Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:26:00 +0000 Daily Mass Homilies Joy The Gospel of Matthew contains many parables. Several of those parables are unique to Matthew and teach us about the Kingdom of Heaven. In Matthew 13 Jesus explains that, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field" (Matthew 13:44, emphasis mine). It's important for us to note that he went and sold all that he had out of "joy." Notice that it does not say that he sold it out of greed, or spite, or revenge, or anger, but rather, out of joy. Joy is born out of gratitude. In order for us to deeply desire the Kingdom of Heaven (which might best be described as a relationship with Chirst), we must understand that it is great gift from God freely given to us. It is a gift that fills us with gratitude. As our gratitude gives birth to joy, we are willing to make any and all sacrifices necessary to accept the gift being offered to us. We are willing to sell all that we have in order to buy it!
Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:18:00 +0000 Daily Mass Homilies Two Types of People There are two types of people in the world--those who are interested in God and who desire to grow in His love and those who are disinterested in God and could care less about His love. Saint Ignatius of Loyola describes these two types of people in the first two rules of his Spiritual Exercises. It is a similar description to what we find in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13, when Jesus says, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil" (Matthew 13:37-39a).
One of the challenges of life is realizing how much God LOVES THE WEEDS! He loves the weeds as much as He loves the wheat! He desires for them to come to know and accept His love. As long and we try to self-righteously ignore the weeds or cut them down then we are not living the Good News of the Gospel. Instead, we must love our enemies and be patient as God is patient. In the second letter of Peter we read that God's patience is directed toward our salvation-- "And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation" (2 Peter 3:15). Who is God calling us to be lovingly patient with right now in our lives?
Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:14:00 +0000 Daily Mass Homilies Jesus' Grandparents Grandparents are special people. As former New York Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani once said, "What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life. And, most importantly, cookies."
Isn't it cool to think that Jesus had grandparents? Today we celebrate the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary's parents (i.e. Jesus' grandparents). While we don't know for sure what Mary's parents names were, tradition has given them the names Ann and Joachim. Without knowing anything about them, they remind us that our history is important--it connects us to the past and provides a foundation upon which God builds our character.
The feast of Jesus' grandparents gives us a wonderful opportunity to thank God for our own grandparents. Whether they are living or not, whether we knew them or not, whether they were saints or not doesn't matter as much as the fact that they provided us with life and a history. Let's pray for them and thank God for our lives.
Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:49:00 +0000 Sunday Followup Sunday Evening Quarterback I hope everyone had a blessed Son-day! Mine was busy, but good. I posted my homily on my website this afternoon before the Spanish Mass.
On another note, please keep the Hassler and Cannon families in your prayers as they grieve the loss of their loved ones and prepare for the funerals of Joe Gene Hassler and Roy Cannon.
Have a blessed week!
Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:55:00 +0000 Daily Mass Homilies God in a Box What kind of box do you have God in? Every single human being has God in some sort of proverbial box--we keep Him where we are comfortable having Him. His box consists of the images we have of Him, the limitations we put on Him, our expectations, and our resistance to letting Him change us. The idea of letting God out of our box, even partially, is so frightening that most people don't even consider the idea during their lifetime. Yet, for us to be truly free, we must continually open ourselves up to the reality that God does not want to be in our box; He is greater than our expectations and limitations, and, yes, He wants to transform us.
In the Gospel of Matthew 13:18-23, Jesus tells the parable of the seed scattered on different types of ground--a path, amidst rocks, in thorns, and on good soil. These different types of soil can serve as images of the boxes in which we often put God. One of the important roles of our prayer and of our participation in the life of the Church is that it gives us opportunities to encounter the God who is bigger than the box we've been trying to keep Him in.
Our parish staff will be on retreat today (letting God out of the box). Please keep us in your prayers. May God bring to completion the good work He's begun in us.
