Mary’s life points us directly to Jesus Christ true man and true God!

In the book of Genesis the Lord God asked, “Where are you?”  

Maybe this Hasidic story can give us some insight into where we are.

A little boy was playing hide and seek with his friends, and when he was hiding they stopped playing, so the little boy began to cry.

The boy’s grandfather came out of his home to find out what happened.

After hearing the story, he said, “Don’t weep, my child, because they didn’t come to find you. Perhaps you can learn a lesson from this disappointment.

All of life is like a game between God and us.  Only it is God who is weeping for we are not playing the game fairly.  God is waiting to be found, but many have gone in search of other things.”

So the question from Genesis goes right to the core of our existence.

“Where are you?”  Not physically BUT spiritually!

We learned in Genesis that in the cool of the evening God would walk with Adam in the garden.  God wants to walk with us on our faith journey!  Let’s make a special effort today to walk heart, will, mind and soul with Jesus, and like Mary freely accept God’s Grace.

May God Be Praised!

Phil Coulter wrote a beautiful song, “The Old Man”

The tears have all been shed now,

We’ve said out last good-bye.

His soul’s been blessed,

He’s laid to rest,

And now I feel alone.

He was more than just a father,

A teacher, my best friend.

He can still be heard

In the tunes we shared.

When we play them on our own.

And I never will forget him.

For he made me what I am.

Though he may be gone,

Memories linger on,

And I miss him, the old man.

 

Jesus Christ gave us Himself in “The Eucharist” so we could meet Him, become one with Him and remember Him.  The Eucharist “…the most ordinary and the most divine gesture imaginable. That is the truth of Jesus.  So human, yet so divine; so familiar, yet so mysterious; so close, yet so revealing!”  (Nouwen “With Burning Hearts”)

The Second Vatican Council taught us the Eucharist is the “…source and summit of Christian Life.”  The Eucharist is the heart of the Church’s life, it  (the Eucharist) literally means, “act of thanksgiving.”  To live the Eucharist means living a life of gratitude; it means seeing life as a miracle. “Belief in the Eucharist gathers people together.  It affirms their communal faith…the honor [we] Catholics show to the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood is not a narrow expression of shallow pity.  It is …an expression of our recognition of the presence of God in all that is created.”  

(This Sunday Scripture, June 18, 2006)

The Eucharist is the Divine kiss, the Divine embrace, the Divine love given to us to bind us to Christ in our journey here on earth.  The Eucharist affirms.  We have been chosen to be disciples of Christ in the world and to the world.

Today take a few minutes to reflect on the profound reverence that we should have for the Eucharist, for the awesome gift of Eucharist! And on the responsibility we have to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, true God and true man, to our world!

May God Be Praised!

       

My son Brian came across this quote from Albert Einstein, “There are two ways you can live, you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as everything is a miracle”. 

 
Prior to July 4, 2018 I didn’t live as is everything was a miracle, but I also didn’t live as though nothing were a miracle either.     I guess I fell somewhere in between.  





 [July 4, 2018 is the day his beautiful wife Laurie suffered a brain aneurysm, thank God she is making a miraculous recovery and we continue to pray for her full recovery.]  

He said my views have changed so much since then, and I appreciate everything so much more than I used to.  My suggestion to you is to live in the moment, it’s hard to do, but if you learn how to do that, you can appreciate miracles.

Brain’s suggestion calls us to follow St. Francis de Sales who teaches us, “To live the present moment” and that is really all we have to honor God.  “Above all, trust the slow work of God.   

                                                

We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay …. Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling your self in suspense and incomplete.”  (Teilhard de Chardin, Patient Trust)

Pope Francis said, “Faith opens a ‘window’ to the presence and working of the Spirit.  It shows us that, like happiness, holiness is always tied to little gestures….

Today look for the windows the Holy Spirit sends your way and allow God’s air to fill your actions, fill your little gestures with the love of God.

May God Be Praised!

In the Beatitudes Jesus points out to His disciples [& to us] how we can be great saints and missionaries for His Kingdom.  Jesus wants us to be “salt” for the Kingdom & “light” for the world. 

In Jesus’ time salt was a precious commodity; Jesus is telling you and I that we are precious.  Salt is best when it brings out the flavor of something else; light is best when it illuminates something else.

To be salt, in the Spirit of Christ, is to bring forth the “flavor” of God in everyone.  To be light, in the Reflection of Christ, is to illuminate the presence of God in the midst of the darkness that exists in our world.

Salt and sun, of themselves, are useless.  Their value is realized only when they mix with other things.  Their addition brings out the fullness of whatever they come in contact with.

That handful of salt, acrid tasting of itself, can bring out the natural flavor in every kind of food, from filet mignon to popcorn.   The four ounces of salt in our bodies enable our muscles to contract, our blood to circulate, our hearts to beat.  Salt purifies and softens, cleans and preserves. 

Light enables us to discover, to behold the beauty of our world and the wonders of God’s creation.  Light warms, nurtures, sustains, reveals, cheers.  Salt is perhaps the most humble of all chemicals; light is among the most generous of all physical properties.

Jesus calls us to be light and salt for our families and our world, so today shine God’s light by what you do and allow His salt to flavor your actions.  The world will be a better place today because it.

May God Be Blessed!

Abraham had a personal relationship with God and it required him to listen attentively to God and then do God’s will!  We pray [in the psalms] “I long to live in the house of the Lord…”  

Think for a few moments do you really want to “…live in the house of the Lord.”

What kind of house are you building in God’s kingdom?  

A house built on mercy, compassion, justice and love or a house of selfishness, greed, jealously and materialism?

St. Paul reminds us not to overly focus on “earthly things” because “…our citizenship is in heaven…”  Jesus knows that we are human and that our spiritual life needs a vision!  Jesus’ life is that vision.  

Maybe this story can aid us with our vision, “The Color of Water.”

A woman who had never seen the ocean before went on a cruise.  On the voyage she was captivated by the variety of colors she saw in different parts of the ocean – azure, turquoise, aquamarine, emerald.  She collected samples of each hue in small bottles.

When she returned home, she wanted to show her friends the magnificent colors she had seen.  But when she poured the contents of each bottle into separate glasses to show them, she was shocked to see that all they contained was water – colorless, translucent, ordinary water.

 

“What was missing of course was light. The light of the sun…brought out the magnificent colors she had seen in the ocean water.” (Connections)

Our challenge is to allow the light of God that dwells within us to shine through, and to allow God’s light to shine brightly!

May God Be Praised!

Homily 9/15/19 Cycle C

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/091519.cfm

This past Wednesday my wife Joanne and I spent the day in Cape May NJ, and as I look out at the ocean I had a sense of how small we human beings are in the universe; then I thought about Jesus, the Second Person of the blessed Trinity and today’s readings; He became one of us in His Incarnation to show us how to live.

God sought one sheep, one small coin and two selfish sons; it dawned on me that the One, who created the universe loves each one of us personally and individually.

The beach and the ocean became a wondrous gift from God to me.

A few days ago, Fr. O’Reilly took out his cell phone and called the Pope Francis (amazingly he got through to him), he told the Pope that Jesus [Himself] walking down the main street in his little town outside of Dublin, toward him and asked, “What’ll I do?

Pope Francis said, “Look busy!”

We are called not to look busy, but to be busy building God’s Kingdom here on earth, in fact that is why we are here.

Today’s parables turn our world upside down, as they turned Jesus’ world upside down.   Jesus tells us the story of the two sons, one who tells his Dad to drop dead, and the other who hates his father. 

As a father, if my children did that I would be devastated.  Jesus tells us that God our Father calls us to: bear our grief and forgive our hurts, and to be compassionate. 

Today we should search our hearts for the pain and hurt we haven’t forgiven yet; especially those in our families!   And we should forgive hurts we have caused and accept forgiveness offered to us for hurts we have suffered.

Life is fragile - - forgiveness today can be tomorrow’s joy.

Let us heed Jesus’ call to be compassionate - His call to be the “foolish” shepherd, woman, and father.    We should accept His call to heal first in our families and then in our world, when we do that, then we will join with the psalmist and “…rise and go to my father.”

Luke’s Gospel can be called the Gospel within the Gospels, because it celebrates God’s great love and God’s great mercy. 

Today we celebrate our Catechist; we take time to pray for those who serve as catechist in our parish and for their parents who are the primary catechist for their children.

When Sir Christopher Wren was building St. Paul’s Cathedral in London – asked two stone cutters what they were doing; one said, “I’m cutting stone!” the other said, “I’m building a Cathedral!”

Today as you build your cathedral of love for a few minutes [in silence] reflect on what George Herbert (1593-1633) wrote,

“He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.”

May God Be Praised!

Below is a copy of the Homily given by Fr. Mychal Judge On Monday, September 10, 2001.  He was the first casualty of the 9/11 Attacks among our responders.   
[The Last Homily of Father Mychal Judge September 10, 2001 FDNY Engine 73, Ladder 42, Bronx, NY]

 

Good morning, everyone.

May the grace of God the Father, peace of God the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

We come to this house this morning to celebrate renewal, rejuvenation, new life.  We come to thank God for the blessings over all the years - the good work that's been done here and especially the last few days.  We can never thank God enough for the reality of the lives we have.  So, standing in His presence this morning, and truly this is a chapel, let us pause for a moment, perhaps close our eyes, and thank God for some special blessings in our individual lives.

Let us pray.

Thank you Lord for life.  Thank you for love.  Thank you for goodness.  Thank you for work.  Thank you for family.  Thank you for friends.  Thank you for every gift because we know that every gift comes from you, and without you, we have and are nothing.  So, as we celebrate this day in thanksgiving to you, keep our hearts and minds open. Let us enjoy each other's company, and most of all, let us be conscious of Your presence in our lives and in a special way in the lives of all those who have gone before us.  And Father we make our prayer, as always, in Jesus' name who lives with You forever and ever.

That's the way it is.  Good days.  And bad days.  Up days.  Down days.  Sad days.  Happy days.  But never a boring day on this job.  You do what God has called you to do.  You show up.  You put one foot in front of another.  You get on the rig and you go out and you do the job - which is a mystery.  And a surprise.  You have no idea when you get on that rig.  No matter how big the call.  No matter how small.  You have no idea what God is calling you to.  But he needs you.  He needs me.  He needs all of us. 

The retirees - He needs your prayers.  He needs your stopping by occasionally to give strength and support and to tell the stories of the old days.  We need the house and to those of you that are working now, keep going.  Keep supporting each other.  Be kind to each other.  Love each other.  Work together and do what you did the other night and the weeks and the months and the years before and from this house, God's blessings go forth in this community.  It's fantastic!

What great people.  We love the job.  We all do.  What a blessing that is.  A difficult, difficult job and God calls you to it.  And then He gives you a love for it so that a difficult job will be well done.  Isn't He a wonderful God?  Isn't He good to you?  To each one of you?  And to me!  Turn to Him each day.  Put your faith and your trust and your hope and your life in His hands, and He'll take care of you and you'll have a good life.

And this house will be a great, great blessing to this neighborhood and to this city.  Amen.

Fathers homily was guided by the Holy Spirit may all we do be guided by the Holy Spirit.  Today spend a few minutes thank God for our first Responders and their families.

May God Be Praised!