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Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
February 2, 2025 — Year B
Readings: Mal 3:1-4 / Ps 24 / Heb 2:14-18 / Lk 2:22-40
by Rev. Mr. Mark De La Hunt, Permanent Deacon
Today the Holy Mother Church turns our focus to Mary and Joseph presenting Baby Jesus to the Lord in the temple. This is the Fourth Joyful Mystery of the rosary. One fruit of that mystery is obedience to the religious teachings of the Church in emulation of Mary and Joseph who faithfully followed the law God gave to His people. In this homily we will dispel the false teaching that religious practices are empty manmade traditions and ponder ways to awaken in ourselves the Holy Spirit’s gift of piety.
Let’s zoom out for a minute and recap today’s scripture passages. Malachi prophesies about today’s gospel writing, “Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple…behold, He is coming.” (Mal 3:1-2)
King David’s prayer in the psalm also points to the gospel: “Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors! That the King of Glory may come in.” (Ps 24: 9)
In the second reading from Hebrews, we hear temple language about Jesus as both priest and sacrifice: “…He had to be made like His brethren in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest…to make expiation for the sins of the people.” (Heb 2:17)
And as always, the gospel ties it all together in Jesus who is the King of Glory entering the temple “…when His parents brought in the child Jesus to be offered up to God.” (Lk 2: 27)
Did you catch the sacramental language in Malachi’s words about Jesus coming to the temple? “He is like a refiner’s fire and a fuller’s soap…He will purify the sons of Levi…till they present right offerings to the Lord.” (Mal 3: 3) On the cross, from the side of Jesus’ body, which is the new temple, there poured out the waters of baptism and the blood of the Eucharist. These refine us. Baptism takes away our sin and makes us priests like Malachi’s “sons of Levi,” and in the Eucharist our High Priest purifies us.
How often do we forget that when we were baptized, our body too, became a temple in which the Holy Spirit, third person of the Holy Trinity, dwells? That was God’s plan just as Jesus shared it with the Samaritan woman at the well, “…the hour…is now here when true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit.” (Jn 4: 23-24)
What do you need to do in your life to “lift the gates” of your “temple” so that Jesus, the King of Glory, may enter? What must we do to invite the Holy Spirit more fully into our mind, body, and soul? What gate-raising religious practices are we not taking advantage of? Has the weight of our unforgiven sin pulled the gate down? What tangible things can we do to raise the gates to our mind, body, and soul?
In this gospel passage, Luke mentions five times that Mary and Joseph observed the laws God gave His people, so it must be important. Those laws included religious practices, not for God, for He needs nothing. The religious practices are for the people, because God who knows us better than we know ourselves, knows we need religious laws and practices to draw us closer to Him in a unity of mind-body-soul. (All three must be in accord with Christ if we are to live life abundantly as Jesus desires.) Jesus founded the Holy Mother Church, the Catholic religion, to guard and proclaim His teachings through religious practices. Human beings need structure. What religious practices does the Church require us to be obedient to?
The Catechism states that there are five “positive laws decreed” by the Church to “guarantee to the faithful the very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor.” (CCC 2041) These five precepts or laws are:
The Church calls these the “very necessary minimum.” If they are the minimum, what was not listed that, if observed or practiced, will also lift those gates? The right way to answer that question is to begin by asking the Holy Spirit to increase the gift of piety that we received when we were confirmed in the Spirit. (Is 11) (Consider praying in the Spirit with the HNM Holy Spirit Prayer Ministry Tuesdays at 7 PM.) Piety is the act of showing honor and reverence to God through religious practices. Mary, Joseph, Simeon, and Anna model piety for us.
Piety includes many devotions, the supreme one being the adoration of Jesus in the Eucharist, what the Catechism calls a blend of love and humility. (CCC 2628) Other devotions include praying the Holy Rosary, praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet and other memorized prayers like the Angelus (usually done at noon, while facing in the direction of the nearest Catholic Church). Other devotions include availing yourself of sacramentals such as dipping your finger in the holy water, blessing yourself in the Holy Trinity, kissing your Bible, or kissing Jesus’ body on a crucifix.
Another form of piety is holy reading of the writings of saints, spiritual masters, and sacred scripture. Fr. Tim Gallagher, a spiritual master, suggests reading one page a day so that you always have something spiritually fresh coming into your life. In addition to the Bible, St. Augustine’s book, Confessions, and Thomas a Kempis’s book, Imitation of Christ, consist of short reflections that make this easier. And, if you pray the Liturgy of the Hours, Night Prayer, you will pray Simeon’s canticle from today’s gospel “so that like Simeon, [you] may end your day and life in God’s peace.”
Here are a couple more thoughts from the faithful on piety. I like this quote: “Piety helps the beauty of God to become manifest in the heart.” Seeing God’s beauty in Adoration and in the goodness of holy people come to mind. Here is another good quote: “The gift of piety is a constant awareness of God’s presence.
The one act of piety that has aided me the most in staying aware of God’s presence is the St. Ignatius Daily Examen. At the end of our day in the Examen, we look at our day through God’s eyes, the eyes of a Father who loves us more than we can imagine. We seek His help in listing His gifts great and small (a hot cup of coffee on a cold morning, catching all the green lights, good news from the doctor.). We reflect on how our emotions moved us toward or away from Him. We list those actions for which we should rejoice and those for which we should seek forgiveness. Finally, we request His help with the big and small tasks and acts of piety in the upcoming day.
Since I began doing the Daily Examen this past Advent, I have noticed that I am more aware of God’s presence throughout my busy days. I had a work meeting that I knew might cause some anxiety and had asked for His help in it. The next day, during that meeting when I felt a bit anxious, I remembered that in my Daily Examen the night before, I had asked for His help, and that comforted me and made me aware of His presence. He is always present of course, but acts of piety help us become aware of His presence and care.
Here is a piety story for you. Years ago, my wife and I purchased a St. Joseph prayer kit for selling our home. You may be familiar with this. It has a statue of St. Joseph and a prayer card with instructions. We sought Joseph’s intercession and buried the statue upside down in the yard as prescribed. An hour or two later it was bothering me that we buried the statue in the dirt upside down. I went back out and dug it up, washed it off, and set it on branches of a bush, right side up. Seemed more dignified to me.
Our house, however, wasn’t selling. The days turned into weeks and the weeks into months and doubt crept in. The delay revealed our lack of faith, a realization that is a gift in itself. Once we had that gift, St. Joseph went to work. He revealed to us God’s faithfulness and care. Our house sold in the dead of winter with ten inches of snow on the ground in a bad real estate market. To make God’s love even more evident, the buyer was a person living in the same neighborhood! That sacramental St. Joseph statue sits prominently on my prayer desk where I worked on this homily. St. Joseph has become a dear friend, helper, and spiritual father to me. That is a fruit of piety.
Pray over today’s gospel for an increase in the Holy Spirit’s gift of piety that you may better honor and reverence God and grow in love of neighbor. And when your stomach growls at Mass from your Eucharistic fast, smile and imagine the Holy Spirit raising the gates to your mind, body, and soul.
Let’s close with an act of piety, seeking the help of Jesus’ pious Mom and Dad: Mary and Joseph, pray for us that we may observe your Son’s laws through His Church to increase our love for You and our neighbors. Amen.
KEEP READING
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 6, 2024 — Year B
Readings: Gn 2:18-24 / Ps 128 / Heb 2:9-11 / Mk 10:2-16
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor
Today’s readings show us a common theme, which is the sanctity and unity of marriage rooted in God’s divine plan for humanity. They also highlight the importance of relationships, God’s original plan for marriage, particularly the covenant of marriage, and how God is central to forming and sustaining those bonds.
The first reading, from the book of Genesis, helps to recall the main idea that marriage is the creation of God. When God was forming man, He said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” So, He made a woman to be with him and join him. This is not an affiliation or mutual understanding between individuals. It is a sacred covenant, established by God Himself. Marital affection is supposed to resemble the love of God toward humanity: loyal, productive, and eternal.
Today we have a culture that does not sanctify marriage and often questions its indissolubility. The divorce rates are high, and the culture is learning to shift towards the thought of marriage as something that can be undone if it becomes uncomfortable. This is far from what Jesus expects from all of us. Jesus calls us to a higher standard. He reminds us that marriage is a reflection of God’s covenant, which is unbreakable.
Venerable Fulton Sheen, in his wisdom once said, “It takes three to make love, not two: you, your spouse, and God. Without God, people only succeed in bringing out the worst in one another. Lovers with nothing else to do but love each other soon find there is nothing else. Without a central loyalty, life is unfinished.”
Sheen’s statement is a powerful reminder that true love is not just a bond between two people, but a bond that includes God. When we place God in the center of our lives and in the center of our marriage, He sustains it, nurtures it, and strengthens it. If God is absent, however, marriage becomes fragile and can easily fracture under the pressures of life. As Sheen points out, without God the relationship becomes empty, and people begin to bring out the worst in each other rather than the best.
This is why it is so essential for couples to keep God at the center of their lives, not just at the wedding ceremony, but throughout their marriage. Praying together, seeking God’s guidance, and entrusting the relationship to His care, make all the difference. The sacrament of marriage is not just about romantic love, but about a shared mission to reflect God’s love to each other and to the world.
In the second reading, we hear that Jesus was made a little lower than the angels and became like us in all things, suffered with us and triumphed over death to bring us salvation. The best form of love is when one is willing to give himself over to protecting, providing, and caring for another person. That is Jesus’ act of self-giving on behalf of humanity. Marriage, also, requires such a love: the love that is self-giving, the love which seeks the good of the other. This is the love required from us in regard to our marriages, families, and friendships. It is a love that follows the example of Christ, the greatest love that was ever demonstrated.
In order to understand the relationship between marriage and divorce, Jesus talks about it in today’s gospel. Pharisees approach Jesus to test Him, by asking what He says about the matter of divorce between a man and his wife. Jesus, however, does not just answer the question on the surface. Instead, He drills down to the fundamentals, to the basic plan of creation, to the institution of marriage.
He says, “From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. The two shall become one flesh. Hence, they are no more two, but one and the same. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate” (Mk 10:6-9). This teaching may not be easy to comprehend in the world we live in now that presents relationships based on conditions that are temporary. Still, Jesus invites us to look at marriage with faith, as a joining in God’s creative act. In marriage, two people merge into one, and therefore reflect unity, vowed commitment, and reciprocal self-giving.
Just as God loved us first with an unconditional, full, and lifelong love, so too is marriage intended to be an unswerving love. But Jesus doesn’t stop with the ideal. He acknowledges human weakness and the brokenness that can enter into relationships. The law of Moses allowed for divorce because of the hardness of hearts, but Jesus invites us to a higher calling, one rooted in forgiveness, patience, and the healing grace of God.
We are reminded that, while God’s design for marriage is beautiful, living it requires grace. It is not easy, but with God’s help, married couples can live their vocation with joy and fidelity, even in the face of difficulties.
After this challenging discourse, the gospel takes on a new subject, which is children. Jesus says, “Let the little children come to Me. Do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs” (Mark 10:14). This passage is a word of comfort to those who have childlike faith, faith being that which is simple and innocent, without doubt. The combination of marriage and children in this gospel is not accidental. It serves as a reminder that the values of humility, trust, and innocence are essential in all relationships. Like the child who needs the parents, we too, are called to go to God to offer our struggles, our brokenness, and our hopes.
Let us remember, whether we are married or not, that we are called to live out the same principles of love and self-sacrifice in our relationships. We must continually invite God into our relationships. Take time to pray together as a couple or as a family, asking for His grace and guidance.
For those who are married, today’s gospel is a call to reflect on the gift of your marriage. Are you nurturing the love and unity between you and your spouse? How can you invite Christ into the heart of your relationship to strengthen and sustain it?
For those who are not married, this is an opportunity to consider how you are living out your relationships with your family, friends, and community. Do you approach them with the faithfulness and love that Jesus calls us to?
Finally, the image of a child is a reminder to all of us to approach God with humility and trust, recognizing that in Him we can find the strength to live out the radical call to love in both marriage and all other aspects of life. Let us pray for the grace to model our lives on Christ’s example of love, faithfulness, and mercy, in marriage and every other relationship we hold dear. May we always remain like children before God, open to His will and eager to receive His blessing.
KEEP READINGTwenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 25, 2024 — Year B
Readings: Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b / Ps 34 / Eph 5:21-32 / Jn 6:60-69
by Rev. Mr. Mark De La Hunt, Permanent Deacon
The Holy Spirit rewrote my homily this morning. He has never done that before. He wrote this homily on Saturday morning in two hours and forty-five minutes, when it normally takes me twelve hours over the course of a month. I am sharing that with you, because I am guessing the Holy Spirit did this because He knew people were going to come to Mass this weekend needing to be healed of something or needing to have their life reordered in a way that was not going to happen with my first homily. He reoriented my homily to be more about testimony, sacraments, and life than about scripture and apologetics (i.e., defense of the faith).
The Holy Spirit highlighted five verses from today’s gospel on John 6. As I pondered them, I saw them as a summary of our life with the Holy Trinity.
(By the way, guess what the verse is for “They returned to their former way of life”? It is 66, as in Jn 6:66. This was not a clever writing technique by the apostle, John. The Bible did not come with chapters and verses; they were added hundreds of years later by the Catholic Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.)
If the Holy Spirit guided the numbering of the verses, then verse 66 must be important to us. What does it mean to return to our former way of life? For the Jews that day, it meant returning to a life where death was final, and where some religious rituals had become corrupted: things like getting a bill of divorce for practically any reason and stopping financial assistance for aging parents by dedicating that money to the temple (Mt 15:3-6).
Similarly, before Jesus came and established the Catholic Church, the former way of life in Rome and Europe was one of worshipping creation, what we call pantheism and paganism. They also worshipped manmade idols that represented many gods. Under these beliefs, the strong dominated the weak. Men dominated women. The wealthy dominated the poor and abandoned the sick when plagues came through. Wealthy men received an education, not the poor and not women. Sex was an act of domination, not love. Infanticide was common, especially if the baby was female (Hahn 75).
The horror show I just described is why Joshua and the Israelites in the first reading chose the one true God over the many gods of their neighbors. Their neighbors’ many gods demanded sacrifice of them (including of babies for the god Baal). Their one true God, whom we know as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, sacrificed Himself for our good.
As crazy as the former way of life in Rome and Europe sounds, many of those horrors are happening again as more and more people turn away from the one true God. Infanticide was common in China when their atheist (no god) government forced the one-child policy on their people. Tragically, infanticide happens in our country too. Also, in our country, the young and the strong can legally kill the old and the sick under the sinisterly named movement “Death with Dignity.” Domination and degradation of women is everywhere and is glorified. Education is trending down, especially for the poor. Marriage is being redefined to be “anything goes,” while traditional families are struggling to survive. Even our fundamental identity as men and women is being redefined and worse, becoming undefined.
The world is moving from order to disorder. One God brings order to the world. Many gods or no-god brings the world disorder or chaos. This is true for the world as a whole, for governments, and for us in our personal life. Even authentic religions that have been around since before Jesus have significant disorder, such as no hope of an eternal life with no more pain and no more tears. These ancient religions often have no respect and love for the poor and weak either. Mother Teresa was once asked by Jansenist priests in India to care for one of their sick priests, because their religion forbade them to do so.
Ok. That is a lot, and it can be disturbing and rob us of our peace. Let’s turn away from the darkness now and focus on the Light. If we want order and sanity and peace in our lives, we must center them on Jesus, the one true God. How do we center on Him? First, we center our life on Him in the Eucharist.
Henri de Lubac, a French priest and prominent theologian, said it this way, “If we are to grow in love and holiness, we must make the Eucharist the center of our lives, because in doing so, we make Christ the center of our lives. If we receive Christ worthily in the Eucharist and worship Him in Eucharistic adoration, He will fill us with His grace and enlarge our hearts to love and serve more perfectly (Martin 131).”
Here is a story about Jesus in the flesh, in the Eucharist bringing order and sanity and peace into the life of a seventeen-year-old boy, right here in Holy Name of Mary about fifteen years ago. He was a tall altar server who towered over Fr. Sal (inside joke). He participated in parish faith formation, youth group mission trips, DYC, and diocesan retreats. But he found his life to be a struggle and confusing, especially the tension between teenage hormones and Catholic teaching. Know what I mean teenagers, and twenty somethings, and thirty somethings, etc.?
He came to church on Wednesday evening for confession, and afterwards walked into the nave to pray his Fr. Sal penance of one Our Father and One Hail Mary in thanksgiving for God’s forgiveness. On Wednesday’s there is also Adoration, so Jesus’ body in the Eucharist was on the altar in the monstrance.
The young man bowed down his head in prayer, but then heard a Voice say, “Noah, look up. I am right here.” He blew it off as being his own thought and kept his head bowed down. The Voice came again, tenderly, “Noah, look up. I am right here.” Noah told me that at that moment, he went from knowing about God to knowing God deep down, as a loving Father who is merciful and who is with him and for him. This was especially poignant, since Noah had just come out of Confession.
By the way, what Noah experienced could be described as an awakening of the Holy Spirit’s gift of knowledge noted in Isaiah 11, which we all received in the Sacrament of Confirmation. It had been dormant, but Jesus in the Eucharist sent the Holy Spirit to Noah to fan it into flame. In a way, Noah had experienced a theophany.
I asked Noah to explain the Voice. He said it was not a sound, and it was not a thought. I asked him how he knew it was not a thought. He went on to describe it with the same phrase that the woman in my Eucharist story from my last homily used (It is as if the Holy Spirit is at work here 😉). Remember how the smell of candles by the monstrance brought her back to her grandma’s house and her grandma’s hug and a feeling of safety? She told me that the feelings were “even more intense than when grandma was alive?” Noah told me that the Voice was “more intense” than a thought. And the Voice did not come as thoughts do; it did not feel like his thought. It came from outside, not from within.
This is how the Holy Spirit moves through the Body of Christ. He speaks to all of us and even uses the same words like “more intense.” Noah and that woman do not know each other and have never met.
Noah and that woman, though, know their answer to Jesus’ question, “Do you also want to leave [Me]?” They and all of us, say with Peter, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life -this is My body…this is My blood.” If the homilies are boring, or the music is lifeless, or the people in the pews next to us are cold, we still come faithfully for Mass and for Adoration. In other words, we come for Jesus in the flesh.
We don’t just have a personal relationship with Jesus; we have an intimate relationship with Him. Because it is not just spiritual, but is also physical (flesh and blood) in the Eucharist, it is “more intense” than a personal relationship! That is why today’s second reading is about marriage, the most intimate and intense relationship two human beings can have. In the marital embrace, one man and one woman give themselves to each other mind, body, and soul, withholding nothing including their fertility. This becoming one in the flesh in marriage is a sign of the Eucharist.
At Holy Communion, Jesus, the groom, waits for His bride (us) at the altar and consummates that relationship by entering into us: body, soul, and divinity. The entirety of scripture from Genesis to Revelation builds up to the Eucharist here on earth that we may be at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb at Mass and in heaven when we are born to eternal life. John saw this in a vision and wrote about it in the book of Revelation.
Before their wedding day, the bride and groom go to Confession to empty their soul of disordered things, so that there is room for all the grace and order God desires to pour into their newly married life. So too, we should go to Confession regularly to make room in our soul for all the grace and order our Groom desires to give to us in the Eucharist.
If you have not been to Confession in a long time, you need to go. You are in spiritual danger. People do not just wake up one day and commit mortal sin, wrecking their life and the lives of others. This happens after a thousand small bad decisions or venial sins are committed but not confessed. Confession opens our eyes to our sinfulness, blots out those sins, and protects us from making a terrible mistake.
Here are a few takeaways.
To increase your centeredness on Jesus in the Eucharist, sign up for the next Holy Name of Mary all-night adoration. It begins every fourth Saturday of the month, starting at 7 PM. Or go to adoration at Holy Name of Mary on Wednesdays between 10 AM and 6:45 PM. If you show up at 5 PM, like Noah in the story, you can go to Confession while you are there, to make as much room in your soul as possible for all the grace Jesus wants to give you. Stay a little longer, and you can even go to Mass at 7 PM, scoring a Catholic hat trick (hockey reference) of grace with these three encounters with Jesus.
If, after all I have shared, you still struggle to see Jesus in the Eucharist, or you start to struggle months from now, then turn to His mother. She always leads us to her Son. Let’s turn to her help now.
Mother Mary, you first held baby Jesus in the town of Bethlehem, which means house of bread, and placed Him in a manger where animals go for sustenance. When we come forward for Holy Communion today, share with us what you saw when you first looked upon your Son in the Eucharist and share with us the joy you experienced at carrying Him again in your body. Amen.
Citations
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 18, 2024 — Year B
Readings: Prv 9:1-6 / Ps 34 / Eph 5:15-20 / Jn 6:51-58
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor
In today’s readings we are invited to a feast: a feast of wisdom, a feast of the spirit, and most profoundly, a feast of light itself in the Eucharist. The theme running through the scriptures is nourishment: not just physical but spiritual, and the choices we make in seeking what truly sustains us.
Our first reading opens with the image of Wisdom, personified as a woman who has prepared a great banquet. She calls out to the simple, the unwise, inviting them to leave behind their foolish ways and dine at her table. This invitation is an echo of something deeper, an invitation to a life that is not merely about survival, but about living with purpose, intention, and understanding.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Saint Paul warns us to live wisely, to make the most of our time, and to be filled with the Spirit rather than indulging in things that dull our senses or lead us astray. This call to wisdom is a call to discernment, to constantly seek what is good, true, and life giving.
Then we come to our gospel from John, where Jesus offers us the ultimate sustenance, Himself. “I am the bread that came down from Heaven,” He says. Here, Jesus is not just offering us wisdom or spiritual insight; He is offering us His very self.
The Eucharist, this Bread of Life, is not a symbol, it is Christ Himself we receive to nourish our souls. When Jesus speaks of giving His flesh for the life of the world, He’s not talking about a symbolic gesture, He’s pointing directly to the Eucharist, the sacrament in which we participate in His sacrifice, and receive His very body and blood. This is not merely a ritual or a remembrance, but a true encounter with Christ himself.
Through the Eucharist, we are invited to share in the divine life to be united intimately with Jesus. The words of Jesus, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,” reminds us that the Eucharist is not a one-time event; it is a continuous invitation to live in communion with Him. Each time we receive the Eucharist, we are nourished spiritually, strengthened in our faith, and reminded of our call to live as disciples.
This passage also challenges us to reflect on the mystery of the Eucharist. How often do we approach the altar with full awareness of the incredible gift we are about to receive? Do we truly understand that in the Eucharist, we are not just receiving bread and wine, but the very life of Christ? Saint Augustine once said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O Lord.” This restlessness often drives us to seek fulfillment in all the wrong places through material wealth, fleeting pleasures, or the pursuit of success at the expense of our relationships. But today’s readings remind us that true fulfillment comes from feeding on the wisdom of God, living in the Spirit, and most importantly, receiving the bread of life in the Eucharist.
Let me share with you the inspiring story of a young Italian woman who exemplified what it means to live wisely and in the Spirit. Chiara faced immense challenges during her life, including the loss of two children shortly after their births. Despite these hardships, Chiara and her husband Enrico continued to trust in God’s plan. When Chiara became pregnant with her third child, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Choosing to postpone her treatment to protect her unborn son, she lived her final months fully aware of the consequences but filled with peace and joy in the Lord. She often said, “We are born to die, but we die to be born again into eternal life.”
Chiara died at noon on June 13, 2012, after she said her goodbyes to her family and friends. One by one, she told everyone, “I love you.” On July 2, 2018, her beatification process was opened in Rome, naming Chiara Corbella Petrillo as a servant of God.
Chiara’s life is a testament to living out the wisdom of God, even in the face of suffering. She chose the bread of life over everything else, prioritizing her spiritual nourishment and trusting completely in God’s love. Her story challenges us to examine our own lives and the choices we make. Are we living wisely, making the most of the time we have, and seeking the true sustenance that only Christ can provide? In our modern world we are constantly tempted by things that offer temporary satisfaction but leave us spiritually hungry. But like Chiara, we are called to seek what sustains us.
When we prioritize our spiritual nourishment by spending time in prayer, immersing ourselves in scripture, and regularly participating in the Eucharist, we align ourselves with the wisdom of God.
There are a lot of distractions nowadays. It is easy to neglect our spiritual lives. Just as we need physical food to sustain our bodies, we need spiritual nourishment to sustain our souls. This means making time for prayer, reading scripture, and participating in the Eucharist regularly. Let us set aside specific times each day for prayer and reflection. Attend mass, not just on Sundays, but also during the week, when possible, to receive the Eucharist more frequently.
Our readings today also invite us to partake in the banquet of wisdom, which means seeking God’s guidance in our daily decisions. Wisdom is not just about knowledge; it is about applying that knowledge in a way that leads to a good and virtuous life. Before making decisions, especially significant ones, let us pause to pray and ask for God’s wisdom. Let us reflect on whether our choices are leading us closer to God or away from Him. Today, let us ask ourselves, what am I feeding my soul? Am I seeking the bread of life that He offers eternal nourishment? Or am I filling myself with things that leave me empty? Let us turn to the wisdom of the Church, the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the living presence of Christ in the Eucharist to nourish and sustain us on our journey of faith.
Jesus reminds us that true satisfaction comes from a deeper source. The Eucharist is the food that sustains us on our spiritual journey, giving us the grace to overcome the challenges of life and remain faithful to His teachings.
As we continue our Mass today, let us approach the Eucharist with a heart full of gratitude and reverence, recognizing the profound love that God has for each of us. Let us allow this encounter with Christ to transform us so that we may become living witnesses of His presence in the world. Let us recognize the true value of the Eucharist and live each day with the wisdom and intention that leads us to eternal life. By integrating these teachings into our lives, we become more attuned to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, making choices that lead us to live fully in the presence of God, nourished by His wisdom and the Bread of Life.
May Jesus Christ be praised.
KEEP READINGNineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 11, 2024 — Year B
Readings: 1 Kgs 19:4-8 / Ps 34 / Eph 4:30-5:2 / Jn 6:41-51
by Rev. Mr. Mark De La Hunt, Permanent Deacon
Here we are in week three of our personal Eucharistic Revival on John Chapter 6. The Eucharist, Holy Communion, Bread of Angels is the source of Christian faith and unity. In honor of this, Father Nixon and I have been alternating preaching. Father preaches on John 6 again on the 18th, and then I will preach on the last passage on August 25.
Remember that we are doing this as our little part of the three-year-long Revival in the United States. As part of your personal Eucharistic Revival, you can go to YouTube and type in EWTN Eucharistic Congress and listen to all the great Catholic speakers that were there. Keep reading and reflecting on John Chapter 6 and try to spend some time in Adoration before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
Today I will focus on how Jesus responds to His followers’ disbelief in the Eucharist by using even stronger words, “I AM the living bread…whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh (Jn 6: 51).” Next week, Fr. Nixon will preach on how Jesus’ followers began to argue among themselves over this teaching. His disciples asked, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat (Jn 6:52)?” Jesus answered them, “…my flesh is true food and, my blood is true drink (Jn 6:55).” And keep in mind that when families and Christians reject Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist because it does not align with their personal beliefs, unity is lost. On Sunday, August 25, I will preach on the sad news that because of this teaching, “many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him (Jn 6:66).”
The Eucharistic Congress’s invitation had these words, “Come and find Joy, Healing, Hope, Peace, Unity, Meaning, Revival.” Those gifts have been true for me personally, and I know from conversations with some of you, they have been true for others too. However, globally, we do not experience unity as Christians. Here is a story about the Eucharist that a parishioner from Holy Name of Mary shared with my wife and me over dinner one evening and that illustrates the rift in Christian unity around the Eucharist. That lack of unity is why Christians, who are not in full communion with the Church Jesus Christ founded, cannot receive the Eucharist.
She grew up in a rural evangelical faith community, learned about the Lord, and was given the gift of faith. However, the children at that church were taught from an infamous tract called the “Death Cookie” that mocks the Catholic belief in the Eucharist. They were also taught to not associate with Catholics and to avoid their teachings.
One of the teachings they rejected was baptism by sprinkling of water on the head. They believed it had to be only by full immersion. This woman’s grandmother, due to her great fear of water, was never baptized. The leaders of this small rural church were not aware that the first Christians, during the time of the apostles, wrote about the acceptable practice of baptism by sprinkling, in a writing called the Didache. As God would have it, our friend began to date a Catholic boy in high school who told her and her grandmother about baptism by sprinkling water on the head.
Later, her grandmother became ill and was close to death in a hospital. She asked for a Catholic priest to baptize her. However, her family could not bring themselves to let the priest in the room, and the grandmother died without being baptized. This traumatized our friend, and she began to question what she had been taught. She loved her grandmother so much. She told us, “Whenever I went to visit Grandma, she always had non-paraffin candles burning, and she would envelope me in a hug. I always felt safe at Grandma’s.” More on this story later. And, yes, it has a Eucharistically-remarkable ending.
I want to take a moment to explain the lack of Christian unity around the Eucharist. Not to disparage other Christian churches, but to help us to avoid teaching that does not come from the apostles, and to better understand why non-Catholic Christians cannot receive Holy Communion in a Catholic church.
Many non-Catholic Christians have communion services in obedience to Jesus’ command to “[d]o this in memory of me (Lk 22:19-20).” But to my knowledge none believes in Jesus’ substantive presence in the bread (His flesh) and wine (His blood), what the Church calls transubstantiation, except for the Eastern Orthodox who have unbroken apostolic succession, same as the Roman Catholic Church.
Some of you may think the Anglican/Episcopalian Church teaches transubstantiation, but it does not. From their Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, Article 28 reads, “Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of bread and wine) in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ, but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture…and hath given occasion to many superstitions. The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was not by Christ’s ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped.”
Anglicans/Episcopalians, Lutherans, and Presbyterians have similar beliefs about the Eucharist, namely what is called consubstantiation. That is, they believe the presence of Christ is “with, in, or under” the bread and wine. Methodists might say it is a spiritual presence. All four of those Protestant traditions use the term “real presence,” but they mean spiritual. Some Christians believe Eucharist is simply a fellowship meal to thank God, and some think the bread and wine are purely symbols of Christ’s body and blood. And there are still more variations of Eucharistic beliefs. However, only one of these beliefs can be the truth. The truth is not a something, it is a Someone, Jesus. He said, “I am the truth.” He said the bread is His flesh, and He is God, and what God says is (Barron 503).
Back to the gospel, what did Jesus say? “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world (John 6: 51). One Presbyterian apologist (someone who is defending their beliefs) wrote that Jesus couldn’t be speaking literally because the Last Supper had not yet happened. Notice Jesus’ verb tense though, “The bread that I WILL give…” It is future tense. Jesus was telling the crowd what he was GOING to do at the Last Supper.
Many of you may have discussed your faith with Protestant family and friends, and that is a wonderful thing. Keep doing this, and remember that you are on sacred ground when you do so. These conversations should be approached with love, patience, and humility.
If you have done this, then you have likely heard them start the conversation with, “We can only discuss this from scripture.” Why do they say this? After all, the New Testament was not definitively declared until the year 382. A lot of history occurred before that time. What were the Christians doing during those nearly four hundred years? They were passing on what the apostles taught them, and what they passed on regarding the Eucharist is exactly what we believe. Here are three quotes during those 382 years from Bishop Barron’s Word on Fire Bible on the Gospels.
St. Ignatius of Antioch was born two years after Jesus was crucified, and he was taught by the Apostle John who wrote John Chapter 6. Ignatius wrote, “Come together in common through grace, individually, in one faith, and in Jesus Christ…In this way you will obey the bishop and the presbytery (priesthood) with an undivided mind, breaking one and the same bread, which is the medicine of immortality and the antidote to prevent us from dying, enabling us to live forever in Jesus Christ (Ignatius’s Epistle to Ephesians / Jn 6:50-53).”
St. Justin Martyr was eight years old when St. Ignatius died. In his defense of the faith, he wrote, “We call this food Eucharist…Not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too…the food which has been made into the Eucharist…is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus (Justin’s First Apology / Jn 6:55).”
The teaching that Jesus gave to John that was passed on to Ignatius and Justin did not die with them. St. Gregory of Nyssa, a bishop, was alive in 382 when the twenty-seven books of the New Testament were confirmed by a gathering of Catholic bishops. He wrote, “The bread again is at first common bread; but when the mystery sanctifies it, it is called and actually becomes the Body of Christ (Gregory On the Baptism of Christ / Jn 6:55).”
Brothers and sisters, our belief in the Eucharist can be proven from scripture AND history, so be at peace about it and give thanks for it. And by the way, studying the writings of the early Church Fathers is what led the great Anglican priest and theologian, John Henry Newman into full communion with the Catholic Church. He is now called St. John Henry Newman.
Back to our Eucharist story. The whole situation around her grandmother’s not being baptized caused her to question what her church taught. Still, she had no intention of becoming Catholic. But she did pepper her boyfriend’s priest with questions about Catholic teachings. Father patiently answered these questions over the course of a year, but she made it clear she had no intention of becoming Catholic. One evening Father asked her, “What exactly is it you want?” Still, she was non-committal.
That evening, however, Father felt moved to do something new. He said, “Follow me,” and he led her through the parish hallways to the narthex. She could see people inside the nave, kneeling in prayer and a decorative gold stand on an altar with the Eucharist held in it. She had never stepped foot inside a Catholic Church. And yet, here she was with a Catholic priest, about to lead her in there while people prayed before the “death cookie.” From Father’s year of teaching, she knew Catholics believed that the bread was truly Jesus in the flesh, so she knew why people were kneeling in prayer, but this went against everything she had been taught growing up. You can imagine how uncomfortable she was feeling.
Still, she followed Father inside and accepted his invitation to kneel and pray. It was then that she came to believe in Jesus in the Eucharist as taught by Him, John, Ignatius, Justin, and Gregory! The Holy Spirit moved in a powerful way.
The smell of the candles burning before the monstrance brought her back to her grandmother’s home, where she smelled Grandma’s candles burning, felt again her grandmother’s hug, and was overcome by the feeling of safety she always felt there. This is grace, but Jesus is so generous. Not only did she experience these comforting things, but she said the feelings were even more intense than they were when Grandma was alive.
Her grandmother, with her desire for baptism, had led her granddaughter to adoration that night. I can just imagine Grandma, baptized by desire (a Catholic teaching), adoring Christ before the heavenly altar, a vision John wrote about in the book of Revelation, and her granddaughter adoring Him before that Catholic altar where heaven and earth touch (CCC 1259; Rev 8). God is so good.
I thought about our friend when I prayed over today’s Psalm 34, “When the afflicted [woman] cried out, the Lord heard, and from all [her] distress He saved [her] (Ps 34: 6).” He does the same for each of us every Eucharist. We bring all this baggage and sin to the altar with us, and, in the Eucharist, Jesus takes it away. *
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning with Jesus, John, Ignatius, Justin, and Gregory, and is now with you and me and Father, and ever shall be world without end. Amen.
*The Eucharist removes venial sins, but mortal sin must be removed through the sacrament of Confession.
Citations
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
June 2, 2024 — Year B
Readings: Ex 24:3-8 / Ps 116 / Heb 9:11-15 / Mk 14:12-16, 22-26
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi, is a profound celebration in the liturgical calendar that invites us to reflect deeply on the mystery of the Eucharist. This feast reminds us of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, a mystery that is central to the Catholic faith. As we contemplate this Solemnity, several key reflections emerge.
At the heart of Corpus Christi is the belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This doctrine teaches that in the consecrated elements of bread and wine, Jesus Christ is truly present: body, blood, soul, and divinity. This mystery transcends human understanding, inviting us to approach it with faith and reverence. The Eucharist is not a symbol, but a profound encounter with the living Christ who comes to nourish us and transform us. The Eucharist is a manifestation of Jesus’ immense love and His ultimate sacrifice for humanity.
At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the Eucharist as a perpetual memorial of His passion, death, and resurrection. Each time we celebrate the Eucharist, we are invited to enter into the mystery of Christ’s sacrifice, to remember His love for us and to respond with our own love and gratitude. The Eucharist is a call to live a life of self-giving love, mirroring the example of Jesus.
The celebration of the Eucharist also underscores the unity of the Church. In receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, we are united not only with Jesus, but also with one another. The Eucharist is the sacrament of unity, drawing us together as the body of Christ. It challenges us to overcome divisions, to live in harmony, and to work for the common good. In a world often marked by fragmentation and discord, the Eucharist calls us to be instruments of peace and reconciliation. As we receive Communion, we are united with Christ and with one another. We become His body, His Church, His presence in the world. We are called to be broken and poured out for others, just as Jesus was.
The second Vatican Council described the Eucharist as the source and summit of the Christian life. This means that all other sacraments and works of the Church are oriented towards the Eucharist, and from it they draw their meaning. The Eucharist is the high point of our spiritual life, where we encounter Christ most intimately. It nourishes us spiritually, strengthens us in our journey of faith, and sends us forth to live out the Gospel in our daily lives.
As we reflect on the Eucharist, let us ask ourselves, do we receive Communion with reverence and gratitude? Do we recognize the presence of Christ in those around us? Do we share our own lives, like the Bread of Life, to nourish others?
There is a story of a young woman who took care of her elderly aunt. The aunt had inherited a fair amount of money from her deceased brother, but never mentioned it to anyone. On her deathbed, she summoned her niece and said, “You have been so good to me, I want to reward you. Take this frayed sweater of mine and wear it until you become rich.” The niece expressed gratitude but was disappointed. She felt her aunt could have at least left her a watch or a ring. She buried the sweater in the bottom drawer of her bureau. The aunt died. A year later, the niece put on the sweater while she did some yard work. She felt something in the sweater pocket. She found a key wrapped in a note. In the box unlocked by the key, she found that her aunt had given her legal title to a fortune of three hundred million dollars.
The moral of the story is that we often miss the treasures that are passed on to us, because we do not take time to look. The application of this story to the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ is the same. We may miss the treasure of the Eucharist, because we do not take the time to look or reflect on this mystery.
Each year, the Church pauses to meditate on the Eucharist itself. Though we celebrate the Eucharist each Lord’s Day, on this day we are drawn to ponder events and teachings about Christ. We may not always pay attention sufficiently to the Sacrament dwelling at the core of our weekly experience.
Finally, the celebration of Corpus Christi is a call to live “Eucharistic-ly.” This means that our lives should reflect the values of the Eucharist: gratitude, self-giving, unity, and love. We are called to be a Eucharistic people, living in constant thanksgiving for the gift of Christ and striving to embody His love in our interactions with others. Our participation in the Eucharist should inspire us to be more Christ-like, to serve those in need, and to build a more just and compassionate world.
The Solemnity of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ invites us to a deep reflection on the mystery of the Eucharist. It is a celebration that renews our faith, strengthens our unity, and inspires us to live more fully in the love of Christ. As we partake in the Eucharist, let us do so with reverence and gratitude, allowing this profound sacrament to transform us and guide us in our Christian journey.
KEEP READINGFifth Sunday of Easter
April 28, 2024 — Year B
Readings: Acts 9:26-31 / Ps 22 / 1 Jn 3:18-24 / Jn 15:1-8
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor
As we come to the Fifth Sunday of Easter, we find ourselves immersed in a season of renewal and growth. The readings for this Sunday offer profound insights into the themes of love, unity, and the transformative power of faith.
The first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, offers a powerful example of the transformative power of faith. We witness the conversion of Saul, who after encountering the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, undergoes a profound spiritual transformation. Formerly a persecutor of Christians, Saul becomes Paul, one of the greatest apostles of the early Church. His conversion serves as a reminder that no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace and mercy. It is never too late for redemption, and God can work miracles in the most unlikely of circumstances.
In the second reading, from the first letter of John, we are reminded of the centrality of love in the Christian life. Love is not merely a sentiment or emotion, but a concrete expression of our commitment to God and one another. As followers of Christ, we are called to love, not only in word or speech, but in deed and truth. Our love for others becomes a tangible sign of our discipleship and a reflection of God’s love for us.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus presents the metaphor of the vine and the branches, illustrating the intimate relationship between Himself and His disciples. Just as branches draw nourishment and life from the vine, so we too draw our strength and vitality from our connection to Christ. This imagery reminds us of the importance of remaining rooted in Christ, for apart from Him, we can do nothing.
This passage invites us to reflect on the nature of our own relationship with Christ. Are we actively abiding in Him, allowing His love to flow through us and bear fruit in our lives? Do we seek to cultivate a deep and abiding faith that sustains us through life’s trials and challenges? As we ponder these questions, we are called to recommit ourselves to the journey of discipleship, continually striving to deepen our connection with Christ and bear witness to His love in the world.
Somebody once compared a Christian to a basketball player. He said that to be a good player, it is not enough that you know how to dribble or avoid getting fouls. What matters most is to be able to shoot, to make points, and to be productive. We are called to not only observe and learn about Jesus, but also to allow Jesus and His presence, His message, His attitudes to become so much a part of us that Jesus lives in us, and we live in God and abide in each other. Further, we gain our source, our meaning, and our fruitfulness from that connection to Christ. Without Jesus, our efforts are misdirected and fruitless. Connected to Jesus, our actions and efforts can bear much fruit by God working in and through our lives.
The great saint Thomas Aquinas contended that we could have an idea of religion through the meaning of the three etymologies of the Latin word religio: to bind—religare, to read—legere, to choose— eligere. We are by nature religious beings. We come from God, and we’ll return to God. We can lead the fullness of human life if we fully bind ourselves with God. We read our life’s situation in the light of God’s kingdom, and we choose to love God above all things. Real happiness results when there is communion with God in our lives.
Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in Me and I in him, will bear much fruit.” The connection to this image of the vine and branches can’t help but highlight the importance of the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, Jesus comes to us in the form of food and drink. We take Jesus in, and He becomes part of us so that we may become more like Christ in our words, actions, and lives. The gospel you heard today is very special, because it shows us that we are all connected to our Lord. We are friends and members of Jesus.
What Jesus wants to teach us in today’s gospel is the extreme necessity for us to remain. What does to remain in Christ mean? To remain in Christ means first, to listen to Him and keep His words. Actually, we can refuse to listen to Him at all or we can listen to Him and then render Him lip service unsupported by any good deeds. We can accept Him as Lord and then abandon Him in the midst of difficulties and temptations or attribute all of our difficulties and temptations to Him.
Second, is to recognize that Christ alone is the real vine, and that without Him we can do nothing of value to God.
Third, is to live in the Church, which is the mystical body of Christ. (One of the popes appropriately said that one who does not have the Church as his or her mother cannot have God as his or her Father.)
Fourth, is to see God in all persons and things, even in our enemies and those things we do not like.
Fifth, is to have an active sacramental and prayer life. Do we always pray? Do we regularly attend Mass on Sundays? Do we avail ourselves of the sacrament of confession? How about if we spend just a few minutes talking about the word of God instead of talking about nothing?
Lastly, is to be convinced that there is a need to prune the structures, methods, approaches, and other things that have become old and obsolete in order to give way to new ones and to remain always with Christ, the everlasting, who Himself is the vine.
As we meditate on the readings this Sunday, may we be inspired to deepen our relationship with Christ, to bear fruit in our lives, and to love one another as He has loved us. May we, like the early disciples, be empowered by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the good news of salvation and to be agents of transformation in the world.
KEEP READINGThird Sunday of Advent
December 17, 2023 — Year B
Readings: Is 61:1-2A, 10-11 / Lk 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54 / 1 Thes 5:16-24 / Jn 1:6-8, 19-28
by Rev. Nixon Negparanon, Pastor
The Third Sunday of Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of the Lord. The readings for this Sunday focus on the theme of joy. Isaiah proclaims a message of good news and glad tidings. Our second reading encourages us to rejoice always and to pray without ceasing. Then John in the gospel tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Advent is a time during which we prepare for the coming of the Lord. He is coming to us sacramentally at Christmas. He is coming to us individually at the end of our lives. He is coming to us collectively at the end of time.
Now suppose we are told that the Christ whom we are waiting for is already here in our midst as one of us. What difference would it make? Here is a story of the enormous difference that the awareness of the presence of Christ among us could make in our lives as individuals and as communities.
A certain monastery discovered that it was going through a crisis. Some of the monks left, no new candidates joined them, and people were no longer coming for prayer and consultation as they used to. The few monks that remained were becoming old, depressed, and bitter in their relationship with one another.
The abbot heard about a holy man, a hermit living alone in the woods, and decided to consult him. He told the hermit how the monastery had dwindled and diminished and looked like a skeleton of what it used to be. Only seven old monks remained. The hermit told the abbot that he had a secret for him. The secret was that one of the monks presently living at the monastery was actually the Messiah, but that He was living in such a way that no one could recognize Him.
With this revelation, the abbot returned to the monastery, summoned a community meeting and recounted what the hermit had told him. The aging monks looked at each other in disbelief, trying to discern who among them could be the Christ. Could it be Brother Mark who prays all the time? But he has this holier-than-thou attitude toward others. Could it be Brother Joseph who is always ready to help? But he’s always eating and drinking and cannot fast.
The abbot reminded them that the Messiah had adopted some bad habits as a way of camouflaging His true identity. This only made them more confused and they could not make any headway in figuring out who was the Christ among them. At the end of the meeting, what each one of the monks knew for sure was that any of the monks, excepting himself, could be the Christ.
From that day on, however, the monks began to treat one another with greater respect and humility, knowing that the person they were speaking to could be the very Christ. They began to show more love for one another. Their common life became more brotherly and their common prayer more fervent. Slowly, people began to take notice of the new spirit in the monastery and began coming back for retreats and spiritual direction. Word began to spread, and soon candidates began to show up. The monastery began to grow again in number as the monks grew in zeal and holiness. All of this came about because a man of God drew their attention to the truth that Christ was living in their midst as one of them.
In today’s gospel, John the Baptist tries to announce the same powerful message to the Jews of his time who were anxiously waiting for the coming of the Messiah. John tells them, “Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”
The reason why today we would not be able to recognize Jesus as our Lord and Messiah is because, like the Jews in Jesus’ time, we have definite ideas about how the Messiah is going to come. For the Jews, the Messiah would suddenly descend from heaven in His divine power and majesty and establish His reign by destroying the enemies of Israel. No one would know where He came from, humanly speaking, because He came from God (John 7:27). When finally, Jesus came, born of a woman like every other person, they could not recognize Him. He was too ordinary and unimpressive.
Since then, God has continually reached out toward us, but we resist His coming by hiding in layers of distractions. Christ wants to speak to us in the silence of prayer, but we drown His voice with noise from televisions and cell phones. Christ wants to talk to us through His words. Hearing God’s word on Sundays is not like listening to a TV recording being played. When God’s word is proclaimed, it enlightens our minds on what to do. It challenges us and tests our wills and moves and inspires our hearts.
He comes in the sacraments, especially in those of the Eucharist and Confession. As Christians, we may recognize the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, in the Eucharist and the other sacraments. We may also recognize Him in our fellow human beings, especially among the poor, the marginalized, those who have no voice in society. Jesus said, “Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you did this to Me.”
There are other ways in which God comes to our lives. The list includes events, both good and bad, people we encounter daily, the beauty of nature, books, plays, and movies that have cultural and Christian values. The season of Advent is a time for us to get in tune with all of the ways in which Christ comes, so that when He comes at Christmas, we will be ready to recognize Him, regardless of the form in which He chooses to appear.
As Angelus Silesius said, “Do not seek God in outer space. Your heart is the only place in which to meet Him face to face.” This Sunday we are called to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord. We can do this by living in joy, by praying without ceasing, and by reflecting on the mystery of the incarnation. As we prepare for the Lord, let us also remember those who are in need. We can show our love for our neighbors by reaching out to those who are suffering and by working to create a more just and compassionate world.
KEEP READINGSolemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
June 11, 2023 — Year A
Readings: Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a / Ps 147 / 1 Cor 10:16-17 / Jn 6:51-58
by Rev. Mr. Barry Welch, Guest Homilist
I believe. Help my unbelief.
You heard all the talk and all the witnesses about this amazing man from Nazareth. Their healings, teachings with wisdom and authority. I’ve even heard He’s performed miracles. He’s going to be in the area for a big talk. Lots of folks plan to go there and hear Him, to see Him. I’ve got to see this. Could He be the one?
I get there and wow, there are a ton of people, hundreds, maybe thousands. What a great day. His words, so inspiring, so deep and meaningful. It gets late. Everybody is hungry. He’s praying over a small basket of bread, and now they’re beginning to share it down front. That’s not going to last long. It’ll all be gone soon. My belly growls. They’re still passing around and there are baskets now. And the folks, they seem to all be getting plenty. Finally, the basket gets to me and it’s full, completely full of fresh bread and it smells amazing. I can’t believe it.
Where did Jesus go? He disappeared somewhere. Nobody’s sure where He went. I really would like to see Him again. I think we’re going to head into town, into Capernaum. I hear He’s been hanging out a lot there. Maybe He’ll be there, maybe I’ll see Him again.
There He is. I found Him, and He’s talking again. I can’t wait to hear what He’s saying now, and it’d be great if I got some more of that bread.
You’re here for more food, more bread. Not because of My signs. You need food that endures for eternal life. Not manna like Moses, but true bread from Heaven. I am the bread of life. Come to Me, and you will never die.
All I’ve got to do is come to Jesus. All I’ve got to do is follow Him and He’ll feed me bread all that I want. That bread was the best, oh boy. Whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors had manna but died. This bread you eat and do not die. I am the living bread, the bread I give is My flesh for the life of the world.
Wait a minute. What did He just say? That’s weird. Did He say flesh? That’s right, that’s what I just said. 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.
OK, I’m not sure about this. I don’t think I like where this is going. It’s really getting disturbing. I can tell you’re not understanding; you’re not getting it. I’m talking about eating My flesh. Gnawing. Chewing. Really, truly eating My flesh. Then I will remain in you. If you feed on My flesh, you will have life. This is the bread of life. Whoever eats this bread will not die.
All right, guys, it doesn’t look like we’re getting any real food here. Let’s pack it up. Grab your stuff, we’re getting out of here. I think we ought to get into town before the crowd comes. Everyone is leaving.
What would you have done? If you were there, what would you have done? Better question is what will you do now? Will you walk away and put some distance between you and Jesus and this hard teaching, spiritually and physically? Or will you believe and follow?
My friends, my dear friends, when the priest in the person of Christ calls upon the Holy Spirit during the liturgy of the Eucharist, the Epiclesis, when you see him put both his hands over the gifts and the Deacon drop to his knees behind the altar, it’s a spiritual sonic boom. The fabric of space and time is shattered, and Jesus Christ Himself entirely body and blood, soul and divinity, becomes substantially present in the bread. He said it Himself, folks. What God says, becomes.
In this bread of life discourse which is only a part of Chapter 6 of John, Jesus refers to Himself as bread eleven times. He says to eat and then later escalates that to the word for gnaw on his flesh seven times. He says to drink His blood four times. It’s frank, it’s repetitive, it’s urgent, and it is insistent. Jesus is not messing around; He’s not mincing words. He really, truly, really, really means it.
And get this, He doesn’t go chasing after the crowd who’s leaving and say, wait, everybody. I didn’t really mean it. I meant to say eating is like eating my flesh, that eating the bread and drinking the blood is like. He didn’t say it’s a metaphor or it’s another one of My parables.
They went, and there He was, remaining with just the few. And did He say to them, it’s a shame they’re all leaving, guys? Because I was just kidding. No, He did not say that. He says, so are you leaving too? Are you going to leave too, because I’m not changing anything I said.
Where are we to go? For You have the words of everlasting life, was their answer. What is our answer? What is our prayer? Our prayer is, I believe that You, Jesus Christ, our God, omnipotent and all powerful. And for you, nothing is impossible. Jesus, if You can take the waters of that baptismal font on this young baby, or on me as a 41-year old adult and wash away my sins completely, then by God, You can become fully, substantially present in the Eucharist.
For our salvation. For eternal life. I wasn’t there when the thousands were fed. But I’m here now and You’re here now. I believe. Help my unbelief.
KEEP READINGPentecost Sunday
May 28, 2023 — Year A
Readings: Acts 2:1-11 / Ps 104 / 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 / Jn 20:19-23
by Rev. Mr. Mark De La Hunt, Permanent Deacon
Here is a true story that illustrates the need to intentionally invite the Holy Spirit into your life and to intentionally surrender control to Him when He needs to use you to help someone else.
A good Catholic man, who knew the scriptures and his Catholic faith, shared a story of praying outside an abortion clinic. He spoke to a woman who was headed in, but despite his faith and his spiritual learning, he couldn’t speak anything of meaning to her, and she proceeded to the door of the clinic and grabbed the door handle. The man tossed up a five-second prayer, “I’m so sorry Lord. I don’t know what to say. Help me, Holy Spirit!” Suddenly he spoke the most eloquent words to her; no, he blurted out two words, “hair bows!”
The woman stopped, let go of the door handle and walked back toward him, tears in her eyes. She asked, “What did you just say?” He said, “Hair bows. I just thought you would enjoy putting bows in the baby’s hair if it is a girl.” Turns out the woman had a strong memory of her mom and hair bows, strong enough to penetrate the darkness and despair she was in and to displace it with Christ’s light and truth. Those two little words awakened in her a love for her unborn child and for motherhood. The Holy Spirit came through in a surprising way. You might even say the Spirit enabled the man to speak in tongues, for the words he spoke were understood by that woman in a way that saved her soul and her baby’s life. That’s how the Holy Spirit rolls!
Happy Pentecost everyone. Today we celebrate the fulfillment of the Father’s promise to baptize us with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1). Pentecost in Greek means “fiftieth.” The Jews celebrated Pentecost fifty days after Passover, which is a celebration of deliverance from bondage in Egypt and of God coming down upon Mount Sinai in fire, shaking the mountain. This prefigured the new Pentecost, which we celebrate every year, fifty days after the new Passover, which we now call Easter (Pitre).
You may have picked up on how the Christian Pentecost is similar to the Jewish one in its remembrance of that day at Mount Sinai. Listen again. “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.” But in the new Pentecost something dramatically different, something astounding happens that did not happen at Mount Sinai. Fire came down, yes, but “Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:2-4).”
In this homily I hope to expand your awareness of the Holy Spirit and of His supernatural gifts that may be untapped in your life. I also hope to help you make your family life, school life, work life, prayer life, and sacramental life more intentionally focused on the Holy Spirit as that is what is best for you, your loved ones, the Church, and the world.
Before ascending into heaven, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to “teach [us] everything and remind [us] of all that [He] told us.” (Jn 14:26). Jesus also said, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish that it were already blazing (Lk 12:49).” Fire, like in the tongues of fire, refers to the Holy Spirit. What does fire do? It transfigures that which is burning into itself. In our case, the Holy Spirit restores our divine nature, makes us holy, and equips us with supernatural gifts. Why? The Psalmist wrote the answer, so that “you [can] renew the face of the earth (Ps 104:30).”
What supernatural gifts does the Holy Spirit equip us with? Sanctifying gifts and Charismatic gifts. The seven sanctifying gifts are listed in Isaiah 11:1-3 and are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. Catholic theologian Mary Healy points out that Isaiah was describing the Messiah upon whom the Spirit would rest. Therefore, we receive the seven sanctifying gifts through baptism and confirmation, since we receive the Holy Spirit in those sacraments, and He forms us in the character of Christ (CCC 1831 / Healy 29-30).
What are Charismatic gifts? They are supernatural gifts meant for the service of others (1 Cor 12:1-7 / Healy 24). Again, drawing from Dr. Healy, the term charismatic comes from the Greek word charisma, which is based on the word for grace, charis. Therefore, a charism is a “tangible expression of God’s grace in a person’s life (Healy 24).” Every one of us was created by God with a specific role to play in building up the Church. The way God qualifies us to fulfill our unique role is with these many graces called charisms (CCC 798).
In Romans 13, St. Paul lists charisms for the building up of the Church, “serving, teaching, encouraging, contributing to the needs of others, leadership, and showing mercy.” And in a slight twist, St. Paul lists roles in the Church that the Holy Spirit anoints people for. They include apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Eph 4:8-11/ Healy 28). The Holy Spirit even desires to supernaturally enhance or elevate our natural gifts or aptitudes such as music, art, crafts, teaching, administration, etc., making them more efficacious than we can do on our own (Healy 24). Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your gifts and to help you grow them and to put them at the service of the Church.
The longest single list of charismatic gifts is in 1 Cor 12. They are word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healings, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues. To learn more about these gifts, I recommend reading Dr. Healy’s book, “The Spiritual Gifts Handbook – Using Your Gifts to Build up the Kingdom of God.”
How is living life in the Holy Spirit best for you? Dr. Scott Hahn and Fr. Dave Pivonka both answered that question with the same metaphor. Living your life in the Spirit is like sailing, where the wind does most of the work. When you live in the Spirit, you may have a sense that you are moving through life’s challenges with less resistance. But like the wind, with the Holy Spirit, you never know for certain what He will do or where He will take you, and you have to wait for Him. Bishop Barron echoes this in his reflection on the third Glorious Mystery. He says we don’t make the Holy Spirit show up. We call and we wait like the disciples and Mary were waiting in the upper room when He came.
What characteristics will a person have who does so? St. Paul listed them as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23). That is a great list to take to prayer and to use as an examination of the soul. It can help us see where we need to grow more like Christ by intentionally inviting the Holy Spirit into our life and following His promptings, even if they seem silly like, “blurting out hair bows” in a desperate situation.
We are blessed to be Catholic, for we experience the Holy Spirit’s power in the sacraments. We are baptized in water and the Holy Spirit, who made us His temple. In Confession, your sins are forgiven by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the priest who, in the prayer of absolution, says that “God the Father of Mercies sent the Holy Spirit into the world for the forgiveness of sins.” Today’s gospel, by the way, is the strongest biblical proof that Jesus gave His priests His power to forgive sins.
In the prayers during Anointing of the Sick the priest calls on the Holy Spirit as the consoler.” In the Eucharistic Prayer we hear Father pray, “Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them as a dewfall.” You can’t miss it. The Deacon kneels as Father prays those words, and the altar server rings the bells. Finally, in Confirmation and Holy Orders the bishop lays his hands on the faithful’s head, imparting the Holy Spirit.
Despite all the ways we receive the Holy Spirit, you are not alone if you struggle with identifying with Him. Theologian Sr. Elizabeth Johnson summarized this well, writing, “While the Son has appeared in human form and while we can at least make a mental image of the Father, the Spirit is not graphic and remains theologically the most mysterious of the three divine persons.” (DANIEL P. HORAN OFM in National Catholic Reporter, January 12, 2023). That is one of the reasons God gives us signs.
Healings are one of those signs He gives us to make the Holy Spirit’s presence and power manifest. Some of you may remember former Holy Name of Mary parish Deacon, Ray Roderique, the father of several of Holy Name’s parishioners. He and his wife, Kathy, were very active in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement. Deacon Ray was particularly known for the gift of healing. Our former priest, Fr. Steve McNally, shared that, while on a trip with Deacon Ray, he was having a good bit of pain from a kidney stone. Ray prayed over him, and he was cured. I reached out to a couple of Ray’s adult children for their thoughts on the Holy Spirit.
His son, parishioner Paul Roderique, shared Sr. Johnson’s quote. One of his sisters, former parishioner, Colleen Crist, had this to say:
“The Holy Spirit is the single most important relationship a person can have if they desire to be as close to Jesus as possible! The Holy Spirit transforms, elevates, and increases every aspect of a person’s prayer life (“hair bows”). The Holy Spirit takes the fear out of it. He helps you realize that it’s not about you, but rather you are a team, and He’s doing the heavy lifting (Remember the wind moves the boat easier than our paddling). He gives you the courage, and the ability, and the wisdom, and the words to do the praying. We are simply allowing Him to use us. All it takes is being open, trusting, and malleable. When we open our hearts to the Holy Spirit and extend the invitation sincerely, then He can get to work. He will never force himself on us. To receive Him, simply extend the invitation. Invite the Holy Spirit in and ask Him to transform your life. Ask Him to teach you how to pray.”
Let’s do that right now and close with a favorite prayer of Colleen’s, an invitation to the Holy Spirit from St Augustine. Imagine yourself as that sailboat on the lake. Ready the sails, which are your faith. Take a deep breath and blow it out slowly and let’s see where the Father’s Holy Breath takes us. “Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work too may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I may love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. Guard me then, O Holy Spirit, that I may always be holy.” Amen.
Citations
Mary Healy & Randy Clark. The Spiritual Gifts Handbook – Using Your Gifts to Build the Kingdom of God. Chosen Books 2018.
Bishop Barron. The Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary. Hallow app.
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