Archive for the ‘Holy Family Weekday Homilies’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Prayer Must Be Followed Up With Action

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

 

Thursday of the 12th week in Ordinary Time

St. Irenaeus

2 Kgs 24: 8-17; Mt 7: 21-29

By Deacon Larry Brockman

 

 

 

There are two stories about Kings of Israel this week and they both caught my eye.  The one Tuesday from 2 Kings Chapter 19 was about King Hezekiah of Israel.  When Hezekiah learned of the plan of the Assyrians to attack and plunder Jerusalem he went to the temple and prayed fervently for help from the Lord.  And the prophet Isaiah reported back to him that his prayers were heard, and Jerusalem would be spared, which it was; it was saved by the protecting arm of the Lord.   

 

 

 

Not too many years later, the Israelis were faced with a similar threat.  And today, we hear quite a different story and outcome.  King Jehoiacin, and his Israeli people had grown complacent.  They were seemingly oblivious to the threat of the Babylonian invasion.  The Babylonians attacked, and Jehoiacin surrenders Jerusalem to the Babylonians who carry him away, ransack the temple, and begin the famous Babylonian exile of the Jewish people.   

 

 

 

What a contrast.   And what is the difference?  The difference is prayer.  But not just any kind of prayer.  It has to be prayer followed by sincere action.  For as Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the Kingdom of God but only the one who does the will of my Father”.   

 

 

 

Our Saint of the day, St. Irenaeus is a good example.  Irenaeus lived in the 200’s, and he was a staunch defender of the faith.  He was the first to define what books should be in the New Testament, and he used those texts to defend the Church against two heresies.  His efforts were successful against both heresies and, even today, we use the Canon of the New Testament that he defined.  But ultimately, he was martyred for his Faith.   

 

 

 

The defense of Israel against attacks from the outside seems too far and distant to us today; and a 3rd century Bishop defending Christianity against two heresies doesn’t seem any more relevant.  So, we have problems relating to the stories I mentioned.  But are things really so different?  Our Church today is being attacked by massive forces of secularism, not the least of which is the Government’s forced HHS Mandate that tells our Church and Church Institutions what they must pay for and include in health insurance.  But these are not the only issues the Church faces today.  There is the gay marriage issue, and managed health care for the elderly, or Euthanasia, for those who care to read the tea leaves.  And then there are the rights of Catholic Businessmen to dissent from the HHS Mandate.  These and other issues are right behind the Court Decision expected today on Obamacare, 

 

 

 

Our leader now, Cardinal Dolan, and Faithful Catholics need to be firm in our faith and continue to defend our Faith until all of the issues are resolved.  We need to continue to pray and to follow that prayer with actions that fulfill the will of the Father.   

 

 

 

Which one of the Israeli peoples will we be like in this struggle?  Hezekiah and his people, who prayed and reformed, or Jehoiacim and his people who forgot the zeal and faithfulness of their forefathers  and did, or tolerated, evil in the sight of the Lord  Because if we become like the later group, we too can end up with our people carried away into the slavery of oppression and our temples destroyed by the invaders.  The choice is yours.

 

Tags:
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

The Power of Prayer

Thursday, June 21st, 2012

Thursday of the 11th  Week in Ordinary Time

Sir 48: 1-14; Mt 6: 7-15

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

The Power of Prayer is an awesome thing, because prayer brings us the spirit of God.  And when we are filled with the Spirit of God, we can do incredible things.   

 

Elijah and Elisha are good examples.  The spirit that Elisha had a twofold measure of was the spirit that inspired Elijah.  And that spirit was none other than the spirit of God.  Both men could do great things because the center of their lives was the Lord.  They prayed fervently, and followed the Lord in all they did, and so, the Spirit of the Lord was with them.   

 

The Gospel tells us about how Jesus says we should pray.  Some key things we can learn from the Lord’s Prayer come from the order and the tone of the prayer.  First and foremost, Jesus asks us to recognize that God is almighty and that we should praise Him.  Next, we should ask that God’s will be done above all.  Only after praising God and recognizing that we are all subject to His will, is it appropriate for us to ask for something.  And even then, we need to ask for forgiveness for our offenses and forgive others as we expect God to forgive us. 

 

I think that the tone of Jesus prayer is clear.  It is a humble attitude in which we recognize our Lord and savior first, and in a spirit of obedience, ask for the help we need to do His will, and to do it well.

   

Now I could not help but notice how timely these scriptures are.  Because today our parish, our diocese, and our nation, embark on the Fortnight for Freedom- a 14 day period of intense prayer.  It is certainly fitting that all of us be reminded right at the beginning of our efforts, of exactly what kind of prayer we should adopt.  God is not looking for eloquence- long winded, rambling, and detailed prayers that call attention to the process and the ministers.  Rather, our prayers need to be humble, sincere, fervent, persistent, and directed. 

We have a wonderful opportunity to do that as a community over the next 14 days.  And the fact is that if we can do that- especially as a group of committed believers- then imagine the power of the spirit of tens, and maybe even hundreds, of Elijah’s and Elisha’s working together to call upon God for help at this time of our nation’s need to rid our country of the threats to our religious liberty. 

 

So come and join our Fortnight, and pray together as a people.  And together, we shall overcome. 

Tags:,
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | 1 Comment »

On Righteousness

Thursday, June 14th, 2012

Thursday of 10th Week of Ordinary Time

1 Kgs 18:41-46; Mt 5: 20-26

By Deacon Larry Brockman

 

Righteousness!  Does your righteousness surpass that of the Scribes and Pharisees?  What is righteousness, anyway, because unless we know what righteousness means, we are liable to miss the whole point of the Gospel?   

 

In our society, we usually think of righteousness as meaning “uprightness”   In the sense of “adherence to or conformity to an established norm.”  But that isn’t what it meant in Jesus time and in Jewish culture.  According to the Hollman Bible Dictionary, righteousness is “the fulfillment of the terms of a covenant between God and humanity or between humans in the full range of human relationships”.   

 

Now this is fascinating because the whole emphasis of a Pharisee was strict compliance with the Mosaic Law.  And yet Jesus is telling the people that they must be more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees.  And so, is there any hope for us?  Most of us do not devote our lives to the study of the scriptures and strict compliance to the laws of God as the scribes and Pharisees did.  How can we be more righteous than that?   

 

In the First reading, we hear a story about Elijah and King Ahab.  This incident happened just after Ahab had done away with the prophets of the false God Baal, and had accepted the Lord back into his life.  Ahab had begun to reform- and not only that, after a long draught, he climbs the mountain as Elijah bids him and celebrates his conversion with food and drink, trusting in the word of the Prophet Elijah, because Elijah told him his worries were over.  The great draught would end with bountiful rain.  Against all odds, Elijah prays on the mountain for rain; prays over a dry, parched land with a clear blue sky; and commissions his servant to keep watch for the rain that he is sure will come. 

 

Why did God answer Elijah’s prayer?  Because Elijah was a righteous man.  Elijah believed; Elijah trusted; and Elijah acted in the name of and on behalf of the Lord- always.  Elijah had even patched things up with his enemy Ahab who had been after him relentlessly.  Elijah kept his part of the Jewish Covenant with the Lord, and that’s what righteousness means.   

 

Sometimes life throws us serious curves and difficulties.  And we pray, and we pray, and we pray.  But do we have righteousness in our hearts.  It is not so much a matter of keeping the commandments, although that helps.  It is more a matter of always believing in God; always trusting in God; and always acting on God’s behalf- that is, doing His will for us.  It is a covenant relationship that we have with God; and it is a covenant that involves our hearts, not just our minds as it was with the Pharisees. 

 

Notice that Jesus talks about settling with our brothers before we come to the altar.  That’s the other part of righteousness in the definition- being in a right relationship in our dealings with others.  And so when we are in a right relationship with God and our neighbor., then when we pray, we will be praying with a sense of righteousness.  And like Elijah, we can be confident of great things from the Lord. 

Tags:
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

A Good Christian Life

Thursday, May 31st, 2012

Visitation

Rom 12: 9-16; Luke 1: 39-56

By Deacon Larry Brockman

 

Love and Humility!  They go hand in hand, two sides of the same coin.  And our Blessed Mother exhibits these two qualities so very well as she visits her cousin Elizabeth.  Mary has been chosen by God to be the God bearer- the mother of Almighty God born man.  But rather than get all puffed up about her role what does she do after she learns of it?  She visits her cousin Elizabeth and serves her for the final 3 months of her pregnancy.  She realizes how she has been chosen, and in the longest quote from Mary that we have in the Bible, she proclaims this famous prayer to her cousin, Mary’s Song of Praise, a song of praise that is full of love and humility.  Yes, Mary lived a life of love and humility. 

  

I couldn’t help but make the connection with the words in Paul’s epistle this morning, as Paul leaves us all a roadmap for how to live a Good Christian life.  Sometimes we make that more difficult than it is because we don’t understand what the Lord is calling us to do.  We hear of the stories of great men and women in our society, and, especially when we are young, we aspire to greatness.  As life unfolds before us, we meet challenges with resolve to be great, to do great things- to be the world’s best athlete; a world renown musician or singer; the next trend setter in technology, like the guy who invents the next Twitter or Facebook; or to become a doctor or engineer or lawyer or politician or whatever; and to really make a difference in the world.  As we get older, reality slowly dawns on us and most of us never achieve the greatness of our hopes. 

And yet, we can become eminently more successful than most of the world’s success stories because mixed in with whatever we want to do, and actually do in this world with the talents God gave us, is our real purpose in life.  You see, like Mary, God has his plans for us.  They may include great things by the world’s standards, or they may be filled with the very ordinary things of life. 

But mixed in with them is the need for us to live a Christian life.  And living that Christian life is what our roadmap to the kingdom of God is all about.  It’s all about how we relate to people along the way- loving with sincerity; being fervent in the spirit; treating others with honor; rejoicing in hope; enduring affliction; persevering in prayer; associating with the lowly and not being haughty.  Yes, it’s all about the things that Paul mentions this morning.

   

And each of us is given the opportunities to demonstrate our Christianity as well, to live these Christian values while we pursue our own dreams.  Only sometimes they seem to inconvenience us, like the people in need we encounter and the interruptions that life sends our way- illnesses, setbacks, failures, and moral challenges.  But they are all God’s little moments in our lives, our opportunities to shine, to be a Christian; to be humble and loving. 

Embrace them, and be a Christian.  And let your soul proclaim the greatness of the Lord.

Tags:,
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

On Loving God

Thursday, May 10th, 2012

Thursday of 5th Week of Easter

Acts 15: 7-21; John 15: 9-11

By Deacon Larry Brockman

 

“Remain in my Love”.  That is Jesus’ advice to us.  And how do we do that- by keeping Jesus’ commandments to us: loving God first, and our neighbor as ourselves.  After all, that was his primary commandment. 

  

But Jesus also told the Apostles that whatever they bound on earth would be bound in heaven.  And so Jesus gave the authority to the Church to define right and wrong a little more explicitly.   We are bound to listen to what Holy Mother the Church has to say about faith and morals.  So “remaining in my love” is simple in concept, but yet, difficult in practice.  Or is it that we make it more difficult than it is?

   

When we were very young our parents were everything to us.  We wanted their love more than anything else.  And especially with our Mom’s, we were recipients of unconditional love.  We soon learned that such love was most lavishly displayed when we did what our parents commanded us to do, or didn’t do what they wanted us not to do, as the case might dictate.  At first, we didn’t question their authority or their commandments.  Whatever they said was what we would do.  But then, as we grew older, we began to question.  Some of us even dared to know better than our parents!  And like all good parents, they let us go.  And so, there came a time when we found ourselves out on our own, replicating the same cycle of parent and child, soon to be idolized by our own children.  And when they idolized us, we often reflected on how brilliant our own parents really were after all.

   

Isn’t that similar to how our relationship goes with Jesus?  When we first learn about God, we don’t question his commandments.  But the more we learn; the more we begin to question.  And there comes a time in our relationship with God, after we learn to think for ourselves, that we even dare to second guess what God has revealed as his law through Holy Mother the Church.  Sometimes I hear that sentiment quite explicitly.  “Well, I know what the Church teaches, but I don’t believe that”  Really. 

  

You see, there is a difference.  Because unlike the relationship we have with our children, we do not ever achieve parity with God.  God remains so far above us that we cannot appreciate the depth of the separation.  True, He is an intimate God who sent His only son among us.  But, His ways are not our ways, and we don’t understand why things are the way they are.  That’s why He left the Apostles and the Church for us; to teach us the truth so that we could believe.  And by believing, we mean accepting on faith what the Church teaches.

   

For all those who believe and keep His commandments; for all those who remain in Jesus love, the reward is clear.  Our joy will be complete.  It is that simple.   

Tags:, ,
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

Following After Philip

Thursday, April 26th, 2012

Thursday of 3rd Week of Easter

Acts 8: 26-40; John 6: 44-51

By Deacon Larry Brockman

 

How are you folks doing with your Easter Duty?  What is my Easter Duty, you say?

   

Well, during Easter we celebrate the fact that Jesus forever changed the world.  When Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to His apostles, He fulfilled an ancient covenant to “save” us.  And that’s what our joy is supposed to be all about.  We are celebrating an “aha” experience like none other.  We have been saved. And those who repent and believe have been guaranteed eternal life.  And so we say Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!  And Amen, because, Jesus the Christ rose from the dead, and proved that he was in a resurrected state with a resurrected body to witnesses.  Our Gospel readings the last several Sundays have been all about that.  You have been witnesses to all of that!  And you should be feeling the Easter joy- Amen and Alleluia! 

  

Now, are we going to just bask in this good news of Easter for the 50 days of Easter,   And then move on to the long hot summer, or what? 

  

If you recall Jesus parting words to His disciples on Easter, He tells us that he wants us to spread the good news of the Gospel.  You and I are the modern day disciples, and because we have been witnesses to Jesus’ words, our Easter duty is also to evangelize, to spread the word, the Good News to all by being witnesses of all Jesus said and did.

   

Now Jesus tells us in the Gospel today that the only way to God the Father is through Him.  And so, God is revealing to us gradually how we are to act on our Easter Joy.  First, we have to recognize and really believe in the Resurrection and eternal life.   Second, we have to understand we are being called upon to spread that Good news- to evangelize.  And finally, we need to listen to God calling us and act on it.   Because unless we listen, and let God’s word and spirit live in our hearts, we cannot get to the Father.   And the way God knows you are listening is if you act on God’s inspiration within you by evangelizing.  

 

Philip’s story is a great lesson for all of us on what evangelizing is all about.  First and foremost, Philip believed.  He was there to put his finger in the holes in Jesus hands and side and feet; and he was there to see Jesus eat a piece of baked fish.  And so, Philip believed.  Philip demonstrated his belief in his zeal and enthusiasm. 

Second, Philip took to heart the mission to evangelize.  That’s why he was on that chariot.  And lastly, Philip recognized the call- he heard the Eunuch’s appeal, and he spoke up!  Yes- he spoke up on behalf of Jesus- he didn’t hold it in. 

  

Because we have heard the Good News of the Gospel, we have chosen to believe.  We shouldn’t be just casual believers, but enthusiastic believers.  So, do we show our Easter joy like Philip did?  Because, that joy can be infectious to those who don’t believe.  And are we listening to God as we pray, listening to that small still voice inside of us?  That little voice can give us little urgings to do something, or even just to say something when the situation arises, something that helps us to spread the good news.

   

We don’t necessarily know why God has placed us at a specific place at a specific time.  But God knows.  And any place and any time can be the right place and the right time for us to evangelize from God’s perspective.  Yes, we are called to share our joy as Christians continuously, to spread the Good News, the Gospel; to evangelize in word and deed.  All of us have an Easter Duty.

Tags:
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

The Wisdom of God

Thursday, April 19th, 2012

Thursday of 2nd Week of Easter

Acts 5: 27-33; John 3: 31-36

By Deacon Larry Brockman

Most of us are easily duped, duped by the wisdom of the world.  It is, after all, the wisdom of the establishment.  It is provable by logic; backed up by science and studies; and is usually directed towards making us feel better.  The wisdom of the world captures our minds.   

The wisdom of God, on the other hand is fleeting.  It requires faith, defies logic, and often causes us discomfort.  The wisdom of God is aimed at capturing our hearts.  And so, it is so much easier to accept the wisdom of the world than it is to accept the Wisdom of God.   

Such was the lot of the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin in Jesus’ time.  Jesus’ message was one that moved people’s hearts, not their minds. 

The Pharisees and the Sanhedrin couldn’t understand that.  Jesus and his disciples broke all the rules, rules that paid lip service to the intent of the law but on the surface, they seemed to capture the intent of the Jewish tradition.  And so, people could just follow the letter of the law.  They didn’t have to think about what God’s will was for them; they could feel good knowing they were just following the rules.  Their efforts were directed at playing it safe and being comfortable by doing their own thing.  Their efforts were not directed at making a difference by loving.

   

On the other hand, Jesus preached repentance and accepting God’s greatest commandment, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves; to forgive transgressions and love our enemies; and to go out and be proactive by drawing others to God.  And that was hard; it was challenging. And the Sanhedrin was tired of being told they didn’t have it right.  And so they wanted to get rid of Jesus; to silence the prophetic voice that there was more to God’s plan than just following some rules. 

  

Our Gospel tells us that we must listen to and believe the teaching of Jesus if we are to have eternal life.  That means we need to embrace the wisdom of God.  It’s a matter of the heart.  The Holy Spirit gives us that wisdom- it is a free gift.  All you have to do is ask for it.

   

So, do that, ask for the gift of the wisdom of God at the beginning of each day, especially when you are challenged, when the going gets tough?  Do you make time to pray for and ask for God’s wisdom before you get going each day? 

 

Fill your heart, and not your mind with the real inspiration you need to get through life’s trials-  The wisdom of God. 

Tags:
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

Witnesses for Christ

Thursday, April 12th, 2012

Thursday of Octave of Easter

Acts 3: 11-26; Luke 24: 35-48

By Deacon Larry Brockman

 

You and I are being called to be witnesses, not just bystanders to Easter joy.

   

You see, we are in the middle of our Easter celebration, and during that celebration, we should be coming to a fantastic realization.  Because just like the disciples did in that upper room, you and I are hearing about what Jesus said and did straight from the horse’s mouth.  The words in the Gospel and Acts tell us all about it, about how all the things that Jesus said and did fulfilled the Old Testament covenant of the coming of the Messiah; and about how Jesus was resurrected from the dead, and appeared to his disciples.  You should be really excited and joyful. 

  

Let’s look at it this way.  Just close your eyes now and imagine that you were there.  You are hiding in fear in an upper room.  And all of a sudden you see it.  Jesus the Christ has risen! He is risen indeed, and He is standing before you and talking and answering questions, and even eating a piece of fish.  He was dead- you saw that; but now, He is very much alive.   And it is then that you realize it:  That God loved you so much that he actually sent His son to suffer and die for you; and that God’s son actually rose from the dead just the way he predicted!  That has never happened before- and it is proof that Jesus is the son of the almighty God!  Wow! Can you imagine your joy- because fear of death would be gone.

   

Each year we celebrate our own personal realization of the Easter mystery.  We can’t just say “ho hum” as we celebrate, and go on with life.  Rather, we are being called to be a witness of the truth of Christianity just like the disciples.  That is the point of the Gospel- it is our Easter duty to evangelize and be witnesses.

 

And why not?  Easter brings us great joy, because we have come to believe that Jesus has guaranteed all of us who believe everlasting life in the Kingdom of God!  So, out of love of God, we need to share that good news with everyone else.  But just how do we become witnesses for Christ?  What should we actually do? 

  

Well, what did the disciples do?  First, we see these men, huddled in the upper room out of fear that they would be persecuted next.  But after the Easter event all of that changed.  They defied the authorities and told everyone about Jesus.  And then his disciples even worked miracles in Jesus name.  These disciples were living out what it means to be witnesses for Christ.  They were preaching the Gospel by their deeds, by their enthusiasm, and by their love for one another.  They were telling the truth about their faith.  They were not afraid; they wanted everyone else to share in their joy.

   

That’s what you and I are being called to do, and it is exciting, because we live in a time when the truth of the Easter mystery is being hidden and suppressed in our culture.  We have the chance to change all that by standing up for our faith; by telling the truth; by being witnesses for Christ. 

Tags:
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

What Legacy Will We Leave?

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

Thursday of 4th Week in Lent

Jer 7: 23-28; Lk 11: 14-23

by  Deacon Larry Brockman

Yesterday, I was browsing through the book store.  A quote from Plato caught my eye, and it went something like this:  “Let me control the music that the people listen to, and it won’t matter who makes the laws.”  I thought to myself- “How true that is”.  And then this morning we have the wisdom of God brought to us from Jeremiah:  “Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.”  As I see the music and pop culture of our current generation unfold, it is tempting to say, “Amen!” to this statement. 

 

But then, who is to blame?  Is it the current generation?  Or is it our generations, who gave birth to and raised the current generation?    During Lent, we have a responsibility to not only reflect on our personal sins, but also on our collective sins-  our sins as a people, the evils that we perpetuate collectively as a society.  They include sins of commission and sins of omission.  And it seems to me, that we are just as guilty of listening, but not hearing or acting on the Word of God, as any generation of God’s people, especially when it comes to our collective responsibility.  Because our pop culture and music are a reflection of the environment that we leave in our wake.  And what is the environment that we are leaving behind? 

  

Now, the Gospel says that the person that Jesus healed from the demon spoke for the first time.  Some of the people were convinced that Jesus was from God.  Other folks who witnessed this miracle had the gall to either accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the devil or ask Jesus to work some miracle as a sign that he was from God.  Can you imagine that- they actually saw a miracle, but they wanted more proof or they sloughed the miracle off as from the devil.  Jesus was right- even those who believed in God were a house divided against itself.

   

You know, we kind of do the same thing as the people of God.  God’s Word comes to us in many ways:  It comes to us through the Scriptures; it comes to us through the Church’s teaching authority; and it comes to us in our inspirations as we pray.  And yet, much of the time we are not giving it our full attention.  We want more proof that the teaching is inspired and we don’t pay attention to what we are called to do in response to the Word of God.  And so, we put our urgings to do something on the back burner, especially if they have to do with something that must be done collectively to make a change. We rationalize that we can’t do anything as individuals.

We have all heard about the current attack on our religious freedom being perpetrated by the implementation of the new Health Care Act.  Make no mistake- the absence of the religious exception clause for religious based organizations is an attack on the religious liberty of all Americans, not just the Catholics.  It is not the Church hierarchy’s problem either; it is our problem because we collectively are the Church.  So, the attack is on us.  And whatever we do or fail to do will be the legacy we leave behind.  But sadly, we are not fully on board.  We are a house divided against itself.

   

In the Gospel Jesus makes it clear that  “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”  So, if this generation of American Catholics does not act to correct this problem, the Lord is likely to say to us, as He did to the Israelis:  “This is the nation which does not listen to the voice of the LORD, its God, or take correction”.   

Tags:, ,
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

Don’t Get Complacent

Thursday, March 8th, 2012

Thursday of 3rd Week in Lent

Jer 17: 5-10; Lk 16: 19-31

Don’t get too comfortable in this world.  Because when you do, you tend to get complacent.  And complacency is the ally of the devil.  When you are complacent, you don’t think about God;it’s as if you are your own master; you are in control; you are self-sufficient; your heart, as Jeremiah says ..”turns away from the Lord”.   

Take the rich man in the Gospel story.  He was certainly complacent in his lifetime.  He was comfortable, dressing in fine clothes and dining on the best foods.  All his earthly needs and desires were met.  He doesn’t seem to even have taken notice of the suffering going on around him.  It’s a surprise that he even knew who Lazarus was.  It wasn’t so much that he was a mean miserly man; but more that he was oblivious to suffering.  He lived in the comfort of his own world, unconcerned about others.  You can bet that he had friends- lots of them.  Because, as a rich man, he was the source for, the benefactor of, others.  Such a person does as the Jeremiah’s reading suggests:  He …“Trusts in human beings and seeks his strength in flesh”.  Why? Because that is where he has found his fulfillment. 

  

Perhaps that’s why there is such an emphasis on two things during Lent:  First, self-mortification, like fasting and almsgiving; and second, prayer- getting in contact with God. 

First, we need to feel uncomfortable to shake us out of our complacency so that we get in tune with some realities about life as a human.  One reality is that a comfortable life is not what it’s all about. But also, we must realize that we are not at all in control, and in fact, we shouldn’t be in control.  And so, when we fast and abstain from something, that helps us to understand that life’s finer things are just an illusion of happiness.  They are passing, and we will pass away from this life as well.  So, there is something more to plan for and look forward to than this life.  As a result, we really can’t be in control- God controls whether we are going to be happy forever after- not us. 

  

And so, the self-mortification can help motivate us to pray.  To pray that God will help us to unlock the key to our everlasting happiness.  Just like Jesus, we need to seek and find the Lord’s will for us.  Because  as Jeremiah says:  “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord”.

Tags:
Posted in Holy Family Weekday Homilies | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »