Corpus Christi Blog

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The Church gives us such amazing and powerful readings today.  In our 1st reading we come to know the depth of who God is and what He wants, and also who we are and who we are meant to be.  Then in our Gospel in the story of Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus, we see how this identity of God and of human beings is to be applied in our lives.

From a letter to Proba by Saint Augustine

Why in our fear of not praying as we should, do we turn to so many things, to find what we should pray for? Why do we not say instead, in the words of the psalm: I have asked one thing from the Lord, this is what I will seek: to dwell in the Lord's house all the days of my life, to see the graciousness of the Lord, and to visit his temple. There, the days do not come and go in succession, and the beginning of one day does not mean the end of another; all days are one, simultaneously and without end, and the life lived out in these days has itself no end.

Just to warn you- this homily will be a little longer because it is simply too important.

The Devil is a divider who will use almost any tactic to separate Christians from Christ...except for one. He doesn’t typically come right out and say, “Deny Jesus Christ!” because he knows that someone who loves Jesus would immediately reject the suggestion. So, he tends to use more subtle means and subtle words.

Our 1st reading from Exodus tells the story of how Israel defeated the attacking Amalekites.  The Early Church Fathers saw this story as a great analogy for the Church.  It is this that I want to focus on in this homily.

Our 1st reading begins, Amalek came and waged war against Israel.  We know from Scripture that the Amalekites are one of the tribes that stood against and wanted to conquer Israel. 

Fr. Reynaldo Clutario has been incardinated to the Diocese of Phoenix. "Incardination," what does it mean? As far as I remember in my Canon Law class, one of the rights and privileges of an ordained Catholic member of the clergy is that the ordained clergy member of a particular Diocese, or any religious order, or a priest belonging to any apostolic institute, has the right to transfer to any Diocese, religious order, or apostolic institute of his choice for his good and for the advantage of the Church. This movement or process is called incardination and excardination.

You may remember that several months ago we had two different speakers demonstrated in preparation for the new sound system in the Church. While I heard your feedback on both, I told you that the Pastoral Council and I would decide which is the best for our space and that we would have it installed when we raised the $58,000 for it through the Pink Envelope Building Improvement Fund. Thanks to your generosity, we have raised enough money and so it is coming very soon! Our new sound system will be installed during the week of Oct 24.

Today in our 1st reading and our Gospel, we hear 2 very similar accounts of healing of lepers. In our Gospel, there are 10 lepers who are healed by Jesus; and in our 1st reading we hear part of the powerful story of the healing of Naaman from his leprosy. What I want to do today is try to relate the characters in these readings to people today, perhaps ourselves; I think that relating the characters to people today will help us apply them to our lives; because these readings are not just about people being healed, as they are about our journey of faith, our journey to discipleship.

Do you have faith?  A question that many of you probably quickly answered, ‘Well Yes, of course’ I’m here at Church aren’t I’.  If you say you have faith, what or who is it that you have faith in?  And what exactly does it mean to have faith?

For many people faith is nothing more than a belief in God, a recognition that God exists.  However, our readings today help us to understand more in depth what faith really is.  As I try to explain more fully what faith entails, I want you to think about if you really have faith to the extent our readings encourage us to have?  Faith is much more than just having a belief in God.

Have you forgotten that Pope Francis has declared an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, which will be ending Nov 20, 2016? Have you made it a point to both receive and be an instrument of God's mercy this year? This is a gentle reminder that God's mercy is waiting to be outpoured in a special way upon us and through us, and He is inviting you and I to take full advantage of His many blessings this year.

A convicting message for all of us to reflect on, since we should all care for one another:

"Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves! Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep? You have fed off their milk, worn their wool, and slaughtered the fatlings, but the sheep you have not pastured. You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick nor bind up the injured. You did not bring back the strayed nor seek the lost, but you lorded it over them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered and wandered over all the mountains and high hills; my sheep were scattered over the whole earth, with no one to look after them or to search for them.

Today we are given quite convicting readings.  I ask each of you to take a moment to pray, and allow the Holy Spirit to touch and convict your heart during this homily and Mass.

In our Gospel Jesus gives us a story of a rich man who dressed in fine and expensive clothes, who dined sumptuously every day.  A man who had everything he wanted and was enjoying his life doing whatever he wanted to do.  At his doorstep was a poor man, named Lazarus, a man who was covered with sores and didn’t have anything to eat.  The rich man didn’t even open his front door and give Lazarus anything, not even scraps of food.  The rich man who was living for himself and only looking out for his own desires, probably stepped over Lazarus every day without a second thought. 

Beginning this Sunday, Sept 17th, I encourage everyone to join me in praying for the Presidential election coming in November. Perhaps you would like to begin a 54-day rosary novena, which if begun today would end near Election day. Or if you prefer a shorter prayer — the Our Lady Un-Doer of Knots novena is a powerful prayer for this nation. I have also provided the Election Prayer for Life so you can pray this prayer as often as you can.

As Catholic Americans, not only should we vote, but we have an obligation to vote. And not only to vote, but we have the obligation (not just the encouragement) of our faith to influence how we vote. The United Conference of Catholic Bishops present it this way, we have dual heritage "as both faithful Catholics and American citizens with rights and duties as participants in the civil order...It is as citizens faithful to the Lord Jesus that we contribute most effectively to the civil order." If we really believe that the Church has what the world needs, we must reflect that in how we vote.

In today ‘s Gospel we have one of the more confusing parables, with a strange twist; and although it might be difficult to understand, it really is a pretty simple straight-forward message, but still a message that is difficult to live.  So let us jump right into it to try and understand the parable and then appreciate the message Jesus is giving us and how to implement it into our lives.

Our readings this week speak of the merciful love God has for each one of us. No matter how sinful we have been, no matter how far we have strayed from the flock, God searches for us to bring us home.  Within this message is a call to each of us to be evangelizers, that is to share our love for Christ with others so that they will come to experience the living Christ and become themselves true disciples and followers of Jesus.

Before exploring this further, St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in New York has a cemetery.  During the summer they borrow three sheep to feed on the grass and thus maintain the lawn. This year they named the sheep faith, hope and charity.  Six parishioners have been trained as volunteer shepherds to care for the sheep. Their main responsibility is to gather the sheep into a shed at night.  To help protect the sheep from intruders the shed is secured with an alarm. The cemetery grounds are under 24/7 video surveillance and the pastor and shepherds can monitor the sheep with their smart phones, tablets or computers. I am happy to say as of this time there are no reports of lost sheep.  Faith, Hope and Charity are alive and well at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral. If you would like to help care for the sheep you can visit the iphone app Soho sheep to make a donation.

Did you know that we have a parish library?! Located in the Parish Office, it is usually open whenever the office is open. If you are interested in reading more to enhance your spiritual life, come check out some books! We have nearly a thousand books on a variety of topics. If you don't have a lot of time to read, but spend a lot of time in the car, we have CDs that can be checked out as well. The last time I went on a little vacation, I checked out St. Therese's Story of a Soul and St. Francis de Sales' Introduction to the Devout Life. Also, there is a Best of Catholic Answers Live CD set. Additionally, for those of you interested in our Called and Gifted workshop, we have two CD sets that are essential for you to be ready for the workshop, which starts in two weeks.

From a spiritual testament of Saint Louis to his son

I read this as the homily on Thursday, August 25th, for the feast of Saint Louis, King of France. What an inspiring witness he is of putting Christ first in his life, being a parent to children, and a true leader in the position God put him in. May he inspire you too.

My dearest son, my first instruction is that you should love the Lord your God with allyour heart and all your strength. Without this there is no salvation. Keep yourself, my son,from everything that you know displeases God, that is to say, from every mortal sin. You shouldpermit yourself to be tormented by every kind of martyrdom before you would allow yourself tocommit a mortal sin.