chosen to use this both in Baptisms and Funerals, and once again, bring these words to the bank, and be nourished today and this week no matter how you are experiencing:

o   The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.

He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
We must follow THE Shepherd

• Please pray for our Shepherds servants: our Bishops, our Pastors, Priests, Deacons, Sisters, Brothers, our Laity
• That we may not seek the thief, but our Shepherd

--Sunday Homilies;
--Daily Mass Homilies;
--The Greatest Story Ever Told Bible Study;
--Bible Toolbox;
--Bulletin Articles;
--My Vocation Story
--Class Notes;
--Exegetical Papers;

3rdSunday in Lent

As we gather as a family, I think it is to speak about the issue around the world with the COVID-19

• Two extremes

  -   One seems to be panicky, hording, thinking it’s the apocalypse 
  -   The other side seems like this is ridiculous, a joke, something that is not really hurting anybody

• As St. Thomas Aquinas Patron believed in finding the Golden Mean and, Ecclesiastes: “nothing new under the sun”

So how do we respond to this situation?

• First, with some wise comments from Fr. Jim Bissonette, our administrator
• Read letter
• Know that yes, God has given us gifts with science, technology, immunization, etc. but we also have our spiritual lives
• Pray, pray, pray
• Communion in Hospitals/homes

  -   Myself and Eucharistic Ministers
  -   Hospitals

§  Communication with hospitals, nursing homes that often protocols and/or have safety garments
  -   Homes

§  Come Holy Spirit

• Service for those who need food, medicine, how could we quickly realize for those who could pick up groceries for those who are lonely and not able to get groceries?

  -   Senior Linkage

• How do we support our loved ones or those at the hardest moments of their lives?

  -   Here I think of St. Therese of Calcutta
  -   St. Damien and St. Marianne Cope
  -   What is God calling you to do?

“we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith
to this grace in which we stand,
and we boast in hope of the glory of God.”

God, may your will be done, and may we serve our neighbors

https://bhadrich.podbean.com/e/silver-lining-and-the-golden-mean-via-coronavirus-3rd-sunday-in-lent/

​The second Sunday in Lent

• ·      We continue to journey this season, pause in Salvation History, which we heard about last weekends
• ·      Mountains

“Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother,and led them up a high mountain by themselves.”

• ·      I consider, what did Peter, James and John going up a mountain?  What were Peter, James and John thinking about?
• ·      Did they know of the history of how many mountains were received for relationships with God?  With the Law?  Or just some time to rest, or pray?

Well, an opportunity certainly came up:

• ·      “And he was transfigured before them;

his face shone like the sun
and his clothes became white as light.

And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them,
conversing with him.”

• ·      Boom!  Jesus was transfigured, aka, shown as God and a Man
• And there appears Moses, and Elijah, who were both called up a mountain: 
• ·      Moses, with the law
• ·      Elijah as a prophet, the former to teach God’s people, and the latter to do the same as his people were divided
• ·      And Peter, James and John, what were they thinking of now?

“…behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them,then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;listen to him…they fell prostrate
and were very much afraid.  But Jesus came and touched them, saying,
“Rise, and do not be afraid.”

• ·      Now Peter, James, or John?

  -   ​Guessing they were not experiencing this!
  -   They were afraid!
  -   “Rise, and do not be afraid!”

Now for you, for us

• How do you taste reality as our world is connected with heaven at Mass, at the Eucharist?
• Then, how do we go back to our daily lives, down that mountain?

This weekend, I believe that this passage is to remind us a few truths:

• God is both with and above us
• Hopefully we have experienced something on a mountain knowing his connection
• Eventually, we must come back to our community
• And during this Lent, how do we serve our neighbors again?

Take these readings to your heart and follow our theme: serve your neighbor

7thSunday in Ordinary Time

Neighbor 

• 104 times throughout the Bible 

  -   Used twice in our readings today
  -   Connection between Leviticus and Matthew

§  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

I am the LORD
§  Matthew: You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
§  Sermon on the Mount

Who is our neighbor?  (son at 92.96 million miles)

• McGregor: who was my neighbor

  -   College in a dormitory

• Definition: Those that live next to us, or near to us

That by itself sunk into my mind: how to I support, serve or help those who live around me, my neighbors?

• Rural area, which is unique as I haven’t had neighbors that well

Actually, while I am asking this question, analytically, I finally thought like a preschooler, Jesus

• ·      So ,think, think, think

  -   Didn’t someone ask this same question to Jesus?  Indeed! A parable.  Luke 10.  Good Samaritan.  A lawyer in Luke 10 asked that exact question: “How am I to love my neighbor?”

• And Jesus responded to the lawyer, and me: “Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”  He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
• ·      Now, were these “neighbors” that we would define today?  Perhaps, but perhaps something deeper.  I mean, did the priest, Levite or the Good Samaritan neighbors?  Was the Good Samaritan a physical neighbor, or was he a neighbor because he was a NEIGHBOR that needed mercy?

​

• Finally, as we heard last week about the fulfillment of the law, for us to be challenged and seeking excellence, this is how powerful that Jesus called our neighbors:

• ·      “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  39And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

So, let’s go deeper than a definition of a neighbor, but what we do with our neighbors in our lives: LOVE

​1stSunday of Lent

Salvation History, or God’s saving plan

• This weekend we hear some crucial moments in these points

  -  Genesis 2: “The LORD God formed man out of the clay [dust] of the groundand blew into his nostrils the breath of life,and so man became a living being.”

§  One rule

§  Eve, who was tempted by the evil one and she and Adam turned away from God—who walked in the
​cool breeze together—until their reality of choosing sin

• “Then the eyes of both of them were opened,” aka, they could now choose not to be with God

  -  Responsorial Psalm: “Be merciful Lord, for we have sinned”
 -  Romans 5: “For if by the transgression of the one, the many died,how much more did the grace of Godand the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christoverflow for the many.”
  -  Matthew

§  The real fight: Jesus vs. Satan
§  While Adam and Eve did not go against their temptation, Jesus did
And this is why we have these readings as we begin the season of Lent.
And how should we respond?

• Another part of our history as Catholics throughout the year and in Lent: alms, pray, fast

​6thSunday in Ordinary Time

10 Commandments

• Out of 613 laws, or the Torah, in the Old Testament
• Only God could have created these laws

Then Jesus enters the stage

• You have heard that it was said…But I say to you
• So, is Jesus really a God, or is he publicly blaspheming God?

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

1. You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.

• But I say to you,

whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment;

• That is a higher goal…not just killing someone, but not to be angry, or even bringing that frustration to love to Jesus

2. You shall not commit adultery

• But I say to you,
• everyone who looks at a woman with lust
  
• has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

• I mean, check that out in our society. Jesus is teaching us, not only to divorce and remarry another woman (or man), but to seek chastity with our minds, our eyes, our hearts
  
• “It was also said,
• Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.
  
• But I say to you,
  
• whoever divorces his wife -  unless the marriage is unlawful -
  
• causes her to commit adultery,
  
• and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery

1. Unless the marriage is unlawful = not a sacramental marriage 

• And, this is why we still believe in an annulment process for seeking peace, purity, and a second chance for a true sacramental marriage
• This is a tough one, but Jesus did teach this!

3. “Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
Do not take a false oath.”

• “But I say to you, do not swear at all;

not by heaven, for it is God’s throne;
nor by the earth, for it is his footstool;
nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Do not swear by your head,
for you cannot make a single hair white or black.
Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,' and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’”
He wants us, not for mediocre, but excellence, not sinners, but saints

• Interiority, salvation, excellence, grace makes us renewed

5thSunday in Ordinary Time

Light and Darkness…AGAIN!

• I’m not sure if that came to Mass today as the connection of the readings in similar situations, a reminder from God to try it with a better homily, or offer us a new perspective of His Word Light, light, light!
• And this weekend, I think that this light is shown to the world with our service:

1.  “You are the light”
2. “You are the light of the world.”
3. “You are the light of the world.  A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;

it is set on a lampstand,where it gives light to all in the house.  Just so, your light must shine before others,that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”

1. Imagine the culture of Jesus’ time that needed lamps without electricity

• §  I mean, Buddy Heater ice fishing, tall stands that turns off
• §  If you put the lamp back then is under a basket, or under a bed, isn’t that changing a needed light into a fire or destruction?
• §  And is that what we actually do when we are not giving your good needs?
• In Isaiah

• “Share your bread with the hungry,shelter the oppressed and the homeless;

clothe the naked when you see them,and do not turn your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn…”
“The just man is a light in darkness to the upright.”

• “…he is gracious and merciful and just.  Well for the man who is gracious and lends,who conducts his affairs with justice.”
• Be the light of the world!  Be the light of Koochiching County! 
• And, do you know how much our parishioners have done them for many decades and can support your new or continued service?  Like Ruby’s Pantry, Clothing Closet, Servants of the Shelter, Friends against Abuse and beyond.
• Show your light!

​
 https://bhadrich.podbean.com/e/light-light-light-5th-sunday-in-ordinary-time/​