Sunday, August 23, 2015

IMPORTANT NOTICE...NO NOON CONFESSIONS this Wednesday

Father Carroll will be unavailable this Wednesday at Noon.   He has a funeral home service.  Confessions will still be heard from 4:30 - 5 pm.  Thank you for your understanding!  

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Homily - 20th Sunday OT - Eucharist - Jesus' Physical Embrace

Eucharist - Jesus' Physical Embrace


When you love someone you want to be a part of their life. Love seeks a union of heart, mind, soul, and life with your beloved. You want to belong and be with them.
In the Gospel, we hear that Jesus too is seeking a union of heart, mind, soul, and life with His Beloved - you & me.
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you."
When we share in the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, Jesus Himself comes to dwell within us.
God’s special gift to us makes Jesus present to us not just externally, but internally as well.
Jesus comes to us to get inside us, to live inside us, to come totally and completely into our lives, into our very selves.
Bishop Edward Malesic once said the following about the Eucharist.
"It was Jesus who said of the bread, “Take, Eat. This is my body.” And He said of the wine. “This is my blood of the covenant.”
Who am I to debate the words of Jesus?  If he says over the bread, “This is my body,” it is.  And if he says over the wine, “This is my blood,” Who am I to disagree?...
We believe that Jesus meant what He said and said what He meant.  We also believe that, as God, Jesus has power behind His words, power to effect the change He claimed over the bread and wine....
They are the same words spoken by a priest at Mass today; and it is the power of Christ, acting in and through a validly ordained priest, who is able to make this change in substance come about on every altar in every Catholic Church even now." 
That sums it up pretty well; It is Truly Jesus because He says that it is His Body and His Blood.
On the night before His death, Jesus gave us the Eucharist, His Physical Embrace, His Kiss, a sacrament in which He gives us His total self, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
Through His Embrace, He gives us His Mercy, Healing, Kindness, Forgiveness, and Love.  When you receive the Eucharist, Envision Him embracing you and giving you all that you need from the inside out.
This communion with the Lord makes us one Body, brings us eternal life, and sends us forth to be Christ's Body for the life of the world.
In a few moments, you will see with what great love and care the priest touches Jesus in the Host during Mass.
We should go out into the world and do the same, because it is the same Jesus we will find there in the broken bodies of the people we encounter.
Today we sit at the feet of Jesus, who is present to us.  We come to listen to Him, learn from Him, be fed by Him, and unite ourselves to Him.
God’s Word made flesh, Christ Jesus, calls out to us once again here in this church:
“Take and eat; this is my Body. Take and drink, this is my blood.
I am marrying you, giving Myself to you forever in love. Nothing can make Me not love you. I am yours forever!”
Remember, when you come down the aisle to receive Holy Communion, you come as a Bride to receive the divine Bridegroom, Jesus.
St. Augustine said:
"God offers us a short route to the possession of Himself. He cries out:
Love me and you will have me for you would be unable to love me if you did not possess me already."

Praise Be Jesus Christ, the Living Bread, Now and Forever, Amen!

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Homily - 18th Sunday OT - I Am the Bread of Life


Last Sunday, we began a 5 week focus on St. John's Gospel, Chapter 6 - the Bread of Life Discourse. "I am the Bread of Life," says Jesus, "whoever comes to me will never hunger." During these five Sundays we explore the dimensions of Jesus - the Bread of Life.
The Central reason why you and I are Catholics is namely the Eucharist.  And the Church in her wisdom placed The Bread of Life Discourse in the center of Ordinary Time.  It is a reminder of who we are and what we believe.
Jesus declares:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,... Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you... “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.
Jesus is asking us to change ours hearts and minds in order to see God in a new light. Instead of asking for bread for our stomachs as the ancient Israelites did when Moses led them out of Egypt.  We should ask for the Bread of Life, the Bread Jesus give us, His Body and Blood.
He came seeking not only our obedience but desiring to be up close and personal with us, seeking to live within you and me.
The infinite God, who lives far above us, comes to us now inside our humanity, in our time, on our earth.
Amazing!
A priest once asked a first communion class how does Jesus get into the Host?  He was thinking he would not get an answer.  But a six year old boy raised his hand and said I know - Jesus Loves Himself into the Host. 
Think about it - The God who is Love - Loves Himself into the Bread and Wine so He can be intimately close to us!
I want you to recall that Jesus had previously taught His followers to pray what we now call the Lord’s Prayer.  The prayer in which we ask Our Father in heaven to: Give us this day our daily bread.  Matt 6:11 and Luke 11:3
When we ask God to give us our daily bread, we need to pay attention to what we are praying. 
The word for 'daily' [e-pē-ü'-sē-os] (epiousios) that Jesus uses is found nowhere else in Scripture nor anywhere else in ancient Greek literature. 
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: "Taken literally, Daily means (epi-ousios = "super-essential") referring directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ.
So we are not praying for bread for our bodies but for the food that nourishes our hearts and souls, the Bread that strengthens our spirits, the Bread with which we nourish each other’s hearts and souls with the presence of God living within us.
Food has three purposes: 1).To heal. 2). to bring people together - to unite. 3). and third, to bring joy - something we all need, but something we receive not by being pleasure seekers, but by seeking God.
Like wholesome food, Jesus heals, unites and brings joy. Jesus wants to give you and me those gifts:
Jesus was offering the crowd and to each of us Bread from Heaven, Bread that nourishes for eternal life, Bread available to people who have faith in Jesus Christ.
In Mass, once we have been nourished by the Bread from Heaven and the word of God, we are invited to carry Jesus into our homes and workplaces, radiating His love, mercy and compassion all around us.
Let us remember that the “Bread of Life” is Jesus Christ Himself, not merely human bread. It is Food for our souls giving us a share in God’s life and assurance of eternal life with Him.
There are those who are seeking the God whose presence they have not yet experienced. Are we sharing our “Daily Bread” with them, the Bread of Life?
Pope Francis is telling us that we need to be better Evangelists. What he means is that we should engage people, and we should not be afraid to talk to them about God and spiritual matters.
If we do this in a loving, respectful and gentle way, we might be surprised by the positive reception we get.
At the end of today's Gospel, Jesus makes the unique and bold claim: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."
Let us Pray:
Give us this day, O Lord, our daily bread.
Give us your love, your life, and your Holy Spirit in this Bread from heaven that we are about to receive, in order that we may bring your loving Presence into the world around us, a world that desperately needs you.
Praise Be Jesus Christ, Now and Forever, Amen!