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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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Witnessing to the Authority of Jesus

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Image of Jesus driving out demons. A scared person is seen leaning over in struggle as a demon is forced out of him

Mass Readings

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 28, 2018
Reading 1 – Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm – Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9
Reading 2 – 1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Gospel – Mark 1:21-28

If you were to enter into your search browser today’s gospel, Mark 1:21-28 and the word “authority”, you would see a whole list of commentaries on Scripture from all kinds of different preachers. You’d see one written by a Baptist preacher. You would probably see several from evangelical preachers. You’d find Anglican and Catholic commentaries. If you were to survey those commentaries, they would agree on this point: that today’s Gospel tells us that all authority and power has been given to Jesus Christ. Well duh! Right?

I am a disciple of Jesus. We are all disciples of Jesus. That means we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We want to learn more about Jesus, and we want to go out into the world to share the Good News – to be what Pope Francis describes as missionary disciples. So I believe it! I believe Jesus has authority. I believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of our first reading in Deuteronomy about one who would come after Moses.

So why, if we all believe Jesus has authority, does Holy Mother Church give us these readings today? They aren’t trying to fill up pages between Christmas and Lent. No! Holy Mother Church is challenging us with today’s readings. How do we live a life in witness to the faith?

What are some of the reasons they do that? I’m overwhelmed by stories from my own children and in stories I’ve heard from other youth here are St. John Vianney over the last several years, about the number of aggressively atheist teachers they encounter. They’re aggressive because they don’t keep their opinions to themselves. NO. They try to work their idea that God does not exist into any lesson – it could be math, science, language arts, Spanish – it doesn’t matter. They are going to work that in.

That plus social media, the content we get through television and streaming services, and pornography bombard people in an effort to desensitize us and to confuse our understanding of right from wrong. They do that by making the individual the center of the universe. You can do anything you want as long as it doesn’t bother me, right? The culture trains us to harden our hearts, like we heard in the Psalm. What’s a parent to do? How do we keep our children engaged. I think there are many things we could try. Let’s talk about three.

First, we need to remind ourselves that we are not alone. Our faith teaches us that we are a community, so we should be able to share with each other and to lean on one another for help. “Have you gone through this before?” “How did you handle that?” “Let me bounce this idea off of you.” We need to be comfortable to share with one another. Don’t be nervous and think you’re the only one going through it. Don’t think someone is going to say, “I knew you were weird!” No one is going to say that and if they do, shame on them! If you’re new to the parish, that’s ok. Come to one of our social events like the upcoming Mardi Gras casino night or the Knights of Columbus Fish Fry. Those are great opportunities to start to build relationships within the parish so we can share with one another.

We can also look to the wisdom in our own families. So many families are blessed to have grandparents and even great grandparents with them still. We need to turn to our family and ask their opinions and at a minimum ask them to pray for us. I can’t tell you how many times when my grandmother was alive and I would call her and say, “Welita! Would you light a candle for me or would you light a candle for my family?” Remember, you are not alone.

Catholic schools also give us an opportunity to bridge the gap between confirmation and adulthood. I’m not saying that Catholic school children don’t get into mischief. As a kid, I got into quite a bit of mischief while attending Catholic schools. So that’s not what I’m saying. What’s the difference then One of the difference is that our Catholic schools do a really good job at exposing our youth to the radical love of God and they remind our children that no matter what they do, or whatever is going on in their lives or at home, they-are-loved. That’s a powerful, countercultural message. Maybe if some of the youth involved in the shootings this week had had that connection to the love and hope of Jesus, maybe some tragedies could have been avoided.

This week we celebrate Catholic schools week and it’s a great opportunity for families to reassess the role Catholic education plays in the lives of our families. Go out in the Narthex, get some information and maybe sign up for a campus tour. This is a good time to not only compare the academics, but also the non-academic benefits of a Catholic education.

The third thing we can do and this is perhaps more challenging is to reflect on our own discipleship. Do I live a life in witness to the authority of Jesus? Do my family and friends see me come to church, but behave completely different outside? For example, do I come here and say, “all are welcome”, but at lunch or dinner, do I disparage the poor, the immigrant or the refugee? If there’s one strength our youth have its sniffing out hypocrisy – especially in the parents – never among their friends – but especially in the parents. Right? So we need to challenge ourselves. How do I live my faith?

Do my family and friends hear me talk about the struggle of living my everyday life with my faith? Do I let them see me fall down and by the grace of God pick myself back up? Do my kids hear me say to my wife, “I’m sorry,” even when I’m not sure what I did wrong this time? Do my family and friends see me go to confession because in confession I don’t just glibly say, “I’m sorry.” I have list my sins. I say it! I have to own it! Then I ask for forgiveness. A friend of mine reminded me just this week about the healing power of the Act of Contrition. The next time you go, I encourage you to pray that prayer mindfully, especially that first line: O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you. Do my family and friends see me avail myself of the great healing power in the sacrament of reconciliation? Do they see me come to mass where I am nourished by the Word of God and then I come to receive the body, the blood, the soul and the divinity of Jesus in the Eucharist so that after mass I go out into the world that denies the authority of Jesus?

Maybe if I live my life of discipleship better, people might have an encounter with Jesus Christ. That’s the challenge of today’s Gospel. If I live my life that way, maybe some family and friends will say, “What’s going on over there? You’ve got a lot on your plate, but you don’t seemed stressed or unhappy. Tell me what that’s about.” That’s your opportunity to share. You can say, look, authority out there is all about me. It’s about my power, my money. If I want more money, then I need get more authority and more power. That’s the rat race. But the rat race will never satisfy you. That only creates anxiety, the anxiety we heard about in First Corinthians. How do I treat that anxiety? Maybe after work one day I just go out with my buddies and get hammered. If that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll buy some pot. If that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll watch pornography to help me relax. But it’s a lie! None of those things can fill the hole inside! Only the radical love of Jesus Christ can fill that hole! We want to help people have an experience of God’s love so that they realize that God says to us, “I love you so much and want you to be with me forever that I allowed my son to sacrifice himself for you.” That’s how Jesus exercises his authority – not for himself, but for you and for me. That’s the challenge of our Gospel today. Do I live my life in witness to the authority of Jesus so that others might have an encounter; an encounter that leads to transformation; transformation that might bring our babies home.

That has to be the way that I start preaching to my family, not on my authority – not because I’m Deacon Rudy – but by the authority of Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior I live of a life of faith and love. Amen? Amen! That’s how we start facilitating an encounter with Jesus. Because the world offers them a different image. Do whatever you want now. But it’s an empty promise that leads to anxiety – That’s my opportunity. You see, the way authority is exercised in the world out there – all too often it’s about wealth and power. How do I get ahead in the world? But the authority of Jesus is based on radical love.

Homework! There are two things I ask of us to consider as we prepare for Lent. Perhaps we can try these exercises from now through the end of Lent. Maybe come here for the Stations of the Cross on Friday night, then go the Knights of Columbus fish fry, and add these two exercises to your prayer.

  1. First, ask yourself in your prayer, “How do I live my faith? Do my family and friends see me live out my faith or is my faith life the best kept secret in the house?” If it’s a secret, then part two of that is to ask for the grace to share your faith.
  2. Second, lift up in prayer by name any of your family and friends who have fallen away from the faith. Maybe say something like, “Loving Father, I lift up to you my son X, my goddaughter Y and my uncle Z. Wash them in the blood of Jesus. Protect them and bring them home.”

Maybe if we do these two exercises, they might help us hone our discipleship so that we can witness to the authority of Jesus in our everyday life.

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 serve Jesus. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

To listen to the homily recorded during mass, click here. If for some reason the link does not work or stops working, in your browser search for St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Round Rock, Texas, and click the link. Once there, in the search bar type “homilies” which should take you to a list of all the homily recordings archived on our website. Peace!