19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily

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19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a
Psalm 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14, (8)
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:22-33
August 9, 2020

After sending his disciples on their way, Jesus “went up on the mountain by himself to pray.”  There He encountered God his Father.  As much as Jesus needed to do this in prayer, we need to pray all the more.  We need to have the Lord come into our lives.

Sent on their way, the disciples encountered a storm where they were “tossed about by the waves for the wind was against them.”  When we strive to follow Jesus as the way and the truth and the life, we can feel like the waves of society are against us.  We need to encounter God for strength and support.

As the disciples faced the storm, Jesus “came toward them walking on the sea.”  One might think they would rejoice at this but instead they were terrified, thinking it must be a ghost.  After all, I’m sure they hadn’t seen anyone walk on water before.

Knowing their fear, Jesus said to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”  When Peter realizes it is Jesus, he asks Jesus to invite him to join him.  Jesus does.  Peter actually began to walk on water!  But it didn’t last long.  “He became frightened” and began to sink.  He called to Jesus for help and, of course, Jesus saved him.

We come here because we want to follow Jesus.  Sometimes we do but then it becomes difficult.  We begin to sink in sin.  That’s when we go to Confession so Jesus can save us.

It isn’t always easy to follow Jesus.  Jesus said to Peter, “O you of little faith.”  Perhaps at times we feel like our faith isn’t very strong.

This isn’t unique to us.  Peter had his struggles.  Elijah had his struggles.

Just prior to the encounter of Elijah with God in today’s first reading, Elijah defeated, by the power of God, the 450 prophets of Baal.  Having seen God manifest his power in this way, one might think Elijah would be strong in faith.

As today’s reading picks up, Elijah is in a cave.  Why?  Because following the victory over the 450 prophets of Baal, Jezebel, the king’s wife, is trying to have him killed.  Elijah goes to the cave to hide.

God comes to Elijah in his fear.  God invites Elijah outside as “the LORD will be passing by.”  The Lord comes to him but how?

First there is a strong driving wind.  At times God is present in the wind.  For example, in Genesis 2:7, God breathes life into Adam.  In the Exodus 14:31, God parts the Red Sea with the wind.  However, God was not in the wind with Elijah.

Then, there was an earthquake.  Think of how the earth shook when Jesus died (Matthew 27:52).  But again, God was not present in the earthquake that day with Elijah.

Then comes fire.  For Moses, God came in the fire of burning bush (Exodus 3) but not for Elijah.

No, that day the Lord came to Elijah in “a tiny whispering sound.”  The Lord came in silence.  That’s why we need silence.  We shouldn’t try to do all the talking in prayer.  Sometimes we need to listen.  Sometimes we simply need to be silent.

God manifests himself in different ways to different people at different times.  Each encounter with God can be unique but there are some commonalities.  God comes to us when we make ourselves silent in prayer.  God comes to us as we celebrate Mass.  God comes to us in the Liturgy of the Word as we hear “what God proclaims.” 

In our psalm verse today, we respond, “Lord, let us see your kindness.  God comes to us in acts of love.  We need that love.  We need to do our part to let God’s love be shown to others through us. 

It’s about openness.  God is always with us.  God is with us 24/7.  Yet, we may find ourselves often not aware of his presence.  It’s all about openness.  Do we let God be manifest to us?

We know we should be aware of God’s presence at Mass.  Even then sometimes one might struggle a little.

We know God is with us in prayer but sometimes we are so tied up in our struggles that we ramble on complaining but we forget to stop and listen to God as He comes to us in prayer.

When we take a walk or a ride on a boat, we might see the beauty of the water, the trees, the grass, flowers, and the land.  Do we see God in the things He created?  God comes to us in what He creates.

What storms do you face right now?  How are you aware of God coming to you in the storms?  Know that He does.  Know that God is always with you.

Praying for the Unemployed and Underemployed

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Today, August 7th, has a couple of different options at Mass listed for saints. All are optional in the United States. The first option listed is for St. Sixtus II, Pope and Martyr and his companions. They were martyred for their faith in the third century.

The second option is the one I would like to focus on today, St. Cajetan. He was born in 1480. After studying law, became a priest and religious. In his love of neighbor, he worked for the care of the poor and the sick. From his concern for the poor, he is the patron saint of the unemployed.

We should always pray for the unemployed. With the current situation with the Coronavirus, unemployment is very high now so we need to pray all the more, relying on the intercession of St. Cajetan.

In his care for the sick, he helped those who suffered from the Bubonic plague. So, in the 17th century, his intercession was invoked during a plague. So, it is especially fitting we seek his intercession for the unemployed during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Why should we pray for the unemployed? First, we do so out of concern for their financial needs to provide for their families. With this in mind, I will include the underemployed, those whose work hours are reduced for lack of enough work.

While the financial concern is the immediate need, I see a second need in prayer for the underemployed and unemployed. Work is not something we do just to make money to pay our bills. Ideally, we identify the gifts that God has given us and find a career where we can use them to do our part to make the world a better place and for the building up of the Kingdom of God. This is the way we find fulfillment. So, let us also pray for those who might have a job but not the job they are meant by God to have. We pray that they be led to where God is calling them to be.

So, today, we ask for the intercession of St. Cajetan upon all who are unemployed, underemployed, and those who need to find new work, that they find a job where they can find fulfillment using the gifts that God has given them and receive a just wage to provide for their families.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

What’s in the News

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One of the things I like to write about here on my blog is current events in the news. I also desire to incorporate current events into my homilies. I think this is important because we need to show our faith is relevant today.

However, I don’t do this as much as I would like. I sometimes struggle to find things in the news to write about in the context of our faith. The struggle is not because of lack of relevance. The struggle comes in at least two ways. First, I wish to avoid getting into political discussions. Unfortunately, so much in the news today involves politics. Secondly, it seems like it is always the same stuff in the news. Certainly, the Coronavirus is in the news everyday. It seems like protests and riots are almost daily in the news along with acts of violence such as mass shootings. Then, there is the partisan politics. Our faith has something to say about all of these but I don’t want to seem like a broken record repeating myself.

In order to show that our faith does have something to say about these topics, today I am going to offer some short thoughts on them to give you something to think about. If you have questions about what our faith has to say about current things in our world, please feel free to use the comment feature at the end of this article to ask your questions.

Coronavirus – in the first two to three months of the virus shutdown, I think I made frequent references to it here (click here to see articles I included under the “Coronavirus” category). In one line, I would summarize by saying the shutdown has been an opportunity for us to think about our priorities, including our relationship with God.

Violence such as shootings – here I think we might often feel distant (when they happen in other states) and/or powerless. Especially when it happens in a distant location, we might feel like there is nothing we can do to make a difference. We can. We can always pray. We can also always seek to respond to negative actions of others with love. The only way to break the trend of violence is someone needs to be the first to love. Are you willing to respond with love when someone treats you badly?

Protests vs. riots – I think an essential part of making a difference here begins with distinguishing between protests and riots. I use “protests” to describe peaceful gatherings where people gather to speak against injustice. For example, yes, absolutely “Black Lives Matter” because all lives matter. Everyone is a child of God. Everything is given dignity by God that must be respected. When one’s dignity is not respected, we need to stand up, but one’s actions in standing up against injustice must be acts of love and not violence. Now, as I use the term, “riots” involve unhealthy violence. What good does looting do? What good does setting fires do?

Having said this, I return for a moment to the Coronavirus. There have been fights over people refusing to wear face masks in public. We don’t like wearing masks. They are annoying, hot, and can make it difficult to breath. However, I believe they do make a difference. States with face masks and social distancing requirements are doing better against the Coronavirus than those without such requirements. I don’t like to have to wear a mask either but I am willing to make the sacrifice to get ahead of the virus. Think of soldiers who sacrifice their lives for a greater good. We should be willing to wear face masks for the greater good of society.

Lastly, as I said I don’t like to get into politics, so just a brief comment about partisan politics. I pray for everyone to stop blaming the “other side.” What good does it do? Please avoid the negative comments about others and focus on positive steps and facts. Be the first to take the “high ground.”

I do not seek to do my own will. I do not seek to do the will of any political group. When I pray “thy will be done,” it is God’s Will that I seek to do.

Remember, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9).

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

We Face Difficult Times

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As a church, as the people of God, we face difficult times. Right now, we are dealing with the Coronavirus. We are celebrating public Masses (with face masks and social distancing), albeit with smaller numbers as people stay home to protect their health. However, it is not the Coronavirus that I want to focus on today. It is other crises that we face as a church that I want to write about today.

Notice, I used the plural “crises.” Yes, we face multiple “crises.” Which crisis comes to mind first for you?

Is it the sexual abuse scandal? This crisis has its origin in the sin of a few priests who led a life of sin in abusing children. There is no excuse for this. If you or someone you know has been a victim of this, I am sorry. It never should have happened. The sin was followed by the cover-up. None of us like to talk about sins but this was covered up in a way that failed to keep it from happening again. Now changes have been made but we must deal with what has happened and always work to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Our first concern is always for the victims and to make sure it does not happen again. That being said, we also admit it effects the way people look at the church.

Another crisis we face in the church is a crisis in vocations. Here, the first thing that comes to mind might be the declining number of priests. There are those who wish to blame this on celibacy, claiming that if the church would allow married priests, we would have enough priests to continue as we were.

Here, I will say that the problem isn’t celibacy itself. It is the way we look at celibacy. Society fails to see the value in celibacy. It is a sacrifice and, hence, a witness of service. The same is true for religious life. The numbers of women and men joining religious orders is down too. We need this witness.

We also need to include marriage as part of the vocation crisis. People no longer see marriage as a covenant for life. Society fails to see marriage as “service” or a witness of God’s love (see my video presentation Sacraments of Service in my series on the sacraments).

Another crisis we face is the declining number of people who come to Mass. In fact, I see this as a big part of the vocation crisis. If one isn’t coming to church, one isn’t going to enter religious life or become a priest. It also effects what we can do as a church. The timing of church closings often corresponds to the retirement of priests without enough new priests being ordained but at the heart of it all is the declining number of parishioners. It leaves us with fewer volunteers and less financial contributions. It is not about the money. It is about mission.

This leads us to the “identity crisis” we face as a church (see Divine Renovation: Bringing Your Parish from Maintenance to Mission by Fr. James Mallon. Twenty-Third Publications. 2014. cf. Made for Mission: Renewing Your Parish Culture by Tim Glemkowski. Our Sunday Visitor. 2019.)

Both Fr. Mallon and Glemkowski speak of the need for us as a church to move from “maintenance” to “mission.” Conversations about the decline in the number of people attending Mass tend to focus on recent decades. Fr. Mallon and Glemkowski see it as a much older problem. It was simply masked by increasing attendance at Mass from immigrants and population growth. Family size is smaller and there are fewer immigrants in many of our local churches.

“Maintenance” is what we do to keep going as is. This seemed to work for a long time because there was plenty of people involved in church. However, when we function solely in maintenance mode, we can lose our sense of mission. We lose our sense of purpose. From this, we lose our sense of identity.

What do we as a Church exist for? For the answer, I turn to what Pope Paul VI wrote in Evangelii Nuntiandi,

“Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection” (14).

We have been given a mission by Jesus to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19).

What we need to do is help people encounter Jesus (cf. Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est (God is love), 1.). We need to help people see the presence of Jesus in their lives.

How do we do this? First, we need to think about who is leading us in what we believe. Unfortunately, for many it is the secular culture that determines what they believe. Then, they expect the church to go along with what the culture says. This is completely backwards. It is not the culture that determines what our faith believes. No, it should be, it must be our faith, the Truth of Jesus Christ, that shapes our culture.

It is the Holy Spirit who must be the one leading the Church. The Holy Spirit does this, in large part, through the hierarchy of our Catholic Church. It is the Holy Spirit that makes it possible for us to fulfill the mission Jesus gave us. This mission is who we are.

For more on this I invite you to two resources on my website:

The first is an article, “What Sort of Church Should We Be?” (2017, http://nebula.wsimg.com/6d03a2640f35abd4cf99429a55d3b8b8?AccessKeyId=F465FCE598BCE1CD661B&disposition=0&alloworigin=1), I wrote talking about our need to evangelize.

The second is a video presentation, Evangelization and Apologetics, I did in 2017.

I encourage you to do what God asks of you to share the faith with people around you. I ask you to pray for our Church to renew our sense of identity and that we be led by the Holy Spirit to fulfill our mission to proclaim the Gospel.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily

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18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isaiah 55:1-3
Psalm 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18 (16)
Romans 8:35, 37-39
Matthew 14:13-21
August 2, 2020

All our readings today share the theme of being fed. 

In the first reading, the Lord invites “all who are thirsty” to “come to the water,” to “come, receive grain and eat.”  All can come “without paying and without cost.’ 

The Lord extends this invitation in the time of the Babylonian Exile.  Many have been taken away in Exile for turning away from the Lord.  The Lord invites them to return to him.

The psalmist proclaims, “The hand of the Lord feeds us.”  The psalmist says the Lord will give us our food “in due season” and will “satisfy” our desires.

Jesus is drawing large crowds.  They see something in him that they desire.  Even when He went off to pray by himself, they follow him.  When He sees the crowd, “his heart was moved with pity for them.” 

He continues to cure and preach.

As the day grew late, the disciples realized the people needed to eat.  They also thought that there was no way they could provide food for five thousand men, plus the women and children. 

So, they ask Jesus to “dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.”  They are not trying to get rid of the people.  They do this out of concern for the people.

Jesus said in response, “There is no need for them to go away, give them some food yourselves.” 

Their answer is to say that “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”  They’re trying to tell Jesus, it looks impossible.  He is showing them that God will provide.  There are five loaves and two fish.  Add five and two together and you get seven.  Seven is a biblical number for completeness (seven days of creation).  The Lord will answer all our needs.

Jesus does indeed feed the whole crowd. As He prepares to do so, “he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples.”  These words should sound familiar.  They are the words that the priest says leading to the consecration.

Jesus indeed feeds us. He gives us food for our souls.  It is the Eucharist.  It is his gift to us, giving us his love.

Paul begins today with the question, “What will separate us from the love of Christ?” 

Is it “anguish?”  “Distress”?  How about “famine”?

No, these things cause us difficultly but they do not separate us from the love of Christ.  For example, famine can cause distress.  It can be hard to believe that God loves us if we have nothing to eat.  Things like the Coronavirus cause us “distress” and “anguish.”  Even when we were in shutdown and couldn’t gather together, we may have been separated physically from one another, but we were never separated from the love of Christ.

Out of health concerns, we still do not gather with our entire congregation.  For those who cannot come yet, God continues to feed them with spiritual communion.  For those of us who are able to gather together, He feeds us with the Eucharist, the very Body and Blood of Jesus.

One of the events that got postponed during the shutdown was First Communion for ten of our children.  Now, they have completed their preparation and are receiving their First Communion this weekend.

It is their First Communion.  The word “first,” of course, says this is something they have never received before.

The word “first” also signifies it should not be the last time they receive Communion.  In fact, it is something we are called to receive frequently.  We are to gather for Mass every week.

Have you ever thought about how many times you have received Communion in your life?  If one receives First Communion at the age of seven and comes every week, at the age of 75, they would have received over 3,500 times (more if they go to daily Mass.)

When you come up to receive, do you think about what you are receiving?  Think about how we receive.  We come forth in procession.  This is not just functional to come to the priest.  Our coming forth in procession for Communion shows our desire to come to Jesus.

We bow before receiving.  The act of bowing shows we realize we are receiving our Lord.  Following what St. Cyril of Jerusalem said in the fourth century, we put one hand over the other, forming a throne for Jesus our King.  To the words “the Body of Christ,” we respond “amen.”  Amen means we believe.

Jesus feeds us with the Bread of Life, his very Body.  Thanks be to God.

In the World But Not of the World

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We live in the world, meaning this physical world, but we are not of this world. What does this mean? We have physical bodies in this world. We are dependent on things of this world for our physical existence. We need food, clothing, and shelter. That means having a job to pay for the things we need. However, we are not of this world in that it is not the totality of what we are created for.

This means we should not see material things as the sum of our existence. We are created for something more. We are created to know God. We are created to spend eternity with God.

This does not mean we should forget the things of this world. We just need to look at them differently. For instance, one can look at one’s job solely in terms of making money to get what we need. In faith, we can look at the work we do differently. Do we make the world a better place? Does the work we do help build up the Kingdom of God (thy Kingdom come)? Building up the kingdom is not just something for those who work for the church. Health care workers can contribute to the building of the kingdom in caring for their patients. Cleaning staff help keep the rest of us healthy by keeping things clean.

In working to build up the Kingdom of God, we need to acknowledge people’s physical needs. In James 2:15-16, we read, “If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?” To bring people to Christ, we need to show them love. For those lacking basic necessities, it means helping them in those necessities. How do we expect them to know that God loves them if they don’t have enough food?

To say we are “not of this world” is to say we do not let it control our entire lives. There are two Bible passages that I think are very relevant when we say we are in this world but not of this world.

First, there is John 15:19, “If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.” We do not “belong” to this world in that, as I said above, it is not the sum of our existence. This world does not dictate our whole existence. It is not the ultimate purpose of our existence.

The second passage is John 17:14-16 where we read, “I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.” Jesus did not belong to this world and, created in the image of God, we do not belong to this world. However, Jesus says that He does not ask the Father to take us out of this world. We are to live in this world until our appointed time to die.

What we need to do is to put God first. As Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). We need to make a choice between God and “mammon” (“mammon” meaning material possessions).

Again, our physical needs are real. Yet, we must not them get the best of us. If we accumulate material things, we might like to think that they belong to us. However, what have we given up to accumulate these physical things? What good does a fancy wardrobe, fancy car, or home do you if you have no one to share it with? Do we work so many hours that we never have time for God or our family? If so, these things do not belong to us. We belong to them.

It’s not that we intend to let these things take over. It starts with basic needs but then expands. Sometimes, the more we have, the more we want. Yet, we can never find true fulfillment in material things. As I said above, we are not created for the material things of this world, we are created to know God.

Here’s another way of looking at it. People spend a lot of time trying to climb the “ladder of success.” Does one every reach the top or does the climb go on forever without ever really achieving total success? As Christians our success lies in being with God.

Having written this article, I am not sure I have made the point I hoped to when I started, that we must choose to belong to God rather than the things of this world. I hope you follow what I am getting at.

In conclusion, I will just ask if you belong to this world or to God?

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

What Will Heaven Be Like?

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Have you ever pondered the question, “what will Heaven be like?” I don’t expect to end up there anytime soon but it is a question we might ask. After all, we expect to spend eternity there.

The question comes to mind now for me for two reasons. First, our gospel readings the last two Sundays (see my homilies July 19, 2020-16th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A and July 26, 2020-17th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A) have included parables of Jesus talking about what the Kingdom of Heaven may be likened to.

The second reason is, following my recent article, “Purgatory as a Gift That Gets Us in Shape for Heaven,” it seems appropriate to talk about Heaven.

Unlike the word, “Purgatory,” that is not used in the Bible (“Purgatory as a Gift,” 2), the word “Heaven” appears in the Bible (New American Bible Revised Edition translation) 705 times. Clearly, it is an important topic.

How do you picture Heaven? Do you think of a place with blue sky, white puffy clouds, and angels flying around on wings? Children (and adults) wonder if our pets will be there. How about our loved ones? I know some people who don’t like meetings. They say there are no meetings in Heaven (and Hell is one endless meeting).

What does the Bible say Heaven will be like? The recent parables of Jesus speak of it like a mustard seed, yeast, weeds, and treasure. It certainly is a treasure for there we will be with God. What greater treasure can there be?

There are people today who seem to take God’s forgiveness for granted and think there is no Hell and everyone gets into Heaven. Looking at the Parable of the Weeds (16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A), they seem to interpret Jesus saying not to pull out the weeds to say everyone gets into Heaven. They need to look at verses 13:40-43 where Jesus speaks of the final judgment, “Just as weeds are collected and burned [up] with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Jesus himself says it is not enough to call him, “Lord, Lord” in Matthew 7:21-23. It is not enough to call Jesus “Lord.” We need to live what we believe.

So, what must we do to inherit eternal life? This is the question that leads to Jesus’ response in Matthew 19:16-29. Jesus first responds by speaking of our need to follow God’s Commandments. Then, Jesus says, “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24). It is not easy to get into Heaven but do not worry. In Matthew 19:26, Jesus continues, ““For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” It is possible for us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven because Jesus willingly sacrificed his life on the Cross so that our sins will be forgiven when we repent and confess them in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.” Thank you Jesus!

Jesus himself assures us that He prepares a place in his Father’s house for all who believe in him as “the way and the truth and the life” (see John 14:1-6).

I started with the question, “what will Heaven be like.” I admit I have not given a direct answer to that. I have referred to Jesus’ parables. I will also point you to the Book of Revelation beginning in chapter 4 where it speaks of the heavenly liturgy. For more on the heavenly liturgy and how the Mass connects us to the heavenly liturgy, I point you to The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth by Scott Hahn (Doubleday publishing, 1999).

If you are looking for a physical description of Heaven, I can’t offer that. Just as I said in “Purgatory as a Gift That Gets Us in Shape for Heaven” that we shouldn’t limit our thinking of Purgatory as a “place” (2) or a time “4”, the same is true for Heaven.

Heaven is a treasure so valuable that we should be willing to give up everything of this earthly world for it but it is not a treasure because it is a beautiful physical place. Heaven is the greatest treasure there is because in Heaven we will be with God.

Hell is eternal separation from God.

To be in Heaven is to spend eternity with God. What more do we need need to know? What more can one ask for?

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily

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17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
1 Kings 3:5, 7-12
Psalm 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130 (97a)
Romans 8:28-30
Matthew 13:44-52
July 26, 2020

God said to Solomon, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.” 

If God said this to you, how would you respond?  What is your first thought?…maybe an end to the Coronavirus?  Or would you ask for “riches” or a “long life”?

Now, think about it a little deeper.  Think of it as a once in a lifetime offer. 

Solomon asks for “an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.”

God is pleased with what Solomon asks for.  God is pleased that Solomon did not ask for “a long life…nor for riches…nor for the life” of his enemies.  Solomon saw past earthly treasures to see what is most important.

Solomon asked for “an understanding heart.”  Our psalmist, praising God, says, “The law of your mouth is to me more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces.”  God’s Law is his “delight.”  The psalmist loves God’s commands because they are good.  God’s Law is not a burden.  Following God’s Law leads us to be good people and leads us to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Without God, nothing is holy.

With this in mind, we hear Jesus say, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has buys that field.”  Heaven is so great a treasure that we should be willing to give up everything for it.  It is that “pearl of great price.”  After all, Jesus gave his life for us.

God offers this treasure to everyone.  As Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea which collects fish of every kind.”  Heaven is open to all who live righteously, following God’s Commands.

In God’s eyes, race does not matter.  Ethnicity does not matter.  Our physical abilities do not matter.  The language we speak and our country of origin does not matter.  The only thing that is displeasing to God is sin.  Even then, God forgives those with a repentant heart.

In the Kingdom of Heaven, we will be with God.  That is the greatest treasure that is.  We get a taste of it in this world when we strive to live God’s commands.

We open ourselves to this treasure in receiving the Sacraments, beginning with Baptism, and then Confirmation.  We only receive these two Sacraments once in a lifetime.  We can receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation as often as we sin and repent.  Hopefully, that is not often.

There is something we can do weekly, even daily, that is a taste of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Mass.

Remember how the psalmist said God’s commands are “more precious” than gold and silver.  The first half of Mass centers on God’s Word, including his commandments.  The Liturgy of the Word speaks of God’s love for his people.  It speaks of God’s forgiveness for his people.

The second half of Mass is the Eucharist, the very Body and Blood of Christ.  This is food for our soul.  What more could we ask for in this world?

The Mass offers us treasure. 

Do we “see” the treasure that Mass offers us?  Do we “appreciate” it, or do we take it for granted?

We are Catholic.  We have a set ritual for how we say Mass.  We know when to make the Sign of the Cross, but do we know why we do it?  We know there are readings from the Bible at Mass but do we know how they are selected?  Do we know what the prayers are saying?  Do we know why we bow and genuflect?

Do you know any of these answers or do you just do it because it was what you taught? 

Uncovering the answers to these questions can help us appreciate the treasures of the Mass.  With that in mind, this Fall, I will offer a series of presentations on the Mass to help us know not just what we do at Mass but why.  This is to uncover the treasure of the Mass.  You will find more information in this week’s bulletin on page two.  What you won’t find is the place.  We don’t know what Coronavirus precautions will be in place then.  Maybe it will be an in-person presentation.  Otherwise, it will be an online webinar.  Only God knows right now.

For now, we continue our celebration of Mass as a treasure.

Purgatory and Indulgences

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Last Fall I mentioned Purgatory in Part I of my series, Our Saints and Intercessors. I again mentioned Purgatory in the introduction to my series, Sacraments: Channels of God’s Grace.

In both cases, people expressed interested in hearing more about Purgatory. I recently did some reading about Purgatory and Indulgences. So, I have put together a new article, “Purgatory as a Gift That Gets Us in Shape for Heaven.” It’s eight pages, so, instead of posting it here, it is available on my website as a PDF file at:

http://nebula.wsimg.com/483dc6feeadb522efffa52f3831c3cb9?AccessKeyId=F465FCE598BCE1CD661B&disposition=0&alloworigin=1.

I hope it helps you to understand Purgatory and Indulgences better.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff