Ask what you need to Jesus: Monday, November 20th, 2017

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

Have pity on me…have pity on me…

·      Perseverance, persistence

·      Action vs. rebuked

“What do you want me to do for you?”

“Lord, let me see.”

“Have sight; your faith has saved you.”

Proverbs 31 for women: 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

Our first reading is from Proverbs—one book in the wisdom section in the Old Testament

·      As it is not Mother’s Day, it is always good to remember that each of us were born from a woman and say “thank you”

·      “Letter of Pope John Paul II to Women” in June 29^th, 1995

o   Thank you, women who are mothers!

o   Thank you, women who are wives!

o   Thank you, women who are daughters and women who are sisters!

o   Thank you, women who work!

o   Thank you, consecrated women!

o   Thank you, every woman, for the simple fact of being a woman!

A few thoughts:

·      “When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls.  Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize.”

o   St. John Paul II

§  Femininity and Masculinity-complementarity

§  We men and women are equal but different

·      Another good word for women

o   “Give her a reward for her labors…”

o   Vacation with a parishioner here

o   I will never have a baby, nor will any guy here

o   You deserve such rewards for your labors for life!

o   “…and let her works praise her at the city gates.”

§  How often is pregnancy

·      “…the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”

o   Meaning, God is #1

§  God is in your life

§  God is in your marriage

§  God is in your parenthood

Our country, around the world

·      We must grow in harmony, protection and justice, let us walk together as brothers and sisters

o   St. John Paul II wrote, “Yet how many women have been and continue to be valued more for their physical appearance than for their skill, their professionalism, their intellectual abilities, their deep sensitivity; in a word, the very dignity of their being!”

o   Let us stand against harassment, abuse, domestic, trafficking, homelessness, hungry

o   Physically: speak out, call the police, speak with the many gifts in our community

o   Spiritually with our savior

And who is the greatest saint?  Mother Mary!

The only person in all of history who had no sin was a woman

Parish Bulletin Article: "Books in the Bible in a Verse-Seven of the Historical Books"--11-19-17

Last weekend, I offered nine verses within nine books in the historical journey with our ancestors.  Here are the last seven historical books in the Old Testament: 

·       Ezra—“Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, every one whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem…”  (1:5)

·       Nehemiah—“So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.”  (6:15)

·       Tobit—“Prayer is good when accompanied by fasting, almsgiving, and righteousness.  A little with righteousness is better than much with wrongdoing.  It is better to give alms than to treasure up gold.”  (12:8)

·       Judith—“Do not try to bind the purposes of the Lord our God; for God is not like man, to be threatened, nor like a human being, to be won over by pleading.”  (8:16)

·       Esther—“For if you [Esther] keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s house will perish.  And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  (4:14)

·       1 Maccabees—“Then Mattathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying: ‘Let every one who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant come out with me!’”  (2:27)

·       2 Maccabees—“But Judas, who was also called Maccabeus, and his companions secretly entered the villages and summoned their kinsmen and enlisted those who had continued in the Jewish faith…”  (8:1)

I am curious for any of your thoughts, ideas or questions about this process within our bulletin.  I would also like to hear your perspective with one question: do you enjoy these verses?

God Bless!

"Your word is forever, O Lord...": Thursday, November 16th, 2017 (School Mass)

Listen to the homily here.

How often do you say, "Thank you," to God?: Wednesday, November 15th, 2017

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

“And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.”

·      Gratitude

·      Belief with Jesus as God

“He was a Samaritan.”

·      Jewish and Samaritan enemies for centuries

·      And the foreigner showed humility

·      So, too, with the Good Samaritan

Work for our Father: Tuesday, November 14th, 2017

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

We are not God, we are not saviors, we are not in charge, we are not in control

“When you have done all you have been commanded, say,
'We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.'"

Preparing for Jesus: 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

As I read the Gospel with Jesus’ parable today, one of my first thoughts was my Dad

·      If he is listening to this, he may be nervous!

·      One of my Dad’s mantra is “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail”

·      My family always jokes about preparation, and today this is quite funny

·      But as a child, as an adolescent, as a young man: it reminds me in my life as an adult

Jesus spoke about a wedding—again

·      "The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins
who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Five of them were foolish and five were wise.  The foolish ones, when taking their lamps,
brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.”

·      Groomsmen and Brides Maids

·      Five were prepared for the bridegroom…five were not

·      When the bridegroom came, the five who were prepared, trimmed their lamps, while the other five said, “‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'”

Another thought for me

·      Wait, aren’t we to serve those who are not prepared?  The poor?  The hungry?  The sick?

·      Well, both yes and no

o   Of course our service

·      For instance, this parable was from the mouth of Jesus Christ: God

o   Sometimes we take the Bible—a steak—and then dice it so small that God’s Word really becomes to “My word”

·      “Afterwards the other virgins came and said, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!'  But he said in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.'”

In this parable, it is within a larger context

·      As the last weeks of Ordinary Time, we are preparing to Advent—another preparation for Christmas—our journey

·      We are listening to big issues: Jesus’ second coming, those who do not believe, a war for souls and death itself

Here is one key for this parable: wisdom: to be wise

·      “She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of their desire; Whoever watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate.”

·      “Five of them were foolish and five were wise.”

We must grow and learn and be taught

·      In our physical world: Dad and Mom, grandparents, teachers, coaches

·      And spiritual lives: Mass, sacraments, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, the Bible, the breviary, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, friends

You must grow with wisdom and this is a preparation, for us, and the next generations, to follow Jesus Christ

Parish Bulletin Article: “Books of the Bible in a Verse: Pentateuch”: 11-5-17

            Throughout bulletin articles in the future, I would like to offer some fresh thoughts throughout the Bible.  While I was in the seminary, I experienced a fun and personal goal to share nuggets within God’s Word through each book in the Bible.  I thus called this project: “Books of the Bible in a Verse.”

            As I offer this to you, please know that this is not a perfect or correct answer.  Instead, it was a way to challenge me (and others) to jump into the Bible through essential verses.

            Finally, I typically focus on the organization of the Scriptures with eight sections.  The Old Testament contains the Pentateuch, History, Wisdom and Prophets and the New Testament includes the Gospels, Acts, Letters and Revelation.

            Thus, here are key verses throughout the Pentateuch:

Genesis—“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”  (3:15)

Exodus—“Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”  (3:10)

Leviticus—“For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.”  (11:44a)

Numbers—“These are the commandments and the ordinances which the LORD commanded by Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.”  (36:13)

Deuteronomy—“I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.”  (30:19)

            Our next verses will come from the Historical books.

            God Bless!

Why do we pray for All Souls?: Friday, November 3rd, 2017

Notes:

All Souls

·      Pray

·      Pray as a family…as in God’s family

·      As we serve physically, the connections in our family is through spiritual relationships

o   Mass

God’s Family:

·      Wisdom: “The souls of the just are in the hand of God,
and no torment shall touch them.”

·      John: “I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.”
For this is the will of my Father,

·      Romans: “Hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

An impressive number--144,000--and "seal"--in Revelation on All Saints: Wednesday, November 1st, 2017

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

"‘Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.’"  I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked from every tribe of the children of Israel.”

·      Cool number: 144,000 = 12x12,000

o   Perfection of government (12 patriarchs, 12 apostles)

o   More imagery with 1,000

·      Seal: engraved was used extensively in the ancient word

o   Documents in history as well as today

§  We have a seal for our documents

o   Then in the New Testament: 2 Corinthians 1:21-22: “But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

o   Each of us have an indelible spiritual mark—a seal

§  Baptism, confirmation, ordination

Baptism is THE seal that welcomes us into God’s family

·      This is our ordinary way to bring people into our family

·      And God can do extraordinary way

Back to Revelation: “After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.  They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.”

·      All Saints

·      All who have died and are in heaven

·      Now, we do not know who has gone into heaven

o   Obituary’s today say, “He/she peacefully entered the heavenly kingdom of
God”

·      That is why we have All Souls tomorrow

Finally, Grandma Betty

We suffer in our mind, our body and our soul: Tuesday, October 31st, 2017

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.”

·      Body

o   Pain assessment

o   0 = no hurt

o   2 = hurts little bit

o   4 = hurts little more

o   6 = hurts even more

o   8 = hurts whole lot

o   10 = hurts worst

·      Mind

o   Mental assessment

o   I would take physical pain over mental pain

o   Cognitive, emotions, think, reason, remember

·      Soul

o   Spiritual assessment

o   Desolation, lonely, where is God?

“…the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.”