Gospel Reflection - Fast Acceptable to the Lord (3/7/2025)

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Click to listen: https://phucphan.podbean.com/e/gospel-reflection-fast-acceptable-to-the-lord-372025/ #GospelReflection #diakonia

. . .

Last year, I did not fast like I normally do every Lent and, I have to admit, my Lenten experience was not the same as years past because I was not denying myself like I would when I fasted. This Lent, I decided to return to fasting until dinner time in the evening.

So how am I using my lunch hour during the day, you ask? Well, I have been writing and recording Gospel reflections for my blog and podcast. It has been wonderful to spend the lunch hour reflecting on the words of God and sharing Scripture with those who read my blog or listen to my podcast.

In today's first reading, from the Prophet Isaiah, we hear the Lord God tell us how we should fast, saying:

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:

releasing those bound unjustly,

untying the thongs of the yoke;

Setting free the oppressed,

breaking every yoke;

Sharing your bread with the hungry,

sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;

Clothing the naked when you see them,

and not turning your back on your own.

Believe me, this is a daunting list of to-do's from our Lord that reminds me of Christ's teaching on the Final Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46) (which we will hear proclaim this coming Monday). However, do not be discouraged or feel overwhelmed.

So, how are we to approach these tasks that the Lord God asks of us? We do not shy away when the opportunities are presented to us. How so? We pray for those who are "bound unjustly" and the "setting free [of] the oppressed. In other words, we can pray for the end of wars (especially in Ukraine and the Holy Land) and the health and well-being of the Holy Father Pope Francis. We participate in our parishes' Lenten Projects, like this one that the Social Ministry team at my parish is organizing to help the homeless within our parish boundaries: https://saintalbert.org/news/parish-lenten-project-blessing-bags-soap-socks-snacks.

When we do these things, we give our fasting purpose and meaning because we free up our time and resources to help those less fortunate (almsgivings) and pray for those in need of our prayers. Perhaps then, our Lord and our God will say to us in our time of prayer and service:

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,

and your wound shall quickly be healed;

Your vindication shall go before you,

and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,

you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs, pray for us!

. . .

Gospel of the Day (Matthew 9:14-15)

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,

"Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,

but your disciples do not fast?"

Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn

as long as the bridegroom is with them?

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,

and then they will fast."

Gospel Reflection - Take Up Our Cross and Follow Jesus (3/6/2025)

#newPODCAST Gospel Reflection - Take Up Our Cross and Follow Jesus (3/6/2025) 🙏❤🕊

Click to listen: https://phucphan.podbean.com/e/gospel-reflection-take-up-our-cross-and-follow-jesus-362025/ #GospelReflection #diakonia

. . .

In today’s first reading, from the Book of Deuteronomy, the Lord our God, through Moses, set before us the choices that we have to make in our life.

I have set before you

life and prosperity, death and doom.

The Lord God also said:

I have set before you life and death,

the blessing and the curse.

The Lord God desires us to “Choose life. . . For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live”

We do this when we:

If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,

which I enjoin on you today,

loving him, and walking in his ways,

and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,

And when we do, the Lord promises us that:

you will live and grow numerous,

and the LORD, your God,

will bless you

This Lent (and going forward), let us turn to the Lord and be

like a tree

planted near running water,

That yields its fruit in due season,

and whose leaves never fade.

Whatever he does, prospers.

Let us turn away from temptation and sin because:

Not so the wicked, not so;

they are like chaff which the wind drives away.

For the LORD watches over the way of the just,

but the way of the wicked vanishes.

Through the Lent disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we can be equipped to deny ourselves of worldly attachments and yolk ourselves to our Lord Jesus Christ whose yolk is easy and burden light.

Let us take up our cross daily and follow our Christ through the desert, to the Cross, and to eternal life because our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the way and the truth and the life.

Jesus asks us an important question in today’s Gospel:

What profit is there for one to gain the whole world

yet lose or forfeit himself?

Every day, we have a decision to make, to follow God and lead others to our Lord Jesus Christ or not and continue on the path that will only lead to our destruction. . . in this life. . . and lose eternal life with our Lord and our God forever. . .

Let us pray. . .

Lord Jesus Christ, send your Spirit to be with us and grant us the wisdom and courage to deny ourselves of those things that lead on away from you but cling on to the heavenly treasures that you have blessed us with in our lives. Help us to grow in faith, hope, and love this Lent through the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Amen.

. . .

Gospel of the Day (Luke 9:22-25)

Jesus said to his disciples:

"The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected

by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,

and be killed and on the third day be raised."

Then he said to all,

"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself

and take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

What profit is there for one to gain the whole world

yet lose or forfeit himself?"

Gospel Reflection for Ash Wednesday (3/5/2025)

#newPODCAST Gospel Reflection for Ash Wednesday (3/5/2025) 🙏🕊️❤️

Click to listen: https://phucphan.podbean.com/e/gospel-reflection-for-ash-wednesday-552925/ #GospelReflection #diakonia

. . .

Gospel of the Day (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18)

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Take care not to perform righteous deeds

in order that people may see them;

otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.

When you give alms,

do not blow a trumpet before you,

as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets

to win the praise of others.

Amen, I say to you,

they have received their reward.

But when you give alms,

do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,

so that your almsgiving may be secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

"When you pray,

do not be like the hypocrites,

who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners

so that others may see them.

Amen, I say to you,

they have received their reward.

But when you pray, go to your inner room,

close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

"When you fast,

do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.

They neglect their appearance,

so that they may appear to others to be fasting.

Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you fast,

anoint your head and wash your face,

so that you may not appear to be fasting,

except to your Father who is hidden.

And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you."

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030525.cfm

Homily for Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (Year C - 3/3/2025)

Good morning. As we prepare for the penitential season of Lent, which starts this Ash Wednesday, the man in today’s Gospel gives us a perfect question to reflect on and take to prayer. He asked our Lord Jesus Christ, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He then answered Jesus by saying that he observed all the commandments from his youth. What did Jesus do? He affirmed the man for all he had done from his youth. We can know this  because Scripture tells us that our Lord looked at him and loved him. Then, and here is the hinge, Jesus said to the man, “You are lacking in one thing.”

This is important for us to meditate on in our spiritual life, especially for us here who faithfully come to Mass every morning at 6:30 to pray before our Eucharistic Lord and to receive him at Holy Communion during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Our prayer ought to be: “Here I am, Lord. I have come to do your will. What am I, or where am I, lacking in my life when it comes to honoring you. . . when it comes to giving you all praise and glory, Lord?” Then, be prepared for God’s answer and, more importantly, pray for the courage to follow His will. I did this spiritual exercise last week and this was what the Holy Spirit revealed to me in prayer of that one thing that I was lacking. I received my answer through this reflection that I read:

“Perhaps we are more available to those outside our family than we are to our family members. Over the years, Pope Francis has often encouraged parents to “waste time” with their children—to be available to them in unstructured ways. Marriage Encounter addresses the challenge of “married singles”—spouses each so busy with their own lives that they don’t share the intimacy they are meant to experience. Do we give those in our family focused attention? Attention and availability are concrete ways of loving and serving as Jesus did.”

My sisters and brothers in Christ, when we discover that one thing that we are lacking, then perhaps, we can come closer to finding the answer to the question: “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Therefore, this Lent, if this one thing that we lack is a habitual sin that we fall prey to over and over again, then let us not be afraid to confront that sin with the help of God, bring it into the light, and allow Jesus to heal us and the Holy Spirit to help us overcome the sin. This is what our Lord Jesus Christ desires for us, as we heard in today’s first reading:

“To the penitent God provides a way back, he encourages those who are losing hope and has chosen for them the lot of truth. Return to him and give up sin, pray to the LORD and make your offenses few. Turn again to the Most High and away from your sin, hate intensely what he loathes, and know the justice and judgments of God, Stand firm in the way set before you, in prayer to the Most High God. . . How great the mercy of the LORD, his forgiveness of those who return to him!”

Saint Katherine Drexel, pray for us.

. . .

Gospel of the Day (Mark 10:17-27)

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up,

knelt down before him, and asked him,

"Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good?

No one is good but God alone.

You know the commandments: You shall not kill;

you shall not commit adultery;

you shall not steal;

you shall not bear false witness;

you shall not defraud;

honor your father and your mother."

He replied and said to him,

"Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth."

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,

"You are lacking in one thing.

Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor

and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

At that statement, his face fell,  

and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,

"How hard it is for those who have wealth

to enter the Kingdom of God!"

The disciples were amazed at his words.

So Jesus again said to them in reply,

"Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!

It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.

than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”

They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,

“Then who can be saved?”

Jesus looked at them and said,

“For men it is impossible, but not for God.

All things are possible for God.”

Gospel Reflection for Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time (Year C - 2/27/2025)

Sisters and brothers in Christ, as we prepare for the penitential season of #Lent, which starts on #AshWednesday (3/5), this verse from today's first reading (from Sirach 5:1-8) struck me:

"Of forgiveness be not overconfident,

adding sin upon sin.

Say not: "Great is his mercy;

my many sins he will forgive."

For mercy and anger alike are with him;

upon the wicked alights his wrath.

Delay not your conversion to the LORD,

put it not off from day to day.

For suddenly his wrath flames forth;

at the time of vengeance you will be destroyed."

God is merciful, but He is also just. Now is the time to turn to Him and pray for forgiveness, to beg for the grace and gifts of piety and fear of the Lord to overcome temptations and sins with fortitude, determination, and discipline.

Let us also ask God for the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and counsel so that we do not lead others to sin. Jesus tells us this in today's Gospel:

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,   

it would be better for him if a great millstone

were put around his neck

and he were thrown into the sea." (Mark 9:41-50)

. . .

Gospel of the Day (Mark 9:41-50)

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink

because you belong to Christ,

amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,   

it would be better for him if a great millstone

were put around his neck

and he were thrown into the sea.

If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.

It is better for you to enter into life maimed   

than with two hands to go into Gehenna,

into the unquenchable fire.

And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off.

It is better for you to enter into life crippled   

than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.

And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.

Better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye

than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,

where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. 

"Everyone will be salted with fire.

Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid,

with what will you restore its flavor?

Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another."

Knights of Columbus Austin Chapter - A Report of the Spiritual Director (2/24/2025)

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.

In this month's report, I want to reflect briefly on the virtue of Hope. In his Columbia (January / February 2025) article, titled "The Door of Hope", Supreme Chaplain Archbishop Lori has this to say about hope, in this Jubilee 2025 year of Pilgrims of Hope.

The virtue of hope fixes our gaze upon something that appears at the forefront of our minds and in the depths of our hearts: Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Mary, the One “who loved us and handed himself over for us” (Eph. 5:2). If this is who God is, and if this God is on our side, who and what an be against us” (cf. Rom. 8:31).

Our Lord Jesus Christ is our reason to hope because, every time we gaze upon our Crucified Lord on the Cross, our hearts are filled with His love and mercy for us because He died on the Cross for us. Archbishop Lori continues:

The Holy Door that the Lord wants most open is the door of our hearts - hearts that are sometimes shut tight because of sin, anger, fear or discouragement. . . the Lord continues to knock at the door of our hearts (cf. Rev. 3:20). . . let us hasten to open our hearts.

And here is the hinge, something extremely important for us to understand about Hope in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Archbishop Lori writes:

He will not necessarily grant our wishes, but he will satisfy our yearning to see his face and to be loved infinitely, even amid our frailty. . .may we experience the “hope [that] does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts” (Rom. 5:5).

Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent is on March 5th. It is a penitential season that can help us grow in the virtue of hope. Prayer helps us grow in our relationship with God because we realize that Jesus is the reason for us to be hopeful. Fasting helps us discipline ourselves so that we can focus on things of God to overcome sins and temptations. Almsgiving is the key to hope. . . “it is when hope overtakes us that we begin opening the doors of hope for others. . . When we love, and when we experience love, our hearts are opened” (Archbishop Lor).

I hope to see many of you at this Saturday Diaconate Ordination at San Jose. Please know of my prayers for you and your families.

Vivat Jesus!

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

Knights of Columbus Austin Chapter - A Report of the Spiritual Director (11/25/2024) https://dcnphuc2019.blogspot.com/2024/11/knights-of-columbus-austin-chapter.html

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

• PERSONAL & FAMILY: “10 Things for a Transformative Lent” (Updated: 2/20/2025) https://dcnphuc2019.blogspot.com/2023/02/10-things-for-transformative-lent.html or something similar for you and your family.

• COUNCIL: Stay prayed up in the midst of the busy-ness of Fish Fry, etc. Almsgiving is taken care of so focus on prayer and fasting.

Homily for Monday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time (Year C - 2/24/2025)

Good morning. In today’s Gospel, Jesus said something important that is meant to help us grow spiritually and strengthen our faith. His disciples asked him: “Why could we not drive the spirit out?” Our Lord said to them, “This kind can only come out through prayer.” Prayer is how we talk with God. Through prayer, we grow in our relationship with God who loves us, forgives us, and pours forth His mercy on us. Knowing that we are loved and forgiven by God frees us to become who God created us to be and  helps us to overcome temptations and sin, not by our own power but by the grace of God. Through prayer, God helps us focus on growing in holiness and striving for saintliness in our lives; therefore, the important lesson for us to learn here is to pray, pray, and pray.

Recall that Jesus “summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits” (Mark 6:7). And so, Jesus had given his disciples the authority to drive our demons. They “went off and preached repentance. They drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them” (6:12-13). And so they have done it before with success; however, they could not drive the spirit out this time. What changed? Jesus’ response to them, when they asked him why they could not drive the spirit out, seems to suggest that the disciples were relying on themselves, their own power and strength, rather than on the authority that comes from our Lord Jesus Christ through prayer.

What does this mean for us? We cannot overcome temptations and sins by ourselves because Satan is too strong for us. The Good News is, our Lord Jesus Christ went into the desert for 40 days to be tempted by the Devil and, not only did he overcome Satan, but he would later conquer death in his Resurrection. Therefore, we need to turn to our Lord in prayer and invoke his Most Holy Name if we want to break the chains of sin and temptations and the cycles of addiction that bind us in our lives. By ourselves, our minds tell us that we cannot; however, Jesus tells us that “everything is possible to one who has faith.” 

Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent is in one and a half weeks. Let us make a plan now for how we can grow in our faith through the Lenten observances of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. If we are struggling with our faith in God, then what the boy’s father in today’s Gospel said is a wonderful prayer: “Lord, I do believe, help my unbelief.”

Gospel of the Day (Mark 9:14-29)

As Jesus came down from the mountain with Peter, James, John

and approached the other disciples,

they saw a large crowd around them and scribes arguing with them.

Immediately on seeing him,

the whole crowd was utterly amazed.

They ran up to him and greeted him.

He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”

Someone from the crowd answered him,

“Teacher, I have brought to you my son possessed by a mute spirit.

Wherever it seizes him, it throws him down;

he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid.

I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable to do so.”

He said to them in reply,

“O faithless generation, how long will I be with you?

How long will I endure you? Bring him to me.”

They brought the boy to him.

And when he saw him,

the spirit immediately threw the boy into convulsions.

As he fell to the ground, he began to roll around   

and foam at the mouth.

Then he questioned his father,

“How long has this been happening to him?”

He replied, “Since childhood.

It has often thrown him into fire and into water to kill him.

But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

Jesus said to him,

“‘If you can!’ Everything is possible to one who has faith.”

Then the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!”

Jesus, on seeing a crowd rapidly gathering,

rebuked the unclean spirit and said to it,

“Mute and deaf spirit, I command you:

come out of him and never enter him again!”

Shouting and throwing the boy into convulsions, it came out.

He became like a corpse, which caused many to say, “He is dead!”

But Jesus took him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.

When he entered the house, his disciples asked him in private,

“Why could we not drive the spirit out?”

He said to them, “This kind can only come out through prayer.”