Monday, February 18, 2019

Our Catholic/Christian Faith: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

Faith is a building block for every religion in our world
·     We Christians, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Shinto, even Non-religion are based on faith and belief
·     And, there 
Today, I would share three steps of our faith.  These are succinct on the surface, but deep when you begin thinking (with philosophy and theology, and your own)
·     Step one: Do you believe in God?
·     Step two: Did God became a man?
·     Step three: Did this man, Jesus Christ, rise from the dead
In a nutshell, that is our belief as Catholics and Christianity
Now, let’s go a little deeper
·     Step one: Do you believe in God?
o  Around the world, there is some conversation that there are up to or beyond 3,000 gods
o  So, we believe in one (monotheism) = one God
§ And three persons in One God = Trinity
o  Judaism and Islam also believe in One God, though not as three persons
o  Also, some people, aka atheism believes in O gods, we believe in one, and other religions believe more
·     Step two: Did God became a man?
o  We are the ONLY religion that believes that God became a man—our Father’s Son
·     Step three: Did this man, Jesus Christ, rise from the dead?
o  Again, we are the ONLY religion that believes this
Today I mention some depths in our faith from the second letter this weekend (step #3)
·     Brothers and sisters:
If Christ is preached as raised from the dead,
how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?
If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised,
and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain;
you are still in your sins.
Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If for this life only we have hoped in Christ,
we are the most pitiable people of all.
·     But now Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Step four for us, is to remind ourselves in our belief in the Nicene Creed and always consider, grow and learn where God is calling you with your intellectual study, and continue to grow with faith


"Alleluia, Alleluia, Listen to your Word," the Beginning of the Bible with Creation in Genesis: Thursday, February 14th, 2019

Listen to the homily here.

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Buckle up!: Tuesday, February 12th, 2019

Listen to the homily here.

The Trinity and Our Lady of Lourdes: Monday, February 11th, 2019

Listen to the homily here.

You are all called from God for a MISSION: 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

God has called each of you for a mission
Isaiah
·     Then I said, "Woe is me, I am doomed!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
living among a people of unclean lips;
yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"
·     Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
"Whom shall I send?  Who will go for us?"
"Here I am," I said; "send me!"
Peter
·     When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."
·     Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men."
What is God calling you to do?
·      I hope that you have experienced Jesus Christ in a depth of your spiritual journey
o  When we do, we should be afraid.
o  Gut check
o  When this came to me, I’ll never forget it
Has this happened to you?
If not, please open your heart, as God will enter into your heart and He is looking for you before you are looking for Him
·     And do not be afraid!  Catch men and women, children, seniors!
Do what He tells you to do, because you will be more joyful and peaceful than anything you could imagine


God is LOVE and God loves LIFE: How do we show LOVE to the crazy times in our society?: 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

1 John 4:16: “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13: weddings, and funerals, but love
§ Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.
§ Love never fails.
§ So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love
.”
§ God is love!
Jeremiah:
§ Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,before you were born I dedicated you,a prophet to the nations I appointed you.”
§ God is love!
Psalm 71
§ On you I depend from birth;from my mother's womb you are my strength.”
§ God is love!
Now, I rarely will preach about political things, but this weekend I must preach this weekend
§ As a Catholic, I am like an orphan in our two political system and it seems like a flipping of the coin on which side will choose, often wanting win versus working together for goodwill
§ Recently two big issues are coming forward to our minds: “the wall” and once again, “abortion”
o  Two different opportunities
§ The first, how do we, as adults, as leaders in our government discern and decide what to do.  There are different ways, but we are speaking about adults, a country, refugees, brothers and sisters who want to come to our country etc. God is love.
§ The second, abortion is intrinsic with the protection of unborn babies, who have no voice.  And recently, there have been new laws to allow abortion until the last day of pregnancy, or a botched pregnancy.  God is love and His love allows us to live.
§ And when I discern big issues, I encourage you in your challenging focuses the three words I have mentioned several times:
§ GOD IS LOVE!

Parish Bulletin Article: "Spiritual Retreat": 2-3-19

           I praise God for the time to be on a spiritual retreat this week.
It is always great to be in the presence of my brother priests—32 of them—who are at this week to catch up, chat at meals and converse a bit.  It will also be enjoyable to listen to our retreat Master, Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who was a brilliant teacher at St. Paul Seminary and one of my mentors throughout my four years in major seminary.
I will also be spending some time with Fr. Gene Tiffany, my spiritual director who kicked my butt to grow in discerning towards the priesthood during some difficult times, and we still consider each other wonderful friends, especially as both of us have had a stroke.
Christ of the King Retreat is also a wonderful place, right next to a beautiful lake, fascinating places that is fun to walk around inside, and some lovely places to exercise outside.  And it is led with the Oblates (OMI).
Also, it is awesome to shut off my cell phone, internet, television, Netflix, Facebook and beyond.  It’s kind of like detoxification from our world and society to come back to more presence of Jesus Christ, my best friend.  Most of all, I love having my yearly retreat (which is in Canon Law!) with time to rest, rejuvenate, read, write and spend more time in the presence of God.
I hope that each of you can have time to be on a spiritual retreat—whether it is a few moments, a day, a weekend or even a week.  As I have been blessed with a yearly retreat now for 14 years (wow, am I getting old!), I also come back to God’s mission, my family, my life with new intuition, excitement, rejuvenation and ready to be back to the world.
Know of my prayers, and please pray for our Diocesan priests and me!
God Bless!
(Written right before my retreat)

Hebrews 10: "Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy": Thursday, January 31st, 2019

Listen to the homily here.

"The seed is the Word of God": Wednesday, January 30th, 2019

Listen to the homily here.