"They will speak no lies" - Homily for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2023

 

4^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – “They will speak no lies”

 

The prophet Zephaniah in our first reading, speaking on behalf of God, says: “But I will leave as a remnant a people humble and lowly, who shall take refuge in the name of the LORD: and this remnant shall speak no lies”

 

Our American society rests on the idea that there is “truth” that does not change based on the culture or circumstances.  Every person who testifies in court promises to “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

 

In order for America to flourish, we need to return to believing in a Truth that does not change based on the culture, and a Truth that does not change based on circumstances. 

 

At a sidebar to the trial of Jesus, Jesus claims to be the truth, and Pontius Pilate asks in a scoffing way “what is truth?”  And there really is no middle ground, either there is Truth that transcends cultures and circumstances, or there isn’t.

 

Our schools, our universities and the media feed all of us a lot of lies. May we have the courage to point out to others the lies that are being pushed on all of us.

 

Again, our first reading promises that there will be a remnant who will not tell lies.  Let us all be that remnant who commit to saying only true things, and not speaking anything, nor teaching anything that is a lie.

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2023

 

Fishers of Men – Homily for the 3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2023

 

In our Gospel today we see Jesus calling 4 fishermen, while they are fishing, to come and follow Him.  They leave their nets immediately and follow him and Jesus promises that from now on they will be fishers of men and women.

 

I would venture to say that in America today, no fallen away Catholic nor non-Catholic would feel comfortable approaching a Catholic priest as their first point of contact with the Catholic Church.  But many fallen away Catholics and non-Catholics do feel comfortable approaching you who are here today.

 

Just a couple of stories to illustrate this

First of all, a parishioner from Annunciation let me know this week that her hair dresser has been asking her questions about the Catholic Church, and the hair dresser asked this parishioner if the parishioner could get her a Catholic Bible.  This parishioner approached me about this, I was able to get the parishioner a Catholic Bible to give to her hair dresser.  The likelihood that the hairdresser would have approached a Catholic Priest for a Catholic Bible is almost zero.

 

Another example is just today I was talking with a Saint Paul’s Parishioner, and she was saying that her physical therapist told her that she has come to a couple of Masses.  The Saint Paul’s Parishioner said if you ever want to come to Mass with me, just let me know, and the physical therapist said thank you.

 

And then one final example, I was listening to Catholic Radio Saturday morning, and this formerly fallen away Catholic was being interviewed, and she shared that she had had divorces and abortions, and felt like God hated her, but someone invited her to Mass, and she heard something at that Mass that totally changed the trajectory of her life, and this person now works at a Catholic parish helping other couples through the annulment process.

 

There are at least 5 people who know that you are Catholic…and it may be up to you to say something to them encouraging that will start the process of them coming home to the Catholic Church.  Let us all pray for those 5 people tonight who we are called to go fish for and bring them home to Jesus and His Church!

The Best March for Life Video I Have Ever Seen!

 

"Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" - Homily for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, 2023

 

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

Homily for the 2^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A, 2023

 

In our Gospel today we hear St. John the Baptist say, while pointing to Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  And that is the exact same thing every Catholic priest (or bishop) says at every Mass when they hold up the Host and chalice…”Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world…”

 

And so this forces a decision for every Catholic, including myself, and indeed every person around the world… do I really believe that bread and wine, after the priest or bishop prays the words of consecration becomes the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus…do we really believe the priest or bishop when they say “This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”

 

There really is not a middle way…The Catholic Church is making a Truth claim…it either IS the Body, Blood Soul and Divinity of Jesus or it is not…There is not a half way “Maybe”.

 

And if it is a yes, then I need to orient my entire life around that reality.

But if it is not the Body, Blood Soul and Divinity of Jesus than I need to run as far away from the Catholic Church!

 

If we do believe that Jesus becomes present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity at this and every Mass…let us all together orient our entire lives around the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Epiphany 2023 - "purposefuluniverse.com/videos"

 

Epiphany 2023 – “https://www.purposefuluniverse.com/videos”

 

I have never preached on a particular website before…until now…

 

As I have talked about in previous years, the average age a young person makes the decision to leave the Catholic Church is now 13…and the number 1 reason they leave is because of science.

 

I want to invite all parents, grandparents, guardians etc. to visit and bookmark and share with all the children and teens under their influence the following website: https://www.purposefuluniverse.com/videos

 

Today the Church remembers the visit of the Magi, astronomers who were constantly studying the sky and the stars, and that science led them to the Christ child.

 

So it is also the case today.  Catholics do not believe you can prove the existence of God…but Catholics do believe that science ought to lead scientists and everyone to the doorstep of God.

The discovery of the big bang theory was by a Catholic priest.  The person who came up with genetic science was Fr. Gregor Mendel…Fr. Tad Pacholczyk is the director of the National Catholic Bioethics center and has degrees in philosophy, biochemistry, molecular cell biology, and chemistry and a PhD in neuroscience from Yale University…the videos also feature Karin Oberg who is a professor of Astrophysics at Harvard who converted to Catholicism while studying astrophysics…the list could go on and on…

Indeed it is the Catholic world view that is the bedrock of science and the scientific method…the idea that God created the world and that there is an order to the universe comes from the Catholic understanding of God that you don’t find in other religious traditions where gods are finnicky or too aloof from the world to make the world with any sort of order.

The purposefuluniverse.com/videos has so many wonderful videos about the intersection of Catholicism and science…in order to reverse the tide of young people leaving the Catholic Church because of science, show your young people the videos at the https://www.purposefuluniverse.com/videos

 

Science led the Magi to Christ 2,000 years ago and has the ability to lead all of us to Christ today.