Deacon Sunday - Homily for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B - 10/13/2024)

Good morning. When Peter said to Jesus: "We have given up everything and followed you," he is sharing with us the reality of a life spent following Jesus. When we say “yes” to Jesus, we say “no” to a multitude of other things. For example, we said “yes” to Jesus and came to Mass this morning, because we said “no” to hitting the “sloth button” on our alarm clock and sleeping in a few more hours. The Good News is, God cannot be outdone in generosity. We get so much more in return because, at Mass, we encounter Jesus. We receive the word of God that “is living and effective. . . penetrating even between soul and spirit. . .” and reveals to us the true desires of our hearts - to love God because He loves us first. Then, Christ nourishes us with his Body broken for us and his Blood shed on the Cross for our salvation.

Jesus is “the living bread that came down from heaven. . . and the bread that [he gives] is [his] flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:51). Jesus asks of us one thing, that we love him above all else. “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (14:23). This is the love that Jesus asked of the man when he said to him: “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” However, the man did not get it because, upon hearing this, his face fell and “he went away sad, for he had many possessions.” How many of us, or those we know, opted not to follow Jesus because we grip so tightly our “many possessions” rather than cling on to the thread of Jesus’ garment? For me, the Diaconate has helped me realize that the “treasure” I seek for most in life cannot be found in “the many possessions” that the world has to offer but in the “treasure[s] in heaven” that Christ has to offer. If I am “rich” in the things of heaven, then it might be easier for me to enter the kingdom of God than “for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.”

As I reflected on the dialogues between Peter and Jesus and Jesus and the man, I asked myself: what did I give up to come and follow Jesus as a deacon? The answer is time. I cannot tell you how sad I was at all the times I had to miss gatherings and events with families and friends because I had Diaconal Formation classes on Saturdays. However, as Pope Francis once said: “[our] life is made of time and time is God’s gift, and it is therefore important to make use of it by performing good and fruitful actions. . . Among the many things to do in our daily routine, one of the priorities should be reminding ourselves of our Creator who allows us to live, who loves us, who accompanies us on our journey” (Meeting with German altar servers, Aug. 5, 2014). God did more than just accompany me on my journey in Diaconal Formation; He took what little talent that I had to offer Him and multiplied it like he did with the “loaves and fish.”

Now, as a deacon, time is still what I continue to give up daily to come and follow Jesus. However, God cannot be outdone in generosity. Saint Paul wrote that “God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). God continues to bless my diakonia abundantly. To the world, I am one person; however, when I give generously of my time, talent, and treasure, out of love for God and self-giving love of neighbor, I can be the world to one person, in particular, here at Saint Albert the Great.

I share about the blessings of my diakonia because today is the Second Sunday of October and, in the Diocese of Austin, it is recognized as Deacon Sunday for the purpose of fostering diaconate vocations. To all the men thinking, praying, discerning about becoming a deacon, listen to Pope Saint John Paul II, who echoed these words of Jesus: “Do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid to ask Jesus the question that the man asked in today’s Gospel: “what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Do not be afraid to believe and trust that Jesus loves you. Do not be afraid to come and follow him and imitate his self-giving love. Do not be afraid to give to God generously without counting the cost. When you do, you will realize that God cannot be outdone in generosity. He returns blessings upon you 100-, 1,000-fold.

To all the wives, I ask you all to encourage your husbands to discern and have the courage to answer God’s call to them to “come and follow” Him. Your husband is the provider and protector of your family, there is no doubt about that. He will not pursue anything else if he believes that it might take him away from his primary vocation as a husband and his primary mission - his wife and children. However, when you reassure your husband and encourage him, but most of all, when you pray that he discerns God’s will for him and your family, your generosity will be rewarded with an outpouring of grace and blessings that is beyond measure. Pray about it together. Perhaps, sign up to take home the Vocations Traveling Chalice to pray for your discernment and for an increase in vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life.

God cannot be outdone in generosity, but we can seek to model His self-giving love. Here at Saint Albert the Great, we work together as we seek to worship God, serve others generously, and form disciples. We need you, the many parts of the One Body of Christ, to fulfill your Baptismal promises with intentionality and in a concrete way to help us carry out the mission of our parish, the mission of the Church that Jesus entrusted to us. If we give generously in gratitude for our God-given gift of time, talent, and treasure, then it just might be easier for us to enter the kingdom of God than “for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.”

Here is the link for the Vocations Traveling Chalice: 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4EABAA23A7FBC16-48039243-vocations?useFullSite=true#/

You can read my full vocation story here: https://dcnphuc2019.blogspot.com/2024/01/my-vocation-story-part-1-st-brendan.html #diakonia

. . .

Gospel (Mk 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 human beings it is impossible, but not for God. 

All things are possible for God."

Homily for the Thursday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time (Year B - 10/10/2024)

Good morning. In yesterday’s Gospel, Jesus taught us the Lord’s Prayer. In today’s Gospel, not only does Christ encourage us to persevere in prayer, he also promises that our prayers will be answered: “. . .ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. . .” This should bring us great comfort knowing that God hears our prayers because He loves us. From our joyful ramblings to our cries for help, God hears us and answers us.

I mentioned in my homily yesterday that Pope Francis said that prayer is “first of all dialogue, a relationship with God.” However, we can find it challenging to pray sometimes. In a general audience a few years ago, the Holy Father acknowledged that “praying is not easy; many difficulties present themselves in prayer.” Pope Francis went on to identify the difficulties in prayer as distractions, time of barrenness, and the sin of sloth.

The first obstacle to praying is distraction (CCC 2729). Pope Francis said “that the human mind finds it hard to dwell for long on a single thought. We all experience this constant whirlwind of images and illusions. . .” What do we make of this? A Spiritual Director of mine once told me not to be afraid of the distraction during time of prayer, especially in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. He said that if the same thought comes into my mind over and over again, then perhaps it is something that God wants to reveal to me in prayer and that I should ask God to help me understand it.

The second obstacle to praying is time of barrenness. The Catechism describes it in this way: “The heart is separated from God, when there is dryness, with no taste for thoughts, memories and feelings, even spiritual ones. This is the moment of sheer faith clinging faithfully to Jesus in his agony and in his tomb” (CCC 2731). Pope Francis warned against having a “grey heart” because we “cannot pray. . . [or] feel consolation with a grey heart!. . . The heart must be open and luminous, so that the light of the Lord can enter. And if it does not enter, wait for it, with hope. But do not close it up in greyness.” In other words, we should not be discouraged, or have a “grey heart,” when we pray fervently and it seems like God does not even hear our prayers at all, much less answer them. God always keeps his promises.

The third obstacle to praying is sloth. Quoting the Catechism, Pope Francis explained that sloth is “‘a form of depression due to lax ascetical practice, decreasing vigilance, carelessness of heart,’ CCC 2733). “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). Sloth is one of the seven ‘deadly sins’ because, fuelled by conceit, it can lead to the death of the soul.

So how do we overcome obstacles to praying? Jesus tells us to be persistent. Moreover, Pope Francis said that we “must learn to go forward always. True progress in the spiritual life [is] being able to persevere in difficult times: walk, walk, walk on… and if you are tired, stop a little and then start walking again. But with perseverance. . . Believers never stop praying!” It is as Saint Paul wrote to the Philippians: “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God” (4:6).

. . .

Gospel (LK 11:5-13)

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Suppose one of you has a friend

to whom he goes at midnight and says,

‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey

and I have nothing to offer him,’

and he says in reply from within,

‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked

and my children and I are already in bed.

I cannot get up to give you anything.’

I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves

because of their friendship,

he will get up to give him whatever he needs

because of his persistence.

“And I tell you, ask and you will receive;

seek and you will find;

knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives;

and the one who seeks, finds;

and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

What father  among you would hand his son a snake

when he asks for a fish?

Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?

If you then, who are wicked,

know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit

to those who ask him?”

Homily for the Wednesday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time (Year B - 10/9/2024)

Good morning. Pope Francis said that the Mass is “the prayer par excellence, the highest, most sublime, and at the same time, the most ‘concrete’. . . it is an encounter with the Lord [Real Presence in the Eucharist]. . . a privilege moment to be with Christ, and, through Him, with God and with our brothers.” The Holy Father went on to say that prayer is “first of all dialogue, a relationship with God,” because each of us was “created as a being in personal relationship with God, who finds his full realization only in the encounter with His Creator.” In other words, through prayer, we encounter God, and, it is in this encounter with our Creator, that we discover our purpose in life in relationship with God and with one another.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches us the Lord’s Prayer (or the Our Father). In the Lord’s Prayer, we boldly proclaim “Our Father” because, through Baptism, we become adopted sons and daughters of the Father in heaven through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and incorporated into his Mystical Body - the Church. Saint Augustine wrote that “‘Our Father who art in heaven’ is rightly understood to mean that God is in the hearts of the just,” that we who pray should desire the one we invoke to dwell in our hearts. “Hallowed be thy name” reminds us that “at the [holy] name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

Moreover, when we pray “thy kingdom come,” we eagerly await the “final coming of the reign of God through Christ’s return” while we commit ourselves to carrying out the mission of the Church in the present world (CCC 2818). Jesus teaches us that one enters the kingdom of heaven not by speaking words, but by doing “the will of my Father in heaven” and so when we petition God that “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we can discern “what is the will of God” and obtain the endurance to do it (CCC 2826). The Eucharist is our daily bread and so we pray for God to “give us this day our daily bread” because we desire to become what we receive - our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to do the will of the Father (CCC 2837).

Furthermore, although we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not cease to sin, to turn away from God. With bold confidence, we petition God to “. . .forgive us our trespasses,” because our hope is firm in Jesus Christ, in whom “we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (CCC 2839). Our petition for forgiveness will be heard but our response must come first, to “. . .forgive those who trespass against us” (CCC 2838). Forgiveness is the fundamental condition of the reconciliation of the children of God with their Father and of men with one another (CCC 2844). God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one; therefore, we pray “and lead us not into temptation,” we are asking God not to allow us to take the way that leads to sin (CCC 2846). In the final petition, “. . .deliver us from evil,” the Church brings before the Father all the distress of the world. . . and implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in expectation of Christ’s return (CCC 2854). We end the Lord’s Prayer with “Amen” to express our “fiat,” our “yes” to what is contained in the prayer that God has taught us.

. . .

Gospel (Lk 11:1-4)

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,

one of his disciples said to him,

"Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples."

He said to them, "When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name,

your Kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread

and forgive us our sins

for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,

and do not subject us to the final test."