Month: February 2018

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Ash Wednesday

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Mass Readings

Ash Wednesday Readings
February 14, 2018
Reading 1 – Joel 2:12-18
Psalm – Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6AB, 12-13, 14 and 17
Reading 2 – 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2
Gospel – Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Once again we begin our journey from Ash Wednesday, through Lent, through Holy Week, to Easter. Our journey reminds us of our need to be mindful – mindful of the Jesus Christ was born human; who came and lived and walked among us; who suffered and died so that you and I might be saved; and who rose from the dead on Easter. It is that Jesus, the risen Jesus Christ who invites you and invites me each into a personal relationship.

But there are so many things in this world that distract us from having a relationship with Jesus. Maybe, we glance at our phone just for a minute and get so caught up in social media that a whole hour has disappeared. Maybe we sit down in front of the television to catch up on that show everyone is talking about, and suddenly you realize you just binged watched the whole season – the whole season! Maybe you sit down and open that special box of chocolates on the St. Valentine’s day and think, “I’ll have one piece – just one piece,” or crack open that case of beer that’s sitting in the fridge calling your name, or perhaps that bottle of scotch that your friend gave you for Christmas only to look back and see an empty container! “Whoa! Where did that go?”

All of these things are examples of things that distract our relationship with Jesus. And if we have not relationship with Jesus, then it’s easy to take everything and everyone around us for granted. Now is a perfect time to reconcile ourselves against those sins – those excesses in our life. Now is the time to go to the sacrament of reconciliation and lay our sins at the foot of the cross.

Holy Mother Church reminds us that we have access to three ancient, powerful, spiritual exercises to help purify our bodies, our hearts and our minds from all of the things that distract us, and that might contaminate our thinking and our bodies. Any combination is a wonderful sacrifice for our Lenten journeys. They are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. But Scripture reminds us today that whatever you do, don’t call attention to it. You’re not trying to win the praise or admiration of those around you. We sacrifice to deepen our relationship with Jesus of Easter morning.

Setting time aside for mindful prayer is important. It’s about being deliberate in the way we pray. Whether you pray a pre-written prayer or you pray spontaneously, if you sacrifice time to pray more during Lent, be mindful about your prayer. Slowly pray those words so that they impact you. It’s not about checking a box. It’s about deepening our relationship with Jesus.

Fasting gives us an opportunity to purify our thinking and our bodies. We can fast from electronics. We can fast from social media. We can fast from television. And we can fast from food. It seems that the medical world is catching up to this ancient biblical secret. Doctors and nutritionists more and more are recommending some form of fasting be incorporated into our diets. Even intermittent fasting has a powerful, healing effect. This is a wonderful opportunity we have here in Lent to try fasting. If for some medical reason you are not sure whether or not you should fast, then talk to you doctor. Tell your doctor you are a Christian and you would like to incorporate fasting in your treatment program. Let them help you design something that works for you. Perhaps by giving up food it might clarify our thought to deepen our relationship with Christ.

Almsgiving is not just about giving money away. It’s really about changing the way we look at our money, our wealth and our possessions. It’s about recognizing that everything I have belongs to God. I am just the steward. That’s why Holy Mother Church calls giving “stewardship” to remind us that what we collect in this world is not only meant for our benefit, but meant to be shared with others for the building up of God’s kingdom. When we give, it’s not about saying I have an extra two bucks so let me put it in the basket, but how will this sacrifice bring into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

This Lenten season is a wonderful opportunity to invite family and friends back to the Church. If they don’t understand what all of this is about, then try to share with them. Help them understand what we are doing and why. They don’t need to turn to some fancy New Age hocus pocus. We have access to three, ancient and powerful spiritual exercises in our own faith tradition.

Holy Mother Church tells us that if we do these spiritual exercises, then we might have an encounter with the risen Jesus Christ, the Jesus of Easter morning, who wants to help us change our lives so that you and I might experience the salvation promised by God.

Homework! As you go through Lent this year, there is one thing I suggest we do:

  1. Every time you do whatever it is you are sacrificing this Lent, ask yourself, “how is this sacrifice drawing me into a stronger relationship with the Jesus.

If we do our exercises, then hopefully we will recognize that we’re not giving up chocolate for the sake of giving up chocolate. No! But that are trying to draw closer to Jesus Christ.

Do you got it? Do you get it? Are you going to do it? Good! Through the intercession of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, may we all come to know and to love Jesus. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

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Do I Walk the Walk?

One Voice Article - 2017 Catechist Conference Promotion

Mass Readings

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 4, 2018
Reading 1 – Job 7:1-4,6-7
Psalm – Psalm 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Reading 2 – 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
Gospel – Mark 1:29-39

Once my wife and I hosted a Christmas party for her employer. As is typical, there was an exchange of gifts. In the gift that her boss received was a fake lottery ticket with bold writing: MATCH THREE AND WIN. So, he scratched the first box: $1 million. He, thought, “Ok.” He scratched the second box: $1 million. You see where this is going. He scratched the third box: $1 million. He jumped up and cheered! He was so excited! He did running man in my living room! Bit of a nasty shock for him when he figured out the truth.

Isn’t it funny how we’re so eager to share any kinds of news? But when it comes to sharing our faith, so many of us are afraid to talk. In fact, society tells us we shouldn’t talk politics or religion, right? But that’s exactly what Scripture is challenging us today to do.

Today’s Gospel is a continuation of last week’s message. What did we learn last week? We learned that Jesus Christ has been given all authority and all power. The challenge of the readings last week, I believe, is how do we live out missionary discipleship? How do we live lives in witness to the authority of Jesus Christ?

What’s a disciple? Three things: a disciple accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and savior; a disciple seeks to learn more about Jesus; and a disciple goes out to share the good news of Jesus Christ, to become what Pope Francis calls a missionary disciple.

Today’s readings builds on this idea from last week. The Psalm tells us the Lord heals the brokenhearted. We heard a reading from Job, but we know how that story ends. God restores Job and he lives a long life to see his children and his grandchildren and even his great grandchildren. In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus performing many more miracles. He heals and he cures.

But Jesus doesn’t heal for the sake of healing. No! Jesus is trying to connect with the people so that they will open up to him, so that they might receive the Good News and be saved. Then Jesus says, “Let us go on to nearby villages.”

Look what happens when he heals Simon’s mother-in-law. After she’s healed, she gets up and serves them. After he’s healed and cured, Jesus says let’s go out to the nearby villages. The Gospel is trying to tell us that our right response to the healing power of Jesus is to go out and share the Good News.

My brothers and sisters, that’s our great challenge too! But we don’t need new miracles. The miracle already happened! Jesus came into this world and walked among us. That’s what Christmas is all about. He taught and he preached. Jesus allowed himself to be tortured and crucified for you and for me. What’s my response, then, to God’s saving action in my life? What is the fruit of God’s work in my life?

What is the fruit of God’s work in our own lives? Do I walk the walk, or do I just talk the talk? Ask me, “What can I do?” I’m so glad you asked! This is a great time to talk about what we can do as we prepare for Lent.

You know when you fly on an airplane, they say in the event of a loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will drop down. You need to put the mask on yourself before you help someone else. Discipleship is very similar. I need to work on myself as I’m reaching out to other people. How do I do that?

Do I come to confession? You see, in confession, I cannot just glibly say, “I’m sorry.” No! I need to list my sins. I say them! I need to own them! Then I ask for forgiveness. Do I receive the healing power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation?

I need to come to mass – often – not just on the weekends. I should try to go to daily mass at least once during the week either here or at a church near where you work. You see at mass, we are nourished by the Word of God and then we come forward to receive the body, the blood, the soul and the divinity of Jesus in the Eucharist. So that fully nourished, I can go out there and share a message of hope in a dark world.

That’s what Paul is talking about in Corinthians. His fruit is that he made himself a slave to the Kingdom of God to save as many people as possible. That is our challenge too – to bear fruit through our missionary discipleship.

How? First, I need to be able to more openly share my faith with my family and friends. For example, when we eat, do I make the sign of the cross and pray before meals – even in restaurants. Do I walk the walk? I can discuss the homily I heard in mass with my family and friends. I can invite friends and family to come to mass and to come to parish activities like the upcoming Knights of Columbus fish fry. You don’t have to be Catholic to participate. Why not invite people to come.

I can also help people who are missionaries, people who go out into the world to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. I can help them with my prayers. I can help them with some money. Maybe I can even go on a mission trip too. What do missionaries do? There’s all kinds of missionaries who do all sorts of things.

Let’s talk about some things that we at Friends of Los Niños do. We like to share the love of Jesus Christ in Honduras especially with children through various projects and especially through the orphanage we where we spend most of our time. Let me share with you a story about that orphanage. One morning a child was brought to the orphanage after spending the whole night next to the bodies of his dead parents. It was a drug deal gone wrong. Sr. Teresita, the nun who started the orphanage, tried to show him the boys dormitory where he would be staying and tried to get him to unpack his things. But he said, “NO. Today is my birthday. My dad is coming to pick me up and he’s going to bring a big cake.” Later in the day when he started getting a little restless, Sister asked him if he wanted to go take a nap. He yelled out, “NO. Today is my birthday. My dad is coming to pick me up and he is going to bring a big cake.” Near the end of the day when his dad didn’t come, his eyes got really big and he said, “My dad isn’t coming, is he?”

There are no words – no words to help a child like that! All we can do is wrap him in a huge bear hug and tell him he is loved. We use the money we raise, especially from our monthly sponsorships, to pay for his care at the orphanage and to pay for his education so that his life might bear fruit – so that his life doesn’t meet the end of a drug dealer’s gun.

Missionary work doesn’t have to be something extraordinary. It starts with people like you and me living our lives of faith openly. People who are willing to share the Good News of Jesus Christ by our word and example. Hopefully through the way we live our lives, someone might have an encounter with Jesus, an encounter that leads to transformation, transformation that leads to salvation.

Homework! Oh yes, even on this Super Bowl Sunday, we all have homework! There are two things I ask you to consider. After you come forward to receive the Eucharist or to receive a blessing and return to your place to pray:

First, ask yourself before God, “How do I live a life of missionary discipleship? How do I walk the walk?”

Second, ask yourself, “During this upcoming season of Lent, how can I sacrifice my time, talents, and treasure to support the missionary work of the Church?”

I think if we do our homework, it will help us develop our sense of discipleships so that we can go out into the world and share the Good News!

Do you got it? Do you get it? Good! Through the intercession of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, may we all come to love and to serve Jesus. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. +Amen!

To learn more about our work at Friends of los Niños, check out our website at https://www.friendsoflosninos.org.

There are three ways you can help us out:

  1. Pray for our missionary work
  2. Sponsor a child
  3. Come with us on a missionary trip