Blog Post – 7/04/2022 – Independence Day & A Day of to Remember

  

 

 

Four years ago, today my daughter-in-law suffered a brain aneurysm and a stroke, with your prayers and support, my son Brian’s perseverance, trust in God and love for his wife and children, God has blessed Laurie with a miraculous recovery  As she continues her therapies, please continue your prayers.  May God Be Praised!  They are pictured above on May 7, 2022 after Berkleigh received her First Holy Communion.

 

 

As we celebrate the gift of our Independence, it would serve us well to take some time to reflect on an insight from Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, “an idea that is clear and precise even though false will always have greater power in the world than an idea that is true and complex.”  [We the Fallen People: The Founders and the Future of American Democracy, by Robert Tracy McKenzie]

Our democratic/republic is fragile, we most often promote the common good only when our personal interests coincide with the common good, so we would be well advised to take original sin seriously especially when we attempt to balance majority rule with minority rights and justice with liberty.  

 

Cardinal George said, “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.”

An insight to reflect upon today as we remember that our freedom is a gift to be used to build up the Kingdom of God.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

Blog Post - Homily Cycle C 7/02 & 03/2022 [14 Sunday in Ordinary Time]

                                        

N.B. This is the full version of my homily, a shorter version was offered at OLPH for the 5:00 pm and 11:30 am Masses this weekend because our air conditioning was not working.

St. Francis de Sales teaches us, “What is the prize if it is not Jesus Christ? 

How can you take hold of him if you do not follow him?"  Today the Scripture readings ask us to reflect on our discipleship & our mission.  God assures us of “holy joy” if we are faithful. [Collect 7-03-22]

We need to remember that “Revelation is a person: the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Jesus Christ, the definitive self -communication of the triune God.”  [O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance p.205]

In our Gospel Jesus sends 72 disciples to share the Good News that the Kingdom of God is at hand.  Their mission is to prepare the way for the Lord.  My wife and I had a mission a few years ago [2019] with our twin granddaughters, Abigail & Beatrice - to see the animated movie “Toy Story 4.”  In it a little girl named Bonnie has to deal with a fundamental change in her life, she is going to kindergarten.  Sheriff  Woody helped Bonnie adjust; Woody succeeded & so did we with our “movie mission.”

Father David Knight [who died March 26, 2021] prayed this prayer every morning.  “Jesus, I give You my body.  Live this day with me; live this day in me; live this day through me.  Let me think with Your thoughts, speak with Your words, and act as Your body on earth.”  A Powerful Prayer, a Prayer that would impact the world for the better if we prayed and lived it.  In one of his books Fr. Knight asked this provocative question, would there be sufficient evidence in a court of law, using Matthew 25:31-45 [The Last Judgement], to convict you and me of being a Catholic?

Our 1^st Reading from Isaiah taught us that God will comfort us, the way a mother comforts her child, maternal love is from conception into all eternity.  I want to give you a short quiz, the teacher in me can’t resist: How committed are you to living a moral life?  Does the common good of the nation and world’s population have a top priority in your decision-making?  What does success look like to you, is it: power, money, prestige, big house, or sainthood?  Do you think consumption is more important than contrition?  Your answers to that quiz will give you insight into your material and your spiritual life.

St. Paul reminded the Galatians and us to boast only of the cross of Jesus Christ, that means Christ should be first in our lives.  You and I are called by God to bring glory of God and the vision of God to the world, like the 72 we are sent into the world like sheep among wolves.

But Jesus is with us, He nourishes us with the Sacraments, especially the Bread of Life – the Eucharist.  Our life isn’t about us, BUT about how we live the Kingdom.  About how we witness to the Gospel, how we bring that message “… to the fabric of society.”  [Pope Francis the Joy of the Gospel]

We are charged with sharing the message of the Kingdom by not conforming to this age but by informing this age.  The bottom line is Jesus “… wants imitation not admiration.”                       [Ron Rolheiser, OMI]

Each day we have the opportunity to begin anew presenting the Kingdom of God to our families, our friends, our neighbors, our country and our world by our lives.

Take some time today to reflect on your answers to today’s quiz and Fr. Knight’s question, would there be sufficient evidence, using Matthew 25:31-45 [The Last Judgement], in a court of law to convict you and me of being a Catholic?

May God Be Praised!

 

 

Blog Post - 7/02/2022 - Ordinary

 

 

"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest."  St. Thomas More

 

 

A pray-filled life is the route to sainthood, the ordinary is the road God gives us to travel; the great blessing is to live it for God.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

Blog Post 7/01/2022 – Offering Our Actions to God

 

St. Therese of Lisieux offered this advice, "You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them."

 

Today offer you actions, great or small with love to the Lord, your labors will be enriched and blessed.

 

May God Be Praised!

Blog Post 6/30/2022 – The Lord is my Shepherd

 

The Lord is my shepherd;                                                                                                   there is nothing I shall want.
Fresh and green are the pastures
where he gives me repose.
Near restful waters he leads me,
to revive my drooping spirit.

 

He guides me along the right path;
he is true to his name.
If I should walk in the valley of darkness
no evil would I fear.
You are there with your crook and your staff;
with these you give me comfort.

You have prepared a banquet for me
in the sight of my foes.
My head you have anointed with oil;
my cup is overflowing.

Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me
all the days of my life.
In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell
for ever and ever.  [Psalm 23, The Good Shepherd]

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

The Lamb himself will be their shepherd and will lead them to the springs of living waters. (Revelation 7:17).  

Today allow your Shepherd to lead you.

 

May God Be Praised!

Blog Post 6/29/2022 - Eternity?

 

There is no time with God: a thousand years, a single day: it is all one (2 Peter 3:8).

[Office of Readings – June 2, 2022]

 

As we prepare for eternity with God, “May we live in the radiance of God” while we journey here on earth.

 

May God Be Praised!

 

Blog Post 6/28/2022 – Pleas, Petitions, Prayers ….

“May God be gracious to us and bless us; may his face shine upon us.  So shall your way be known upon the earth, your victory among all the nations.

May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you!

May the nations be glad and rejoice; for you judge the peoples with fairness, you guide the nations upon the earth.

May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you!

The earth has yielded its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.  May God bless us still; that the ends of the earth may revere him.”  [Psalm 67]

 

The prophet Isaiah said, “In days to come, The mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills.  All nations shall stream toward it.

Many peoples shall come and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the LORD’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.’

For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.  He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.  They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.  House of Jacob, come,

let us walk in the light of the LORD!”  [Isaiah 2:2-5]

 

Today offer God your Pleas, your Petitions, your Prayers, your Pains and most importantly your Life.

 

May God Be Praised!