Category: Homily

By Deacon Richard Hay

“Preparing for the good news…”

Last week, I had the opportunity to preach for the Third Sunday in Advent about being able to rejoice and be joyful about the first coming of Christ at Christmas while in the midst of our Advent preparations.

The Fourth Sunday of Advent is now here and as we talked about last week, in less than a day, we will begin our celebration of Christ’s birth as the Christmas season begins.

We are truly blessed to have had the time to focus on preparing our minds and souls for the Nativity of our Lord. I also know that excitement about Christmas has continued to build within our hearts, around our families, and here in our local church.

Whether Advent is a full four weeks long, or just three weeks as it is this year, no matter what is on the calendar, the final seven days of Advent, from December 17th until Christmas Eve on the 24th, always shifts into a very particular sequence of gospel readings in the daily mass along with the use of what are called the “O” antiphons which are said prior to the proclamation of the gospels and during the prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours. These “O” antiphons have two key elements, first is a title that refers to Jesus and a role in our lives as our Savior. The second half comes from the prophet Isaiah to help us recall the life and ministry of Christ and how he lived out that role. As I share these antiphons in my homily, I encourage you to listen for those two elements in each one.

We begin back on Monday of this week where we hear the first of three annunciations. The first one is when Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant and rather than exposing her to shame, had decided to divorce her quietly. It is after that when he is visited by an angel of the Lord in a dream and told to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife because she had conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and that son would be holy and he was to be named Jesus. After the dream, Joseph did as he had been told by the angel and took Mary into his home. After the annunciation to Joseph by the angel, he said yes to his role in salvation history as the foster father of Jesus.

The “O” antiphon for this day was “O leader of the House of Israel, giver of the law to Moses on Sinai; come to rescue us with your mighty power.”

On Tuesday, we hear the second of our three annunciations – this one was to Zechariah, the husband of Elizabeth, and he would be the father of John the Baptist. He was also visited by an angel of the Lord. Once Zechariah was given the message about John’s birth, he replied by asking – “How shall I know this?” – despite having just been told by the angel what would happen. As a result, his voice was taken away and he was made speechless.

The “O” antiphon on this day was “O root of Jesse’s stem, sign of God’s love for all his people: come to save us without delay!”

Then on Wednesday, just as we heard in today’s gospel, we hear Gabriel’s announcement to Mary and how she found favor with God and would conceive and bear a son who was to be named Jesus. This is the annunciation we are more familiar with compared to those received by Joseph and Zechariah. She also replied with a question – “How can this be?” and the angel went on to explain how Jesus would be conceived through the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High which would overshadow her.

After this, Mary replied with her Yes to being chosen – to being set aside as the Mother of God. “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

Two yes’s and one no, at least initially, in these three annunciations to Mary, Joseph, and Zechariah. Ever wonder why Zechariah was made mute in his response though?

As I prayed and reflected on these two parts of Luke’s scripture, I heard Zechariah’s response as more of a challenge to the angel, while Mary’s was open, accepting, asking for understanding. Maybe the difference was that Mary was immaculately conceived without original sin while Zechariah had to live with the effects of original sin and therefore had doubts.

The blessing we are graced with in our lives is that through our baptisms, no matter what age we were baptized at, we are made clean from original sin so that we can be more open to God when he calls us to fulfill our own vocations.

“O Key of David, opening the gates of God’s eternal kingdom: come and free the prisoners of darkness!” was the “O” Antiphon that preceded this gospel.

Moving into Thursday, we heard the next stage of Mary’s journey toward giving birth to Jesus when she travels to the hill country to visit her cousin Elizabeth who is pregnant with John the Baptist. In this gospel, we hear Elizabeth exclaim at the sound of Mary’s greeting – “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Elizabeth goes on to share that the infant in her own womb leaped for joy when she heard that greeting from the mother of her Lord.

This gospel was preceded by the antiphon “O Emmanuel, our King and Giver of Law: come to save us, Lord our God!”

As we reached Friday of this past week, we head into the gospel proclaiming, “O King of all nations, and keystone of the Church: come and save man, whom you formed from the dust!”.

The Gospel is part of that beautiful exchange between Mary and Elizabeth we know as the Magnificat. It states all these different ways that God not only blesses Mary but how he will and has kept his promise of mercy to all of us, his children forever.

On Saturday, we heard the gospel about the birth of John the Baptist and how Zechariah did get his voice back after John’s birth, once he declared that the name of his son would be John – once he accepted the calling of God which came through the angel Gabriel. Zechariah’s challenge became belief and God rewarded him.

Our last “O” antiphon of these final days of our Advent preparations is the same one from Friday – “O King of all nations and keystone of the Church: come and save man whom you formed from the dust!”

On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, our gospel is once again the annunciation to Mary about the birth of Jesus. We have returned nearly full circle to Mary’s yes and her trust in the Lord in these final days of Advent.

As we move into the Christmas season from our Advent preparations, I hope and pray every one of our souls’ will leap for joy each time we approach and receive Jesus’s body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Most Holy Eucharist – his True Presence – which came about because he was first born and became man as an infant laying in a manger.

I also encourage all of us to carry Mary’s yes with us into the Christmas season and beyond as we fulfill that special and unique vocation the Lord has for each of us.

“O King of all nations, and keystone of the Church: come and save man, whom you formed from the dust!”.

By Deacon Richard Hay

“Rejoice – Rejoice!”

I am sure all of us here can remember a time where we experienced the excitement that happens in anticipation of some life event? Maybe it was a family vacation trip to Disney, the start of a new school year, a birthday – well for at least the younger members of our congregation, purchasing a new home, waiting for a wedding date to arrive, or awaiting the birth of a new member of the family. Many times, the excitement will be right there with us as the event happens and afterwards.

At this time of the year, a lot of excitement exists around the arrival of Christmas and our Christmas traditions. Of course, here in the Church, we try to strike a balance of not getting into Christmas too early when it comes to all the outward signs of Christmas because it is important to be very deliberate and patient in these weeks of Advent as we prepare ourselves spiritually for Christmas and the arrival of Jesus as a baby in a manger.

It can be a very tough balancing act though, because even before Thanksgiving, many retailers were already making the shift to Christmas and of course we are also surrounded by all the decorations, shopping, and other events that lead up to Christmas. The reality is that we must strike that balance between these final weeks of preparation in Advent so that we are ready in our hearts and souls for the Christmas season so that we can celebrate Christ’s presence in our lives and the gifts of grace we receive through his birth, life, passion, and resurrection.

That is why the season of Advent exists – to help us with this journey of preparation despite all the distractions.

The four-week period of Advent this year is also one of the shortest possible based on the calendar because the Fourth Sunday of Advent is on the 24th of December and then that evening, we begin the Christmas Season with the Christmas Eve vigil masses. Normally, we have another week in between these two days on the liturgical calendar.

So our period of preparation in the Church is shorter but the Church still wants us to take a day out of the work of preparing ourselves through the Advent liturgies to remember that we can be joyful and rejoice as the birth of Jesus Christ approaches.

Remember when Fr. Marek gave his homily for the first Sunday of Advent, he reminded us that each week of Advent has a theme. Today’s theme is rejoice on what the church calls Gaudete Sunday – Gaudete is Latin for “rejoice”.

This is why we shift out of the purple vestments, and while we normally associate purple with penance and sacrifice, during Advent the color more appropriately refers to waiting and preparing – the waiting and preparing we are doing for Christmas.

Instead, on Gaudete Sunday we wear rose colored vestments. As a liturgical color, rose represents joy. We are encouraged to rejoice at this point in Advent, because just like the excitement we have felt as certain life events were approaching, we rejoice as we are joyfully anticipating Christ’s first coming – His birth in a manger at Christmas.

We have good reason to rejoice about His arrival at Christmas because we know that eventually he will bring us the gifts of His Fathers love and grace through the sacraments and ultimately sacrifice His own human life to save each one of us through the cross. We also look forward to his second coming at the end of time when he will call the righteous into heaven.

Everything about this Third Sunday in Advent reminds us that is OK to be joyful and rejoice in our Advent journey. The rose-colored vestments I have already mentioned, plus you see that the rose-colored candle is now lit on the Advent wreath. Our readings this weekend are also full of reasons to rejoice.

In the first reading from Isaiah, we hear of them rejoicing in God because the people of Judah have received salvation and justice from God just like we have all received it in our lives. Isaiah is a book which focuses a lot on the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah because of the peoples transgressions against God. So, it is a beautiful passage because amongst all that destruction and turmoil, they still realize and understand the gifts they have received from God. They rejoice and proclaim their joy despite the turmoil in their lives.

Do we give time and space for our own rejoicing and expressing joy for the gifts and grace that God places in our lives through the sacraments and life of the church or do we get too busy and forget to offer those joyful prayers of thanksgiving? Do we try and rejoice even when there are challenges in life?

The responsorial psalm – “My soul rejoices in my God.” comes from the first chapter of Luke – what we know as the Magnificat. It is a beautiful and joyful exchange between Mary and Elizabeth when they greet each other when Mary visits.

Do we rejoice in our souls for God? Do we show joy in our actions of being welcoming and kind to others as we interact in our daily lives?

Then in our second reading from St. Paul to the Thessalonians, he gives us a beautiful list of things we should be doing to rejoice and share our joy in God.
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; give thanks in all circumstances; do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances; test everything; retain what is good; and refrain from every kind of evil. All very good and powerful ways to rejoice.

Finally, in the gospel, we hear about John the Baptist and his mission to be the herald of Christ, to prepare the path of the Lord. He was very successful at it and drew many to the Jordan River to be baptized in water for the forgiveness of sins. There was a lot of rejoicing on the banks of the Jordan, but John confirms to the priests and Levites that he is not the Christ but is the “voice of one crying out in the desert preparing the way for Him.

This humbleness on the part of John the Baptist, is something we can emulate ourselves amid our rejoicing and joyfulness about the coming of the Lord.
John the Baptist shows us that it is possible to be humble while also sharing our joy and rejoicing in the Lord.

I would like to close by drawing attention to this beautiful icon of St. Joseph here in the sanctuary. St Joseph as we know played a very important role in the life of Jesus. He was a humble man but one who heard the call of the Lord and rejoiced in fulfilling His role in salvation history. This icon comes to us through the Knights of Columbus and travels from council to council to encourage devotion to St. Joseph and praying for his continued intercession for us to the Lord.

I encourage everyone to take the time to pray for St. Joseph’s intercession as we continue preparing for Christmas in this season of Advent.

By Deacon Richard Hay

“Well done good and faithful servant…”

I was blessed to live in Italy for 18 of my 30 years in the U.S. Navy. The Italians have many traditions but one I found most unique happened on New Years Eve each year when some took the phrase “Out with the old and in with the new” very seriously.

Literally, people tossed out “the old” stuff from their windows into the street below to make room for “the new” that would replace it. 

If the crazy number of fireworks were not enough to keep you off the streets that night, then the potential of something falling on your head would be a good catalyst to stay indoors.

I bring up the new year’s reference because here in the Church, we have also arrived at the end of our liturgical year with today’s Solemnity of Christ the King. We end our church year on a very high note about the kingship of Christ and next week we enter the season of Advent leading towards Christmas.

Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King in 1925 to respond to growing secularism and atheism.  There were attempts even then to push Jesus Christ and his teachings out of public life. Today’s solemnity is intended as a reminder to all of us that while governments come and go, Christ reigns as King forever and His church is still here after over 2,000 years.

With today’s readings and gospel, we reach a crescendo that has been building up over the last few weeks through the weekday and Sunday readings.

Many of those readings have been about being prepared for Christ’s second coming at the end of time. Over the last two Sundays alone, we have heard the parable of the ten virgins who were waiting for the bridegroom which was about always being prepared because we know not the time or the hour that Christ will return. Last week we heard the parable of the talents about sharing the gifts and blessings Jesus gives us with others to multiply the fruit of those gifts.

Today on the Solemnity of Christ the King, we have reached the point where we are reminded that Christ is our King – always has been and always will be. It is no longer about being prepared – those cautionary parables have been told – we should all now know and understand what is expected of us so that we can be ready for Christ’s return – and that is love – first to “Love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength” and then to “Love our neighbors as ourself”.

 Today we hear in the gospel what to expect when Christ returns in His second coming for what is called “The Great Judgment”.  The opportunity to fill our lamps or share the fruits of Christ’s love with others is gone forever – we now stand in front of the throne to be judged according to how we loved Christ and how we loved His presence in others.

Are we ready for that day? That can be a very difficult question to answer because I think, as humans, we tend to want to give ourselves the “benefit of the doubt”. However, if we are unable to be truthful with ourselves about this, that can lead us to a state of being “comfortable” with where we are in life and in faith – the status quo.

What we must do here is examine our lives, all aspects of our lives, and understand whether or not we are truly loving in the way in which God calls us to do.

Here is the blessing of being here today and hearing this very gospel – we can still go forth from here and choose to love as Christ has loved us. By listening to what Christ says in judgement to the sheep, those are the righteous ones, and to the goats, those who are condemned, we can understand some of the expectations that Christ has for all of us as we live our earthly lives.

He is talking about what we know today as the seven Corporal Works of Mercy:

• Feeding the hungry
• Giving drink to the thirsty
• Sheltering the homeless
• Visiting the sick and prisoners
• Burying the dead
• Giving alms to the poor

Notice he doesn’t say to the sheep and the goats – “you all tried to do these things” so come on into your eternal reward with me in heaven. No, he tells the righteous that they did do all these things for him when they did it “for the least of His brothers” and He welcomes them into heaven. For the condemned, it is the exact opposite – when they failed to do these things for those in need – they failed to do it for Christ who is present in every human being – those choices – those omissions in their lives result in eternal punishment.

Like I said earlier, making an examination of actions in our own lives against these expectations can be challenging and one of the toughest things we can ever do but it can also be life changing. It can make an eternal impact on our souls and is something we should do – sooner rather than later – because we are not guaranteed another day or our next breath.

In the Book of James, in Chapter 4, we are reminded of this in scripture where it is written – “…you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears. Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that.”

The “this or that” James is referring to is that we love the Lord and our neighbor. Out of that love, we will be drawn to perform these works of mercy because we would be doing them for Christ the King who dwells in each and every one of us.

The judgement we will all face is real. Just as described in the gospel, each one of us will stand before the throne of Christ the King at the end of this world’s existence. We will be told to stand with either the sheep or with the goats.  In that moment, what we did in our lives on this earth will be judged by the only one who can judge us – Jesus Christ the King of the Universe.

I ask all of us again – “Are we ready for that day?”

It may seem overwhelming to think about, but it is important to consider where we are in this life and whether or not we will be told we did all those works of mercy for Christ in others or whether nor not we failed to do so.

There are consequences for these decisions. However, in His great love for us, Christ brings us something through His Church to help us reach that day and be counted among the righteous – the sacraments and the graces we receive from them.

Imagine this mighty King of the Universe who humbled himself to take on our human nature and be born into this world as an infant in a manger, fleeing persecutions, and depending upon the care of His mother and father just like all of us did in our lives.

Imagine the humbleness of how Christ the King comes to us in the Most Blessed Sacrament – the Eucharist – right here at this and every mass that is celebrated around the world. The simple substances of bread and wine are offered for His glory and through the power of the Holy Spirit, in the words of Jesus, spoken in the person of Christ our King by the priest, become the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ our Lord and King.

Then, as we receive the Eucharist, we each become a tabernacle, just like the tabernacle here in the church, because Jesus our King is now physically present inside of us through our reception of Holy Communion.

It is His presence we carry out of the church with us to go out into the world to love Him and our neighbors so that we can have works with our faith.

If we keep this in our minds and hearts as we carry Christ out into the world as His blessed tabernacles, then one day we will stand in front of His throne and hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  

By Deacon Richard Hay

“Repay to God what is God’s.”

The principal of a Christian elementary school became concerned about her student’s behavior at lunchtime. She observed that instead of just taking one apple each, some students were taking two or more and then the apples would run out before every student had a chance to get one.

She decided to apply some divine assistance to the situation and left a note with the basket of apples for the students to see. The note read – “Take only one apple, God is watching.”

She was quite pleased in the following days that the note seemed to work and with the students complying, there were finally enough apples for everyone.

However, not long after that was solved, one of the cafeteria workers told the principal that they were now running out of cookies and many of the students were not getting one during lunch.

The principal went to check things out and noticed a note that had been written by one of the students and was placed near the cookies.

It read – “Take as many cookies as you want, God is watching the apples.”

We often put boundaries on God and believe that God is only present where we choose to have him in our lives. I mean, if God is watching the apples, there is no way he could be watching the cookies too – right?

Or in other words, what we do at work, school, or outside of church is only known to God if we choose for Him to know that part of our lives.

Of course, this is not the case. We all know this in our heart of hearts, but I suspect many of us have approached our lives in a similar manner at some point. It is simply not possible for us to pigeonhole God into certain places or restrict what parts of our lives He sees because he is all-knowing and all-seeing. He doesn’t do this to spy on us – it is out of his unconditional love for us that he wants us to include Him in every part of our lives.

In the gospel today, the Pharisees and Herodians partner together to get Jesus to make a statement that taxes should not be paid to the Romans. They are looking to create a controversy.

Of course, He knows their hearts, remember what I said earlier – all-knowing/all-seeing – and he knows their intent is to trap him. Knowing this, he first calls them on their subterfuge and then asks to see the coin that is used to pay taxes to the Romans.

When asked whose image is on the coin,  the Pharisees and Herodians confirms that it’s Caesar’s. Then, Jesus surprises them when He says, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

But wait, earlier didn’t I say that we can’t partition off parts of our lives from God because he is all-knowing and all-seeing?

What does Jesus mean by “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”?

In telling the Pharisees and Herodians that the taxes should be paid, Jesus affirms that we, then and today, are intended to be good citizens of our community, our city, our state, and our country. We do that by paying our taxes, obeying just laws, and contributing to society in a Christian manner. All these secular taxes help keep the infrastructure in place that in turn helps us get out in the world to assist others and do things like get here to church. There is value in our society and what it provides all of us.

In the same sentence and in the same breath, he also tells us that we are to give to God what belongs to God. Well – what belongs to God? It gets back to Jesus’s reply when He was asked what the greatest commandment is in an earlier encounter with the religious authorities.

He said – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’” The answer is us – we belong to God and he wants us to experience His grace in every part of us.

He didn’t say just in certain parts of our lives, or just with the apples and not the cookies – he said with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength.

Remember in the book of Exodus  when God was telling the Israelites that they should have no other God before Him? He told them that he is a jealous God and that there are consequences for having other God’s before Him.

However, in the next verse he adds that he will “show love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

For those of us who “repay to God what is God’s” – when we choose to give all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength to God, then the reward for that dedication and love will be un-ending. There is nothing in this world which can match that gift.

St. Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians affirms this for us when he writes about giving ourselves totally to Christ. “We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is also beautifully described In 1^st Peter, when Peter tells us to “Enthrone Christ as Lord in our hearts.”

Today’s gospel is about being all in for God – not 25% – not 50% – but 100%.

All our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. There is nothing lukewarm about this expectation and we should approach it with total joy and commitment.

I follow quite a few priests, deacons and other religious on social media. This past week one of them, Fr. Joseph Krupp from Michigan, shared something he prayed to the Lord, and it perfectly encapsulates today’s gospel, and with his permission, I would like to close my homily with it:

I have no secrets that I can keep from You, Lord;
nothing inside me is invisible to You.

You see into the deepest part of me;
even that which I am not aware of myself.

You see it and you wait, ready to heal, to restore, to strengthen.

You do not wait passively, You wait patiently.

You do not wait so that You can love me,
You wait because You love me.

And so here, in the quiet of this moment,
I give it all to You.

I give You all that is within me, good and bad.

I give You the lies I believed that bent me and
the truths I’ve embraced that free me.

I give it to You, Oh Lord. Take it and transform it.

Change it all into the beauty, truth and light that You intend.

Then, place it back within me, so that I can be a clearer vessel of You.

Amen

By Deacon Richard Hay

“Forgiveness”

Many of you may have seen the Milky Way candy bar commercial that shows a series of mishaps including a couch being dropped on top of someone, a very crooked white line on a road causing traffic issues, and a “No Regrets” tattoo that much to the shock of the man being tattooed is spelled incorrectly and reads “No Regerts”.

After each mishap the offending individual says “Sorry, I was eating a Milky Way” to excuse their behavior and responsibility for the incident.

Now a made for TV commercial is nothing like real life – they are intended to grab our attention about the product.

However, with that said, there are times we often quickly offer ”Sorry” for something like bumping into someone in the grocery store, or stepping on someone’s toe, or maybe dropping a glass and breaking it.

In those situations, that quick “sorry” is not so much asking for forgiveness but rather “excuse me” and is appropriate in most situations like that, but what about those times that involve much bigger needs for forgiveness in our relationships with family, friends, co-workers, or even God?

Is a quick sorry the right response?

Well, in today’s gospel, we hear Peter ask Jesus about how often to forgive someone. To understand the scope of Jesus’s response to Peter, we need to understand the teachings of the day when it comes to forgiving others.

I learned this week that many Jewish scholars have said that in Jesus’s day, the acceptable number of times to forgive someone for the same thing was three times. So, when we hear Peter ask Jesus about how often he should forgive his brother, he adds on a second part to the question to ask if it should be “as many as seven times?” There is even a different translation that says it is seventy times seven.

Basically, Peter more than doubles the expectation of the day. He was trying to be very generous as he asked this question to the Lord.

The Lord’s response probably caught Peter and everyone else off guard when he said:

“I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.”

That is of course an astronomical number of times in Jesus’s day compared to the expected norm of just three times.

The lesson from Jesus that we can take away is that forgiveness should not have any bounds – no limits. That is how vast our forgiveness is supposed to be in the eyes of the Lord.

Think about the cross and the sacrifice Jesus made for us. It is why he became man – to shed His blood on the cross to forgive our sins. The ultimate display of forgiveness, love, and salvation. That is our example to try and follow.

We have also have many other examples of what is expected of us when it comes to forgiveness.

In the Lord’s Prayer we pray “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” In other words, we must forgive others to receive forgiveness.

During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminds those gathered with him that if they are bringing a gift to the altar and then remember that their brother has something against them – then Jesus said they should leave the gift at the altar – abandon their own offering for forgiveness – and go to be reconciled with their brother first.

Reconciliation with their brother was necessary before seeking forgiveness for themselves. Another reminder for all of us…

Of course, we all know the unconditional love of the father in the story of the Prodigal Son. The first words out of the wayward son’s mouth as he comes home from squandering his inheritance, was “Father, I have sinned against heaven and you.” He asked for forgiveness for his actions against his father and was granted that through his father’s unconditional love – just like the forgiveness we receive from our Father in heaven.

St. John Paul II, while riding to the hospital in an ambulance after an assassination attempt in St. Peters Square, is said to have commented that he had already forgiven the shooter. A couple of years later, he went to the prison where his would-be assassin was being held and forgave him face to face.

From our own parish and diocese, we have a beautiful example of forgiveness in Fr. Rene Robert. Some of you may remember him when he was an associate here at Sacred Heart. He was also active at the school for the deaf and the blind in St. Augustine.

He was tragically kidnapped and murdered seven years ago by someone he was trying to help. A letter Fr. Rene left behind made it clear that his wishes were that if something like this was to happen to him, that he did not want the death penalty sought out by the courts. Imagine being prepared to forgive the actions of someone for such a transgression even before it ever happened.

For us – forgiveness must come from our hearts – it must come from our inner most being – forgiveness is not an intellectual activity otherwise it becomes just a quick “sorry” with no substance.

We should also remember that forgiving someone is not the same as excusing behavior – it simply means we sincerely offer forgiveness to the other person – no conditions – no blame – no expectations – just forgiveness.

Our forgiveness is also not tied to the other person accepting it – they may not yet be in a place where they can do that – but we offer our forgiveness anyway and pray for them.

Our homework for this week is to reflect on the forgiveness we have received from the Lord and others. Offer a prayer of thanksgiving for the blessings that come from that forgiveness. Forgiveness is not easy, and we should always be grateful when it is received.

Remember – forgive others so that our Lord in heaven may then forgive us.

By Deacon Richard Hay

“Enriching the Soil of our Soul”

Anyone here consider themselves a gardener?

Gardening is a continuum that ranges from those who do not consider their day complete without having dirt under their fingernails from working in the garden and those like me who are lucky to keep a plant green and alive. I am really good at making plants brown that aren’t supposed to be brown.

My wife Margo was the first kind of gardener with the greenest of thumbs. She could take plants that others were struggling to keep alive and have them blossom under her care.

Twice a year she would bring home about three hundred pounds or so of topsoil from the local garden store – the trunk of her Volkswagen sedan filled to the top, with the lid barely closed, and riding on the rear axle from all the extra weight.

Of course, it would be my job to distribute those bags around the garden so she could then come and work all of it into the existing soil so that the plants and flowers she loved so much could grow and flourish.

Gardeners know the importance of having rich soil in their flower beds, vegetable gardens and potted plants.

Today’s gospel, which we all know as the “Parable of the Sower”, is about the richness of our own soil – our own soul. It doesn’t matter if we have a green thumb or not because as we know – anything is possible with God.

We understand that Christ is the one sowing the seeds which are the Word of God. It is the Holy Spirit who cultivates the Word in us so we can grow our soul in the richest soil possible.

Those two words are very similar, aren’t they?  Soul and Soil. As someone pointed out to me, the only differences are the letters I and U and we are on this journey together.

The four different types of soil that we hear about have everything to do with the readiness of our own soul to hear, receive, and live what God offers us in the Word of God through Jesus Christ.

Life is a continuous journey of growth, sometimes we move forward and sometimes we might take a step backward, but God’s will for us is to always keep our eyes on Him, to grow in His love, and to be His people.

A gardener understands that a garden is also a continuous journey – not always at its best because of insects, weather and other things. Today’s parable provides an insightful way to see how our lives can parallel the life of a garden based on the richness of its soil.

In the gospel, as the seeds were sowed, we heard that some fell on the path. The seeds in this area are right there on top and exposed to all the elements. However, they are quickly consumed by birds and never get the chance to even sprout in the cracks of the path where there might be just a little bit of soil to start nourishing it. However, even if some of those seeds were to start growing in the cracks of the path – it is a tough existence, and someone is going to eventually come along and pull that plant out or chop it down with a weed eater.

This happens in our own lives when we hear the Word of God and do not understand it, do not take it into our own soul, do not act on it, and don’t seek to learn more. It never has a chance to take root and blossom.

Next, seeds are sown on the rocky ground. However, plants need soil so that their roots can provide nutrients and water to help them grow. Those plants may grow for a time in the rocky ground but eventually, without that rich soil, they are only going to grow for a very short time before they wilt and die for lack of roots.

Have you ever been challenged about your faith? Are we willing to stand up for that faith in the presence of ridicule or maybe the loss of a friend because of our beliefs? If not, then our soul is trying to grow without deep roots and can be easily persuaded to not stand up for the faith to avoid those persecutions that come from family, friends, and society.

The seed which is sown in the thorns is like the rocky ground but instead the plants trying to grow do not get all of the possible nutrients from the soil because the plants with thorns are taking it away and choking their roots.

Our soul experiences this when we hear the Word and understand what we must do to live it out in our lives, but we get distracted by worldly matters and the plants from those sown seeds never have a chance to bear any fruit.

Even when we experience these difficult & challenging situations for trying to grow rich in our own soul at different times in our lives, the Word of God can make the soil of our soul rich if we receive it, embrace it with love, and let the Holy Spirit cultivate it.

Gardeners know what will happen when seeds are placed in rich soil and are nurtured – they will grow and blossom and bear fruit for all to see.

I believe at some point in each one of our lives, we experience all four of these types of soil in our soul. In fact, sometimes we might move in between these different experiences depending on where we are in life and what we are facing. Life is not a straight line, growth that will produce abundant fruit takes effort and that is OK.

So how do we keep our own soil, our own soul, rich? We do that by grace.

Where do we get grace – through the sacraments that were given to us as a sign of God’s love for us.  

The church defines sacraments as effective “…signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us.”

In other words, the sacraments do what they say they do – provide us holiness and grace in our lives. By God’s power – they simply work.

That grace is even more important than the food that keeps our human bodies alive, because they enrich the soil of our soul so that we can bear fruit “a hundred or sixty or thirty-fold”.

By Deacon Richard Hay

“Commissioning the Church”

At the commissioning of a United States Navy ship, everything happens on the pier next to the ship during the ceremony. The crew is there in their best uniforms, honored guests are seated along with the new ships leadership and speeches are given. Then, just towards the end of the commissioning ceremony, an order is giving to “Bring this ship alive!”

At the sound of this order, the officers and men of the crew break out of their formation and rush onboard to stand along the edge of the ships main deck side by side – we called this “Manning the rails”. All these men and women are called “plank-owners” because they are members of the ships first crew.

Today, on this Solemnity of the Ascension, the four verses we hear in today’s gospel are the last verses in the 28^th and final chapter of Matthew which is actually only 20 verses long itself. It is a short chapter but encompasses the days between the resurrection and the Lord’s ascension. These last four verses make up what is known as “The Great Commissioning.”

This is where Jesus tells the apostles to “bring the ship alive!” – the ship that is God’s church and they are the “plank-owners” of this new missionary church that is to “make disciples of all nations.”

This commissioning doesn’t happen on a pier but on a mountain – whenever Jesus showed His Glory there was almost always a mountain involved and His ascension is no exception.

We hear that when the disciples saw Jesus, they worshipped him but also doubted. Earlier in this final chapter of Matthew, the disciples had heard from the two Mary’s that they had seen the risen Lord and that He wanted them to meet Him in Galilee. We have read other accounts in the gospels that the apostles encountered the risen Jesus many times during those forty-days after Easter – yet they still doubted. The lesson for us is that as long as we don’t dwell in it, doubt is going to happen and that is OK – at least for a short while.

Christ knows their doubt and that is why he approaches them – gets close to them as He prepares to commission them. They are told to go make disciples of all nations; to baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit – the same words we hear during the Sacrament of Baptism. Jesus then adds that the disciples should teach all the nations to observe all that he has commanded them. Finally, just before his ascension, He reassures the disciples that He will always be with them until the end of the age.

That is a lot happening in just four verses however, it gives us a wonderfully rich understanding of our own commissioning as Christians, commissioning’s we experience regularly throughout our faith life and that we should act on daily.

The first commissioning we receive is at our baptism. If we were baptized as a baby, then our parents and godparents accepted that commissioning to raise us in the faith, to keep God’s commandments so that we may love the Lord and our neighbor as Christ taught us to do. Those same promises were made by anyone who was baptized as a young child or adult and then they were sealed with the Sign of the Cross and anointed with Sacred Chrism Oil as we were received as members of the Body of Christ.

Another time in our faith journey when we have a commission is after receiving absolution in the Sacrament of Reconciliation – one of our repeatable sacraments. In the words of The Act of Contrition, we pray that we firmly intend, with the help of the Lord, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads us to sin. It is a form of self-commissioning but one we do not take on alone because Christ is with us to help. When the priest says Go in peace at the end of our confession, that is also a commissioning and how we should go out and approach our lives within the world.

At Confirmation, we are once again commissioned, this time through the words of the bishop as he extends his hands over us and calls on the Holy Spirit to be our helper and guide, to give us a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of right judgment and courage, a spirit of knowledge and reverence, and to be filled with a spirit of wonder and awe in the presence of God. The Holy Spirit we first received at our baptism, is affirmed in us through confirmation, and provides us a guide as we venture forth into the world to share the good news. 

In the Sacrament of Matrimony, couples are commissioned to celebrate fruitfully the mystery of the union of Christ and the Church, to live it rightly, and to bear witness to it publicly before all. In addition, when they both embrace the conjugal life there is another commissioning in accepting and educating their own children, they then help one another to become holy through that process.

Finally, every time we attend the sacrifice of the Mass, after the final blessing, the dismissal is when the priest or deacon commissions us as we are sent forth to announce the Gospel of the Lord or to go in peace glorifying the Lord by our lives. Commissioned to live our lives in Christ as examples of His love and forgiveness in our homes, workplaces, schools, and everywhere else we are in the world.

After receiving all of the other commissions through the sacraments, this is the one which gives us a regular reminder of our role in the Church. We are to be the hands and feet – the Body of Christ in the world. This is why attending mass regularly to receive the Lord in the Eucharist and to be sent forth is so important. As I have said before, attend as often as possible because the Eucharist is another of our repeatable sacraments.

Just before Jesus ascended into heaven from that mountain, He reminded the apostles that he would be with them always. That would be Him leaving the Holy Spirit, the first Pentecost, as their strength – there is a reason the Holy Spirit ties together everything we do in the church – He is the thread that ties it all together from the beginning of time until now and beyond.

Just like he said to the apostles, the Father and the Son are with us always through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and every time we participate in the sacraments, attend the celebration of the Mass, and are sent forth to announce the Gospel of the Lord. Every time we approach the Holy Eucharist and say Amen, we are professing that faith and belief in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. That gift is intended to feed and sustain us as we carry out our own commissioning by the Lord – to share our faith with others.

So, here’s the question to take away today, how will each one of us carry out our roles as members of this church’s crew, the plank-owners in this local and universal Church, to fulfill the commissioning that Christ himself gave each one of us and continues to send us forth with today and every day of our lives?

By Deacon Richard Hay

“Seeing is believing…”

          Two sayings we are all likely familiar with come from today’s gospel:

          “Seeing is believing” and “Doubting Thomas”.

As we hear, Thomas is not present when Jesus first visits the apostles in the upper room after His resurrection. However, when Thomas once again joins them after the Lord’s appearance, they quickly share with Thomas that they have seen the Risen Lord. Thomas then responds as many of us might have responded to such unbelievable news – that he will need to touch Jesus’s wounds to believe.

I find that a fascinating response, don’t you? Thomas has been around the other apostles for three-years as they travelled the local countryside right alongside of Jesus. Suddenly, he doesn’t seem to believe or trust what they are telling him.

However, it isn’t hard to understand why Thomas responded as he did, is it? Remember, as I mentioned last week in my Easter homily, the apostles were experiencing this in real time and did not yet fully understand all of it.

Thomas does get his chance to see and believe that Jesus is risen when He once again appears to the apostles in the upper room. He immediately addresses Thomas and offers His wounds for him to see and touch so that, as Jesus says to Thomas, he does not remain “unbelieving, but believe.”

Thomas then gives one of the most beautiful responses: “My Lord and My God.”

That moment of acknowledgement and belief is powerful and many today still use that same phrase to acknowledge Christ’s presence when they encounter Him in the Eucharist.

Jesus’s reply to Thomas after this exchange – “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Jesus is talking about us and everyone else who chooses to believe in Him after his ascension into heaven. All those over the centuries who have not seen the physical bodily presence of Jesus, that was made in our likeness, but yet they still make the decision to believe.

Thomas had the opportunity to see the Risen Christ which turned his doubt into belief but how do we do that today in our faith lives?

Believing without seeing is not an easy task, is it?

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians lays out three simple words that, when we look into them, are precious gifts from God that help us to believe, and he shares them in the thirteenth chapter of that letter.

Paul has just written about the attributes of love, scripture we often hear at weddings, many of you likely know it “Love is patient, Love is Kind…”

He ends with this verse – “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

“Faith, Hope, and Love”

Let’s start with Faith.

We are blessed to have vast deposits of faith from the Church that helps sustain our faith and plenty is provided for us to “see and believe…”

          The sacraments are our starting point. Although we do not have the benefit of Jesus’s physical presence after the resurrection like the apostles did – we have these beautiful sacraments that He left for us as signs of God’s grace and mercy.

Baptism, Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders, Holy Communion, Reconciliation, and Anointing of the Sick.

These sacraments bring us to belief in God our Father and Jesus Christ His Son through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in each one of them.

As you have heard me say before, those last three are repeatable sacraments – Holy Communion, Reconciliation, and when needed, Anointing of the Sick – receive them often to receive God’s mercy and let Jesus accompany us on this earthly journey of faith.

How about Hope?

Hope is integral to our faith. The hope I am speaking of is not a wishful hope – like “I hope the Jaguars win the Super Bowl”.

No, the hope Paul is referring to is the “I hope in the resurrection” kind of hope – as in to be a part of it – I look forward to it.

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that our resurrected bodies will be glorious beyond imagination. We will never age, require no food, never experience illness, be free from all disorders and will live this way forever.”

That is the kind of hope Paul is referring to in Corinthians and it should also be the hope we carry with us in our belief in Jesus.

Love – “the greatest of these is love.”

Where would we be without the love of God?

The love of God to not only create the universe we live in but to also create us in His likeness and image.

The love of the Father to send His only begotten Son to become fully human and still be fully divine as the Son of Mary. Ultimately, offering Himself on the cross for our sinfulness.

“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend.”

The love of God in Christ’s full presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament – Jesus’s body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist.

The love of Christ who doesn’t appear to the apostles in his resurrected body to chastise them for abandoning Him at the cross but to offer them peace and the gift of the Holy Spirit which comes from the love of the Father and the Son – to accompany them and us on our journey – to strengthen our faith and belief.

The love of the gift, graces, and mercy of the sacraments that the Church received from God the Father through His Son Jesus to sustain us on our journey.

Finally, the love of the two most important commandments Jesus gave us:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” and the second “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

So, as we all leave here and head into the world, carry the faith, hope, and love of God’s Divine Mercy and remember as Jesus said to Thomas and now to all of us, do not remain “unbelieving, but believe.”