Monday, September 25, 2017

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25th Sunday '17 - Heart of a Steward - Gratitude

Posted: 23 Sep 2017 05:00 PM PDT

We are invited to live lives of gratitude, which means we cannot be greedy or envious. What are we truly grateful for?

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Friday, September 22, 2017

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St. Matthew '17 - Our Story

Posted: 20 Sep 2017 05:00 PM PDT

The John Ireland School Mass. St. Matthew recorded his story of how Jesus called him. Jesus calls us - what's our story going to be?

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Monday, September 18, 2017

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Ecumenical Prayer Service - Reformation as Pruning

Posted: 16 Sep 2017 05:00 PM PDT

At an Ecumenical prayer service commemorating the the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther, we read of the vine and branches, and in the prayer, invited ourselves to continual pruning to be better witnesses and servant in the world.

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24th Sunday OT '17 - Let It Go

Posted: 16 Sep 2017 05:00 PM PDT

Jesus tells us to forgive 77 times, from our heart. But forgiveness is hard, and we make it harder but not understanding what it really is. When we forgive others, we are more able to receive God's forgiveness. To receive God's love, we must let it go...

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Friday, September 15, 2017

Exultation of the Cross

This week, most Orthodox and all Catholic Rite churches will celebrate the Exultation of the Cross. It marks the finding of the True Cross in 327 and the dedication in 335 of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. This feast marks something more than simple history. This feast gives us a chance to reflect on the meaning of the Cross, and ask the question of whether we are willing to take it up in our lives. Before His death, Jesus spoke of the Cross explicitly and implicitly. He spoke to Nicodemus of the Son of Man being lifted up, and referenced the episode of the bronze snake mounted on a pole. He invited the disciples to take up their cross and follow Him. He prophesied His death on a cross. They would have understood exactly the reference. While not necessarily an everyday occurrence, crucifixion was common enough in Roman-occupied Israel. It meant death, humiliating and literally excruciating. Jesus was to transform it. He embraced the cross, submitted himself in humility. Dying on the Cross, He put death to death, and robbed hell of its false claim on those who obediently submit themselves to God. In rising, He gives life to all who believe. Jesus Christ models for us that we who are sinners need to die to ourselves. More importantly, by the Cross, He gives us the only means of salvation and eternal life. We are invited to take up our cross. Too often, we ‘reduce’ the cross to something that frustrates or troubles us. Jesus does not want us to reduce the cross to only something like sickness or cancers, or a difficult family situations, or whatever else, as difficult as those things are. He wants us to carry our cross in the whole of our life - to submit our entire lives, not just those difficulties. He wants to be Lord of our entirety. Certainly, the Cross of Jesus transforms those difficulties, but He wants His Cross to transform us. He wants us to follow Him so closely that when others see us, they see Christians who embrace our own dying to self and seeking to exult Him. As Christians, we cry out everyday of our lives, as we carry our own cross, "We exult you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world."

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Exultation of the Cross '17 - What's it Matter

Posted: 14 Sep 2017 04:52 PM PDT

At the weekly John Ireland School Mass (done in dialog form), we asked ourselves what does Jesus' death and Resurrection, which we celebrate on the Exultation of the Cross, matter to us. What are we going to do?

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Monday, September 11, 2017

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23rd Sunday OT '17 - The Watchman's Correction

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 05:00 PM PDT

Jesus gives the model of fraternal correction, and we are so hesitant to use it. Perhaps, we ought to ask some questions: Are we given authority to guide (like the watchmen of old)? Are we loving the other person? Is it a sin (Illegal, immoral, or unjust)? Are we loving the person we need to correct? Are we seeking conversion and reconciliation? Are we doing it in a manner that most protects everyone's dignity?

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Monday, September 4, 2017

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22nd Sunday OT '17 - Accept the Cross

Posted: 02 Sep 2017 05:00 PM PDT

Jesus invites us to accept the cross in our life. It is not just in one area or one hardship, but the entirety of our lives that we need to accept the cross.

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Monday, August 28, 2017

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21st Sunday OT '17 - We are the Church

Posted: 26 Aug 2017 05:00 PM PDT

St. Peter answers the question of who Jesus is, and Jesus states that He will build His church on Peter. This means that we, the people who proclaim Jesus the Christ, are the Church, called to proclaim Him to all.

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Monday, August 21, 2017

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20th Sunday '17 - No Room for Hate

Posted: 19 Aug 2017 05:00 PM PDT

As we hear of Jesus' interaction with the Canaanite woman, we might reflect on the nature of race relations in our current day. If we are filled with the love of Christ, there will be no room for hate.

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Wednesday, August 16, 2017

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Assumption '17 - The Ark

Posted: 14 Aug 2017 05:00 PM PDT

As we celebrate the Assumption, we call to mind Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant. Just as the Ark of the Old Covenant was in the center of the temple, this Ark is taken to the center of God's kingdom - Heaven.

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Monday, August 14, 2017

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19th Sunday '17 - Called and equipped

Posted: 12 Aug 2017 05:00 PM PDT

Elijah and St. Peter both experienced the Lord's call, and the Lord equipped them both to follow that call. The Lord has called us, too, and He is equipping us - do we respond in fear or faith?

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Thursday, August 10, 2017

Transfiguration

There is something wonderful about the Feast of the Transfiguration that Roman Catholics just celebrated on August 6th. There is some debate around the date itself. Some suggest that it was in mid-late September due to the mention of “Booths” and the connection to the Jewish Feast of Sukkot. Others suggest that it was the early spring before Jesus’ death and resurrection as He used it to prepare the three apostles for the cross. No matter, because what we celebrate is not when the Transfiguration happened, but THAT it happened.

We perhaps know the story well enough. Jesus lead Peter, James, and John up the mountain, there to be transformed or better allowed to reveal His inner majesty. They struggle for understanding, seeing Moses (the law-giver) and Elijah (the Prophet). Peter offers to build booths or tents, signifying his desire to stay there. They hear a voice that could only come from God Himself, informing them that this is indeed His Son, and the exhortation to listen to Him.

One could easily underestimate the meaning of the Transfiguration. As already written, it was a means of preparing the apostles for the scandal of the Cross, as they would see Jesus as divine and know that He was to suffer. But even more, St. Peter himself sees something more profound, and writes of it in his second letter (2 Peter 1:16-19). He states that he was there when they witnessed Jesus’ majesty and heard the voice of God. He sees it as proof that the faith he lived, and the faith for which he would ultimately die, was not one of “cleverly devised myths”. He uses that experience to encourage the believers to trust in the Lord.

Think about that: St. Peter, who struggled for the words, wanting to stay in that moment, must have spent the rest of his life thinking about that moment, reflecting on it time and again. When moments were rough, perhaps he thought of it. When things were well, perhaps it inspired him to more. We, too, have been invited to encounter the Lord. Perhaps it was less majestic than the Transfiguration, but no less noble. Do we allow our encounter to inspire our actions, and are we sharing of that encounter with others, aiding in their walk with the Lord?

Monday, August 7, 2017

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Transfiguration '17 - Encounter

Posted: 05 Aug 2017 05:00 PM PDT

Ss. Peter, James, and John encounter Jesus as he reveals His divinity to them, preparing them for the scandal of the Cross. Peter shares that encounter, encouraging the hearer to faith. We, too, have encountered Him, but are we sharing that encounter. Only when we do will we be effective in leading others to be disciples.

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Monday, July 31, 2017

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17th Sunday OT '17 - Pearls of Great Price

Posted: 28 Jul 2017 05:00 PM PDT

Whether we stumble upon the Kingdom of God or we are actively searching for it, its possession is not ours unless we are willing to give all. It is easy to see those who have purchased the Kingdom by giving all, but for most, the question is whether we have put all to the disposal of God. Only when we do will we have the pearl of great price.

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Monday, July 24, 2017

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16th Sunday OT '17 - Seeds and Weeds

Posted: 22 Jul 2017 05:00 PM PDT

The Parable of the Wheat and weeds demonstrates a reason God allows evil - because removing the weeds would cause too much damage. It also provides a reminder that the Kingdom of Heaven comes choice by choice.

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Monday, July 17, 2017

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15th Sunday OT '17 - Seeds of Disciples

Posted: 15 Jul 2017 05:00 PM PDT

As Christ speaks in parables, He invites us to relationship with Him. As we hear of the ground on which the seed falls, we might think of those in our lives who fall into those types, and see the way to help them be disciples, too.

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Monday, July 10, 2017

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14th Sunday Ordinary time '17 - Work and Rest

Posted: 08 Jul 2017 05:00 PM PDT

Jesus invites us to find rest by accepting His yoke. Are we afflicted with always being busy with Christian activities (done without Christ, all sort of activities that do not ultimately matter, or convince ourselves we are too busy to find rest in Him?

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Monday, July 3, 2017

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13th Sunday OT '17 - Propeht's Reward

Posted: 02 Jul 2017 11:59 AM PDT

As we hosted a Mission appeal's preacher this weekend, here is the homily and my brief remarks during the collection for the Pallotine Father's.

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Monday, June 26, 2017

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Posted: 24 Jun 2017 05:00 PM PDT
The Prophet was the victim of gossip, and Jesus proclaims the truth which will defend us. We should seek to root out gossip in its forms (calumny and detraction, especially as disciples.
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Monday, June 19, 2017

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Posted: 17 Jun 2017 05:00 PM PDT
On this feast of Corpus Christi, the Church gives us an opportunity to ask the question, "Who is this gift that we receive?"
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