Homily for Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Year C - 6/30/2025)

Jesus’ call to discipleship is a call to a radical change in our lives so that we can come and follow him. When Jesus called me home to Rome, back in 2007, the biggest hurdle, in my mind, was my parents. As the first-born son, in our Vietnamese culture, it was my responsibility to carry on the family values and traditions and no one in our family was Catholic. I would be the first in our family - immediate or extended - to be a Catholic.

After much discernment, I did come home to Rome at the Easter Vigil, in 2008, but I did not tell my parents. Only my brother knew. I regretted not letting my parents be part of one of the most important days in my life; however, thanks be to God, I had a second chance. When I was ordained to the Order of the Permanent Diaconate, in March of 2019, not only were my parents present, but my entire family was there in the pews. I am grateful to God for giving me the courage and strength to come and follow him and not wait.

I believe this is what Jesus meant in today’s Gospel. We hear that “[another] of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, let me go first and bury my father.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.’” A commentary on this verse explains it this way (Didache, 1274): “Discipleship means following Christ unconditionally with all of the sacrifice it may entail. Hence, Christ’s response to the one who wanted to bury his father (more precisely, to wait until his father died before he would follow Jesus) is not meant to be dismissive of the proper duty and respect owed to our parents; rather, it emphasizes that promptly responding wholeheartedly to follow Christ must take priority over all other concerns.” 

The Lord God said: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you. . . To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Have no fear before them, because I am with you to deliver you. . ." Had I not “come and follow” Jesus when I did and waited, out of honor and respect for my parents and our family legacy, I would have missed out on this incredible journey that God has me on as a deacon for his one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus invites us to trust him and that his plan for us is worth the sacrifices - big or small - that we would have to make in our lives to come and follow him. Jesus is inviting us to answer his call to discipleship with joy, trustingly responding to him, saying: “[Lord], I will follow you wherever you go.” A pastor once said: “Knowing God’s will is the greatest knowledge; finding God’s will is the greatest discovery; doing God’s will is the greatest achievement” (G. W. Truett). Let us boldly come and follow Jesus and lead others to him.

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/063025.cfm

KC Austin Chapter - A Report of the Spiritual Director (6/23/2025)

Worthy Chapter President and Brother Knights,

I bring you greetings from our State Chaplain, Bishop Mulvey, and our Associate State Chaplain, Fr. Chen, whom I am in contact.

I am blessed to have served with Austin Chapter President Victor Medina these past two years. He has done a wonderful job as a leader and I am grateful for his commitment to our Order on so many levels. I thank him for his time, as well as Lady Melisa Medina and their family, for supporting him and allowing him to serve.

Tonight, before the Chapter Meeting, President-Elect Ramiro Bali asked if I could stay on for another two years as the Spiritual Director of the Chapter. I humbly accepted and told him that I will continue to serve my brother Knights as long as they would have me. I thank God for this opportunity to serve and I am grateful to my wife for her love and support.

I want to thank Chapter President Victor and the outgoing officers for their commitment in leading the Chapter these past two years. I congratulation Chapter President-Elect Ramiro Bali and the incoming officers and look forward to working with them. I spoke with Brother Ramiro before the meeting to let him know that he has the support of his predecessors and Brother Knights as he prepares to take the helm next month.

This leads me to my next point, which is, the Knights have a wonderful succession plan. At the Council level, the Deputy Grand Knight, under the guidance of the Grand Knight is prepared to take over as Grand Knight after two years. As our Diaconal Formators always reminded us, we must always be looking for and training our replacements in ministry. If we look in our Councils and parishes, we will find that there a many men who desire to hive their faith in action.

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to serve as Chaplain for the Exemplification of Charity, Unity, and Fraternity (C.U.F.) where four men from Saint Albert the Great became Brother Knights. I had a chance to talk with three of them before the C.U.F. started and, in my brief conversations with each other them, I sense their great desire to serve Holy Mother Church as members of the Knights of Columbus. One man came home to Rome at the Easter Vigil and is getting married in a couple of months. He is on fire with his newfound Catholic faith. Another man had been away from the Church and the practice of his Catholic faith for several years. He desires to practice his faith and serve the Church. The third man has been at St. Albert the Great for 4 years but now he belongs to a community of believers. Finally, the fourth man came up to me after the Vigil Mass and was holding the Rosary that he received during the C.U.F. He was so excited to pray the Rosary once again.

There are many other men like them in the pews of our parishioners. Let's bring them into the Order and help them to put their Catholic faith in action.

Vivat Jesus!

Here is a link to my previous report from the Chapter meeting in March:

"Walking Wounded" - KC Austin Chapter - A Report of the Spiritual Director (3/24/2025) https://dcnphuc2019.blogspot.com/2025/03/knights-of-columbus-austin-chapter.html

Deacon Phúc’s challenges for all Knights for the month of July

• PERSONAL & FAMILY: Pray. Pray. Pray.
• COUNCIL: Same as above,

Pope Leo XIV's Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Lord, I come to your tender heart today,

to you who have words that set my heart ablaze,

to you who pour out compassion on the little ones and the poor,

on those who suffer, and on all human miseries.

I desire to know you more, to contemplate you in the Gospel,

to be with you and learn from you

and from the charity with which you allowed yourself

to be touched by all forms of poverty.

You showed us the Father’s love by loving us without measure

with your divine and human heart.

Grant all your children the grace of encountering you.

Change, shape, and transform our plans,

so that we seek only you in every circumstance:

in prayer, in work, in encounters, and in our daily routine.

From this encounter, send us out on mission,

a mission of compassion for the world

in which you are the source from which all consolation flows.

Amen.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

Homily for Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time (Year C - 6/23/2025)

In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us another teaching that challenges us: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.” In our modern, perhaps even post-Christianity society, we hear things like: “I’m not judging,” “no judgment here, “you do you,” “Love the sinner, not the sin,” etc. For many of us, who try to live according to the natural laws of God, and His Commandments, and the Beatitudes and teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shy away from “judging” the acts of others for fear of being labeled judgmental.

I want to share this reflection that I recently read in hopes of helping us to understand better what Jesus means when he tells us to “stop judging, that you may not be judged.” Quote: “Jesus warns against judging others. Not that it is wrong to judge whether an action is sinful according to the law of God; that form of moral evaluation is simply an exercise of the Christian conscience. Rather, Jesus forbids us to judge and condemn the heart. No one has access to the hidden intentions that animate another’s actions, nor can one know another’s level of culpability as determined by their circumstances and by their level of moral or religious instruction” (Mitch & Sri, 114).

With this understanding in mind, fraternal correction (Galatians 6:1-5), or correction of a brother or sister (Matthew 18:15-17), is how we live out Jesus' commandment to us to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. . . [and here is the hinge] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). Fraternal correction should be done in humility, mercy, and love, examination of conscience is a necessary practice that should precede such correction as a balance against pride [and this is important for us to remember] to ensure we are not also guilty of the same fault. Sounds familiar. It should, because Jesus teaches us this in today’s Gospel as well: “You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye.”

Finally, Jesus teaches us: “the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.” St. Gregory the Great said that “God measures as we measure, and pardons as we pardon, and shows mercy as we show mercy.” This is included in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Didache, 1271). Jesus said: “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions” (Matthew 6:7-15). All of Jesus’ teachings help us to live out his commandment to love one another as He loves us.

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062325.cfm

Farewell, Fr. Charlie (6/22/2025)

Pastor of Saint Albert the Great Catholic Church, July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2025

A week ago, Pope Leo XIV met with the priests in the Diocese of Rome and shared with them this message:

"[Let] us all undertake to be credible and exemplary priests! We are aware of the limits of our nature and the Lord knows us in depth; but we have received an extraordinary grace; we have been entrusted with a precious treasure of which we are the ministers, the servants. . . If together we try to be exemplary in a humble life, then we will be able to express the renewing force of the Gospel for every man and for every woman."

As you know, next weekend is Fr. Charlie’s last as our pastor. Fr. Charlie, in the words of the Holy Father, thank you for being a credible and exemplary priest, faithful to God who entrusted to your care these past six (6) years His flock here at Saint Albert the Great. Thank you for your life of holiness, for your courage in making important decisions in the face of incredible challenges, and for your humility to God’s will, all of which contributed to the renewal of the spiritual life of our beloved parish.

This is the enduring image that I have of Fr. Charlie as pastor of St. Albert the Great. This was taken on Christmas Eve 2020 at the "Reunion" Mass. The clergy brought our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - Real Presence in the Eucharist - to the faithful attending Mass in the parking lot. Come home, brothers and sisters in Christ. Do not be afraid. Come home. Fr. Charlie faithfully carried Jesus' charge to him: "Feed my lambs. . . tend my sheep. . . feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17) by making the Sacraments accessible to the people of God during the pandemic.

Homily: https://dcnphuc2019.blogspot.com/2025/06/homily-for-solemnity-of-most-holy-body.html

Click to listen: https://phucphan.podbean.com/e/homily-for-the-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ-year-c-6222025/

Click to listen: https://phucphan.podbean.com/e/homily-for-the-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ-year-c-6222025/

Saying Good-Bye to my first pastor, Fr. Matt Iwuji: https://dcnphuc2019.blogspot.com/2024/06/saying-good-bye-to-my-mentor-fr-matt.html

Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Year C - 6/22/2025)

Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. If someone were to ask you what the Eucharist is, how would you answer them? Your first instinct might be to tell them to ask a priest or a deacon. You might even be tempted to point them to the section on the Eucharist in the Catechism. While there is nothing wrong with either of these approaches, remember this: our Catholic faith, while deeply rooted in Sacred Scripture, steeped in Sacred Tradition, and entrusted to the teaching authority given by Christ to the Church through the Magisterium, is an encounter with a living God who invites us into a relationship that is the communion of love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

With that in mind, here is one way I would respond to the question: “Let me tell you what the Eucharist means to me in one word. . . that word is LOVE. The Eucharist is the love that God pours into my heart so that the Sacred Heart of Jesus and my heart, while weak, fragile, and temperamental, beat as one. The Eucharist is love that is patient and kind, that ‘bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.’ The Eucharist is love that never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). I want you to know how much our Eucharistic Lord loves you.”

After the 12:00 Mass last Sunday, I visited with a young woman who told me that she was new to St. Albert the Great. She shared with me that she had been away from the Church and her Catholic faith for several years but she has started coming to Mass again. I welcomed her home to Rome and prayed with her. That, my sisters and brothers in Christ, is the power of God’s love, the miracle of the Real Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist through the Holy Spirit.  Saint Thomas Aquinas once wrote that: “No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift.” For “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. . . we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son. . . saved by his life. . . through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:8-11).

In a few moments here, on this altar of our Lord, the Holy Spirit, working through our priest who is in persona Christi, consecrates bread and wine that become the Body of Christ broken for us and Blood of Christ poured out for us. I invite you to pay close attention to two beautiful moments during the consecration, not with minds that may be unbelieving or perhaps even skeptical of the miracle that is about to take place [like the disciples were before Jesus multiplied “five loaves and two fish” to feed 5,000 people]. But rather, with hearts filled with faith, hope, and love that cry out: “Jesus, I trust in you.”

The first moment is at the epiclesis, when the priest calls upon the Holy Spirit, praying: “Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body + and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ” (Eucharistic Prayer II). At that moment, heaven opens and the Trinity is truly present in our midst. This miraculous moment should cause our hearts to leap for joy knowing that, through Baptism, we are beloved sons and daughters of our Father in heaven, through our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit.

The second moment is when the priest raises the Body and Blood of Christ and prays: “Behold, the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.” Indeed, we are blessed to be invited to the Lord’s heavenly banquet here on earth. When we receive the Eucharist, during the Mass at Holy Communion, we are called to “open up [our]. . . hearts to God, to God’s love, to that peace which only the Lord can give us. To feel how deeply beautiful, how strong, how meaningful the love of God is in our lives. And to recognise that while we do nothing to earn God’s love, God in his own generosity continues to pour out his love upon us. And as he gives us his love, he only asks us to be generous and to share what he has given us with others" (Pope Leo XIV, 6/14/2025).

I conclude my homily with this thought and two invitations. We are all created in the image and likeness of God. The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ is a reminder to all of us that we are all members of the One Body of Christ. In how we interact with one another, we must always remember to treat one another with the dignity that comes from being beloved sons and daughters of the Father, co-heirs of the kingdom of heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit.

My first invitation is, do not leave after you have received Holy Communion but return to your seat in the pews and pray. This way, you can join us for the Eucharistic Procession immediately after Mass. You may sit or kneel in the pews but remain in your seat and, as Fr. Charlie walks by you, carrying our Eucharistic Lord in the monstrance, have courage and renew your commitment to our Lord and our God, saying: “Yes, Lord, I will take up my cross and come and follow you” faithfully all the days of my life (Matthew 16:24).

My second invitation is for you to say to Jesus, “Yes, Lord, I can keep watch with you for one hour” (Matthew 26:40-41), and spend an hour in Eucharistic Adoration before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, in the Adoration Chapel. Perhaps a good time to start is this coming Thursday through Saturday, June 26-28, with the “40 Hour Devotion for Vocations,” and pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood. Without priests, there is no Eucharist and, without the Eucharist, there is no Catholic Church.

Come as you are, a sinner, broken, weak, hurting, and tired, before our Eucharistic Lord, clinging to the thread of his cloak. Do not be afraid to spend time with our Lord in sacred silence because Jesus will speak his love into our hearts. Rather, boldly say to our Eucharistic Lord in the words of Pope Saint John Paul II: “Totus tuus” (I am “all yours,” Lord).

Here is the link to the 40 Hours Devotion for Vocations that I mentioned in my homily: https://saintalbert.org/news/40-hours-devotion-.

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062225.cfm

Click to listen: https://phucphan.podbean.com/e/homily-for-the-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ-year-c-6222025/

Farewell, Fr. Charlie: https://dcnphuc2019.blogspot.com/2025/06/farewell-fr-charlie-6222025.html

Homily for Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time (Year C - 6/16/2025)

In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us another one of his many teachings that can be hard for us to put into practice in our lives. Jesus said to his disciples (and us): "You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. . .” We live in a litigious society. I know this from experience because I am a paralegal by profession. I have worked on countless lawsuits filed between friends and even family members because one party felt that the other wronged them and so they sought retribution through the courts.

However, our Lord challenges us, saying: “But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.” I bet you are thinking to yourself “I must be a saint” to follow this teaching of Jesus. Well, is not living a life of holiness and saintliness something that we are striving for as followers of Christ? I am reminded of a story that I read about Saint Ignatius of Loyola: 

When he first came to Paris, he received from a merchant twenty-five gold crowns on an order sent from Barcelona. These he put for safekeeping in the hands of one of the Spaniards with whom he lived. This latter very soon appropriated them for his own use, and when called upon, could not restore them. The result was. . . Ignatius found himself unprovided for. . . he was forced to seek his livelihood by begging, and to leave the house where he lived. . . the Spaniard who had spent the money of Ignatius and had not paid him, had set out to journey to Spain and fallen sick. As soon as Ignatius learned of this, he was seized with a longing to visit and help him, hoping by this to lead him to abandon the world and give himself wholly to God.

https://jesuits-eum.org/readings/ignatius-autobiography/

How would we have responded if we found ourselves in a similar situation that Saint Ignatius of Loyola found himself in with the Spaniard?

Jesus’ teachings, like the one today, though challenging, are not commandments as much as they are an invitation from Christ for us to participate in his divine life, to enter into the communion of love of the Holy Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We certainly cannot respond in the way that Saint Ignatius of Loyola did on our own. We must depend on God’s grace. This is what Saint Paul tells us in in today’s first reading: “in everything we commend ourselves as ministers of God, through much endurance, in afflictions, hardships, constraints, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, vigils, fasts; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in unfeigned love, in truthful speech, in the power of God. . .” It is as St. Thérèse of Lisieux wrote: “I had to pass through many trials before reaching the haven of peace, before tasting the delicious fruits of perfect love and of complete abandonment to God’s will.”

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061625.cfm

Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Year C - 6/15/2025)

Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said that God “is the Creator and merciful Father; he is the Only-Begotten Son, eternal Wisdom incarnate, who died and rose for us; he is the Holy Spirit who moves all things” (Angelus, 6/7/2009). Every time we pray the Nicene Creed, we profess our belief and faith in the Triune God - three distinct Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - GOD.

We profess: “I believe in one God, the Father almighty. . .” the Creator and Author of life. He created “the heavens and the earth. . .” (Genesis 1:1) and He “created [us] in his image; in the image of God he created [us]; male and female he created [us]. God blessed [us]. . .” (1:27). God is the great “I AM” (Exodus 3:14) who is always close to us, guides us, and even removes obstacles in our lives in a similar way that He parted the Red Sea for the Israelites and accompanied them on their journey across the Red Sea and into the wilderness (14:10-22).

We profess: “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God. . .” The Son reveals the Father to us: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Jesus is “the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father” (14:6) except through him who was crucified on the Cross, died, resurrected, and ascended into heaven to prepare a place in his Father’s house for us so that we can be with him for all eternity (14:2). Jesus loves us, calls us “friends” (15:15), and keeps his promise to be with us “always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20) through the Sacraments of the Church.

We profess: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. . .” who is the promise of the Father and of  Jesus: “I will ask the Father, and he will give [us] another Advocate to be with [us] always, the Spirit of truth. . . he will teach [us] everything and remind [us] of all that” Jesus teaches us (14:16-17, 26). This is the truth of God’s love that Jesus reminds us of in today’s Gospel, saying; “when he comes, the Spirit of truth. . . will guide [us] to all truth”

Above all, the Trinity is a communion of love who finds “delight in the human race.” Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI observed: “three Persons who are one God because the Father is love, the Son is love, the Spirit is love. God is wholly and only love, the purest, infinite and eternal love” (Angelus, 6/7/2009). God so loves us “that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but. . . be saved through him” (John 3:16-17). Jesus so loves us that he “emptied himself. . . coming in human likeness; he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” for our salvation (Philippians 2:7-8). The Holy Spirit so loves us that he “comes to the aid of our weaknesses [and] intercedes” for us (Romans 8:26).

In the communion of love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Trinity shows us how we are to “love the Lord, [our] God, with all [our] heart, with all [our] soul, and with all [our] mind. . . [and to] love [our] neighbor as [ourselves]” (Matthew 22:37,39). Pope Leo XIV reflected on the communion of love and unity of the Trinity, saying: “Christ prays that we may “all be one” (v. 21). This is the greatest good that we can desire. . . in his mercy, God has always desired to draw all people to himself. It is his life, bestowed upon us in Christ, that makes us one, uniting us with one another. . . Different, yet one; many, yet one; always, in every situation and at every stage of life” (homily, 6/1/2025).

We love God as He loves us and we love others as God loves us, not by our own will and power, but by tapping into the graces of the Sacraments that we have received. The Sacraments are visible signs of an invisible reality that unites us all as members of the one Body of Christ with Jesus as the head of his Body - the Church [us]. Nothing unites us to each other and to Christ more than the Eucharist. Right here, on this altar of our Lord and our God, the Holy Spirit, working through the priest who is in persona Christi (or in the person of Jesus Christ) consecrates bread and wine that become the Body of Christ broken for us and Blood of Christ poured out for us. When we receive our Eucharistic Lord - body, blood, soul, and divinity - at Communion, God reveals to us the invisible reality: we are so loved by our Triune God.

The realization that we are so loved by our Triune God frees us not only to have bope, but to be the hope and peace of Christ for others. Saint Paul wrote that “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. . . and we boast in hope of the glory of God. . . and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”  Hope in the Trinity gives us “a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD” (Isaiah 11:2), to help us be Jesus Christ to others as we accompany the most vulnerable, the marginalized on the peripheries of society, those experiencing homelessness, the migrants and immigrants, and families who are struggling against the darkness that exists in a world that needs God more than ever.

I want to conclude by sharing these words of Pope Leo XIV, especially to all fathers on this Father’s Day, who along with your wives are the heads of your “domestic churches” and the formators of your children’s faith. The Holy Father said: The profound thirst for the infinite present in the heart of every human being means that parents have the duty to make their children aware of the fatherhood of God.  In the words of Saint Augustine: “As we have the source of life in you, O Lord, in your light we shall see light” (Confessions, XIII, 16).

Readings:  https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061525.cfm