Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter

Acts 5:27-32;1:40-41

Revelation 5:11-14

John 21:1-19

Our readings today speak to us of the authority of Jesus Christ as Son of God and Risen Lord, and the authority he gave his apostles and His Church to teach in his name and pass down what He taught them. This authority, of course, is still with us in the Church today. While the Successor of Peter and the other Successors of the Apostles still have the authority given to them by Jesus Christ and they are the most obvious outward human expression of the Church's spiritual and temporal authority, these Scriptures have a message for every one of us about our duty to spread the Gospel. It isn't the duty of the clergy to spread the Gospel (the Good News of Jesus Christ), it is the duty of every believer.

In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter and some of the other disciples were placed before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish temple Council that administered not only the Temple, but the Jewish law during that time period. Peter would have been well aware of the reality that sitting on that very Council would have been some of the men who took the decision to put Jesus himself to death. They didn't want to hear anything else about the Nazarene, and they certainly didn't want to hear that they were responsible for his death, let alone that he had risen from the dead. They tried telling the apostles not to teach in the name of Jesus, Acts tells us that they didn't arrest the apostles at first because they were afraid of the reaction of the people. The followers of Jesus were already growing in number, so it begs the question: Why were they growing in number when the persecution of believers was real? Because those early followers of Jesus were not afraid to spread the message, and it wasn't just Peter and the 12, it was the whole Christian community. Very early in the life of the Church, who's first believers understood exactly what the words of Jesus meant when he said go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, and they set about doing exactly that, and they weren't afraid to tell the world exactly who Jesus was. The world didn't always want to follow in return, in fact most of the time they didn't want to do that at all, just as they don't today. The world has other priorities that usually have little to do with the things of God, but in the early Church those first Christians made God the priority and they wanted to spread the Gospel everywhere, and they understood the risks they were taking to do it.

It wasn't just the Apostles or the notables among the early followers of The Way (that's what the very first Christians called themselves, followers of The Way) who concerned themselves with the responsibility of bringing the message of the good news of Jesus to the world, every believer concerned themselves with spreading the Good News, and indeed that is what the Church teaches us, spreading the Gospel doesn't just happen here in church, it happens every day when we are going about our lives, and it's our responsibility to spread the message, firstly and most importantly by the lives we lead.

Today's Gospel gives us one of the most important post Resurrection appearances of Jesus. Peter and some of the other disciples went fishing and Jesus was waiting for them on the shore, John tells Peter that it's the Lord after the man on the shore tells them to throw the net on the right side of the boat and they would find fish. Not only did they catch fish but Scripture gives us a number, it says that they caught 153 large fish. One commentary I've read about this passage said that during this time period, the known number of kinds or breeds of fish was 153. I've never been able to verify that, but if there is any truth to that, it tells us something remarkable about what Jesus is trying to illustrate in this whole incident. He's trying to show his fishers of men that the whole world is welcome to be a part of his body if they choose. The Gospel also tells us that this is the third time Jesus showed himself to the disciples after he had risen from the dead.

St. Peter, we know from the accounts of the Passion, three times denied Jesus on the night before He was crucified. Here, Jesus asked him three times "do you love me" and when Peter responds in the affirmative the first two times he says "feed my lambs,"and "tend my sheep," but the last time the response of the Lord was "feed my sheep." We often think of this passage as representative of the Lord's charge to Peter after he had risen from the dead, and that interpretation isn't wrong, but there's more to it than that. The question that Jesus asks Peter is one that he is asking all of us today. When Jesus asked Peter the question first, he asked him "Do you love me more than these?" What this means in the most literal and obvious sense is "do you love me more than you love the things of this world, or the esteem of others?" After Jesus died and rose, we can see in today's Gospel that initially Peter went back to his family business of running a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, of course, followers of Christ have to find a way to support themselves like everyone else, indeed St. Paul chided some of the early believers for using their faith and their love of the spiritual life in Christ as an excuse not to work or go about the business of their daily living when he told the Thessalonians "if any will not work, neither let him eat," but Jesus was calling Peter to something more, to abandon attachment to the things of the world for the sake of spreading the Gospel. In the same Gospel passage Jesus is calling all of us, as disciples and followers of His, to abandon an unhealthy attachment to worldly things, because we are all supposed to be witnesses to the Gospel and spread the message, something that it's very hard to do if we're worried about the way the world looks at us. 

Jesus' request to Peter is "feed my sheep," and there is a very real way in which this request applies to us. One cannot help but be drawn to our First Communicants last week. They are early in their journey of Faith, but we hope that we will be able to be an encouragement to them, whether we are a deacon or priest, or a catechist or helper, or just a parishioner that encourages the children to pray. Jesus told us that if we harm the faith of his little ones, it would be better for us if a millstone were tied around our neck and we were thrown into the sea. Whether it's the children just beginning their journey of Faith, supporting a new Catholic or someone showing an interest in the faith, or simply encouraging a fellow parishioner or visiting or calling a fellow parishioner who perhaps we haven't heard from in a while… We are all called to play a role in feeding the Lord's sheep and keeping the pasture well kept. 

Jesus is asking us "do you love me more than these?" He is asking all of us if we love him unto death, just as he loved us so much that he gave his life for us. We are all faced with having to answer the Lord's question. What answer shall we give him?

Homily for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time - The Sacrament of Matrimony

Genesis 2:18-24

Hebrews 2:9-11

Mark 10:2-16

Those of you who have listened to my preaching for quite some time now know that it tends to providentially happen that I very often find myself preaching on some of the things in scripture which are known as the "hard sayings of Jesus," things which are very important parts of the Christian Life and which have always been very difficult to live out, but especially so in the world in which we find ourselves living in this hour of history.

Today's Old Testament reading and today's Gospel are meant as an illustration for us of God's plan for humanity and the human family. God made humanity male and female, and he did so for a reason. It has been the plan of God from the beginning of all time that the human race should be perpetuated in the family, and that families are themselves perpetuated when men and women come together as husband and wife and become one flesh. That plan is so important to humanity that Jesus reminds us that it has always been the intent of God that the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is indissoluble, and that has always been and remains today the teaching of the Church.

The plan of God for the human race from the very beginning, as Jesus reminds us in the Gospel today, is that God made humanity male and female, and that God intended a man to leave his Father and Mother and cleave to his wife and with her to become one flesh. It was thus from the very beginning, and that is made clear to us both in Genesis and in more than one place in the Gospels. This was a difficult thing when Jesus said it over 2,000 years ago, it was difficult for the Pharisees that heard it, because they were used to the religious laws of that time which said that they could simply declare that they "put their wife away," that's what they called it "putting her away." I could only imagine how dehumanizing such a pseudo ritual must have been for the women who were on the other side of it in those days.

Yet in this day and age in which we live, not only has divorce become commonplace in society at large, but we see it and its effects in the very heart of the Church today. We understand that part of this is because of human sin and brokenness, that is true, but a huge part of the reason that we see the effects of divorce in the Church today is because so many people have forgotten what matrimony is and it is supposed to be. Pope Francis himself has warned that a big part of the reason why the number of declarations of nullity are so high is because so many young people enter into marriage with a false idea of what this institution is, and what it is about.

Jesus gives us a real lesson on what marriage is about because immediately after he tells his disciples not once, but twice about the permanence of Holy Matrimony, we then see in the same Gospel text that people brought children to Jesus for him to touch them and the disciples tried to rebuke the people who brought the children. Jesus rebuked the disciples instead, he reminded them and all of his listeners that we all have to receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, that is to have the faith of a child- or we can't enter into it. We are told that Jesus blessed the children who were brought to him. In doing this, and in placing the blessing of children in this context in the Word of God, Jesus is showing us one of the critical reasons why the institution of marriage was created and the Sacrament of Matrimony instituted, and that is for the well-being, and the safety, and the good upbringing of children, right along with the good and well-being of both spouses.

Holy Mother Church teaches us and has always taught us that a family with a mother and a father and siblings (if God gives children) is the normative means by which God gives humanity to bring up children and to advance society and human flourishing. In saying this and in being reminded of this today, we are not saying that good and holy young people cannot come from a single parent home, or from an alternative situation over which they had little control. No, what we are saying is what Jesus says, and that is that the plan of God is, and has always been, for children to be brought up in families made up of mothers and fathers, and both mothers and fathers are of equal importance, even though they have different and distinct roles. Even the raw statistics tell us that God set down his plan and his way for a reason, some of the best social scientists saw that many decades ago.

However, rather than acknowledge in humility that God's plan is really for the best and that humanity in our brokenness and sinfulness are the ones who screw that up, and seek repentance and healing and reconciliation, in our culture today we think we know better than Jesus Christ, and the culture seeks to redefine what marriage is, what family is, and even today what constitutes male and female, which is now a matter of choice rather than divine appointment according to some.

Holy Mother Church teaches us clearly that the Sacraments are the ordinary means by which our Lord confers Grace on humanity and that there are seven of these Sacraments. Three of the sacraments are Sacraments of Initiation or acceptance into God's family, the Church. (Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist), that two of the Sacraments are Sacraments that Jesus gives us for healing our bodies and our souls, (the Anointing of the Sick and the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession), but then we are given two Sacraments that are Sacraments of Service. The Sacraments of Service are Holy Orders, or ordination, and the Sacrament of Matrimony. Holy Matrimony is so important in the plan of God that the relationship between Christ and his Church in Sacred Scripture is described as the relationship between a Bride and a Bridegroom. In the parable of the ten virgins, Jesus reminds us to be watchful like a bride for the bridegroom because the bridegroom could return at any time.

St. Paul in Ephesians Chapter 5:22-32 lays out the way in which Christian married couples should behave, he reminds couples that Matrimony is a great Sacrament, and that it is a reflection in this world of the mystical bond between Christ and his Church. St John Paul II repeated the Church's traditional teaching that the family is a domestic Church.

Rather than accept God's definition of a family as a model for what his eternal family is like, the world redefines family to fit the definition that is convenient for the priorities of the world. The married relationship is often defined in today's culture by Hollywood. People's idea of married love comes from the movies, or television, or popular books, or the internet, rather than the timeless and correct definitions given to us by the Church from God's own Word. 

Those of us who have been married for any length of time know that real marriage and love within marriage is not Hollywood (where's my late Grandfather used to call it, Hollywierd!). We need to love and cherish our spouse, and doing that right means doing it when it is easy, and when it is hard. Loving our wife or our husband when it's hard, and loving our children when it's hard is what God asks from us, because loving us in that way is exactly what Jesus did for us. If you want to know how much Jesus loves us, all you need to do is look at the Cross behind me. That is how we are called to love our wives and our husbands, our families, our children. Permanent and lasting Love is how he loves us, and it is the way in which he expects us to love one another.

Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24

2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15

Mark 5:21-43

Our readings today-most especially our Old Testament reading and our Gospel for today- speak to one of the most fundamental truths of the Christian faith, and that is that death was never originally in God's will. The passage from the book of Wisdom reminds us that God didn't create death for humanity, he made man to be imperishable, that is not to die. God made man in his own image, and originally this didn't include death. Death entered the world as a consequence of sin. Indeed, all evil entered the world as a consequence of sin and the fall of humanity. God warned Adam and Eve what the consequence would be if they disobeyed Him, not because God is cruel, but because God is Holy. Sin can't live in the presence of God. The very definition of sin is "the willful transgression or disobedience of God or His laws."

We are delivered from original sin by virtue of our baptism, but that doesn't mean we are free from the consequences of original sin, and that means that death is a reality for the human race until the Lord returns and history is brought to its consummation. However, in the Gospel we are given the ultimate antidote to the reality of death that we inherited from our First Parents. Jesus Christ came, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, to give us victory over sin and death. This was the reason Our Lord came, and it was the reason He died for us, and the reason that he rose again. He died in atonement for our sins, but he did so that we might have victory over our sins. He wants us to be in Heaven with Him, and in His death and Resurrection, He provides us with the means whereby we can restore a right relationship with God, and our sins be forgiven.

In the Gospel we see that Christ is the Lord of Life who has power over life and death. The woman afflicted with hemorrhages (or as some translations render it, the issue of blood- meaning that she had parts of her body or sores that had been constantly bleeding for years) believed in faith that Jesus could heal her, and she was so convinced that that she thought that all she needed to do was touch the hem of His garment, a small part of his clothes, and that would be enough. We hear all kinds of television preachers today preaching a "name it and claim it" false Gospel of prosperity. This woman was living the real "name it and claim it." She was healed because she believed that Jesus was who he said he was, and she trusted that he had the power to heal her. Jesus' very response tells us that this woman's faith is what has brought about her healing.

Our Lord has told us in Scripture that his power to heal is as much about forgiveness of our sins as it is about physical healing. Remember the paralytic man whose friends dropped him through the roof so that he could have an encounter with Jesus? (cf. Mark 2:1-12) What was Jesus' initial response? At first, it wasn't to heal the paralytic, it was to announce to him and to the people around him that his sins were forgiven. People then accused Jesus of blasphemy because only God had the power to forgive sins. Jesus shows us that the power of forgiveness was far more important than physical healing. But he knew that many of the people thought he was doing something that only God could do, and they were right, so he told the paralytic "so that you may believe that the Son of Man has power on Earth to forgive sins, rise, take up your bed, and walk." The healings of Our Lord were to show that he had the power to forgive and the power to make us whole and he has that power today, even if we don't always experience physical healing. The Lord wants to bring us spiritual healing through the Sacraments, and he wants us to be open to receive those Graces.

Then there was the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue official. Jairus believed that Jesus could heal his daughter, likely because he had seen or heard the evidence of Jesus' healings of others, but when Jesus learned that the little girl had died, he said "she isn't dead she's only sleeping," and he was roundly mocked. But he went in and he raised the little girl from the dead. Christ showed that he had power even over life and death, something that only God has. Because Our Lord rose from the Dead, he can give us victory over death. 

Unless we happen to live to see the Lord return, we all have an appointment with death, but it doesn't have to be the end for us. Just as the Church's funeral liturgy tells us, in death we know that "life is changed, not ended." Christ wishes to give us the rewards of Eternal Life, he wishes to restore God's plan for all of humanity that was taken from us because of Original Sin.

There is only one catch… we have to live a life for the Lord, we have to keep His commandments, because salvation and victory over death can be given to anyone, but ultimately it is given to those who choose it. The choice is a very clear and stark one… we can have "the pleasures of sin for a season," we can live consumed by worldliness and the things of this world which are passing away, and God will honor that choice, and it will be our Eternal choice… Or we can reject a life of sin and worldliness and the things which pass away and win victory over death and an Eternity with God. The choice is really up to us.

Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter

 

Acts 9:26-31

1 John 3:18-24

John 15:1-8

Jesus uses the analogy of grapes on a vine to describe the relationship between the believer and Christ, and indeed the believer and Christ's body. Anyone who may grow any kind of fruit on a vine knows that the branches or parts of the vine, if cut off from the vine, will not continue to bear fruit or be part of the vine. The vine may continue to be productive, it may grow new branches that produce new fruit to replace the branches that are cut off.

"A branch cannot bear fruit unless it remains on the vine," Jesus tells us, "neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." Following Jesus Christ is, for each and every one of us, a choice. It is a choice that we make daily, but increasingly in our society following Jesus Christ is being openly rejected by people, including those who should know better. Several times in the New Testament Jesus uses the agricultural understanding that his listeners would have known in his own time, since he lived in an overwhelmingly agricultural society. Jesus uses this understanding as a way to explain to his listeners and to his followers and to his apostles the reality of Heaven and Hell.

This is the reality that Jesus deals with in the parable of the wheat and the tares (cf. Matthew 13:24-30) and we see it again here in the parable of the vine and the branches, the branches that are cut off from the vine will be thrown into a fire and burned, just as in the parable of the wheat and the tares, Jesus explains that the tares and the wheat grow together until the harvest when the tares are separated out and burned while the wheat is gathered in to the Master's barn.

The reality of Hell is not something that we often choose to talk about, but Jesus talked about it a whole lot. Considering how much Jesus discussed the matter, I have to admit that I don't quite understand why it is that some theologians come up with the notion that everyone is going to be saved (something that none of us can possibly know). Jesus made it pretty clear that few people would choose to follow him of their own accord. (cf. Matthew 7:13-14) The reason is because the way of Christ isn't always easy, and we know that it often isn't easy at all. The benefits, however, are truly out of this world.

We also learn something else that's key in this parable of the vine and the branches. The Father is the vine grower and he will take away every branch that does not bear fruit, and he will prune the branches that do bear fruit so that they bear more fruit. This can be particularly critical, because pruning sometimes involves cutting away a non-productive part of the vine, it might even mean that we have to cut off some part of a plant that we might otherwise choose not to, so that the rest of the plant might be productive and bear the best fruit. Pruning isn't always an easy process. But God's way of pruning the vine often means exposing what is wrong with the vine so that it can be cut away from the productive part of the vine of the Church.

In recent days, months, and years, we have seen a series of scandals involving the sinfulness of high ranking clergy and the abuse of children and young adults. This is an addition to other scandals which have often exposed the willingness of many in the clergy to tolerate and even promote social, political, and moral ideas which are completely contrary to the teachings of Holy Mother Church. Many of these public clergy who have promoted or continue to engage in promoting things which are contrary to what the Church teaches in matters of faith and morals have been allowed to continue to pedal their confusion to the masses in the Catholic press, in social media, and in society at large. These realities have led some people to judge that orthodoxy- that is Catholic belief that is right and correct- is often seen as outdated and old fashioned, while those who follow the latest modern ideas about what is morally acceptable are given pride of place in the public square, with some of these folks being promoted by the mainstream media as authentic Catholic voices.

Let us not be deceived. God is not mocked. (cf. Galatians 6:7) The moral teachings of the Church have not changed, and the seven deadly sins are still deadly. If something was wrong a hundred years ago or 70 years ago or 50 years ago, it is still wrong today, it will be wrong next week, next month, next year, and next century. Conversely, if something was good and holy 100 years ago or 70 years ago or 50 years ago, be assured that it remains good and holy today, it'll be good and holy tomorrow, good and holy next week, next month, next year, and next century. The Lord changes not… now there is a difference between dogma, doctrine and discipline. We don't have time to get into all of those differences this morning, but disciplines of the church can change because these disciplines are here to help us carry out the dogmas and the doctrines we believe in, they are not those dogmas and doctrines themselves.

These are important reminders because we are living in an age when many people look at our Church, and it appears that the bad parts of the branches and being allowed to run rampant and the plant has not been pruned. But I would humbly submit to anyone who feels discouraged about the state of the Church that when you hear things which are discouraging about the situation in the Catholic world today, know and understand that God is working his purpose out. So much of what we see and hear in our Church today is really a part of this pruning process which God has set forth to purify His people. As Saint Paul reminds us, the Lord seeks "a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing." (cf. Ephesians 5:25-27) We don't have the ability to make the Church that way, but the Lord does. We need to allow the Lord the opportunity to prune the branches so that we can all bear the very best fruit, and the Church can do what the Lord ordained her to do, preach the Gospel and work for the salvation of many souls.

What To Do in a Time of Sacramental Dearth

We are living in a time of pandemic, and as a result of that pandemic, we are living in a time of sacramental privation, when the public celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has literally been cancelled throughout this diocese, and in the entire Union for fear that the COVID-19 coronavirus may spread at the public gatherings that are the ordinary Sunday Mass throughout the Catholic world.

Of course, Mass is still being celebrated in our parishes, but if we may borrow a term from the Extraordinary Form, these are private Masses. In the Diocese of Knoxville, Bishop Stika has requested that the doors of churches be locked if private Mass is taking place in the church in order to prevent people from gathering in an environment where contagion might spread, even though he is allowing for churches to be opened at other times for Eucharistic adoration or private prayer.

Some Holy Trinity parishioners, as well as many other people, have expressed frustration to me that not only is public Mass suspended, they can't receive the Eucharist at all. People are frustrated, and it's easy to understand why. Even though we have been presented with many opportunities to join in Holy Mass via the Internet or television and make a Spiritual Communion, this is still not the same as being at Mass, and the Church doesn't pretend that it is. 

The contagion that is the COVID-19 coronavirus is a real threat and a real concern, however, (especially to those of us in an immunocompromised or vulnerable group to whom the disease can easily spread and place in grave danger) and so many of us will celebrate Holy Week from a distance, and it seems that this state of affairs could remain in place for some time. Many people are asking if there is anything that they can do to join in the prayer of the Church in a deeper way during this time since they cannot be at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass...

I want to commend to those laity who have not committed to praying part or all of the Liturgy of the Hours, also called the Divine Office every day that now, in this time when we do not have the ability to attend Holy Mass, is a great time to begin doing so. Priests, deacons, and religious all over the world are required to pray the Liturgy of the Hours every day, but there are many lay people who do so as well and it is highly encouraged by the Church.

In a time when we cannot attend Holy Mass because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Liturgy of the Hours provides us with a way to unite ourselves with the prayer of the Church in a daily way. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the Church's highest and most important prayer. Next to it in importance is not the Holy Rosary, as valuable as that is, and it is not Eucharistic adoration, as important as Eucharistic adoration is to our love of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. The Church's second highest and second most important prayer is the Liturgy of the Hours, or the Divine Office. If you cannot be at Mass, praying the Divine Office might be the next best thing. Why? When we pray the Liturgy of the Hours, we are praying and participating in a liturgical act. In normal times, the Liturgy of the Hours could even be celebrated in front of a congregation with a deacon or priest celebrating, and even potentially delivering a short homily!  So if you pray the Liturgy of the Hours, you are praying liturgically, and you are praying the Church's official daily liturgical prayer.

Someone might legitimately ask: "But deacon, doesn't praying the Liturgy of the Hours require me to obtain expensive liturgical books, and manuals to learn how to navigate them? I've heard that this is difficult?" If you have the resources to obtain the books, either the four volume Liturgy of the Hours or the Christian Prayer volume, along with an Ordo or guide to the Liturgy of the Hours, that's wonderful. It's always great to use liturgical books when doing liturgical things, and we should always do that in the case of the Mass itself. Using the books is something I would definitely recommend if you can afford it, but what if you can't? It can be an expense, I know because my set was expensive.

Fortunately, through the blessing of the internet, reliable sites such as IBreviary provide an app for you to use to pray the daily Liturgy of the Hours, and you don't even need a guide or an Ordo, they do all the work of laying out the daily Liturgy of the Hours for you, it can be right there at your fingertips. 

As a deacon, I made a promise to my Bishop when I was ordained that I would pray the Liturgy of the Hours every day, but I was praying it for years before I was ever ordained a deacon as a layman. To be honest, over the years, the Divine Office has become something of a habit, I've grown to take it for granted, just as I and many others have grown to take the Holy Mass too much for granted.

However, I have found that because of this pseudo-quarantine in which we find ourselves, I have come to value praying my daily office perhaps more than I ever have before. Many of you know that I don't drive so I rely on my wife or on others to ensure that I can get to Mass or to the Church for any other functions that I have to engage in. Even though Bishop Stika is allowind his deacons to participate in private masses during this time, it's not something I've had the opportunity to do, it would require me to ask someone to take me to the church who could not participate in what we were doing, and I don't feel that is right. As a result, I not only feel isolated from my fellow parishioners and our brothers and sisters, but from my brother clergy as well. I thank the Lord for social media because Father Patrick and I can at least talk regularly there!

However, through the Liturgy of the Hours I am not isolated from anyone. I am connected with my brother deacons and priests who are also praying it all over the world. I am connected with the religious and the lay people who are praying it every day. Through the Liturgy of the Hours, even though we cannot be together in worship, we are worshiping together.

I commend the Liturgy of the Hours to you, and I call upon our parishioners at Holy Trinity and everywhere to avail themselves during this time of the daily Office. I firmly believe that anyone who does this won't regret it, and I think that this holy prayer habit will last you far beyond our current pandemic crisis.