Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent

Today we are presented with the Transfiguration of the Lord, in which Jesus appears to His disciples in a foreshadowing of His glorified body, speaking to two of the greatest figures in the Old Covenant: Moses and Elijah. In this event, we see the divine nature of Our Lord, which is reinforced by the voice of God our Heavenly Father speaking from the cloud, but it also gives us a foreshadowing of what our glorified bodies will be like at our resurrection at the end of time.

Apart from the descriptions in Scripture of the Transfiguration and images of Heaven, we don't have an understanding of what a glorified body looks like. A glorified body is one that has been freed from sin, and is filled with the grace of God. God's glory and majesty is so powerful that it becomes visible as a bright light. The light is so bright that the Sun pales in comparison.

One day, when we have been freed from the shackles of death and our bodies have been raised up following the final judgment, those who died in the state of grace will have their bodies glorified as Our Lord's was after His resurrection. We know this from St. Paul, who tells us that Our Lord “will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables Him also to bring all things into subjection to Himself.” We will share in the glory of God, and our bodies will be purified and raised up.

Sadly, however, that day is yet to come. We on Earth are still affected by sin, and our vision has been darkened by sin. We do not see the radiant glory of God, and would be stunned if we did experience that glory, as Peter, James and John were in the Gospel today. It's been said that if an angel appeared before us in all it's glory, we would not be able to tell that it was merely an angel and not God Himself. In fact, St. John in the Book of Revelation had to be told several times by the angel that appeared to him not to worship the angel, as St. John was awed by the glory of God shining through it.

As we look at the account of the Transfiguration given to us today, it's interesting that St. Luke chose to describe Our Lord's Passion, Death, and Resurrection in Jerusalem as his “exodus”, while Our Lord was speaking to the one figure in the Old Testament who is most well known for Israel's Exodus from Egypt. It's striking that the Exodus that freed the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt parallels the suffering, death and resurrection of Our Lord that frees us from the slavery to sin.

In both cases, a difficult journey with great suffering had to be made in order to gain this freedom from slavery and enter into the Promised Land. Moses had to lead Israel out of Egypt and suffer through the desert for 40 years so that the people of Israel could enter into the Promised Land, which Abram (later known as Abraham) was given by God. Our Lord had to undergo the suffering of the Roman and Jewish authorities, be crucified, die, and rise again so that we might enter into our Promised Land of Heaven.

It's important to point out that “our citizenship is in Heaven,” as St. Paul tells us. Just as the people of Israel were estranged from their homeland when living in Egypt, we are estranged from our Heavenly homeland during our lives on Earth. When you read the account of the Exodus, many in Israel were attached to the things of Egypt, making the Exodus difficult for the Israelites. Sadly, we too are attached to our land of exile, often caring more for the things of Earth over the things of Heaven. As St. Paul once again says, “Their minds are occupied with earthly things.”

To overcome this desire for earthly goods, we need to place our faith in God, as Abram did in the first reading, and as the people of Israel who entered the Promised Land did during the Exodus. When we put our faith in God instead of in the constant concern for earthly things, life won't be without challenge, as the Exodus was not without difficulty, but it will be “credited” to us “as an act of righteousness,” just as it was for Abram. When we are “righteous”, which means that we are in the friendship and grace of God, we too will one day enter into our Promised Land: the eternal joys of God's presence in Heaven.

As we go through our lives here on Earth, we join our exodus through the pain and sorrow that accompany this life to the pain and anguish that Our Lord suffered during his Passion and Death. May our exodus end at the Promised Land of Heaven, just as the Israelites' Exodus ended in their Promised Land.

Homily for the First Sunday of Lent

When we look at the Gospel passages of the Temptation, such as we heard in today's Gospel reading, I think we feel a little bit of comfort that we can share with Our Lord the fact that He was tempted the way we are tempted. At the same time, this passage is very instructive for us because it shows us the sins that the Devil uses to snare us.

I'm taking much of this from a former professor of mine at Mundelein Seminary, Fr. Robert Barron. For a couple of years now, he has been doing a series of brief videos on the Internet called Word on Fire. In these videos, Fr. Barron explains some aspect of the Catholic faith, or takes an aspect of the secular culture and explains it through the eyes of the Catholic faith.

Fr. Barron's most recent video focused on the Three Temptations of Our Lord, which we read in the Gospel passage chosen for this First Sunday in Lent. The point that Fr. Barron made in his reflection on the Temptations is that we can see the sins that the Devil tries to trick us into committing in order to ensnare us.

The Devil's first temptation of Our Lord was to turn the stones that surrounded them in the desert into bread. This temptation is to make sensate pleasure the center of our lives. This would be excessive use of physical pleasures, such as food and drink, to the point that they replace the focus that we should have on God. There's no room for God in our lives because these pleasures have filled them up.

The second temptation of Our Lord is being taken up and shown all the kingdoms of the world. The Devil temps him, saying, “All this will be yours, if you worship me.” (Luke 4:7) The temptation is for glory and power, making Jesus the most powerful person in the world.

For many people, this is the strongest temptation. They may be able to handle the physical pleasures, finding little or no temptation in them. Give them power and glory, however, and they will fall for the Devil's trick every time.

Third temptation finds Our Lord on the parapet, the highest point, of the Temple. The Devil tries to tempt Our Lord to throw Himself off of the parapet, quoting from the Scriptures that the angels will guard and protect Him. First of all, this is a temptation to put God to the test. Secondly, by putting Our Lord on this high place in the temple, which was the center of the society, the Devil was putting Him on the top of society, bringing Him honor and esteem.

Again, for some people, this may be the most dangerous temptation. These people may not want the pleasures of the world, they may not want power, but they seek honor and esteem from those around them. Give them this honor and esteem, and they'll fall for the trap.

So, how to do we resist these temptations? In the first two readings, we see that we need to confess our faith in God. The first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy is a confession of faith of the Israelite people as they are entering into the Promised Land and reaping the first fruits of that land. Confessing their faith that God has lead them to this Promised Land, they turn over their first fruits to Him in gratitude and thanksgiving.

In the second reading, St. Paul tells us that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) This brief statement shows us what we need to do to overcome the temptations of the Devil. We must believe in our hearts the promise of Our Lord that we will be saved and confess that belief publicly through our words and actions in order to overcome the snares and tricks of the Devil. We must also be like the Israelites in the first reading, giving the first fruit of our gifts over to God in gratitude and thanksgiving.

During this Lenten season, may our hearts be open to believing in the promises of Our Lord and may our lives confess that belief, so that we may be saved and help free others from the snares of the Devil.

Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

This week I preached off of an outline instead of a full script. Here's the outline for the week:

• Do we understand what it means to be a prophet?
  
  • Guy standing with "End is near" sign
    
  • Prophetic speech
    
    • Idea that prophesy is telling the future
    
    
  • Prophet appears throughout our readings
    
    • Jeremiah's call
      
    • St. Paul "prophesying partially"
      
    • Our Lord "prophet without honor in his native place"
  
  
• 2 purposes in the OT for prophesy
  
  • Call to conversion
    
    • Israel kept falling away from God the Father
      
    • Prophets called them back
    
    
  • Point to future coming of Jesus
    
    • Show fulfillment of covenant
      
    • "Partial will pass away"
      
      • Revelation in Jewish Covenant was partial
        
      • Jesus is the fullness of revelation
        
        • "The perfect"
  
  
• We are called to be prophets
  
  • Through baptism we share in Christ's ministry
    
    • CCC 436: "Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in His threefold office of priest, prophet, and king."
    
    
  • What does it look like to be a prophet?
    
    • Not foretelling the future
      
    • 2 purposes
      
      • Call to conversion
        
        • Need to do this first in our lives
          
          • Lead others by example
        
        
      • Point to Jesus
        
        • We need to live our lives by following Christ
          
        • Allow our witness and example to bring others to Him
        
        
      • Priest assembly
        
        • Example of priests = vocations
          
        • Example of dedicated Christians = more followers of Christ
  
  
• We are all called to be prophets through our baptisms. Are we willing to answer that call?

Homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

It seems like we are all on a never-ending search for happiness and contentment, yet it also seems that we never truly find the key to a joyful life. We might find brief periods of happiness in a relationship with others, in some possession, or in a hobby or other activity that we enjoy, but that happiness always seems to be fleeting and brief.

With all our searching, we never seem to think that following Our Lord could ever bring us any joy. In fact, the stereotypical image of a Christian who devoutly follows Jesus is someone who is very dour and bitter, almost austere in their life. Joy seems to be the last thing on their minds, yet the readings today bring us a different picture. They show us that we live truly joyful lives when we use the gifts of the Spirit that we have been given by God.

Today's passage from St. John's Gospel reminds us of the first miracle that Our Lord performed when he began his earthly ministry. It wasn't a healing, or raising someone from the dead, or casting a demon out of someone. Instead, it might seem to have occurred at an insignificant event: running out of wine at a wedding. Our Lord used this occasion to show the joy God our Father wishes to bestow on us by not only producing some wine to continue the party, but producing an astounding quantity of the best wine.

Again, it might seem strange to us that God wants to bestow joy upon us, especially when it seems like our lives are one difficulty after another, but look at the first reading. The description of a newly-freed Israel is one of the joy felt by newlyweds, the buoyant, almost giddy feelings that accompany an important, joyful event in our lives, such as a wedding. The language isn't one of sorrow and pity, but of rejoicing: "as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you." (Isaiah 62:5)

This is the joy that will come to us when we follow the spiritual life and exercise the gifts that we have been given by the Holy Spirit. Yes, this once again might be hard to believe, but the Holy Spirit has given each of us gifts that are for the benefit of ourselves and those we meet every day. St. Paul tells the Corinthians, and us, "to each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit," (1 Cor 12:7) following up with a list of some of the gifts which the Holy Spirit bestows upon us. This isn't a complete list by any stretch of the imagination, but helps us to understand the Holy Spirit has given us gifts, "distributing them individually to each person as He wishes." (1 Cor 12:11)

The difficulty we face when practicing the gifts we've been given comes when we're trying to figure out what they are in the first place. For some, the gifts are quite obvious, such as someone with a beautiful singing voice or a natural talent with musical instruments. Most of us, however, have to discern where those gifts lie and figure out how best to exercise them. In most cases, we need to work with those gifts once we've figured out what they are, developing our understanding of the gift and improving our familiarity with it.

When we do exercise the gifts we have been given, we can find a great joy in seeing those gifts used successfully. This might not happen at first, and may take many years to fully develop, but when we use the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the honor of God and to help our neighbors, we can truly find the joy that we are searching for. This joy far exceeds the happiness that we can ever receive through the things of this world. This joy is but a small taste of the joy that we will experience in the next life when we are in perfect union with our Heavenly Father.

In our search for happiness on Earth, may we seek the true joy that comes from finding and using the gifts of the Holy Spirit that reside within us.