Homily – Page 5 – Spiritual Bytes

Homily for Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

By Deacon Richard Hay

“Mind the Gap”

If you have ever visited London and used their subway system, it is very possible you have seen this seemingly innocent phrase, usually in yellow paint with a thick line before it along the entire train platform.

It serves two purposes – one to remind riders to watch out for the small gap between the platform and the train when they are boarding and two – it cautions you to be careful when there is no train in the station because of the much larger gap from one side of the tracks to the other. Both of these gaps have their perils and “minding the gap” is critically important for our eternal souls as we hear in today’s gospel.

The gap we hear about today is described as a chasm – between the rich man and Lazarus. This gap existed when they were both alive and in very different circumstances – in fact starkly different – and that same gap exists after their deaths, but the tables are turned.

In life, Lazarus was the forgotten one – the rich man would not pay any attention to him although Lazarus laid at the rich man’s door where he would walk past Lazarus covered in sores and hungry. The rich man did not think Lazarus was worth his time or attention.

This created a huge gap in their earthly lives and existence however, when they both died, things changed significantly.

The rich man finds himself in torment and when he looks up, he sees Lazarus being cared for like he had never been cared for before. The rich man then tries to negotiate with Abraham to have Lazarus come and bring him just a small drop of water to cool him off, Abraham reminds the rich man that he had all that was good while on earth while Lazarus had nothing. Abraham reminds the rich man that there is now a great chasm, a great gap, between him and Lazarus and it is there so that no one can cross it.

The chasm between the rich man and Lazarus seems insurmountable as this story concludes and it is. The rich man has reached a point where the actions of his life on earth are irreversible – there is no going back for him – no opportunity to improve his standing.

The parable reinforces the fact that the rich man did a very poor job of “minding the gap” between him and Lazarus on earth – and that gap cannot be changed after they have both died. No second chances in this parable.

Now this parable is not about condemning those who have riches, anyone of any stature could find themselves dealing with this huge gap in their lives. However, could the rich man have tried to make a difference in his life to lessen this great chasm in the afterlife?

Sure he could have. Just one of those times as he walked past Lazarus outside his door, he could have done like the Good Samaritan did when he saw the victim of robbers on the side of the road and gotten Lazarus’s wounds treated, provided him some food and drink, and helped improve Lazarus’s earthly existence.

When we hear a gospel like this today, it can be very uncomfortable, maybe even causes us to squirm a bit in our seats. First, that is OK because it is our conscious reminding us of where we stand when it comes to “minding the gap” between us and those who are less fortunate.

The key is – do we listen to our conscious? If we do, then we are already making strides to “minding the gaps” in our lives. If not, then maybe we should spend some time in prayer and take a closer look at that part of our life.

The main aspect of “minding this gap” is love – the love of Christ. Recall that when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he said that we were to love the Lord, our God, with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. He then quickly added that the second greatest commandment is that we should love our neighbors as ourselves.

If we approach everyone we encounter in the world – family, friends, co-corkers, the stranger on the streets, with the love of Christ, we will then be “minding the gap” between us and others – we avoid the great chasm the rich man experienced.

Now take it to another level – the corporal works of mercy which we hear from Christ at the final Judgment in the book of Revelations:

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

Christ tells us that if we did any of these things for the least of his brothers – then we did them for him. In other words, we “minded the gap” for the love of Christ and his presence in others.

It takes me back to my homily last month about whether there is a checklist of things to do to receive a heavenly reward. While there might not be a specific checklist, God gives us plenty of examples of what to do and what not to do in order to avoid having a big gap – a chasm – in our own lives.

Our goal this week as we walk away from here is that we should pray about and then address that uncomfortable feeling we might have experienced as we heard this gospel today. We can then take the steps to make sure we do not have a gap between us and anyone else in this world or the next!

Homily for Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

By Deacon Richard Hay

In today’s readings, we hear a great message of mercy. The mercy of God when he hears Moses and chooses not to punish the Israelite people due to their disobedience; the mercy in the responsorial psalm about how God’s compassion wipes away our offenses; the merciful treatment Paul mentions in the second reading despite his history as a blasphemer and persecutor; then in the gospel, the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin. In all of them much rejoicing as one sinner repents.

Then we hear a wonderful story of mercy and forgiveness in the parable of the Prodigal Son. This is a powerful story to consider in our own lives as well.

Pope St. John Paul II wrote about the message of this parable by saying that God the Father is rich in mercy and is always ready to forgive and that this forgiveness is pure gift on the part of the Father. In other words, there is nothing for us to do on our part to earn it – it is freely given. For us, however, it is a little more challenging to offer that same level of forgiveness out of our human nature – not impossible – but likely requiring much prayer, reflection and yes, mercy.

Because of our human nature and imperfections, for us total forgiveness is a tough proposition. The father in the parable, who represents God the Father, shows us the path towards total and uncompromising forgiveness. Untold families have experienced the heartbreak of troubled relationships and a break in the trust between us as parents, brothers, sisters, and other members of our family. No matter the cause of that break, forgiveness is hard. Our first response is not to break out jewelry, fresh clothes, and then throw a big party when that person who hurt us walks back into our lives.

We get a sense of how hard forgiveness is towards the end of the parable when the older brother hears the celebration while he is out in the fields working. He must ask one of the servants what is happening and that is when he learns that his younger brother has returned. He refuses to go into the party because he is angry about what is happening. Who among us wouldn’t also upset in a similar situation?

The father comes out to the older son and tries to explain – in fact the gospel says he “pleaded” with him to come in and celebrate and rejoice that his younger brother, who was thought dead, has now returned.

However, the parable ends right there.

We never hear whether the older brother listened to his father and subsequently entered the house to celebrate his younger brother’s return or if he remained angry. Maybe we’re not meant to know what happened at this point.

However, we may wonder if the older brother’s reaction has been addressed. Would a dialog between the two brothers begin if the younger one had gone outside himself to apologize and ask for forgiveness from his brother in the same humble way he sought that forgiveness from his father? That probably would have gone a long way towards mending those broken fences between them. In our own lives, being the first to apologize and ask for forgiveness from someone we have hurt is hard.

Ever wonder how the next couple of days might have gone after the younger sons return? Tensions were probably high around the house and the farm. However, there is some hope through this parable that the example of the fathers loving forgiveness would eventually prompt the younger brother to seek forgiveness directly from his older brother and then for the older brother to forgive his younger sibling.

We should all be able to see our own human reactions in the response of the older brother with his anger and feelings of resentment. If we’re honest with ourselves, if something like this happens in our lives, our first response is not to throw open our arms and rejoice. Forgiveness is also not the first thought to cross our minds either. The example for us to take away from today’s gospel, is to try and emulate the complete and unconditional love and forgiveness offered by the father.

Will we be successful 100% of the time when we try to respond in the same way? It would be challenging to land that approach all the time, but the potential exists to make a good effort to be forgiving and continue to work our way forward from there and rejoice in our efforts.

Rejoice as the father did on his younger son’s return. Did you catch that line in scripture where it says that the father caught sight of the younger son from afar off? That means he was watching for the younger son to return. The father, our God, is always watching for us to come back to him from our sinfulness and He will be ready to rejoice and greet us with open arms.

We receive mercy and grace from within the sacrament of reconciliation which offers us an opportunity for conversion and repentance. It allows us to receive God’s loving gift of grace. Remember the joyful celebrations that we heard about in the two previous parables about the lost sheep and the widow’s lost coin? They both rejoiced in finding what was lost because it represents the rejoicing among the angels of God in heaven over the one sinner who repents.

So, our challenge as we go forth from this place, this eucharistic celebration, is to rejoice in the Lord’s merciful forgiveness for us in our weakness. We should then endeavor to take that mercy and forgiveness from God and reach out to someone in our lives who we might be estranged from and offer forgiveness and peace like the Father offers us in our sinfulness.

When that happens, let us also offer a prayer of thanks to God for his gracious mercy and forgiveness that allows us to rejoice in his gifts of grace.

Homily for Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

By Deacon Richard Hay

There is a form of data science these days called analytics – the study of data, both current and historical, around various activities to determine a possible outcome. It’s being used a lot in our modern world. I think Jesus’s followers were asking for the analytics about their chances to make it to heaven in today’s gospel.

Analytics are used in sports, businesses, supply chains, data management and many other areas. The intent of examining these numbers is to predict a future outcome. Sometimes it works and sometimes it misses the mark.

In other words, as many of us already now, the future is unpredictable. Unexpected situations and outcomes are part of life.

During His ministry, Jesus brought such a unique message to the people about baptism, salvation and the descriptions of the rewards of heaven, things that they had never heard before in such detail. So it’s not surprising to hear this question get asked.

I suspect many of us would be curious too. Are we doing enough to get to heaven – are our odds – are the analytics in our favor? Is there any way I could increase my chances of being saved?

Well, if we were expecting an answer out of today’s gospel it’s not forthcoming. Jesus instead talks about the path to heaven through the narrow gate not being an easy one.

In this image of a narrow gate, there’s a real sense of just how hard this passage would be for any of us. For me, it’s like five or six lanes of traffic trying to merge into just one lane – not an easy process, right? In reality, it’s not meant to be easy – getting to heaven that is – not the traffic. It will take work, effort, sacrifice, and strength on our part to pass through the narrow gate.

However, the question remains, can we improve our odds of reaching a heavenly reward?

Would we be OK if the answer is maybe? Remember, there are no guarantees in life – so we need to strive towards that ideal. However, God has given us the tools to move towards that narrow gate.

First – God loves us unconditionally no matter who we are or what we have done. That unconditional love is ultimately manifested through Jesus and his death on the cross. We should receive the love of God as a pure gift as part of our strength for this journey.

Second – God gives us His grace through the sacraments. While there are some sacraments we can only receive once, sacraments such as the Eucharist and Reconciliation can be received over and over again. Of course, that means more grace is received as we make those sacraments a regular part of our faith life. They are powerful gifts – full of God’s grace – which we need to sustain us each day and to fulfill his call to love.

Third – our church community is a sign of God’s love for us because we are not meant to make this faith journey alone. It is intended to be travelled with our family, friends, and fellow Christians. Coming to Mass each week, or more often, if possible, not only allows us to receive the body and blood of Christ regularly, but also enables us to connect with others who are on the same journey – towards heaven through the narrow gate. Journeys are much easier to accomplish when we share them with others.

Fourth – While the Mass is the source and summit of our faith and an important part of that faith, it cannot be the only thing we all do in this world as Christians.

In James we hear – “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” and just a few verses later, James concludes this passage by writing “So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Is our faith dead? This is a question each of us needs to look at and evaluate whether we are doing enough for those less fortunate than ourselves. Are we venturing out so we can see Christ in the faces of the poor, the lonely, the hungry? Are we doing something about it? Are we being the hands and feet of Christ in our world?

Faith requires the physical action of getting out there and helping others. For some of us this might feel uncomfortable – and that is OK. However, to get started, our parish has so many ministries looking for our help, all we need to do is ask and find out where our time and talents are needed.

In fact, starting next month for the first time since COVID, we will have our parish ministry fair after some of the Masses. This will be an excellent opportunity to learn about all the wonderful ministries our local church is involved with, and you just might find your opportunity to help others through one of them.

Now, going back to the suggestions I have shared, they can all help us make this journey through the narrow gate, but they are not a checklist nor are they a guarantee either.

However, let’s consider a starting point for all of these suggestions. In this past Friday’s gospel reading at the daily Mass, when he was asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus said: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Immediately following that he also added that the second greatest commandment was that “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The love of God and love of our neighbors is the core of all we should do as Christians. Therefore, if we love God, we love our neighbors and by loving our neighbors we love God. We can love the lord our God by being faithful to His commandments, receiving His graces through the sacraments, and performing works as part of our living faith.

Strengthened by those things, we can then turn and love our neighbors as ourselves. From there this beautiful cycle of love just keeps repeating.

Then, just maybe, we might increase our own opportunity to receive God’s love and graces to make that difficult journey through the narrow gate and have the spiritual strength that journey requires to be one of God’s chosen who will hopefully one day join Him in heaven.

Homily for Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

By Deacon Richard Hay

Last week we heard Jesus tell the story of the Good Samaritan which focused on love of neighbor and how important it is to love our neighbor no matter who they might be.

In today’s gospel, the story of Jesus’s visit with Martha and Mary is right after last week’s gospel story. Luke places these two stories next to each other because after last week’s message of loving all our neighbors, Jesus continues that theme of love by focusing on the importance of loving the Lord our God.

Anyone who has ever hosted a gathering at their home likely knows all about what Martha is going through. In fact, hospitality was a very important aspect of life in Jewish culture, and it could be considered a slight to not provide proper hospitality to guests and visitors.

In those days it was a duty and expectation to do these things but as we know Martha was a little bit irritated with her sister for not helping out. In response, she approaches Jesus and asks him to tell Mary to help. As you hear her words to Jesus, you can sense the frustration and anxiety in her voice – she is working hard to be a proper host and Mary instead is at the feet of Jesus listening to him talk.

Jesus responds by saying “Martha – Martha”. The repetition of her name is intended to draw emphasis to what comes afterwards – much like when Jesus says “Amen – Amen” in scripture – something important is about to be said.

In this case, he tells Martha that she is anxious and worried about many things and that there is only need for one thing and that Mary has chosen that part and it will not be taken from her. This is a powerful answer to Martha and to us about Mary’s choice to be sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to him.

We all need to spend time with the Lord and listen to him in the silence of our hearts without all the hustle and bustle that comes with life, family, friends, work, and other activities. I understand that life can be like that, and those types of activities are necessary and we have all likely experienced those kind of days – being on the run constantly.

However, the Lord is telling us that if we just run around taking on task after task, errand after errand and never slow down then we miss opportunities to hear Him when he talks to us. Remember, the Lord is not in the roaring wind, or the earthquake, or the fire but in the gentle whisper. It’s hard to hear that whisper though when we are in constant motion.

If we never slow down to listen to Him in that quiet whisper, we miss opportunities to find the Lord in our daily lives.

So, what might a silent whisper look like in our world?

It could be a beautiful sunrise over the St. John’s River; or in the softness of a summer rain as we sit and listen on our patios; or in the quiet of night when others are asleep and you are sitting quietly in prayer; or maybe you’re an early riser – I love that time of day myself – whenever it is – there is a common factor – quiet – time to contemplate and reflect.

Prayer does not have to be a constant dialog of us tossing all our petitions to the Lord in a one-way conversation. We must take a breath and listen for him to respond – otherwise – what’s the point? Where’s the relationship?

We should also keep in mind that the Lord’s response to our prayer is not likely to come in an obvious way like a burning bush or a thundering voice from heaven. It might come through the words of another person we encounter in the course of our day, but that message might not be heard if we are running around from one task to another and constantly busy.

So take time to encounter others in a personal and deep way, talk about faith, joys, heartbreaks, and other facets of life and when you walk away, contemplate what you have heard by silently reflecting on those words.

Whatever it is – just sit in the presence of the Lord and listen.

Now, this is a significant shift from how much of the world approaches day to day life. There can be a sense that if we haven’t checked off twenty items from our to do list each day that we have wasted our day or are considered a failure.

Not so says Jesus – this is where the world view and expectations diverge from how we as Christians should try and approach life.

Remember at the transfiguration, when God’s voice from heaven tells us that Jesus is His beloved Son, and we should listen to Him?

That is exactly the choice Mary has made. As important as they are, all those other tasks, our own to do lists, it can all wait while we spend time with Jesus.

We can often believe that the one hour or so here at Mass each week is enough to find Jesus in the quiet whisper or that it is the only necessary encounter we need with the Lord.

It is indeed a blessing to hear and encounter Jesus through the source and summit of our faith – the holy sacrifice of the Mass. However, I would venture to say that it isn’t enough. That’s where the gifts of the Church can come in together and help us experience and hear Jesus.

Through reconciliation we can hear His forgiveness, through sacred scripture we can hear His words to us, and through the Eucharist, the true presence of Christ on this altar and in the tabernacle – we can hear Him and become one with Him.

One last lesson to be understood from today’s gospel is that we should never do anything that would take another away from their encounter with Christ. It wasn’t Martha’s intent to take Mary away from listening at the feet of Jesus – she just wanted some help with the cooking and other hosting chores. So we should also be careful about the unintended consequences of our own actions in similar situations.

Being active and being contemplative – each approach has their role in our lives. One way we can connect our daily activities to the Lord is to make each activity a prayer to Him. Whether it is doing the dishes, cooking a meal, washing the clothes, or even running errands on our to do list – offer those activities up to the Lord.

Then – later in your day – find time to sit at the feet of Jesus and contemplate his great love for us while you listen to Him just like Mary did that day.

Homily for Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Year C)

By Deacon Richard Hay

When I felt the call to join the church, which happened 35 years ago next month, very quickly the eucharist became a focal point as I began attending Mass with Margo and our young daughter Melissa. Watching others process up to the priest or eucharistic minister to receive the Holy Eucharist started a fire in me that I did not expect. I wanted to receive this same precious gift, to receive the same grace that is provided to us by the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

It really was a desire that could only be fulfilled by receiving Christ through the Eucharist.

On this solemnity we acknowledge and reflect on the real presence of Jesus Christ in the simple elements of the Eucharist – bread and wine – that are consecrated on the altar at every Mass. Not symbols, not representations of the body and blood of Christ but the real presence of Jesus.

In today’s readings there is a beautiful thread woven between all of them about the bread and wine.

Starting in Genesis, we hear how Melchizedek used bread and wine to bless Abram after his great victories. The bread and wine were considered the first-fruits of the land, and were offered in sacrifice as a sign of recognition of God the Creator. Today, the priest will refer to the gifts of bread and wine as fruit of the earth.

The thread continues into the second reading as we hear Saint Paul, in a letter to the church in Corinth, recall the words Jesus used at the Last Supper.

We hear Jesus’s words as He broke the bread – His body – and then offered the cup of wine – His blood – and told the apostles that As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes again.

We witness the power of those words each time the Mass is celebrated – those elements we first heard of in Genesis with Melchizedek and Abram and then Saint Paul wrote about, are the same elements we continue to see transformed on the altar. While they may look like bread and wine on the outside – after their consecration by the priest their substance becomes the true presence of Christ.

A couple of years ago, a study was released that showed two-thirds of Catholics believed that the bread and wine used at Mass were not the real presence of Christ but rather symbols of His body and blood.

The survey goes on to reveal that most Catholics who do not believe the bread and wine are the true presence of Jesus Christ also do not know the Church’s teaching on transubstantiation. In the simplest of terms, transubstantiation is what happens when the priest prays the words of consecration and the substance of the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ – yet still appear as just bread and wine.

Even more concerning from the survey, among those who know this central tenant of our faith, one in five reject the idea of the real presence of Jesus in the substance of the bread and wine.

Over the more than 2,000 years of our Church’s history, we often turn towards saints in matters like this to find understanding.

Here are just three examples about the true presence:

St. Thomas Aquinas, a doctor of the church, wrote that “The Eucharist is the sacrament of love: it signifies love, it produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.”

St. Cyril of Jerusalem boldly proclaimed that “Since Christ Himself has said, ‘This is My Body,’ who shall dare to doubt that it is His Body?”

The patron of our diocese, St. Augustine wrote that “What you see is the bread and the chalice; that is what your own eyes report to you. But what your faith obliges you to accept is that the bread is the body of Christ, and the chalice is the blood of Christ. This has been said very briefly, which may perhaps be sufficient for faith; yet faith does not desire instruction.”

In other words, these three saints, and there are others, tell us that the true presence of Jesus in the elements of bread and wine is a belief in the love that God the Father and his Son Jesus had for us – a love so strong that God the Father gave up His only Son for our sins.

Then we hear Jesus’s own powerful words – This is my body.

Finally, St. Augustine reminds us that faith in this matter does not require instruction – just belief. It just takes a little faith. Of course, faith is hard sometimes and needs to be reinvigorated – recharged.

So the bishops of the United States having seen the results of this survey decided there is a need for a Eucharistic Revival and that revival kicks off this weekend.

Over the next three years, you will see information which will begin on the diocesan level, followed by a year at the parish level and then a National Eucharistic Congress will be held in honor of the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Then it will be time to become missionaries, sharing the gift of our Eucharistic Lord with others.

Even though that is a couple of years away, we can already begin evangelizing our own belief in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist by sharing it with those we know who might be struggling with this aspect of our faith. By the way, it is OK to struggle with our faith at times – it happens to me and many others – but we should also not persist in our disbelief.

Like Jesus said to Thomas when he appeared to the twelve, Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. Jesus is talking to all of us right there.

It can be challenging to “prove” things like the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist because as one of the great mysteries of our faith, we will never completely understand it until it is fully revealed by God the Father. Until then, it requires faith on our part.

We can build that faith by participating in the sacraments that are available to us such as receiving the Eucharist as often as we can – more than once per week if possible. Or maybe coming into the church here during the week and sitting with Jesus, who is in the tabernacle, to be close to his true presence in the Eucharist. We can also take any of these doubts into the sacrament of reconciliation to receive spiritual guidance on how to increase our faith in this great mystery. Then, just keep repeating those steps.

In Today’s gospel from St. Luke, this abundance and ability to receive and experience Jesus in the Eucharist is shown in the feeding of the five thousand. Initially we hear the apostles doubt about being able to feed this massive crowd.

Jesus removes that doubt by what he does next – a miracle.

Through His prayer and blessings, Jesus sanctifies the gifts of bread and fish. As they distribute the food to the crowd, there is more than enough to feed everyone and still have twelve wicker baskets of leftovers.

What a beautiful example of the abundance Christ gives us in the gift of the Eucharist. It is from the abundance of Christ’s love for us that we receive this precious gift – one we can receive in abundance ourselves.

Through our own encounters with Jesus in the Eucharist, we all have the opportunity to be changed profoundly.

This change is possible because the power that is within the Most Precious Body and Blood of our Lord is His real presence.

No signs – no symbols – but truly Jesus’s body, blood, soul, and divinity.

Homily for Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Year C)

By Deacon Richard Hay (First Homily after Ordination)

I don’t know about all of you, but this feels just a little different to be standing behind the ambo today at this particular time during the Mass this morning.

This time of course, is where we would normally hear the homily from either Fr. Mike or Fr. Sebastian on today’s gospel and the other readings. Today that is not changing, there is still a homily to be delivered and shared before we move on to participating in the Liturgy of the Eucharist on this Solemnity of the Most Blessed Holy Trinity.

Today though, the new guy gets to share what is hopefully some insight for all of us.

However, first there is a story to be told and it has been sitting up here in my head for the last four years or so just waiting for this day to arrive.

Here’s the inside scoop – this is not the first homily I have delivered from this ambo during a Mass at Sacred Heart. It’s true and some of you just might remember that day as well.

Shortly after being accepted as an aspirant for the Permanent Diaconate, I arrived here at the church for the Saturday Vigil Mass and was out in the narthex when Fr. Mike arrived – with barely any voice at all – full on laryngitis had left him literally speechless. He approached me and asked in a whisper if I would read his homily during the Mass. After the initial wave of anxiety passed, I answered yes and set to reading over the homily a few times.

Thankfully, everything went just fine and I didn’t do anything that got me kicked out of diaconate formation. I did know thought, that I would have a story to tell in a homily if God should bless me in the Sacrament of Holy Orders with ordination to the Permanent Diaconate. That blessing, as many of you can very clearly see with me standing here today before you vested a little differently, did arrive yesterday when Bishop Estevez ordained myself and six other men of our dioceses to the Permanent Diaconate for service in Christ’s church here in the Diocese of St. Augustine.

More on that later but as Fr. Rooney would often say, now a few thoughts about our scripture readings today.

According to the catechism, The Most Blessed Holy Trinity is considered one of the central mysteries of our Christian faith and life. It is called a divine mystery because it can never be fully understood unless that mystery is revealed by God himself. However, we have plenty of examples throughout scriptures and church teachings that show us that part of this beautiful mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is all about love and joy. The love and joy which the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit has for us. The love and joy that we see between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. That same Holy Spirit whose coming we celebrated last Sunday at Pentecost, that inspired the apostles to be bold and speak the truth of Christ after His resurrection, and that same Spirit is with us all today – it is the foundation of all love in the Holy Trinity. Three persons yet one God.

Multiple times in scripture, God the Father proclaims his love for his son Jesus.

If I asked you to recite the New Testament verse at John 3:16, I suspect many of you know that it says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.”

Another time we heard of the Father’s love for his son Jesus was at Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. After Jesus rises out of the water, a voice is heard from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Then, when Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the mountain, Jesus was transfigured, and we learn that “…his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.” and at this point we once again hear God the Father’s voice coming down from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased…” just like at Jesus’s baptism but then he adds – “listen to him.”

Do we all listen to the Lord when he speaks to us? When he touches our heart with his unlimited love and joy, do we act on that love and joy or keep it to ourselves?

The love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the second person in our Most Holy Trinity, showed all of us the most ultimate sign of love – his sacrifice on the cross. When talking about being the true vine in John, Chapter 15, Jesus tells his disciples and us at the same time that – As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

Right there we can see that Jesus’s relationship with his Father consists of the same type of love that Jesus asks us for – are we giving that level of love to Jesus each and every day in all that we do?

A little later in this same discourse about the vine and the branches, Jesus says that he has told us this so that his joy may be in us and that our joy may be complete.

Jesus wants nothing more than for us to carry his love and joy within us and then out into the world as we are the hands and feet of Christ in a society that desperately needs to see that love each and every day.

How do we keep that love fresh in us to carry out our task to proclaim Christ in the world? The sacraments can provide that beginning with the source and summit of our faith – the Holy Eucharist. We can begin by regularly receiving the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ – his ultimate sacrifice of love which he gave us on the cross and we experience through the sacrifice on this altar at every Mass. When we receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ – when Jesus becomes part of us through the Eucharist – we can be filled to overflowing with his love and joy. It can fortify us to be sent forth from this place and allows us to head out into the world to proclaim the good news of his life, death, and resurrection – proclaiming it with love and joy for all to see through our actions – and sometimes you can use words too.

This brings us to the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Paraclete as Jesus described him just before ascending to the Father in heaven. Jesus told the apostles that the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name – he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.

That means when we carry the Holy Spirit within us, which we received at our baptisms and again when we were sealed in the Holy Spirit at our confirmations, we can carry everything that Christ told us while he was on earth. All of the love, all of the joy that Christ feels for us is reinforced and strengthened through the Holy Spirit.

We heard proof of that strengthening of the Holy Spirit throughout the Easter Season as we read the Acts of the Apostles and saw how the apostles and other disciples of Christ were emboldened to speak the truth of God at all times and in all things. They were no longer scared of consequences for proclaiming the good news – they just knew that they must make this news known to the ends of the earth.

Are we carrying that strengthened and reinforced spirit within us as we proclaim the good news of Jesus to those in the world? Do we let the spirit move us and provide us with the words we need to speak?

As human beings, we long to be loved and what greater love is their than to be loved unconditionally by our God. It is unconditional because we do not have to do one thing to earn the love of God – it is there for us at all times – we just have to accept it and love God in return with all our hearts, all our souls, and with all our minds.

I would like to take just one more moment as I conclude and share something from the commentary I was studying while preparing this homily – it is a beautiful wrap-up on what the Most Blessed Holy Trinity is all about. The author writes:

We need God’s help to love others as Jesus loved us. To produce the fruits of love, we must remain on the vine and be pruned by the Father. Put differently, if we are to love others as God does, we need to remain and grow in communion with Jesus, through such things as prayer, the sacraments, and works of penance. Through these spiritual practices, we open ourselves to God’s action in us whereby we increasingly die to our own sinfulness and become conformed to the Father’s will. Thus, we will come to joyfully experience the Father’s love and be able to love others as he calls us to do.

So our mission this week is to carry the love that is shown to us in the Most Blessed Holy Trinity out into the world and impact the life of just one person. Share with them the love of God through one of the seven works of corporal mercy such as feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, and visiting the sick and imprisoned.

May the love we see in the Most Blessed Holy Trinity, embolden each one of us to change the world in one small way this week.

Today this, my first Mass as deacon at Sacred Heart, is one of thanksgiving for my call to the diaconate and my ordination yesterday. While I am the person standing up here in these vestments, there were all kinds of people involved over the six years of my formation and my years of discernment. Included in this list of people, there are many who might never know their impact and my resulting ordination to this ministry of service. Each and every one of them deserves thanks and they will forever be in my prayers.

While I can’t stand up here and thank everyone else individually and would likely miss so many people, allow me to say a simple thank you to Margo for all her care and support throughout this process, the long nights and weekends of me studying, reading and attending classes in these six years of formation. She has been my rock in our 38 years together – I love you Margo. Someone else attending this Mass today is Deacon Paul Testa from Mary Queen of Heaven who has been my mentor over these last three years and is now someone I can call a lifelong friend and now a brother deacon. Thanks Deacon Paul.

Here at Sacred Heart, so many of you have been praying for and encouraging me as I travelled on this journey – including some very intense prayer for me to be assigned here at Sacred Heart. We now know this is where Bishop Estevez has decided to allow me to begin my ministry as a deacon. Thank you all so very much – you all will continue to be in my prayers.

By the way, I know it isn’t a contest or anything like that, but Sacred Heart attendees at the Ordination Mass yesterday easily outnumbered other parishes by a factor of at least two – maybe three. Thanks for making that effort to be part of a very blessed day for me, my family, and of course our parish.

Finally – to Fr. Mike and Fr. Sebastian – your pastoral and liturgical mentorship has been a blessing. I have enjoyed learning from both of you and I look forward to continuing those relationships in service to the Sacred Heart community.

Deacons have a unique role in the church because we have one foot in the secular world with our lives involving family, children, and our careers and then we have another foot here in the sacred of our church because of our ordination which configures us to Christ as his servants to all the people of God.

It is a role I cherish and am blessed to have received. I look forward to sharing this journey with all of you.

Please continue to pray for all of us here at Sacred Heart that we are people who carry the love of Christ from within this sacred place and out into the world.

Thanks.