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John 1:14

Templates for 40 Words of Jesus pamphlet

Filed under: Blog — admin at 6:38 pm on Tuesday, February 17, 2015

I have attached the two pages for the 40 Words of Jesus Lenten devotion. You can download it as a Word file and then copy the pages back to back to create the foldover. If you wish to make multiple copies, be careful in cutting them up because the margins are not even.

Forty Words of Jesus2015 A

40words of Jesus2015B

HAPPY LENT.

 

Feast of the Holy Family December 28

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin at 8:55 pm on Saturday, December 27, 2014

Feast of the Holy Family                                                      2014

Everything that God touches, he sanctifies, consecrates, glorifies and makes a means of communicating his life and presence. We saw this on the Feast of the Birth of Our Lord. When Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and took on our human nature, He did not destroy our nature, but came with the intention of recreating it and making it capable of sharing life with God in a personal and intimate way that it could not do before. God is slowly but surely putting into place the path for our redemption and making us sharers in the Kingdom of God.

Today we give thanks for God’s touch on the most basic reality of human existence, the family.  The Word of God desired to live in a human family and have a mother who gave him birth and foster-father who would love him, protect him and teach him. This is an amazing fact of how God desires to interact with us. To be a part of a family is a human thing. A family exists by nature in the sense that the Mother and Father become Co-creators with God in the gift of children, which is seen as the fruit of their love for one another. Human beings live by relationships. We need each other and depend on one another to live in the world. God has come to show us that the fundamental root of every human relationship is love.

When we look at the secular understanding of family, the virtue that is highlighted is justice. By the fact that they are parents, husbands and wives owe their children the necessities to survive and thrive in the world. Children, on the other hand, by justice, owe their parents respect, obedience and gratitude for all they have given them.  If we remember that everything God touches he raises up to a higher level of life, what can we say about the Holy Family? When God is brought into the life of the family by the faith of the parents, Justice is raised to the level of Love, a duty becomes a privilege, a responsibility becomes a gift. This gift is given to be shared so that it will continue to grow and bear fruit.

God is showing us that the greatest vocation in the world is not a profession or a trade of some kind, but to be a Mother and a Father. There is nothing greater in the world for the building up of the Kingdom of God and the happiness of the human race than this. The Sacrament of Matrimony, the union of a man and woman in a permanent and unbreakable communion of love is a privileged place for meeting God. From this sacrament comes a reality that is like a sacrament, the Family. The Second Vatican Council referred to the family as the “domestic church,” because it is the first place where faith in Jesus Christ is acknowledged and passed on. Many Saints of the Church have said these words, a strong family produces a strong Church, and a Strong Church helps to form a strong family.

When we talk about family we often talk about having the same blood. But we know that there is something even greater than having the same blood, it is professing and living out the same faith. This is why we recognize in a special way those parents who have natural children, but also those who adopt children out of the abundance of their marital love that finds its roots in the love of Jesus Christ.           The family itself is a place where faith in God and love is learned and practiced every day.

There are people today who do not see this way of life as either possible or healthy. There are attempts to change the meaning of “family.” There are also families that are so overwhelmed with the things of this world that they don’t take the time to care for and nourish their souls and the souls of their children. We have a choice to family life in one of two ways- with Jesus and (kinda) without Jesus. Family life (kinda) without Jesus is one that is run by constant motion and activity and obligations that turns families into a group of individuals, each with their own goal and way of life, little is held in common except the same address and last name.

Family life with Jesus is constant because it is rooted in daily prayer. It is unitive because everyone has the same goal and each one shares in helping others achieve it. Finally it is also sacrificial and reverent because the focus is on serving and loving each other. They learn to live for each other confident that God will always guide them through life’s challenges and make their moments of joy more lasting.

The Church has always been a staunch defender of the family because family life in Christ is impossible without the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Penance. It is impossible without the love that the Holy Spirit pours out upon them in daily prayer and the security which comes with knowing the truth of the teaching of Jesus Christ. As our Mother, the Church daily offers every family the grace of Jesus Christ, which helps us overcome our sinful and selfish natures so that we can be for each other.

God has touched the family through Jesus, Mary and Joseph. He has given us not only the example but the grace to live it out. HE asks for our faith, hope and love of Him. May we pray every day: God our Father, help our family be holy. Help us live for one another and serve you in love and gratitude that we may one day know the fullness of joy in the heaven you have promised for us. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, make our family like unto yours.

Christmas homily 2014

Filed under: Blog — admin at 10:22 pm on Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Christmas  2014

There are many people today who think that everything in the world can be fixed with one of two things, Duct tape and WD 40. If it moves and you don’t want it to move- use the duct tape. If it is supposed to move and it won’t- use the WD 40. Many of us may have used one or both as we put up our Christmas decorations this year do things around the house. But WD 40 and Duct Tape can only go so far. Maybe there is something else needed in the world to make things work better.

There are things, spiritual realities, that duct tape and WD 40 won’t help. How do you fix a broken heart or calm the craziness of life these days, or stop the fights among family members, or the violence in the world?  How do you make happy moments last? How do you keep your marriage strong or your children on the right track? We try and we succeed. We try and then we fail. We believe that it is all up to us to make things happen and it is a challenge. We can feel ourselves to spiritually poor and weak. We might feel like those shepherds, alone and isolated. Overwhelmed with responsibility and underwhelmed with solutions. Tonight we discover something different.

The prophet Isaiah tells us that the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. God is announcing to us through the angels some life changing news-Good News, Glorious News. “You have never been alone. I will now give you my Son to show you the meaning of love and to BE the meaning of love. He will open up your life that has been closed and hardened by sin and fear.” He will save you from sin and death. He will pour into your heart the Holy Spirit of his Truth. This Truth is life-giving, creative, encouraging and real.

Jesus, the new born Son of God, reaches out to us with human hands and loves us with a human heart. He knows our hunger and thirst and love and dependence.  He is born into the world and placed in a manger as a poor infant, dependent on the love and care of his parents. He has been born to make possible for us new way to live in the world. His way is one of faith and love of God, and loving your neighbor as yourself. His way seeks to unite our anxious, wounded and joyful hearts into his heart. His way is one of humble service and compassion.  He will grow in wisdom, age and grace and then preach about the kingdom of his heavenly Father. He will go from laying on the straw and the wood of the manger as an infant to be nailed to the wood of the cross as a man so that God’s true gift of his everlasting love will be revealed to the whole world.

God comes to us as a child to teach us two important lessons.  The first lesson is that the poorest people in the world are those who do not know and experience the full love of God in Jesus Christ. That is why God comes to us first. We are the poorest of the people. We have the gift of faith, but we don’t nourish it. We know God is real, but we do not make time for him in our lives. We know what Gods asks from us, but we keep putting off change.  The knowledge and friendship with Jesus Christ that we remember as we see this new-born infant shows us that God has not given up on us, but has reached out in the most human way so that we could touch him and be raised to share in his love that surpasses all earthly joys.

The second lesson of this Holy Night is that God has put himself personally into our hands so that we become a manger ourselves for the Body of Christ. He comes to us as a God Himself, veiled under the humble appearances of Bread and Wine so that he can bring us comfort, courage, hope and the desire to love Him even more. If the manger of our hearts is not used, but left empty, it is no wonder we feel empty ourselves. It is no wonder that we listen to those things which will ultimately harm us and tear us apart. It is no wonder we have trouble comforting others when we have felt so little heavenly comfort ourselves.

This great Feast of the Incarnation of the Son of God shows us the love God desires to pour out through Jesus in the Sacraments of his Body the Church. It also teaches us that the answers to the greatest challenges we face in the world cannot be solved by a roll of duct tape and a drop of WD 40. We find our answers in Jesus Christ. We find our path in life by daily prayer, living the moral teachings of Jesus Christ, receiving his Sacraments and telling others about our faith.

We find the answers as the Church, as we face the Lord together in gratitude tonight for the lives we have been given and pray that the Holy Spirit who overshadowed Mary will also overshadow us and give us the courage to embrace Jesus the new born Son of God, and never let him go.

November 3 Chapter four of Ocariz

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin at 11:11 am on Monday, November 3, 2014

I found the chapter in the last place i Looked.

Ocarizpriesthood

 

Study questions for MSW chapters 3-4

Filed under: Blog — admin at 3:23 pm on Thursday, September 25, 2014

Here is the attachment for the study questions

Study questions

Eschatology notes

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin at 4:45 pm on Monday, September 22, 2014

Ratzinger

 

Mary Seat of Wisdom Study questions for September 12

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin at 2:12 pm on Tuesday, September 9, 2014

I have attached the questions for Chapters one and two for you to answer for class.

2014 MSW study questions

Easter Sunday Homily 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin at 4:14 pm on Saturday, April 19, 2014

Easter Sunday 2014

Every day the sun rises, our lives are filled with new hopes, new opportunities and sometimes new fears. God gives us a chance to begin again. This is a great gift that many times we take for granted. But there is something more that is going on when we got up this morning, and it was not just colored eggs, chocolate and jelly beans. We remember and recommit ourselves to the life that God has opened for us.

There are three big gifts that have been given us through the Bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The first is that darkness has been conquered by light. The world that has been ruled by the darkness and sin is enlightened by Jesus who rose from the dead and conquered sin. Evil likes to stay hidden in the shadows so it can work for our destruction, but the love of Jesus Christ has pointed the light of his glory on the evils of the world so that they will flee, because the Goodness of God will always overcome the darkness of sin. We are witness of that fact today.

The second gift of the resurrection is that life has conquered death. Mary Magdalene, John and Peter went to the tomb and found it empty. The one whom they loved and saw crucified was not there. The Gospel says that John saw and believed the promise that Jesus made that the Son of man would be handed over to evil men to be crucified, but would be raised from the dead. We live in a world that seems to be fascinated by zombies, the walking dead, the non-living who terrorize the living. The Resurrection of Jesus turns our gaze from the death and decay of the tomb to the brightness and life of loving, giving, forgiving and serving God and one another. Life means growth in wisdom, holiness and love. The resurrected life is a life of courage, faithfulness and the truth not only of what God says, but what he is doing even today for us. The resurrection tells us that God does not desire separation from him, but communion with him.

The third gift of the resurrection is doubt is conquered by faith. St. Peter tells the crowd in the Acts of the Apostles that he is a witness of Jesus death and resurrection, he has seen him. He has heard him. He has touched him. Jesus is real not only in history, but he is the Lord of all history. For those who believe, we do not say Jesus was. We say Jesus is. He is seeking to share his life with us through the gift of faith that was professed when we were baptized. He is willing to walk through the locked doors of our hearts and say “Peace be with you.”

In just a few minutes we will renew the promises that we made at our baptism. We will reject Satan and the darkness of sin in our lives. We will profess our faith in God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit. God the Father has made us his children worthy of the inheritance of everlasting life. Jesus his Son has conquered sin and death by taking on our human nature and offering his life out of love for the Father and us so that death will never have the final word on us. We profess our faith in the Holy Spirit, because it is that Spirit that is dwelling in us today, that makes it possible to love, to serve, to sacrifice, pray, worship  and to tell the world something that it would not even dare to hope for.

We recommit ourselves to God to be living witnesses to the power of the Risen Jesus Christ to love us, to form us and to bring us joy and meaning in life. He gives us his Body and Blood as the Sacrament of his commitment to us. He will never leave us. Today, we not only witness the Sun rise in the East, but we also we say with our heart and soul and mind that the Son of God has risen from the dead, and he has given us a new day, a new life, and a new love. Let us not take his gifts for granted, but use them for our good, our family’s good, and the good of the whole world.

 

Easter Vigil Homily 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin at 8:31 am on Saturday, April 19, 2014

Easter Vigil 2014

          When you were little and taking a car trip with your parents, a question you probably asked several time was “Are we there yet?” We can’t wait to get to where we are going. But as we get older, we begin to see that reaching our desired destination requires that we take the right roads and have enough gasoline to make the trip. Everything we experience along the way prepares us for what we see when we get there.

          This night is similar. We have been on the road for forty days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, preparing our hearts and soul to meet the one whom we have been waiting to see, namely Jesus Christ. This road has been more interior than exterior, more of the heart. Before we arrive, we look back to all the events that brought us here: The creation of the world and the human race, the fall of man into sin and the liberation from slavery, the promise of God to save us and strengthen us that we can reach that ultimate goal of heavenly life with him. It is quite a long journey, and tonight, we stop pick up some more people to accompany us.

          The people who join us tonight are those who had walked a different path and taken a different road. They have heard the Risen Lord call to their hearts and offer them a new way, a brighter way, and a holy way. It is a way that will include the cross, it is way that includes struggles. But it is also a path in which we do not walk alone.

          The men, women and children who join us tonight through the waters of rebirth, the profession of faith and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, have a whole new world opened for them. It is the world of the new life of Christ and the guiding strength of the Holy Spirit. As the Church, we ask God to pour out on them all that he has given to us, wise and loving hearts, a strong faith, and a courage to be a living witness to the saving power of Jesus Christ to all around them. They are fed for the first time with the Bread of life and the Blood of salvation.

          Over these last forty days, and for many of them, even longer, they have asked Jesus Christ to show them his face, and they have come to meet him both in his Word and in the Teaching of the Apostles. They have learned that taking on a new life requires a surrendering of their old ways, turning from sin and selfishness so that the grace and generosity of God may fill them up. Tonight their education takes another step, as the Holy Spirit speaks to their hearts through the power of the sacraments and unites them to Jesus Christ in a deeper way. The Holy Spirit turns on the lights and brightens them, so that they leave here different form how they came.

          But tonight is not just about bringing new people into the family. It has much to teach us who have already been on the road a long time. We, old-timers need to remember why we started this path. We have hit a few potholes in life and pulled off the road a few times. Jesus reminds us tonight that just because the road is rough does not mean that we are on the wrong road. The world in which we live is a bumpy place and the ride is not pleasant sometimes, but it is still the best and only road to be on. It is the path for which we have been created we have been. WE human beings have a short memory and in the heat of the moment, we wonder out loud to God, “ARE WE THERE YET?  Jesus response to us is two-fold. Yes and no, which is always a good Catholic response.

We are there in the sense that Jesus is really and truly present to us in our hearts by the movements of the Holy Spirit and as we nurture that life, we can begin to see and experience the beauty he has promised us. We see the outline of the heavenly city, through the lighted candles and we smell the fragrant air filled with the incense of the worship of God. We are fed with the Body and Blood of Jesus himself so that our souls will never again know the pain of spiritual hunger. We watch and wait for the Lord tonight so that tomorrow we can start out again with a purer heart and a clearer vision. As we make room for our new members, may we share what we believe with them, and may all of you who enter the Church tonight share with us your love and faith for the Lord.

Good Friday homily 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin at 3:59 pm on Thursday, April 17, 2014

Good Friday 2014

When we teach people the meanings of words, we hold up an object, and we say the word. So if we hold up a round red rubber object, we say the word “ball” and the person we are speaking to connects the object with the word. It is not too hard to teach people about things that are concrete such as ball or chair or tree, but what about words that are a little more abstract, like love, for instance.

Some people may put the hands to their heart and say “love,” others may show a picture of a heart and say love. Others may show a picture of two people kissing or holding hands and say “love.” Each of these images gives us an idea, love is a place in our body, love is a thing shaped like a heart, or love is two or more connected to each other.

We gather today to profess that none of those images really hold up to the test of truth. We know that the true reality of love is shown to us today in the way that the world says is a sign of contradiction. Today the Church gives us the real image of love, namely Jesus Christ crucified. If we want to teach the word the meaning of love, we must lift high the crucifix. Jesus says earlier in John’s Gospel, “when the son of man is lifted up, I will draw all people to myself.” This mystery of the death of Jesus, innocent and sinless, for all of us, guilty and sinful, makes no sense in a world that is focused on taking and possessing, acquiring and hoarding.

From the very moment he was conceived in the womb of the woman who stood at the Foot of his Cross, Jesus teaches us that true love consists in giving and surrendering, first to God the Father, and then to all others. This is his lesson today. Jesus gives us the truest and surest way to remain sane in an insane world, take up our cross every day and follow him. The sanity of the cross teaches us that love involves giving, even when we have little. The sanity of the cross teaches us that loves involves obedience, even if we don’t see the outcome. The sanity of the cross teaches us that love involves suffering, even though it hurts. There is no other way to really love in the world.

Some people say that love means satisfying our needs, but they are never really satisfied. Others say that loves means setting limits and that it is earned, but that is a form of self-preservation. Finally others may preach that love always makes you happy, but we know that love can break our heart.

People need to see the cross to really begin to learn the meaning of love. As I have said many times, there are two different definitions. The cultural definition of love is to get from another what we want. Christ’s bodily definition of love is to give away fully all that he is. Nothing is left, all is spent, in the end, the blood and water that flowed from his pierced side has shown he has given all bodily.

Today, we believe that Jesus Christ is still pouring out his love for us poor sinners, because as the God man his suffering continues in those who profess faith in him. He suffers in them, through them and with him.

There are some among us who venerate the cross every day, not just Good Friday. When children sacrifice their personal freedom to carry for their aging parents, they kiss the cross. When dads and moms work two or three jobs to keep a roof over their children’s heads, they kiss the cross. When parents live their lives every day holding in their heart their children who died, they kiss the cross. When we visit the sick, care for the poor, spend time with the lonely, we kiss the cross.

We are living in a world that has been crucified by injustice, selfishness, immorality and a perverse idea of freedom. We exalt false loves over the true suffering and self-surrendering love of Jesus Christ. Many people are on that cross today because of despair, unhealed wounds, or an empty heart. The news to the whole world today, if it would only really listen to it, is that the answer to our sorrows and loses, our tragedies and our tears is Jesus Christ crucified. This cross, as St. Catherine of Siena writes, is the true bridge to the joy of heaven, and the peace that will give us the thrill of God’s joy on earth.

The Church,  as soon to be Saint Pope John XXIII, is our mother and teacher. She wishes to teach us the truth of life and the truth of the world. Today, she lifts high the Body of Christ nailed to the cross for our salvation and says, “This is the wood of the cross, on which hung the Savior of the world. This is true love. This is our only hope. This is the Son giving up his Spirit in love to God the Father for the salvation of the human race and the whole world.” Come let us worship. Come let us live. Come, let us love.

 

 

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