Jesus Be My Everything

Admittedly, at times - we can get so bogged down by struggles in this world and therefore we need to be reminded that this troubled world is not our final destiny.  The Gospel story of the Transfiguration of Christ gives us a glimpse that there is another world that is just as real as this world we live in….

As we heard in the Gospel: “Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with Jesus.”  Moses and Elijah lived and departed from earthly life centuries before and there they were living and conversing with Jesus…sharing in His glory… giving us a glimpse of the eternal dimension… that there is life after death… with transfigured or resurrected body.

The transfiguration experience boosted the faith of Jesus’ apostles. An occasional glimpse of the other world can bring meaning and strength and hope to this present world.

 How about us - can we somehow expect a Transfiguration-like experience, to prepare us – to encourage us to carry our crosses daily in our lives to follow Jesus?  to boost our faith?... to strengthen us and give us hope?

 The answer is, yes; that is what Jesus is preparing for us at this very Mass we are celebrating. Our experience might be greatly different from what Peter, James or John experienced.  There will not be any blinding light nor voice speaking from the clouds; but, our experience can certainly be just as powerful…

 Of course, that will not happen by some kind of magic.  Our own transfiguration experience will depend on how much faith we bring to the experience… meaning, depending on if our hearts are open.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the efficacy of the sacrament – meaning - the grace we receive in the sacraments – like the Eucharist - depends on our disposition – depending on our openness, our willingness to cooperate with the grace of God.

 There is a common phrase – “You get out of it what you put into it.”  

Those who get bored during the Mass….Those who say that they get nothing out of the Mass…. They should ask themselves this question… What are they bringing into this celebration?  What kind of attitude do they have coming into Mass?  How much thought and how much preparation did they have or how did they prepare themselves for the Eucharistic celebration? Again, “you get out of Mass what you put into it.”

In just a few minutes, we will offer to God the bread and wine – along with our offerings of ourselves, our struggles, our hopes, our dreams – through Christ, with Christ and in Christ – WHO makes our offerings acceptable to God, our Father.

 At the consecration, the Holy Spirit will change our gifts - into the Body and Blood of Jesus.  Then - at Communion, when we receive the Body and Blood of Christ - Jesus will fill us with his glorious presence.  In that moment we, ourselves, can be transfigured, if you will.  We become what we partake; we become what we eat – We become the Body of Christ… As St. Teresa of Avila said:  Christ has no body now on earth but yours. Yours are His eyes, yours are His hands and yours are His feet.

That is why at the end of the Mass, we are sent – in the peace of Christ – to be other Christs in the world. …to be the living witnesses and sacraments of God’s love, grace and mercy…

Peter wanted to stay or extend the stay up in the mountain because “it is good to be here.”  The same thing with us, after our Eucharistic celebration - we need to go down into the valley, so to speak, of our day-to-day existence – into the ordinariness of our lives - because the Mass must be lived. 

Meaning - Our faith must be expressed in action, in living out the Gospel values… – proclaiming and sharing the message of salvation in Jesus Christ… by the way we live.

As St. Augustine puts it in one of his sermons on the Transfiguration, Elijah and Moses are there as “servants and ministers. Meaning - they are vessels: Christ is the fountain.” So, on the Feast of the Transfiguration, it is time for us to examine the focus of our mission as Church. Do we, as God’s church, also point to Christ without any ambiguity in all that we do and say?

Meaning - Think of all that we do: our worship, fellowship, Bible studies, feeding the homeless, advocacy for social justice, and all of our good works towards our neighbors and outreach, etc. The question, in light of the Transfiguration, is this: Do all the works - everything that we do - point clearly and plainly to Jesus Christ, the Son of God in whom the hopes of the world and the longings of every human heart are brought to peace beyond understanding? If not, then something must change.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church – the Eucharist is the source and summit of our Christian life… meaning - all the other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, of the Church - are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it.

 The Eucharist is all about Christ – His presence in us, among us, with us.

 For us Christians, “Life is about Jesus Christ. Anything and everything that matters flows from Him and returns to Him.”

This is the fundamental message of Christianity. It is exemplified in today’s feast: The Transfiguration of the Lord.

To put more perspective, Moses was the great Law Giver. Elijah was the greatest of the prophets. Meaning – Jesus is the fulfillment of everything foretold in the Old Testament.

Jesus is the center of history. Jesus is the center of the universe. Everything that matters flows from Jesus and points to Him. Jesus is the one who fulfills God’s plan for mankind.

So, we have to listen to Jesus because we also have a role in God’s plan for mankind. That meeting with Moses and Elijah had transcended time. Moses  lived about six hundred years before Elijah, and Elijah lived about eight hundred years before the birth of the Lord.

 But on that mountain of the Transfiguration, they were united in time. It was as though all that Moses gave, all that Elijah prophesied, was happening in the eternal now of the Word Become Flesh, Jesus. We are part of that Eternal Now.

From the clouds, they heard: “This is my Beloved Son. Listen to Him.” Those words are directed to us as well as to Peter, James and John.

Each of us has a role to play in God’s Plan for mankind. The late great pope, Pope Benedict XVI said: “The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort, you were made for greatness.” We were created for greatness, to share in the Triumph of the Kingdom of God.

 How? How do we share in the Triumph of the Kingdom of God? We do this by living our lives in such a way that we reflect the presence of God in that unique way that we were created to do… that people whose lives we touch - experience the love, grace and mercy of God through us. Each of us can uniquely provide the world with an image of God the world never saw before and the world will never see again. We can and must do this. That is why we need to be united to God in every aspect of our lives and at every moment of our lives.

Again, as I have said at the beginning, at times - we get so bogged down by struggles and temptations in this world and we lose perspective of what life is all about and what really matters, therefore, we do not and cannot hear the voice of God anymore with all the worldly noises – and so - we need to get away from the world, so to speak – spend more time in prayer every day – to listen to the voice of God… even for a few minutes each day…

Yes - so many people are now living in seemingly hopeless desperate situations… and we are called to trust in God even without knowing how God is going to care for us, even though we have no idea how God could possibly help us.  But - as the Pope said:  Only in Christ can humanity find redemption and hope.

So, let us love Jesus with all our hearts, with all our mind and with all our might and let Jesus love us.

And so we pray – in the words of a popular song – please repeat after me: “Jesus, Be My Everything!”  AMEN.

May You Rest in the Peace of Christ

So - How are you feeling?  If you say or think you are tired, or sleepy - you are not alone.  Studies confirmed the fact that people are not getting enough rest, not enough sleep, not enough relaxation to stay healthy.  The stress of life is wearing us out, body and soul.  No wonder, with all due respect, at times, we come to Mass, our job, or school, without much energy and enthusiasm and eagerness.  It is not that we are bad or lazy.  It is just that we are just plain tired.

How come?  For example - We carry our cell phones - everywhere we go - all the time; we want to multi task, talking to relatives and friends or clients while working, even while driving.  We drink more caffeine and energy drinks so we can stay awake longer to catch up on the pressing list of things to do. 

And what is worst - This constant running around, multi-tasking is exhausting not only our bodies, but also our souls.  Yes - We need a nap, or a vacation, certainly.  But even more, we need a word of grace from God for our weary souls to re-assure us.  Because, if we are not careful, all this running around causes us to neglect our inner lives, distracting us from the nourishment and care of our souls.  And as a result, even a good nap or even a good long vacation does not really quite heal us.

In fact - It is funny and quite ironic – and you probably can relate to this- people come back from vacation more tired than they were before they went on vacation… right?

Our readings today have a message and good news for those who are not only physically tired but especially for the weary, troubled…withered souls… pretty much - all of us.

Jesus offers us the rest we need to refresh our souls… “Come to me, all you who are heavy laden, weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  The good news is: Jesus knows, and cares, about our weariness.  We are not alone.

When you are worn out, what you do not want to hear is someone who dismiss or make it sound like what you are feeling is not important. 

Jesus does not make us feel our weariness is less important.  He invites us to find rest in Him.  He does not accuse or blame us.  Jesus simply offers us himself, like a strong shoulder, to lean against.  He gives us permission to admit the truth--we are tired and feeling burdened. 

We have been working and living too hard, too long.  And so consequently, we have exhausted our inner lives by neglecting our spiritual life, by neglecting the primary relationships that give us peace and joy… which are our relationships with God and with one another.

 St Augustine said: "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

That is why Jesus continues to invite us: “Come to me, and I will give you rest.”  It is what we all need, all of us.  We need to set aside our burdens and worries so we can sit at the feet of Christ, in the presence of a wise and loving God, and to catch our breath again… to give us opportunity to examine / re-examine our way of life and see if some of that weariness is of our own making.That is why it is very important to pray everyday… to commune with God every day. The busier we become, the more challenges we face, the more time we have to spend in prayer – every day - talking and listening to God… we need to step away from the busyness of life, to re-focus our lives on what really matters in life… to let Jesus enter deeper into our lives and to put our trust in God … who is our hope not just for the future but God is our hope for the present… Only in Christ can we find hope.

Jesus said: “My yoke is easy, my burden is light”. The image of the yoke is an image familiar to Jesus’ first century audience. A yoke allows a person or an animal to carry a huge amount of weight by distributing the weight evenly on both shoulders. 

 In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks to those “who labor and are burdened”.  As a background and to put things in perspective – to better understand why Jesus said what He said: Actually, Jesus is referring to the fact that the scribes and Pharisees had so distorted the Law of Moses that the practice of the Jewish faith had become a burden that was too difficult to carry and the religious leaders did nothing to ease the weighty burden.  (Matthew 23:4).

The religious leaders had developed many customs, false doctrines and religious practices which Jesus condemned – for example, their Sabbath Law… which they used against Jesus because Jesus healed on a Sabbath.

And so, Jesus – using the image of the yoke - was actually offering to relieve the heavy burden of the system of works that the Pharisees in His time laid on the backs of the people. And so, Jesus invites them to carry the light and easy yoke that Jesus will give them. In other words, in contrast, Jesus’ New Law of love, grace and mercy is actually liberating, freeing, light, and easy.

But you might think – Jesus’ new commandment of love – especially loving your enemy; especially His call to moral perfection and His many teachings are also not that easy to follow and can even be overwhelming.

But we have to trust that since Jesus Himself says that “my yoke is easy, and my burden light,” then we can be certain that they are…light and easy.

Why and how we can say that? - Jesus gives us His Spirit; Jesus gives us the means by which we can fulfill His commandment. When we find some moral obligation to be difficult or even overwhelming, we can rely upon the grace that God will give us to fulfill His command.

God not only calls us to the heights of holiness, He also provides us with the grace to fulfill His commandment.

To better understand – you see – instead of imagining of an animal with a yoke carrying a heavy burden all by himself – imagine this better image of a yoke - two animals side by side with a yoke over their shoulders – and they are yoked together - meaning – Jesus Himself is yoked with us – Jesus is with us - Jesus promised to shoulder our burdens with us – to carry the yoke with us, so that we in turn - could also bear the burdens of others.

Jesus said that His yoke is easy… meaning - Having Jesus at the center of our lives - as we discern the will of God for us and how to live our lives, with Christ in our life – we need to remember this: More work, more grace. In other words: The will of God will not take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us.

In other words, God’s grace is always enough for us whatever circumstances we might find ourselves in.

 On the other hand - If you feel you are so blessed… Remember: Blessings come with a mission:  in other words: if you get more grace, expect more work…much has been given to you, much is expected of you. So, put together - More work, more grace. More grace, more work. All by the grace of God… which is always enough for us.

Jesus invites all those who find life burdensome to come to him for rest.  Jesus did not promise to do away with our burdens but rather to help us carry them.

Jesus wants us to learn - with the gifts of the Holy Spirit – to have a wiser way to go about our daily activities - a wiser way to live… and so face the burdens and challenges of life - wisely.  The rest that Jesus promises is actually a joyful refreshment in the midst of the burdens of life… refreshing our soul… with peace beyond understanding.

So, my brothers and sisters in Christ- as we heard in our first reading: Rejoice heartily, rejoice heartily all you people of the Lord, Shout for joy, for our Savior has come… who is inviting us: “Come to me, all you who are heavy laden, weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  Trust me.

And so, on that note and in that sense, I say to you my brothers and sisters: “May you all rest in peace – May you all rest in the peace of Christ, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Amen.

God bless…

Preparing for Our Own Death- Funeral Homily

Yesterday, I was also at another funeral.  The man died unexpectedly. The family – which is a very closely-knit family - had gatherings and parties – celebrations - two weekends in a row right before he passed away… In fact, I saw a video of him singing and dancing with his lovely wife…. Having a wonderful lovely time. So – his death brought total shock.  The family is heart-broken to say the least. My understanding is that Brother Rey – we can say – also died quite unexpectedly – so soon. In the Scriptures, our Lord warned us to stay awake for we do not know when He will be coming for us. I know – and I acknowledge - in my own life - the few times I could have died - came as a surprise to me. In fact, I was in a car accident about two weeks ago. 

 Death is not something people like to talk about – especially the youth… who look forward to a bright future. That is great but it is also healthy to talk about death in moments like this as a reality check.

 It was said: “Not everyone is given the chance to grow old. So, appreciate and thank God for every single day of your life.”

 Why do we fear talking about death? I think it is because it reminds us of our own death. And this reminder, far from being a negative experience, has been a great source of conversion of people’s hearts and minds throughout the centuries.  There's an old saying, "Remember death." If only we meditated on, prayed about, and accepted the fact of the reality of our own death how different our lives might be!  Death can be a great source or motivation for us to "get our act together."

… for us to learn to appreciate the greatness of life, and see things in a whole new perspective… greater and deeper awareness of what really matters in life… relationship with God and with one another…

 We need to examine the way we worry and struggle and relate to one another.

 We need to examine why are we bearing grudges against one another... Why are we trying so hard to outdo one another, manipulate one another, control one another, even humiliate one another?... Why are we being so judgmental toward one another?

 At a family reunion, the discussion turned to the subject of "Living each day as though it were your last." When it was the grandmother's turn to speak, she said, "I think it's a fine idea to live each day as though it were your last.”

 She continued: “But I've always tried to live by one idea that is slightly different. It is this: 'Treat all people – especially your family – treat all people you meet each day as though it were their last day.' Wow!

 Those people who died suddenly – unexpectedly – if they could speak, they would tell us to live in the now. – meaning that it is indeed all the time we have – there is only today.  We have no guarantees beyond this day in which we are living.

 Therefore, the things we would do, need to be done today, if at all possible.

 The gifts that we would give need to be given today, if at all possible.

 The words of appreciation that we would speak, need to be spoken today, if at all possible.

 That compassion that we feel - needs to be shown today, if at all possible.

 The strained or broken relationships – conflicts among family members and friends – grudges and hatred and contempt - that need to be reconciled, that need to be healed - need to be worked on starting today, if at all possible.

 As one first century monk said: “Repent one day before your death.”  Since we do not know when that will be, it is therefore wise to repent – to turn our hearts to God - every day.

 If you have any bad or unhealthy habits or sinful lifestyle that you need to stop or avoid, well, you know what you need to do today.

 Our lives are very fragile, aren’t they?  Tomorrow may never come. Life is unpredictable. Our lives are like a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. We have no guarantees beyond this day in which we are living.

 My brothers and sisters in Christ, life is too unpredictable and too brief to live it without God at the center of our lives. The truth of the matter is that all of us are just one heartbeat away from eternity.

 So - Don’t put off this decision: Decide today to give your life to Jesus… who is the Way, the Truth and the Life…Jesus is the answer to all of life’s questions… Jesus is the key to all of life’s struggles.

 He is the Resurrection, Who exchanged His life for yours, and who, in the next life, will greet you -- if you receive Him into your life in this life.

 Scripture says: “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

 In the words of St. Pope John XXIII: “If we are deeply rooted in our faith in Christ, if we live a true Christian life, then any day is a good day to die.…” because our true home is in heaven. Unfortunately, people tend to forget this or ignore this: We are just pilgrims, travelers in this earthly life – just passing through in this life.

 If we live in Christ, if we die in Christ, we will rise in Christ.

 For a Christian, dying is the most sacred event of life. Our dying is not simply a ‘systems failure’. The medical staff may say’ ‘He didn’t make it’ but – at death - God in fact is making us his own. God hurries towards us like the father who runs toward his prodigal son and catches him up in a loving hug (Luke 15:20). God comes to us at our death as a bridegroom comes for his bride, and guides us through ‘the dark valley’ of death (Psalm 23:4)

 At death, as we heard in the Scriptures, Jesus fulfils his promise: ‘I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, you also may be. (John 14:3). (Sacred Space)

 Having Jesus in your daily life is not going to cause you to miss out on the fun and good things of life.

Jesus is not a kill joy. The truth is – with Jesus in your life, you will enjoy fullness of life… peace beyond understanding, lasting joy and happiness - if you live your life according to God’s will.

 So – build your life, your career, your family – on Christ… Have Jesus as the center of your life… as the center of your family life.

 As a spiritual exercise, a suggestion – When you find the time and the courage:  Write your own obituary…. choose a date of death…

…Summarize in a few short paragraphs, who you were and what you did before you died…

 For example: Brother Rey’s Obituary states (just excerpt):

“… He leaves behind a legacy of loving, cheerful, and cherished memories that will forever remain etched in our hearts…”

“… We remember that bright light that encompassed his being each time he walked into a room…” – beautiful!

 So - What do you think people will remember about you or what will people say – especially your family – when they give the Eulogy - when the time comes – which will surely come.

 Most importantly – If God is looking at you right now as you see Him – Is He smiling at you or is He shaking His head. And - when you die - what will God say to you? 

God bless…

“Peace Be With You"

Pope Francis has announced that the Church will celebrate a Jubilee Year in 2025, with the theme of “Pilgrims of Hope”.

You know my last name is Peregrino which literally means pilgrim meaning a person who travels to a holy place. So, we are actually all Peregrino’s journeying on our travel towards heaven, our true home.

Every now and then - this question is asked; "Will the Catholic Church continue to survive?" 
We might as well ask ourselves that same question and, of course, the answer is and always will be; YES! The Church will survive without any doubt. 

If we examine the first reading and the Gospel today, the same question could have been asked.  We find the apostles and others behind locked doors in the upper room out of fear.  They were afraid that if they ventured out they might be arrested and suffer the same fate of Jesus. 

Would this small group of frightened followers of Jesus survive?  From a worldly point of view, the answer would be a resounding NO.  Yet we know what happened.  The Holy Spirit came upon those men and women who made up the Church and with His sevenfold gifts they were able to go out and spread the Gospel to the four corners of the world, so to speak.

Will the Church continue to survive?  Of course, it will!  It will survive and prosper because it is the Church of Jesus.  It will survive because He promised to be with us always.  The Catholic Church will survive because the Holy Spirit continues to dwell with us and to guide us today just as surely as on that day in the upper room when He came upon Mary and the apostles in the form of tongues of fire. 

You will notice that in every single Catholic Church you will find a confessional, a place for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

For those of you who have not gone to confession in a while, do you still remember what it is? When was the last time you went to Confession. There is a confessional; there is a Sacrament of Reconciliation because we are a Church of sinners, who seek the mercy and forgiveness of God.  I do not know about you, but for me personally, that is such a great consolation for me because I am a sinner and I seek the mercy and forgiveness of a loving and merciful God. 

To know that Jesus gave the Keys of the Kingdom to His Church to forgive our sins – again, personally, is such a great comfort for me.  Jesus calls us in our sinfulness to reform our lives and live by the Gospel message and He has given us - the Church with all the Sacraments - to guide us and assist us in our journey of life towards heaven, our true home.

The Catholic Church will survive… as the Body of Christ.

Now – on a personal level - The question is – Are we – personally – as individuals – will we be able to persevere in faith and survive – even in the midst of the trials and temptations in this life?

In our Gospel reading today, we see the apostles at a time when they were very much like you and me. They were behind locked doors because they feared the Jews.  In a very real sense, they were in prison so to speak. The doors were locked but they were locked from the inside – meaning – they were behind locked doors simply because they did not have the courage and strength to go out and face up to life.

Aren’t we like that sometimes – imprisoned by fear, intimidated by life? Often times – it is not so much fear of harm from our enemy - but – often times it is just a haunting uneasiness, restlessness – a recurring anxiety that something bad is waiting to happen. A man fears for his job. A mother fears for the future of her children. A young person fears the rejection of his peers. A woman fears for her health. A father with heavy responsibilities fears for his financial stability.

Thus, we find ourselves virtual prisoners, held hostage by our own fears. And it is not all imagination because the truth is – life can really be a dangerous and difficult journey…. We live in such a very secular and even atheistic society and we often hear or see violence and sufferings.

The apostles ran from life and barricaded themselves behind closed doors… not so much because of the danger that surrounded them but the storm that was raging within them – because they felt themselves to be utterly incapable of coping with the circumstances of life… Aren’t we like that more often than not?

Here’s the Good News:  After His Resurrection - Even though the doors were locked because the apostles were gathered in fear - - Jesus walked in –– and addressed the apostles’ deepest and most desperate need…

First of all – Jesus greeted the apostles with: “Peace be with you.”  Jesus did not blame them for abandoning him but instead - He said “Peace be with you” .... because the apostles needed to hear those words of forgiveness for themselves for their own failures as disciples….  So that – in turn – having experienced the mercy and forgiveness of God - they can announce the Good News of God’s mercy – the Good News of the forgiveness of sins – so that forgiveness will flow through them - to others – to the world.

Jesus turned their attention from themselves to others… Now, they can love even their enemies…  calling them to share in His work of redemption …. and we – my brothers and sisters in Christ – the People of God – the Church - we are all called to share in the mission of Christ by virtue of our baptism IN Christ.  We already have everything we need by the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill our mission.

What the apostles needed above and before anything else was peace, someone or something to calm the troubled waters within, a sea of tranquility at the center of life that no external storm could disturb.

And who among us does not recognize that same need in his or her own life? – The need for that inner peace regardless of what we are going through.

Again – life these days is no picnic – there are dangers that are very real, disappointments that are inevitable, responsibilities that are unrelenting, and admittedly – sad to say, some dreams that will never come true.

 And so how wonderful it would be if each of us possessed an inner peace to which we could turn – in good times and bad, and know that it would always be there. We all need – some serenity of soul to come to at night and go out from in the morning. 

 But how do we get it? Where is it found? The Good News, the Gospel tells us that Jesus breathed upon them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit… - simply speaking – meaning – “Receive the life-giving loving presence of God.”

We already received that same Holy Spirit at our baptism and confirmation.  God already dwells within us, so we can share in the very life of God and so it is now a matter of constant awareness of God’s presence in our lives and to continually walk with God, conversing with God everyday - not from the head but from the heart… from within.

All of us face all kinds of uncertainty which can cause anxiety and restlessness, and even distress… The Good news is - only in the presence of God – we can face uncertainty with perfect Peace… and even joy.

Jesus said: In this world, you have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

Peace is a personal awareness and conviction of one’s ability to cope with whatever life may bring.  Peace is awareness of deep wells and reserves from beyond ourselves – so that our power is not so much in us but through us… allowing the Spirit of God to live in us and work through us in faith and trust in God.

St. Paul gave us his personal testimony to this effect in his letter to the Philippians: “I have learned to be content whatever circumstances may be…. I have strength for anything through Christ who strengthens me.”

We always have the nourishment of the Lord’s Word in Scriptures and in the Eucharist… to strengthen us.

Together with Mama Mary and the apostles – May we all continue to take comfort in the words of Jesus, "Peace be with you!  Receive the Holy Spirit.  Be not afraid, I am with you always until the end of the age.

Amen. 

God bless…

God’s Love, Our Love, A Mother’s Love

John’s Gospel – Chapters 14 to 16 including today’s Gospel, are known as Jesus’ “farewell discourses” after the Last Supper. Jesus prepares his followers for the time when he will be present among them in a new and different way, with the coming of the Holy Spirit.

 Jesus speaks about making his home in us, and about us “abiding” in him.  He talks about giving us a kind of peace which the world cannot give and which the world cannot take away – even in the midst of life’s struggles – with sufferings and fear of death all around us.

 Jesus tells us – in fact, commands us – to love one another.

 What we need to understand is that when Jesus spoke of love, it was not in terms of emotions.  For Christ, love is primarily a matter of the will, of the attitude and action.  There is no virtue in liking someone.  There is also no sin in not liking someone.  It is what we do with those feelings that results in sin or in virtue. 

 For example, it is not sinful to be angry… but the command is “Do not sin in your anger.”

 We can speak of our love for the poor. We can shed tears of compassion for the poor, for those who are suffering. But unless we are willing to put some time, effort, and money to help the people in need and suffering, all our talk about how bad we feel for other people really means nothing. 

 The important thing about love is not what we feel, not what we say, but what we do.  We show our love primarily by the things that we do. Love requires self-sacrifice. Love is self-giving… dying to self.

 The important thing is not about saying we are Christians – but the question is – are we living, are we being Christians? We have Marian devotions particularly during the month of May.  The question is – do we have Marian way of living – Life of total surrender and trust in God and love of Jesus.

 Jesus said that by our love for one another, people will know that we are His disciples.

 Anyone can say, “I will do good to that person, because I like him.” But - It takes strength of character to say, “I really do not like that person, but as a Christian, I will do good to him and wish him well anyway.”

 Again, for Christ, love is primarily a matter of attitude and action.  The attitude is: regardless of how I feel about a person, I will treat him as I want other people to treat me. And this is where we start to get real. 

 We may not be able to control how we feel, but we can control what we do. Of course – this is much easier said than done and therefore many people are quick to say and conclude that Jesus’ commandment of love – especially love of our enemies - is unrealistic. It is just nice church talk; but not in real life, it just won’t work.

 Of course, admittedly, on our own, if we rely just on our own effort, we are doomed for failure from the outset.

 With all due respect, unlike Buddha, Mohammed and other leaders of non-Christian religions, Jesus did not just leave his followers with teachings or values and concepts and principles to live by - Jesus left his disciples – us - with His abiding and intimate presence through the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said: “Behold – I am with you always until the end of the age…”

 Jesus said: “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth.” – the Third Person of the Trinity.

 Jesus left us with a special connection to Himself through the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is Risen, He is alive - is still present among us, within us, around us.  We know Him through the Spirit of God deep within our hearts…

 No leader can teach his followers how to anticipate every possible event or crisis the future might bring.  So - it is NOT enough just to learn how the leaders met their challenges by reading history…

 Case in point, at the start of Covid19 pandemic in 2020 – everyone was at a loss – even government leaders, scientists and even doctors admitted that the medical school and previous experiences did not prepare them enough for the Covid pandemic crises.

 The Good News is - Jesus knew we would face different challenges in the 21st century – which are quite different from 2000 years ago or even 100 years ago or even 10 years ago or even a few days ago… So - the Church – us - We – need to rely on the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit.  

 How? By loving Jesus – by keeping our eyes focused on Jesus and keeping His commandments, by observing them, by being open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit…

 The first thing you should do each morning is what? PRAY. It is like plugging yourself into the wall to get your batteries charged for the day. Praying is much more important than doing your hair, that’s more important than anything else you do in the morning. What’s important is that we pray - that we enter into this intimacy with Jesus, that we enter into prayer that we might have the Spirit of Christ, that we might have life in Christ every day.

 They are necessary in order to activate so to speak the gifts of the Holy Spirit – like wisdom and understanding - poured unto us at baptism and confirmation in order for us to live in the presence of Jesus – Jesus is the answer to all of life’s questions… Jesus is the answer to all of life’s problems.. the key to peace beyond understanding even in the midst of problems, pains and sufferings …

 Jesus said: “Those who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus is the sacrament of the Father…similarly - those in whom the Holy Spirit lives most fully – those who are in communion with Christ – are the living sacraments of Jesus - people see Christ in them.

 They do not even need to speak of it… because when the beauty of Christ is reflected in us, it speaks more effectively than the most eloquent words.

 The simple point is – with the Holy Spirit as our Advocate and Helper and Guide - if we are one with Christ – if we have the mind and heart and attitude of Christ, the evidence of our union with Christ – of being Christians - is seen in our daily lives.

 St. Francis of Assissi said: Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary, use words.

 With all the troubles, violence and sufferings in the world - more than ever, people really need now to experience the loving, gracious and merciful presence of God through us who claim to be Christians. So – my brothers and sisters in Christ - the question to us is this: Can people see Christ in us? Can people experience the loving, gracious, merciful presence of God through us – as individuals and as a community?

 On that note: In the Spirit of Celebrating Mothers’ Day:

From Jewish Proverbs: “God could not be everywhere, so He created mothers.”

Another proverb: “A mother understands what a child does not say.” Wow!

 St. Therese of Lisieux said that the loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother.

 All of these meaning - Mothers are the embodiment – Mothers are the living sacraments of God’s love.

 A mother’s love is unconditional. Our mothers love us whether we are beautiful or ugly, smart or dull, able-bodied or handicapped; our mothers love us whether we are a success or a failure in society, whether we are grateful or ungrateful.

All these qualities of a mother’s love are for us a foretaste of God’s tender and untiring love for us. And this is what we are celebrating… on Mothers’ Day.

 We are celebrating Mothers’ Day because through our mothers’ hands, God cares for us when we are in need; through our mothers’ mouths God speaks to us words of consolation when we are heartbroken; through our mother’s heart God pours out to us His unconditional love that never gives up on us.

 So, we acknowledge and appreciate all mothers and we say, “God bless you all mothers.”  We thank and praise God for you, mothers.

 But of course, we cannot and should not forget spiritual mothers because it is a fact that there are women who cannot literally or physically be mothers – because of one reason or another… but they are also so motherly in their own way.

And so I say to all of you: Happy Mothers’ Day! God bless…

“The Way to Heaven is Heaven”

Jesus said – “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." Jesus is the way to God. He is the way to Heaven.  St. Teresa of Avila said it so beautifully: "All the way to Heaven is Heaven, because Jesus said, ‘I am the Way."  When Jesus says, "I am the Way" that means that we need to enter into a personal relationship with Christ Himself. He’s not just an example for how we live our life so we can enter Heaven. If we do that, if we just follow rules and regulations, we can easily become like the Pharisees.

The Pharisees took the commandments and they took all the revelation of God, and they said, "Ok, this is how I’m going to live my life."  They thought they achieved their salvation because they just followed the pattern laid out for them… the rules and regulations; the ten commandments became 613 commandments. 

Christians do not simply follow a set of rules or just believe in some doctrines. As the late Pope Benedict XVI said: Christianity is not just an intellectual pursuit; we follow a Person.  Non-Christian believers live by the teachings of their leader… like the Muslims, the Buddhists, with all due respect. They live their lives following the teachings of their leaders. But – we Christians – we live IN the Risen Christ… Christ lives and so we live…The Spirit of Christ is IN us by virtue of our baptism… We go to the Father through Christ, with Christ and in Christ.

Jesus said: I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life… Jesus is the answer to all of life’s questions. Jesus is the answer to all of life’s problems. That is why the Pope said: In these troubled times, only in Christ can humanity find hope. Since Jesus is fully God and fully man, He is the perfect mediator between God and man – perfect bridge between heaven and earth. It is in following Christ that we find our way. It is in believing in Christ that we discover truth. It is in accepting Christ in our life that we gain life… not just temporary life but eternal life.

 Jesus is not just a mystery to be solved – but Jesus is a Person, a Being to encounter – a loving presence to experience – that with Jesus, we already start experiencing Heaven inside of us.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.  The kingdom of heaven is at hand. You do not need to physically die to experience heaven. Especially in the Eucharistic celebration, the Body of Christ gives us a foretaste of heaven.

 Jesus said, "I am the Truth." We need to follow what is true.  We hear people talk about leaving the Catholic Church, or going to some other Church or religion, or that they go to a certain church because it makes them feel good, or that they are leaving the Catholic church because they are not being fed. 

 The question is: "What is true?" Don’t go for feelings, because feelings are deceptive. You might go to a church or a community and think, "Oh, this is great because everyone loves me and that’s so good." But, is it TRUE? You may join a cult and or a church and everyone may love you and it may feel good for you, or you feel good about it but - is what they teach - true?

 What’s TRUE, and what ISN'T TRUE??  Truth is truth - It’s not a matter of opinion.  Truth is truth whether we believe it or not; whether we understand or not and accept it or not.  Again, truth is truth.

Are you in search of Truth, or are you just in search of a good feeling or a feel-good relationship? Because, ultimately, the only thing that matters is what is true. Truth will always lead you to God… to true happiness, to true peace, true joy.  All truth leads to God, Who is the Source of all that is good… because God is true. 

Jesus said - "I am the Life."  During Easter Season we talk a lot about life – life after death, life before death, an abundant life.  Jesus said "I have come that you might have life, and have it to the full." 

Meaning – it does not matter whether you are young or old or even if you are in your senior years. The best is yet to come.  Just because you are advanced in age, it does not mean that life is over and that we are just waiting for our time to die and go to heaven. Yes, of course we need to find hope and joy in the life to come but we can still live life joyfully peacefully here.

To live in Christ is not only to live life to its fullest but also because of Christ, we can see beyond death.  (John 14:19) – “Because I live, you also will live.”

In his prologue to the Gospel, St. John says, “In Jesus was life, and His life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

If you want to be a person of life, the first thing you should do each morning is PRAY. It is like plugging yourself into the wall to get your batteries charged for the day. That’s much more important than doing your hair, that’s more important than anything else you do in the morning. What’s important is that we pray - that we enter into this intimacy with Jesus, that we enter into prayer that we might have LIFE in Christ every day.

There was a dialogue between a recent convert and an unbelieving friend:

The friend asked the convert: So you have been converted to Christ?

Yes… said the convert.

Then you must know a great deal about him.  Tell me: What country was Jesus born in?

I do not know… replied the convert.

What was his age when he died?

I do not know.

How many sermons did he preach?

I do not know.

The friend finally said: You certainly know very little for a man who claims to be converted to Christ!

The convert finally replied: You are right. I am ashamed at how little I know about Christ.  But this much I do know: Three years ago, I was a drunkard. I was in debt.  My family was falling to pieces.  My wife and children would dread my return home each evening.  They do not want to be in the same room as I am. But now I have given up drink; we are out of debt; ours is now a happy home.  All these Christ has done for me.  This much I know of him!

To really know Christ is to be transformed by what one knows… into Christ…

So, the challenge for us is to be people who know that Jesus is the Way, to be people who search for Truth and to be people who have Life in Christ. When that happens - This is the Promise of Jesus as mentioned in the Gospel. "I solemnly assure you, the one who has faith in Me will do the works that I do..."

..."And will do greater ones than these."

And with that we truly become the Body of Christ. When we receive communion, we become what we partake.  We become the living sacraments of Christ – the presence of Christ on earth… so that others also experience the loving gracious merciful presence of God through us.

We are called to be Christ to one another.

Many Catholics are afraid of the word evangelization.  To evangelize is simply this – you do not need a degree in theology.  To evangelize – to proclaim the Good News, you just need to tell your story – what difference Christ makes in your life.

To proclaim the Good News is like a beggar telling another beggar where to find food… We are all beggars of God’ love, grace and mercy … when you know where to find food, then you tell others where to find food; where to find the way to heaven, the truth about who and whose we are, and the life…. the meaning of life… what life is all about… how to live life to its fullest.

Let me close with this:  Father Glenn gave the homily this morning and I just want to close with this; he said it so beautifully as a summary:

 “Christianity is so much more superior to all other religions, with all due respect, however sublime and noble they maybe in themselves.  In our religion, in Christianity, our way of life is not a philosophy, or a system or a ritual. Our faith, our religion is an encounter with a person.  Why is Jesus the Way? Because He is the Truth, the perfect revelation of God given to us in human form, and because He is the Life, He shares with us the very life of God.

Finally, Jesus does not give us complicated doctrines to follow, doctrines capable of making us lose our way.  Simply, Jesus takes our hand and walks with us in our journey through life.  He gives us one very important commandment.  He says: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Nothing more. With that, who can get lost when Jesus is the Way, when Jesus is the focus of our lives, when the directions are so simple? There is only one guide in our life: Jesus, the Way. And there is only one map: LOVE. All the rest is secondary.

God bless.

The Power of the Resurrection

Today - we celebrate the Feast of Divine Mercy… reminding us of God’s great love for us and His compassion for us in our suffering.  

People might think that God’s Mercy toward us is something quite easy for God… but – do not forget – It cost God His Son’s life – the horrible suffering and death of Jesus… meaning – we were purchased at such a great price… 

… to save us from our sinfulness, from the brokenness of our humanity …

As we ran away from the Father, we ran into the arms of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

… meaning, there is no place to escape the invitation of God’s Divine Mercy.

… As St. Paul said: Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

The gospel story invites us to faith, to make a decision – to make a choice to believe in the Resurrection or not - like the doubting Thomas.

Bishop Barron said: “The Resurrection of Jesus is the be-all and the end-all of the Christian faith. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then all bishops, priests, and Christian ministers should go home and get honest jobs.”

In other words – simply put: If Jesus is not risen, we should all go home now instead of just wasting our time here.

But - if Jesus really did rise from the dead, then He must be the center of our life. As Thomas said: “My Lord and my God!” – the greatest and the most profound profession of faith.

St. Paul said: “If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain… we are the most pitiable of all people.” (1 Cor. 15:14-19).

Fr. Glenn, began his Easter Vigil homily with this question: “Does our Easter celebration have any connection with reality?” And so I prepared my homily and built on that in the light of our Gospel reading today and the Feast of God’s Divine Mercy.

Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus. You see - God’s love, grace and mercy will not really mean much for us if we do not respond in faith.

What is the essence of the Good News? How is it summed up?

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Reality check - admittedly, it is easy to be a person of faith when all is well and wonderful in our lives, when all is going right. But it is not as easy to have faith – it is not easy to feel the presence of God, the Risen Christ, when we are faced with really deep crises, when things go wrong, very wrong …. like when our loved one gets sick or dies, or when we are afflicted with a serious illness, or when our plans for our lives or our loved ones are shattered… when crisis tears at our hearts…

Too often we are like the disciples who are confused about matters of faith and we struggle with doubts, at times even anger at God and yet Jesus offered his disciples and continues to offer us his wonderful gift of mercy.

We will doubt to some extent or another, until the time when we see our God face to face.

But until then, what are we supposed to do?  Let us recognize and accept and embrace our humanity – that doubting is part of being human - and let us humbly ask God for his grace and mercy.  Doubting does not mean that we have lost our faith.  It simply means that we are being called to a deeper faith.

Let us pray that we might have a mature faith, able to grow even through crises… that we might all be included in that phrase the Lord said, "Blessed are those who have not seen but believe."

Let us continue to choose to believe and accept and always remember that God is always gentle, merciful and patient with us more than we can ever imagine…. Remember that we can be honest with God…. That He will never condemn us for questioning and remember always God loves us and that God understands our fears and our doubts… 

Let us continue to say: “Jesus, I trust in you!”

Again, Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus. Many people think that faith means believing in life after death…that we will go on living after we die, right? Of course, but that is only a part of it.

But – think about this - Eternal life as endless existence is not attractive to some people. There was an eager young minister who said: “I have good news for you. In Jesus Christ you can go on living forever and ever.” But - one elderly man said, “You call that good news?

“Listen”, he said, “I’ve had about enough of this business of living, and the last thing I want is an eternity of it.” (He’s tired of living and does not even want to exist anymore). “Someday, I want to just lie down, go to sleep, and never wake up.” The young minister went away baffled. It had never occurred to him that someone might not want to live forever – if that is all there is to it.

So – What is the Good News? Does the gospel have something better to offer?

The gospel of Jesus Christ offers us a quality of life. Christ came to give us, not endless duration of time, but a different quality of life. Easter faith is not about an unending quantity of what we have now. Easter faith has to do with a quality of BEING – our state of existence, a matter of the heart - that the boundaries of space and time cannot hold…Words are not enough to describe it because – just as the Scriptures say: “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard and it has not entered the human heart what God has prepared for those who love Him” … Meaning - It is just beyond our worldly human comprehension…

The late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said: “Christianity is not an intellectual system, not a collection of dogmas, or a moralism. Christianity is instead a love story; it is an event, an encounter with a person, Jesus Christ – an encounter which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”

In other words - Life in Christ means a life that stretches beyond this world… a life with new and higher purpose.

Eternal life begins now – on earth as it is in heaven – As Jesus said: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” … now, even in the midst of earthly struggles.

Here’s another reality check - to ponder - While Easter faith refers to a different quality of life, this does not mean a life without suffering. What we often want is to be saved from suffering, from pain, from inconvenience.

But, the reality is - there is no problem-free existence in this world.

Jesus said, “In this world you will have troubles.” Following Jesus never meant walking away from trouble.  Actually, it more likely meant walking straight into trouble. Think of those people of faith – especially the saints - who knew persecution, poverty, and pain precisely because they were Christians. Easter faith does not mean having resurrection without a cross…. having Easter Sunday without Good Friday.

Jesus said, “In this world you will have troubles, BUT be of good cheer (take heart, do not be afraid), I have overcome the world.” (Jo 16:33)

Easter faith means believing in the power of resurrection. It means believing that it is out of death that God brings life. It means believing that in every human situation there is “a saving possibility.” Meaning – There is no situation is beyond the redemptive power of God’s love. And so, if you are in a “bad situation” in your life now, do not lose hope. Hold on to faith.

I will close with these excerpts from Pope Francis exhortation: “The Joy of the Gospel:

“We need to realize that Christ’s resurrection is not an event of the past. Where all seems to be dead - signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up. Often - it seems that God does not exist: all around us we see persistent injustice, evil, indifference and cruelty. But it is also true that in the midst of darkness something new always springs to life and sooner or later produces fruit.

However dark things are, goodness always re-emerges and spreads. Each day in our world - beauty is born anew.  Human beings have arisen time after time from situations that seemed doomed. Such is the power of the resurrection.

With a power that fills us with confidence and unshakeable hope, the Risen Christ tells us, “Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev 21:5).” (Unquote)

That is why it is “Good News” = “New”

To this I invite you, my brothers and sisters in Christ - to respond in faith. Jesus tells us: “Behold, I make all things new.” We respond in faith - Please repeat after me. “Jesus, I trust in you.”

God bless…

Our Blindness

In the first reading, David was the youngest son of a family of many sons. According to the custom of the time he would have been the last person to be chosen as leader.  However, as the Scriptures tell us so often, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts; God’s ways are not our ways.  God turns things upside down; God chooses the weak of the world to confound the strong – David, an insignificant shepherd was chosen and anointed as a leader.

Humans see and judge by appearances, but God looks into the heart and there God finds the real person.

God does not judge based on age, beauty, physical strength, social or financial position or status or religious role.

The question to us my brothers and sisters is:  By what criteria do we judge others?  Do we consider some people too insignificant for greatness?  Do we categorize people according to physical features, earning power or social status or academic achievement.

Today, we are invited to look carefully at how we perceive, how we look at others.  Do we look at people’s heart, as God does?

As a community, have we excluded people because they are different and they do not seem to fit? 

We are called to have the eyes of God. When you look at other people, do you see Jesus in them? Do you see Jesus Christ even in your enemy – even in the person you don't like?

Wisdom is seeing ourselves, seeing others, seeing our situations, seeing reality as God sees them.

Lent is the time we step back and examine our lives as to how closely we follow Jesus.  If we are not following Jesus, then who or what are we following?

Evaluation is the mother of improvement. The Greek philosopher Socrates said: “An un-examined life is not worth living.”

With all our Lenten reflections and fasting and prayers and alms-giving - Hopefully, by the grace of God - come Easter – it will really be spring time in our spiritual life - everything is us will be new – we will be a new creation.  Hopefully, we will see ourselves, others and all of creation as God sees them… or at least better than as how we used to.

The Gospel story illustrates the power of Jesus to heal not just the blindness of the eye but, above all, the blindness of the heart.

Let us look at the people in the Gospel story and see if we can see ourselves in them for reflection – if we can relate to their blindness.  I encourage you to read the full Gospel reading if you have not yet read it – John 9:1-41– I only read the short version of the story for our Gospel reading. Again, John 9:1-41… a magnificent story which is also our story.

First, the disciples – why are they blind – The disciples - believed the blindness to be the result of sin, the disciple asked Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or his parents?” - they were so pre-occupied with a theological discussion, rather than serving the man in need.   Rather than responding with passion to a person, they passively debated his predicament – they only talked about it but did not do anything.

Secondly, the parents of the man born blind – why are they blind? - because when they were asked about the healing of their son – they refused to answer because they are more concerned with their own security – they were afraid of the Jews because the Jews agreed that whoever acknowledges Jesus as the Christ would be expelled from the synagogue.

St. Paul said that we must be willing to bear our share of hardship for the gospel.  Not only must we put away our prejudices, our indifference, our blindness to the needs of others – but we must be ready to suffer for our choice for the love of God.  We must choose – Will it be the standards of the world or the power of God in Jesus Christ?

Thirdly – the neighbors - the neighbors argued about whether this was the same blind man who once sat and begged.  They could not recognize the man because they probably turned their heads away, they did not look at him every time they approached him before.  Beggars, the poor are somehow transformed into people when we look into their eyes. 

People think that it is both emotionally and financially safer if they avoid contact particularly eye contact with the poor.  It is apparent that the neighbors did not care enough to get a good look at the blind man before; otherwise, they could have easily recognized him – The neighbors were blinded by indifference. They didn’t care.

Fourth – the Pharisees -- the blindest of the blind, because there was Christ, the Messiah, in front of them, the very presence of God and they missed Him.  They missed God.  They were so concerned with their Sabbath rules.

The Pharisees were also blind to everyone’s needs but their own.  They used people in the pursuit of their own objectives.

The Pharisees were so closed minded and they were so set on what they think to be true and so they saw only what they wanted to see.

Meaning – actually – this is true for all of us – at times we cling so tightly to what we think is true that when the truth comes, which we deeply desire, and stands before us, we refuse to see… because our mind is so set.

So - Who’s not blind in the story? – Jesus - Jesus saw the man born blind for who Jesus was – a person to be loved.  Here’s the irony - the man born blind saw Jesus for who Jesus was.   In our Gospel story, the blind man’s understanding of Jesus gradually became clear; he went from seeing him as only a man at the beginning, to seeing him as a prophet, and finally, as the Lord.  He was given a perfect 20/20 vision, so to speak, both physically and spiritually.

The story of the blind man is also our story. To learn from Jesus, we must first admit our ignorance of the truth, to be healed we must first acknowledge our blindness, to be forgiven we must confess our sins. 

On that note, the renowned archbishop Fulton J. Sheen used to say that in the past Catholics believed in the Immaculate Conception, but today, sadly, people think they were also immaculately conceived - meaning, they think that they are also sinless – without sin… and that is why they do not go to confession anymore.

So - When was the last time you went to confession?

In the Gospel, Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?"

Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sinned. But now that you say, 'We see,' your sin remains." (John 9:39-41)

Meaning - In other words, if you say: “I do not have sin to confess”, then you are blind and your sin remains.  The sacrament of Reconciliation offers us continual opportunity for healing our blindness and for us to find peace for our soul. 

When we go to confession, as in the other Sacraments, we encounter Christ so intensely and intimately.  Jesus listens to our humble confession of our sins that burden us and when the priest gives us absolution – it is actually Christ who absolves us of our sins and it is Christ who heals us of our blindness to our sinful behavior and therefore it is Christ who opens our eyes to God’s love, grace, mercy and peace.

Do not miss out on the grace waiting for us in confession.

Christ is always there waiting for us to humbly confess our sins, to acknowledge our need of His love, grace, mercy and peace and to heal us of our blindness… It is the best way to prepare for our Easter celebration and share in Christ’s resurrection.

Again, please go to confession. Do not deprive of yourself of God’s awesome gift of His mercy and peace.

God bless… Be at peace…

A Matter of the Heart

For our Gospel reading, we continue to read from the Sermon on the Mount. Lent will begin in two weeks - I strongly encourage you to make as part of your Lenten activity - to read and reflect on Matthew’s Gospel - Chapters 5, 6, 7 - the Sermon on the Mount - Jesus’ basic teachings - in which Jesus lays out for us the guiding principles for life.

In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself and gave directions to His people through the law and the prophets. The law began with the Ten commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai.   

Just as Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, Jesus climbs the mountain of the Beatitudes to present the New Law to the people… called the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew's Gospel was written primarily for Christians who were Jews who knew the commandments, but they knew them as their rabbis had taught them. Their rabbis, for the most part – Pharisees, unfortunately, put all the emphasis on the letter of the law and on its external observance.

Jesus taught his followers that their attitude towards the commandments must be different, and must surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees… because merely fulfilling the law was not enough.  The attitude and lifestyle of a Christian must reflect living the law. That is why Jesus began His Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes… we heard two Sundays ago.

Instead of giving a list of do’s and don’ts like the Ten Commandments, Jesus gave a list of what we are called to be:

- To be Peacemakers, Merciful, Pure in Heart, Hungry for Righteousness.

- To be the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World as we heard last Sunday.

Jesus taught his audience to understand that obedience is not the ultimate purpose of observing the law. You see, it is not in the action itself but it is in the motivation behind the action - why we do what we do - where the person's true identity is found and formed.  People see our actions but God sees our intentions. We can never deceive God who is able to look into our hearts and God knows what lies there in our hearts.

We are all called to be other Christs in the world.  We are called to be selfless givers.  We are called to be eternal lovers of the Father. 

On the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explains that our external actions must be a reflection of what we really are like because if what we do is not a reflection of who we are, then we are hypocrites.  “Hypocrite” - that’s the word that Jesus used over and over again to describe the Pharisees.

To demonstrate his point, Jesus contrasted the written law of the Torah with the new Christian attitude.

Jesus said, "You have heard it said - that murder is wrong, but harboring hatred in your heart is also wrong even if you do not physically kill someone because murder is conceived by hatred in one’s heart.

The person who hates but does not murder is actually NOT a good person.  He is just a person who has followed the social norms perhaps to avoid punishment.

Instead of feeling proud or self-satisfied because we have not killed someone, let us examine our hearts to see the angers or resentments in our hearts we may have towards others.

Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Meaning - When you look at a person with lust in your heart; when you watch pornography – you turn the person into an object for your personal pleasure -  … instead of seeing the person as a beloved daughter or son of God.

To think and entertain evil thoughts is the same as actually committing the sinful act. So do not entertain the evil thoughts that cross your mind. It is not a sin to be tempted but it becomes a sin when you act on the wrong desire. 

You may not have committed murder or adultery, but maybe, if given the opportunity and if you think that you will not be caught, maybe you might have done it… because it is already in your heart.

We heard in our first reading – God gives us a choice: choose Him or reject Him. If we reject God, we die. If we choose God, we live. Before man are life and death, . . . whichever he chooses shall be given him. (Sirach 15:17)

Free will. It is God’s greatest gift to us. Of course, our heavenly Father longs for us to choose life in him, but he will never force himself on us. We need to remember this:  God respects our choice. We are free to choose but we are not free from the consequences of our choices.

So - How can our righteousness then exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees? The Good News is - We have what they did not have: By virtue of our baptism - We have the Spirit of Jesus dwelling in us. By our own merits and strength, admittedly - we cannot keep the commandments; but Jesus is with us, in us and so by the power of the Holy Spirit - we already have in us the strength and understanding and the power to live a whole new life of obedience to the Father. 

We actually do not need anymore the extra reminder or commandment of the written law because we already observe the law naturally within our hearts.

From the book of the prophet Jeremiah 31:31-34)

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant. I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts…”

St. Paul was a Pharisee and a strict observer of the following of the law of Moses - as such - he believed he was working out his salvation by his careful observance of the law.

But - once St. Paul was converted, after encountering Christ, he began to realize that even perfect observance and following every precept of the law did not lead to salvation because salvation actually comes from our personal relationship with Jesus and Jesus’ free gift of love.

I am saying this with all due respect – unfortunately, there are people who have relationship with religious practices but they do not have personal relationship with God.  This is very important - we do good works or avoid evil as an expression of faith – rooted in our personal relationship with God - and not to earn or merit our salvation because – if you think about it - if we can earn our way to heaven by good works, or by reciting long formulas of prayers, that would be trying to save ourselves through our own merits and efforts - meaning - if we can earn our own way to heaven – then we do not need Jesus.

The truth is – Everything is Grace - We cannot do anything enough, we cannot pray long enough to earn our way to heaven. We cannot save ourselves. We need a Savior… Jesus.

So – you might ask: What then – why do we pray – what do we hope to gain by our good works and avoiding violating the ten commandments?  For example - Why are you here in the church? You have to ask yourself - Why do you come to mass? Hopefully, your reason is more than just to fulfill an obligation – so to speak – and more than just out of fear of hell or out of fear of not going to heaven you need to get to the point in your spiritual life that you are beyond that reasoning.

We must move from the external actions to interior worship. Going through the motions alone is pointless. We must allow God to act on us and within us as we participate in the external celebration of the Eucharist. Doing good works and avoiding evil - is how we say thank you to God. 

We love God and we love others because that is how we respond to the fact that God loves us. He loved us first.

Christianity – to follow Christ - is extremely, to say the least, demanding upon us all because it calls us to be 100% committed to living in the presence of   Jesus every day… not only in our behavior – but also deep within our hearts…

The question is:  Is it worth it to follow Jesus?  It is not easy. The answer - From our second reading today:  

What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,

and what has not entered the human heart,

what God has prepared for those who love him.

In other words: Is it worth it to follow Jesus? Definitely… You can bet your life on it – so to speak - beyond what we can ever imagine. We are IN for a glorious surprise! 

God Bless

Beatitudes: Guiding Principles for True Happiness

Homily on “Beatitudes – Guiding Principles for True Happiness – based on the Gospel of Matthew 5:1-12a:

Today's gospel reading is the well-known Beatitudes – which many consider as the core of Jesus’ teaching, the essence of the gospel, the guiding principles for Christians to live by – how to live and how to have true and lasting happiness and peace which the world cannot give and which the world cannot take away.

Beatitude is another word for true or authentic and lasting happiness or "blessedness".  The state of blessedness by living the Beatitudes is what Jesus calls being in the "kingdom of God", the “kingdom of heaven”. 

The fundamental message of the Beatitudes is simply this – simply put in other words – plain language:  Happy are those who work for the coming of the Kingdom of our heavenly Father; happy are those who by their lives reflect the love and goodness and mercy of the Father; happy are those who serve their fellow human beings in Jesus’ name; happy are those who put up with difficulty, trouble, confusion, - those who bear with frustration, disappointments, conflict, weariness, exhaustion in the service of God and others.

Yes, the beatitudes seem contrary to common sense.  They are actually in conflict with the values of the society we live in – they are in fact counter-cultural.  They are paradoxical just as the Cross of Christ is paradoxical.

And so you might think: What is blessed or fortunate about being poor in anything?  Or what is fortunate about being meek?  What is blessed about being sorrowful or in mourning? Or what is to be happy about being insulted and persecuted and having every kind of evil uttered against you? So, what is blessed about that, you might think.

For many – it would make more sense to say "Blessed or Happy are the rich."  "Blessed are those having fun; blessed are those experiencing worldly pleasures."  "Blessed are the powerful."

But you see – being rich, or powerful or having worldly pleasures – does not necessarily mean being in the state of blessedness or authentic lasting happiness.

In trying to come up with an illustration – what came to mind was Mother Mary – As her cousin Elizabeth greeted her at the visitation: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”

Mary’s life with Christ was not easy – giving birth in a shelter for animals, being exiled to Egypt, standing at the foot of the cross of your child, being tortured and crucified.  They do not sound being blessed.  But Mary lived with Christ and IS NOW with Christ in heaven.  She is now the Queen of Heaven and Earth… Our Lady of Peace.  She is the Cause of Our Joy.

Mary said in her Magnificat…. “The Almighty has scattered the proud in their conceit.  He has cast down the mighty from their thrones but has lifted up the lowly. The hungry - He has filled with good things; the rich - He has sent away empty.”

From our Second Reading II  -  1 Corinthians 1:26-31 -  It is the weak, not the strong - It is the lowly, not the exalted – whom God chose. God chose those who count for nothing in the eyes of the world – God chose them to show the world the things that really count… what really matters in life.

The Beatitudes or blessedness - speak of having faith in God – Faith that is deep enough to find something good in every circumstance, whatever it may be – good or bad.  The Beatitudes speak of a JOY which pain, sorrow, grief, loss – and even death itself cannot steal from us.

You see - Jesus’ teaching – His Way – is really revolutionary.  Jesus said: “Be in the world but not of it.” – meaning – we should not be attached to the world or follow the values of the world.

Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world.”

Of course, Jesus does not demand that we abandon the world or hate the world. The world is good. At creation, God saw them good. Jesus is basically saying – a person is wise and blessed if he or she realizes that material possessions, worldly pleasures and power cannot provide a lasting happiness… everything is fleeting.

The person who has built his happiness – or sense of security - on the size of his bank account or investment portfolio, on career advancement or social or political recognition, on the love and affection of others, on comforts, or on indulgence of physical pleasure – that person has built his house on sand… so to speak.

These worldly success and possessions may give us pleasure and thrills, but they cannot satisfy the deepest longings of our heart—nor will they endure. 

For Christians, the key to happiness is putting God first in our lives, placing all our trust in God because only God can guarantee the true happiness and peace that our hearts really deeply long for.

St. Augustine said: "You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." … only God can satisfy the deepest longing of our hearts for happiness and peace.

Sadly, on the contrary - the world says that mature humanity does not need God to run its affairs… The way of the world is - no more God.  No more God in school, no more God in government, no more God in marriage, no more God in family, no more God in the bedroom.

The world says that we have the science, the knowledge, the power and the technology, we can now decide when and how to create life even in a test tube or dish; we can even clone life and so now - we decide when life begins and when life ends.  The world’s attitude towards God is independence from God.

The truth is – the world has a false sense of self-sufficiency; false sense of greatness.  That is why the world is abusive towards God and that is why the world is abusive towards human beings – the world is abusive towards God’s creation.

The truth is – as simple as this - the greatest in the kingdom of God is a child. Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Mt 18:3-4)

Being a child means - being poor, being helpless, being humble before God – knowing what we are before God - being dependent on God… NOT being independent from God, but being dependent on God for wisdom… for guidance… for everything… acknowledging that without the Lord, we are nothing - we cannot do anything.  In God, we live, we move and we have our being.

Greatness in the kingdom of God is measured according to one’s capacity to need God… Again, greatness in the kingdom of God is measured according to one’s capacity to need God - being like a child in one’s attitude towards God – being child-like but NOT childish… but being child-like.

So - Let us live the Beatitudes – so that like Mary – like Christ – being  Eucharistic people - we will be truly blessed – truly happy - that even in the midst of our brokenness – in the midst of life’s struggles and pains - we will continue to celebrate and give thanks and therefore continue to share our blessedness – continue to be blessings also to others – living a life of true and lasting peace and happiness.

On that note…God bless…

In Christ, There is No Ordinary Life

We now enter into Ordinary Time. But, any Sunday in Ordinary Time is no less important than the other liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. The word Ordinary as used here comes from the word “ordinal” or “numbered” simply to mark our Sundays and in that sense we are in ordinary time, but there is never anything ordinary about the message of the Gospel.

In fact, Sundays in Ordinary Time - are devoted to the mystery of Christ in its fullness – for us to become more familiar with the Person of Jesus and His way of living…

 - Today’s Gospel (John 1:29-34) is actually another Epiphany - another revelation of who Christ is – as John the Baptist said: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” – which we hear before Holy Communion at every Mass.  Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s sacrificial love for the world.

On these Sundays in Ordinary Time - we focus more on various aspects of our faith, especially the mission of the church, our mission in the world…what it really means to be a Christian.

From our First Reading today: “I will make you a light to the nations; that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Are these words speaking to you? Are they speaking to your heart? If so, are you “up for it”?  Is there anything that demands a response from you? Like Mary, ponder it in your hearts.

From our Second Reading (1 Cor.: 1:1-3) – we heard St. Paul addressed the Church in Corinth - To the church of God that is in Corinth -  We can phrase it to say:  To the church of God in Vallejo - To St. Catherine of Siena faith community - you who have been baptized and sanctified in Christ Jesus, you are called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Holy” means – to be set apart for a unique purpose - called out of this world, set apart for God… Being in this world but not of it…

The universal call to holiness is a teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that all people are called to be holy – not only priests and religious – but also all lay people living an everyday life and doing ordinary work: There is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of us to discover it.

All of us – no exception - are called to share in the mission of Christ in the world… so that through us – other people will also be transformed and also experience having Christ in their lives….

Jesus did not merely “appoint” the twelve apostles, but He actually transformed  those ordinary men into apostles.  Jesus transformed very ordinary and unpromising persons into active vessels or instruments of divine grace…into living Sacraments through whom God can pour out His love, grace and mercy. 

You see – God uses ordinary people, to do the extraordinary. God did this with the apostles. He did this with His saints.  He can and will do this with us.  God makes us, ordinary people, extraordinary….  The truth is - “In Christ, there is no such thing as an ordinary life.”

At our baptism, we were all - in effect – in essence - commissioned as “workers in the vineyard of the Lord” – as laborers to help with God’s harvest… because “the laborers are few”.  Again, the call to share in the mission of Christ is not only for the priests and the religious. 

When we come to the table of the Lord to receive Holy Communion – as we receive the Body of Christ - we renew our own baptismal commitment to witness to our faith.

That is why at the end of the Mass – having received the Body of Christ - we are sent to proclaim the Good News of God’s love – to glorify the Lord by our lives - to be in the world - what we have become – the Body of Christ - to be the presence of Jesus in our world—in our homes and workplaces and neighborhoods, our schools, starting with our own families.

We are all called and sent to proclaim how really good the Good News is!

What I just said and about to say have been preached to us - so many times - in so many ways.  If we have not really given this a lot of thought, maybe it’s time we did… because this is what life is all about… Life is not just about getting the most out of this earthly life. Life is not just about being comfortable.

Part of our mission is “to comfort the afflicted; to afflict the comfortable.”

- to wake people up to reality… to the truth… to shake them out of their complacency and indifference.

But of course – we cannot give what we do not have.

So – the question to us is this: How does our ordinary daily life reflect or show our faith in the Incarnation of Christ – what we celebrate at Christmas - God becoming flesh – the Word – the Love of God becoming flesh in us?

How does our life reflect our faith in the Risen Christ who conquered sin and death?  Are we truly Easter people…

This life in Christ – who lived His life in total surrender and obedience to the will of His Father - is the key to fullness of life, sense of fulfillment, true peace, true happiness, true joy, life filled with hope.

… The goal of all the baptized… is making the relationship with God as the focus of our lives – living our lives centered on Jesus Christ… doing God’s will.

Again – if you want to be truly happy - true joy and lasting happiness, fullness of life, eternal life – which we all want – they come from doing the will of God in our lives… by being what God created us to be.

You know what? The only real sadness is not to find God’s will for your life – not to find your own unique vocation – not to find God’s unique plan for your life and therefore failing to do God’s will. Failing to live your life according to will of God brings about the real sadness… more than all the other sadness you might experience in life.

We have to realize that no one – no one can take our unique place in God’s plan of salvation – to reach those people God uniquely placed in our life.  As Saint Francis of Assisi said: "You may be the only gospel a person will ever read."

The saints – who were ordinary people as we are – they became saints not because they were perfect; but because they allowed God to transform their imperfections.  We are all called to be saints. That’s our vocation.  Saints do not mean only those saints the church canonized publicly and recognized with feast days.  Saints are those who lived faithfully their ordinary lives.

In its most basic sense, a saint is a “holy one,” someone who is set apart for God's special purpose. As a result, every follower of Jesus is a saint. All of us are called to be saints.

To be a saint does not mean that we need to run away from the demands of family and profession and escape to a monastery, to a convent or to the desert to become a saint…. God expects us to be saints in the ordinary concrete situations of our personal, family and business or professional lives.

We have to remember this - St. Therese of Lisieux said: You cannot be half a saint. You must be a whole saint or no saint at all.

There is a wonderful statement by St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta which we should all take to heart and which we should remind ourselves of - everyday…

She said: “Each time anyone comes into contact with us, they must become different and better people because of having met us. We must radiate God’s love.”

Meaning - If we have the Spirit of Christ in us, naturally - we ourselves become Good News also to others. Our words and actions become signs of God's loving presence in the world. “And the Word became flesh.”

…And that is our vocation…

Amen.

God bless…

Ponder in Our Hearts as Mary Did

In the words of Pope Francis, at the beginning of this new year, let us entrust this year and ourselves to Mary, the Mother of God.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

Non-Catholics question why we Catholics have so much devotion to Mary instead of just focusing on Jesus… why not go straight to Jesus.

Well – as St. Louis de Montfort said beautifully – Mary is the safest, easiest, shortest and most perfect way of approaching Jesus…

All proper and true devotion to Mary leads to a greater understanding of Jesus, her Son.

What we celebrate today is a great example.  You see, actually, this feast of the Solemnity of Mary as the Mother of God, one of the oldest in the Church, goes back to the first centuries of the Church, when the Church was trying to explain and express in words - the reality of who and what Jesus is – in defense against heresies in the Church…

….because there were all sorts of heretics who denied either the divinity or humanity of Jesus – meaning there were groups who claimed Jesus was only a man and not God and there were groups who claimed Jesus was only God and not really a human being like us… that Jesus only appeared like one.

So, the Church tried to explain and express who Jesus is and what he is.   Who is Jesus?  Jesus is the eternal son of God the Father, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.  What is Jesus? Is he by nature God or man or both? The Council of Chalcedon clarified that when the Second Person of the Trinity became man, he was both totally human and totally divine at the same time… admittedly, this dogma is beyond what our human mind can grasp… so we are called to faith… to deep supernatural mystery of our faith.

Our faith tells us that Jesus Christ is truly human, with a human mind, will and body.  Jesus Christ at the same time is also truly God.  His two natures, human and divine, are united in the one person of Jesus, the Son of God.

In the fullness of time, God who is outside of time and space entered into our world through a human mother.

…And Mary is the mother of the human nature of Jesus….and since the total person of who Jesus is cannot be separated from what he is… both fully man and fully God at the same time... therefore, Mary is truly the Mother of God… because Jesus IS God.

Our celebration is actually a bold proclamation that Jesus IS God.

That is the theology behind the feast we celebrate today.  It is important for us to be aware of this dogma of our faith. We have been entrusted with a rich tradition. We should understand the basic elements of our tradition.

Now…what does this feast of Mary, Mother of God, say to you and me, or what does it mean for us, right here and now, not as theologians, but – on a practical level - as individuals and as a faith community struggling to follow Christ, struggling to be true Christians, to serve God in our lives every day.

From our second reading from St. Paul's letter to the Galatians: God's plan was that his Son be born of a woman so that we might become God’s adopted sons and daughters. The Son of God became one of us… God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, and as God’s beloved children, now – awesomely - we can call God “Abba, Father”.

God is our Father. Jesus is our brother. The Holy Spirit, the Advocate - is in our hearts.  Mary is our Mother.  Wow!!!  That is the truth. So, we should be indescribably joyful about that!

We have heard this many times, but do we really understand/truly grasp this truth, this reality - what it means… and therefore, are we living our lives accordingly, as beloved sons and daughters of God?

We really need to ponder this in our hearts like Mary did.

God is Our Father and so, when we are troubled with the struggles of life, when we have doubts and when our faith becomes weak, we must continue to be confident that God, who is always near to us, really hears our prayers.

We have to remember this truth – because of Mary’s cooperation with God’s plan, we are now beloved children of God - God who is not an unapproachable ruler, not someone out there in outer space but God who is with us… Emmanuel…God who cares about us… and God who truly knows and understands our human struggles and pains and sufferings…because He became one of us in the flesh.

That is what our feast, Mary being the Mother of God, means for us.

Again, true and proper devotion to Mary leads to Jesus… just as Mama Mary said at the wedding feast at Cana: “Do whatever Jesus tells you.” The question is: Are we listening to what Jesus is telling us?

I think it was Thomas Merton who said: “The root of people’s problems is actually the lack of contemplation.”

Today, we honor Mary - not adore Mary as the Protestants accuse us of – but we honor her as our Mother, as the model of contemplation.

Mary reflected or pondered the word of God in order to discern what God was saying to her at every stage in her life as the handmaid of God… a great example for us.

God constantly reveals Himself to us.  He speaks to us through divine revelation.  He speaks to us through the Bible, the teaching and preaching of the Church - as well as through our personal experiences, if only we made time to reflect on them as Mary did…until they sink into our hearts…

As we start the New Year – As our new year’s resolution - let us resolve to listen more to the voice of God, and ponder it in our hearts as Mary did. 

Let us make reading the Scriptures daily as one of our goals.

We do not know what this coming year holds for us…Only God knows… Let us pray with Mary for deeper and stronger faith in our ever-faithful God, who is and will be with us in bad times as well as in good times.  Mary continued to say “yes” to God all her life although there were things, there were times she could not understand.

Let us pray today to the Holy Spirit, the Spouse of Mary – for His gift of understanding…for us to realize that God, God’s love is far greater than what our intelligence can comprehend…

Usually this time of the year, we also look back into the past, so, let us pray/proclaim as Mary did: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my Spirit rejoices in God my savior…He has looked with favor on His lowly servant…”  This Magnificat should be part of our prayer every day.

Let us pray for humble grateful hearts for all the blessings God has showered upon us and let us pray for generous hearts to share our blessings with those less fortunate; with those to whom life has not been so kind.

January 1st is also the World Day of Peace. Mary is our Queen of Peace, our Lady of Peace…. The beginning of the year is also a great time to pray for the blessings of peace in this troubled world in these trying times beginning within ourselves and in our own families.

Let us pray that we will always remember and trust that no matter what our past may have been, no matter what we have done, there is always God’s mercy and forgiveness…

…God is always ready to forgive us; no matter what the world has done to us, no matter what we have done - there is always the grace of beginning again, new year, fresh start.

Let us take time today and examine our hearts to see if there are any relationships especially within our own families that need healing; any relationships that need to be reconciled. Start now.

Let us try our best to forgive.   Our Lord, the Son of Mary, the Prince of Peace, calls us to love not only those who love us but also those who do not love us, who do not like us.

Let us pray that we be living instruments of Christ’s peace.

My brothers and sisters in Christ – As God has made Mary full of grace, let us pray - may God fill us and our loved ones with His grace this New Year and in the years ahead.   Amen….

Wishing you all and all your loved ones: Blessed Grace-filled Holy New Year!!!

God bless…

Rejoice Always Even in Suffering

We heard in the Gospel: "the poor have the Good News preached to them."  How do you feel when you hear good news? Of course, rejoicing.  Joy. Today is Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday.

What is the essence of the Good News? How is it summed up? Everyone should know this. It's in the ever-popular John 3:16…we used to see it in sports events. "For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son, that whoever believes in Him may not die, but have everlasting life."  Meaning – in Christ, we are going to live forever in the glorious presence of the One who is LOVE… not only after our physical earthly death, but even in the here and now… as both John the Baptist and Jesus said: The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Christmas is about joy. The angel said to the shepherds, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy . . .” Whatever other enjoyments we may have during this season, the true joy of Christmas comes from the realization that our deepest longings have been met in the divine gift of God’s own self in Jesus Christ… and so – We Rejoice in the Lord!

The Old Testament expresses the joyful EXPECTATION of the great significant thing God will do… as we heard in the First Reading from Isaiah.

The New Testament is full of joyful RESPONSE for the significant thing God has done… Promise has already been fulfilled.  Jesus said: “Go and tell John what you hear and see:  the blind regained their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”

As Christians, we celebrate the “event” Christmas commemorates. Christmas is about a birth, a birth in this very real world of time and space.  

Meaning -  God, although He is outside of time and space, has come within reach. God is not remote, not out there somewhere. God is “Emmanuel” - - “God with us.” Flesh and blood. One of us.

This good news is the true basis of Christmas joy.  God makes Himself available to us in this desperate troubled world.

Perhaps – as some of you might say: “I really would like to be joyful, but I am hurting too badly.” Maybe you lost a job, lost your home, lost your health or broke a relationship, lost a loved one and this might be the first Christmas without your loved one, … and so you might say: As much as I want to, I really cannot bring myself to be joyful this Christmas.

With all due respect, if that is how you feel, there is something very important – hopefully for you to realize and see – that Christmas joy is not the absence of suffering. The world may define joy this way, but not the gospel. Christmas joy is a mysterious joy in suffering, joy through suffering, joy in spite of suffering. The complete Christmas story involves a cross. Actually, Christmas points to Good Friday and Easter.

Instead of yearning for a problem-free life, let us rejoice that troubles can actually bring us into deeper awareness of God’s presence in our lives.

What we celebrate at Christmas is true every day of the year. God is always coming to us. God is present in all things, even in our suffering. God is at work in all things to bring some unforeseen good even out of sufferings and trials. This is what we see clearly as Christians at Christmas, and this is the source of a very special joy.

As we heard from our first reading - The prophet Isaiah speaks of what God can do with our desolation: “…They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. They will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee. The desert and the parched land will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song.”

So – Are you in a kind of desert of life, so to speak, right now? Where is your desert, your wilderness? It is there in every person’s life. No one’s life is all rosy and trouble-free. Every life has desert places. The great prophet Isaiah declares that God brings life out of death. God does not just give life. God brings life out of death.  

The desert is a graphic metaphor of what life can become.  Some people are living in a seemingly hopeless situation, where they find nothing but emptiness and an unrelieved dryness and so, they may not respond to sermons or words of encouragement no matter how good they may sound… Admittedly, even the most eloquent words are not enough to console a sorrowful heart.

But - as Christians, we need to continue to proclaim and share the Good News of God’s love, grace and mercy/the Joy of the Gospel… and we are all called to be the prophets of our time.  As Christians, Jesus invites us to follow Him into the desert places of people’s lives and to invest ourselves there… meaning, we are called to share in Jesus’ mission of proclaiming the Good News of God’s love, grace and mercy not only in words but by our very lives. St. Francis of Assissi said: “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.” The power of love can give hope to those in despair.

So – if you are hurting, facing difficulties in life, trust God, for someday, you will discover little streams of water running through your desert… so to speak.  This hope is the source of our joy… joyful hope. And hope in God reminds us that in the end, because everything passes, God will bring all things to joy.

Remember, we have an eternity of trouble-free living awaiting us in heaven.

… something to look forward to… to be excited about.

There is this song – J   O   Y

J  for Jesus; O for Others; Y for You…that’s all the lyrics plus “she bee do bee do” … sang repeatedly in 1950’s dance music.

J  for Jesus – meaning - we need to have Jesus first – as the center of our life… we need to surrender our lives to God; love God first… and discern and follow His will for us.

O for Others… meaning, let us focus on helping others who are in their desert, so to speak.

Lastly, Y for Yourself.  In other words, in plain language, if you want to be happy, make other people happy.

You will discover that those who practice J-O-Y, in that sequence, are the ones who enjoy peace and joy, and that those who practice “me first”, "self first" are always the unhappy and miserable ones.

Jesus, Others and then Yourself… just as Jesus emptied Himself out of obedience to God our Father in order to save us. If we follow Christ, and share in His mission and carry our own cross daily, then we will share in His joyful and glorious resurrection.

Meaning - If we get our priorities right, we will experience true and lasting joy and happiness every day of our life…regardless of any situations we might find ourselves in.

What brought joy and hope in the midst of horrible stories that came out of the Covid 19 pandemic and all the tragedies this past year - are stories of people selflessly forgetting themselves, forgetting their own safety and misery in order to save lives… to help others.

We heard stories of faith and hope…. that God is in control …. That God will bring good out of what seem to be a horrible situation… and it this hope – in God - that allows us to endure challenging crises in our lives.

Advent is all about looking forward – waiting in joyful hope (not wishful thinking) – but joyful expectation – Joyful Waiting - for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in our lives.

On this Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday, let us focus on the joy we have that the Lord has come into the world and will continue to come into our lives to help in all our needs.

Jesus said: Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John.”  My brothers and sisters in Christ, then who is the least in the kingdom of heaven yet greater than John the Baptist?  The Good News is – He is talking about US! You and Me! We are greater than John … because we have Christ IN us.

So – Let us all rejoice always.

Joy to the World and Joy in Our Hearts.  Amen.

God bless…

1st Sunday of Advent: Wake Up, Stay Awake, Be Alert Be On Guard

In Jesus’ time, the problem Jesus faced was NOT that no one was waiting for the Messiah; NOT that NO one was looking for a savior, but the problem was that Jesus turned out to be a different Messiah from what the people were waiting for… therefore, not only that they did not recognize the Messiah, right in front of them; they killed Him.

Similarly – our own concepts of what or who God is could be our own obstacle to knowing and encountering God. We could be blinded by our own concepts and prejudiced ideas of what God is – of Who Jesus is; of how God would come into our lives; of how God works in our lives. The truth of the matter is that people did not recognize Jesus then and they do not recognize Him now. Just as John the Baptist declared: “There is one among you whom you do not recognize (Jn 1:26).

As one author wrote: The world did not recognize Jesus then because:

They were looking for a Lion, He came as a Lamb.

They were looking for a Warrior, He came as a Peace maker.

They were looking for a King, He came as a Servant.

They were looking for their temporal needs to be met. He came to meet their eternal needs.

They were looking for someone to liberate them from Rome, He submitted to the Roman Cross.

AND - It is NOT ONLY in terms of WHAT the Messiah will be like but there were and even in our time, there are still misconceptions as to WHEN and HOW the Lord will come.

The admonition for this first Sunday of the church’s new year is: Stay awake! Keep alert! Be on guard! What does that mean?

Sometimes the Second Coming of Christ is spoken of in the New Testament as a grand, cosmic event in which Jesus will descend on clouds from heaven. Trumpets will sound, the dead will be raised, and Christ will return in glory.

But - Today we have another image of Christ’s coming. In our Gospel, we hear Jesus say that the Lord will come like “a thief in the night.”

Meaning - God comes to us in unexpected, surprising ways. This is actually what we celebrate during Advent and at Christmas.

What the incarnation means for us, God becoming one of us in the flesh, and what we celebrate throughout this holy season, is that God is with us… Emmanuel.

The challenge for us is to be spiritually alert and watchful which is the true meaning of Advent but unfortunately Advent has become an almost routine commercialized season – just a time for parties and shopping for Christmas gifts.

So – How do we “Stay awake! Keep alert! Be on guard!”

That’s the challenge for all of us: Our real worry should not be that the world might suddenly end or that we might unexpectedly die, but our concern must be that we might live and die, ASLEEP, so to speak.

Father Anthony DeMello, a Jesuit priest said: Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they do not know it, are asleep, so to speak. They're born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they raise children in their sleep, they die still in their sleep without ever waking up.

Meaning - They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence… never understanding how to be fully alive.

Meaning – People live and die without really loving, without properly expressing their love, and without tasting deeply the real joy of living because they are so consumed by the worldliness, business and busy pressures of living that they never quite get around to fully living.

St. Irenaeus said: “The glory of God is a man fully alive.”

That is why Jesus said: “I have come that they might have life and have it abundantly (in other translation) – to have life to its fullest.” (John 10:10)

You see - being alert, awake, and being vigilant in the biblical sense is not a matter of living in fear of the world ending or of our personal lives ending.

Rather, being awake is a matter of having love and reconciliation as our chief concerns. It is a matter of always being grateful, thanking, appreciating, affirming, forgiving, apologizing, and being more mindful of the joys of living in human community and within the sure embrace of God…every day – meaning – Christ’s ongoing coming by grace into our lives every day… not just at the first coming; not just at the second coming but coming into our lives every day.

We need to be awake spiritually. Again, the end of the world should NOT concern us, nor should we worry excessively about when we will die. What we should worry about is: IN WHAT STATE our dying will find us… meaning – in what state our hearts and our souls will be when we die.

We are called not only to wake up to life, but called also to stay awake, so to speak. We are being reminded of how easy it is to become lazy in our life of faith. We are being reminded that our hearts can become drowsy from “carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life.”

A simple practical illustration - This is also the season of holiday parties especially now that people can gather together again, people are excited… You can pretty much imagine some people standing in front of their closets – anguishing - with the silent cry, looking at all the clothes: “Which one am I going to wear?”

From our Second Reading today, St. Paul also mentioned: “It is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.” He urges the Romans to find a renewed intimacy with Christ. St. Paul – using metaphor drawn from the closet - asks his readers to “put on Christ.”

To “Put on Christ” means to dress our inner being/person, not the outer body, and “to put on Christ” is thus a call to place priority on our relationship with God more than our relationships with the world.

St. Paul encourages us to dress our inner being, our character, our soul with more attention than we give to dressing up our bodies.

St. Paul is telling us to strive to please God, the One who looks upon the heart rather than the face, to dress the soul more carefully than the body. As Thomas Merton observed, “the very desire to please God, already pleases God.” It is our highest calling and purpose.

How do we please God? What are the “garments” – so to speak - of the well-dressed soul? Remember, we cannot serve God or love God without also serving and loving our neighbor. If we would put on Christ, we must “behave properly”.

Meaning - We are to enjoy life but in moderation (“not in orgies and drunkenness”);

We are to enjoy relationships of intimacy but within God’s plan for marriage (“not in sexual immorality or lust”);

We are to enjoy honest and real friendships with companions, with our family members and co-workers (“not in rivalry or jealousy”).

So, what are we going to wear, so to speak, this Advent season? Today is the beginning of our season of introspection, going deep within, of examining our conscience, of renewing our covenant relationship with God and season of spiritual preparation for the coming of Christ whenever and however that might be.

St. Pope John XXIII said that if we live according to God’s will, in communion with Christ, then any day is a good day to die even if death comes like “a thief in the night” because our true home is in heaven – living our lives with eternity in view – recognizing that we are just passing through in this earthly life.

Let us dress appropriately spiritually.

Let us clothe our minds with thoughts of repentance.

Let us wrap our hearts in hope for God’s coming. Let us gird our souls - in glad service of the poor and powerless - for the love of God.

So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, when we stand before our packed closets, filled with clothes, instead of asking “Which of these clothes should I wear?”, may the Christ who was born in a borrowed cave, wrapped only in a few strips of cloth; may Christ who died on a cross wearing even less, - May Christ call us to ask the more important question, “Which of these clothes can I give away?”

God bless…

Learn from the Tragedies, Everything is Passing.

Cycle C - 33rd ORDINARY - NOVEMBER 13, 2022
(based on the Sunday Gospel reading from Luke 21:5-19).

“By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

We live in such troubled times:

• Thank God – we survived the COVID 19 Pandemic, although it is not totally over yet. 

• We heard about various terrorist attacks which killed at least a hundred people, including many children.

• Many young people died in Seoul, South Korea as a tragic consequence of a sudden crowd surge.

• We hear of heart-breaking news of destructions and the sufferings of countless innocent victims because of the war in Ukraine which has serious global consequences including shortage of food supply for poor countries.

• We hear of natural calamities (hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, fires) during the past few months.

People lost everything they had – including their loved ones.

Having said that - these tragedies, calamities, disasters - point up to one truth: the transient or passing nature of things in this world.  Meaning - Nothing lasts.

Jesus spoke of this in today's Gospel. The disciples were celebrating the beauty of the temple. And Jesus said: "These things which you see shall not be left one stone upon another that will not be thrown down." He was referring to the temple… The truth that Jesus spoke applies to all worldly things . They may last a long time, but eventually, they will all be gone.

Actually, reality check – not to be morbid - not only material things – but everyone – all of us – including our loved ones – are all passing.  We are all just passing through in this journey of life on earth.

And - This realization causes a certain amount of anxiety about the future and it is natural and understandable. The future is full of uncertainty and if we are not careful, we can get so preoccupied with questions about the future, and therefore be filled with anxiety.

The Good News is - Through the Incarnation of God – which we will celebrate next month - God becoming One of us in Jesus Christ, God has entered time and history. Christ sheds light on the future. Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end… and this sets the future in its proper context.  Meaning – we now have this great hope because – in Christ - All things move toward the fulfillment of the plans and purposes of God. The end of our life story and of history belongs to God.

We cannot see very far into the future. Abraham Lincoln said “the best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” Twelve-Step programs for alcoholics prescribe “one day at a time” as the best way to managing the challenges of life. Similarly - Faith must be lived one day at a time.

Jesus’ instruction was that the disciples should live each day fully prepared for the coming of God’s kingdom.  Each day is a gift from God, and we are to live each day to the fullest in service to the world in Christ’s name.

We are not guaranteed years or months or even days… Tomorrow may never come. What we have is one moment in time. It is a treasure because it will never come again. So - what we do with each moment of time is our gift to God.

When people asked Jesus for some reassurance from Him about their future, Jesus gave them one simple response.  Live faithfully now and you will be prepared for whatever the future brings!

Simple practical example – Yes – you are here physically at mass - yet your mind is already pre-occupied thinking about so many other things instead of focusing on the awesome loving presence of God among us and being faithfully present before God.

Again - Live faithfully now in the present moment and you will be prepared for whatever the future brings!

Faithfulness means that we must persevere through the good and the bad, the easy and the difficult times.  Living our daily life in a faithful way means that we choose to embrace whatever comes our way.  We live in each moment without backing away.  It is that faithfulness that will prepare us for the coming events of our lives.

Faith is not a matter of speculating about the future but living faithfully in the present moment reality. We are to live wisely and responsibly, being faithful stewards of our days, our gifts, and our opportunities. We don’t know how much time any one of us has left.

The more important question is this - Have you done your best with the gifts you’ve been given by God?  If not - Then here is good news - You are still alive and therefore – it is no time for idleness. It is time to do the work of God’s kingdom.

The purpose of life – of living - is to find faithful, redemptive, loving ways to give - what we have been given - back to God. And God will make us adequate or prepared for all that lies ahead - - - until the very end.

Jesus is clear and consistent about the future.  He says that it will include the good and the bad.  We will have suffering and gladness.  At times, we will feel extremely full and blessed, and at times we will feel so empty and abandoned.  Jesus is very clear that we will not be able to predict any more than that.  Fear is useless.  All we need is trust… faith in God.

Admittedly, this is much easier said than done. It is easy for us to be overwhelmed by the evils of this world and so we miss the presence of God… and therefore forget that God is in control.  But - Remember – God loves you - God is in control – God is in charge of everything.

Jesus said: “In this world, you will have troubles, but take heart (Do not be afraid), I have overcome the world.  The victory over sin and death and victory over evil has already been won.  We just have to proclaim it. God already sees us in our glorious state.

Think about this - Think of something that you are worried about that might happen in the future… that you are concerned about. Okay – Remember this – If and when that happens – God will be right there and then with you.  So – why worry. Worrying about the future robs us of the grace of the present moment reality.

Again - Only if we live faithfully - in the NOW - will we be ready for whatever the future brings.

We cannot put our trust in wealth, health, possessions, beautiful buildings, in power, in weapons, etc.  Our perseverance in faith, to God and one another, is what will be our saving grace. As we heard in the Gospel, “by your perseverance, you will secure your lives.”

Again – we live in these times of trials and struggles… but we are assured that they, too will all come to pass.  What is being tried is our willingness to be faithful children of God.  So - can we be a sign and source of hope in these times of troubles and trials and uncertainties?  Can we hope, not in the signs of power or material possessions or wealth or health, but can we hope – not wishful thinking – but expectant hope -and can we be signs of faithfulness and love?

Our God is a loving Father.  He has showered us with blessings beyond our perceptions and understanding.  God loves us beyond our wildest imagination.

So - As we get closer to the end of the liturgical year – Feast of Christ the King next Sunday - we are challenged and asked to examine our own lives.  Do we really spend enough time thanking God with our words and actions.  How much time each day do we spend in prayer, how much time do we spend helping others? … instead of being so pre-occupied with self-centered things.

As we come to the table of the Lord – to receive the Body of Christ - to enter into communion with Him and with one another, let us continue to reflect and give real thought to what is happening in the world – particularly those areas where people are suffering.  Let us learn from the tragedies.

May the Lord grant us the grace to set our hearts to what is eternal and everlasting. Amen.

God bless…