Advent: He Also Will Accomplish It - Homily for December 17

Readings for Sunday, December 17 / 3rd Sunday of Advent:  Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11  |  Luke 1  |  1 Thessalonians 5:16-24  |  John 1:6-8, 19-28

Christmas: Marvelous Things - Homily for January 1

Readings for Sunday, January 1 / Mary, Mother of God: Nehemiah 6:22-27  |  Psalm 67  |  Galatians 4:4-7  |  Luke 2:16-21

Have y
ou ever thought about how weird the word "spoon" is? What about the word "fork" or "knife" or "plate" for that matter? Who was the first person who thought "spoon" was an adequate description for the object we know as a spoon? Have you ever looked at your fingertips, looked at the patterns to see how they work, to how they go? Interestingly enough, all my fingerprints point the same way except one; it's backwards. I don't understand it. Maybe all of you are the same. It's the way it is. 

Those are odd questions to ask, and I can tell it by the looks on your face, presuming I had a little too much to drink last night to celebrate New Year's. But I ask those questions because they are questions we don't normally ask, things we don't normally think about. We say the words spoon, knife, fork and plate and we use them frequently, daily. We use our fingertips all through the course of our day, but how often are we mindful of them? How often do we reflect on why we are the way we are, why things are what they are, and their names and descriptions? 

Whenever I came to our parish, a couple years ago now, one of the things I did was I went around and took pictures of a bunch of random things: inside the churches, outside the churches, cemeteries and so on and I posted it on Facebook and asked, "Do you know where these things are?" Some of you may remember that. There were of course some things that were rather notable: statues of St. Vincent, stain glass windows, and various other things around here and at St. Ann. But there was one thing in particular caused a lot of people confusion because they didn't know where exactly it was, they hadn't seen it, and yet they were confused because it was so beautiful, but they wanted to know where it was. It was a little icon over the door at the back of the church here. How often we walk to the back of the church and we look down to make sure we don't miss a step, but we fail to look up to see a beautiful image right over our heads. And how many times we simply just walked out of the church without being mindful of it. That and so many other things that are so normal to us - spoons, forks, fingertips and things around us in the world - that they become simply, ordinary things, and they lose some of the marvel that ought to be rightly theirs, some of the awe that should strike deeply within our hearts. 

We celebrate a feast this weekend entitled "Mary, Mother of God." It's a title that should shock us, and usually it doesn't. In the early Church, there were great fights, literal fights, over the title "Mother of God" in regards to Our Lady. There were different bishops who were fighting among one another saying that she's the Mother of God and others who were saying that it was way too strong of a word, that she should be called the mother of the human nature of Jesus - She gave Jesus flesh. But to say Mother of God, no, that's too much. There was great division in the early Church. Many reflections that ultimately came down to bring to us this title of Mary, Mother of God which highlights certainly the maternity of Mary, that she is in fact the mother of God, Jesus Himself. But more importantly it spoke to Jesus, who was not just a human person, but fully God. These were things that shocked them. 

Indeed the scriptures we heard this past weekend, this weekend, the one we'll hear next weekend, and the ones we'll hear through the course of daily Masses, they are all ones where people are shaken. You hear stories of Elizabeth, who though barren, bore a child, John the Baptist, and how his father, Zechariah, while serving in the temple, saw a vision from an angel, and was told that his son would be the forerunner of the Savior. There was the incredible of recounting of how Zechariah doubted the angel's word, and he was struck mute. But on the day his son was born and he said his son's name was John, he scratched it on paper, he was healed and able to speak fully once more. Angels appeared to Our Lady to announce the good news and to St. Joseph. Angels appeared to the shepherds. A great star in the sky appears to the three magi, the three kings. All of these stories are things of incredible events. Our Lady, reflecting on all of these things in her heart and rightly so. And the news spread all through the region. Almost every one of those accounts indicates that little phrase with it: and the news spread all through the region, throughout Galilee, through the whole land, etc. Everybody heard. 

And yet, as time went on, the good news became normal. Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of David, God With Us, over the course of 30 years quietly working with his father in the workshop became no longer the Son of God to the people around Him, but became Jesus, the son of the carpenter. Mary, the Mother of God, the virgin who bore God in her womb, became Mary, another of the ladies living in Nazareth. St. Joseph, the one who heard the angel speak and was the caretaker of the Mother of God and God Himself became Joseph, the carpenter. So many normal things. And in the course of their days that's how they lived; they lived the exact same life as every single person around them despite the fact that there was something you unique about each of them. The extraordinary was right there in the midst of the ordinary things of daily life. And so many people likely missed it. How many people came to the workshop with St. Joseph and failed to recognize that his son was God - He was just working on a table. How many people sat alongside Mary at the well getting water to go home to take care of things at the house failing to recognize that she had bore God in her womb. How many people? As we reflect upon that aspect of Nazareth, the quietness, the hidden of the extraordinary in the ordinary things of daily life, it's an invitation for us to see again, to have our eyes opened up once more. 

One of the things I appreciated whenever I was working for my parents in the grocery store was that in the store, we could get used to things. In your workplace, things become part of the normal condition, and then someone comes in and says, "Hey, have you every noticed that you need to work on such and such." "No. It's just part of other things. I never thought about that. Thank you." It takes an extra set of fresh eyes to help see again, and it's that that the Church brings to us today. We come and we rest in the midst of Nazareth, in the quietness of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Mary the Mother of God. The Church simply says, "Have you noticed? Have you seen this? Have you let this speak to your heart lately?" To let it bring us to a state of awe, when we can't help but simply go, "Wow! How incredible!" 

This Christmas season has become a celebration that is very comfortable to us. We use the nativity scene, the magi and all the lights, the decoration, and all of these things. And it's good. But at the same time they are opportunities for us to see once again, see with new eyes, fresh eyes, the mystery of God before us. 

What I want to invite you to this week is to allow yourself to marvel at normal, even foolish, things. Marvel at them. Think about the word spoon for a while, look at your fingertips, think about the things of the Mass, the words we say each week. Look at your favorite scripture passage again and read it slowly with new eyes. Those prayers we offer that are so familiar to us, various prayers to saints, Our Lady, to Our Lord, various things we offer throughout the course of our days, to pause and say them differently and allow them to become fresh once more. To look at our churches and to see the beauties they possess and the ways in which they speak to us. Maybe it's our family and friends, people who we may take for granted, people are part of the normal scenery of our daily life, and to see the gift that they truly are to us. Opportunities for us to look around us, even in just the world, and to be in awed by God. Shock and wonder. Inspiration to be filled with the Holy Spirit and enjoy that moment of the things that God has done for us. 

As we allow ourselves to see incredible things in the course of our daily life, it becomes more and more easy for us to recognize that ordinary life is rather extraordinary because our Lord is with us. He has taken on our flesh, born of a virgin, lived among us, did the same things as you and I, and He comes to be with us even more still. Let us prayer for the grace of the Lord Jesus, through the intercession of Our Lady and St. Joseph, that we might be able to see with those new eyes the things that God desires to see with us and things He desires to show us, He who is "God With Us." 

Papal Intentions for June 2016

Papal Intentions for June 2016

Universal Intention: That the aged, marginalized, and those who have no one may find–even within the huge cities of the world–opportunities for encounter and solidarity.
Mission Intention: That seminarians and men and women entering religious life may have mentors who live the joy of the Gospel and prepare them wisely for their mission.

Prayer for the Pope

V. Let us pray for Francis, our Pope.

R. May the Lord preserve him, give him life, 

and make him blessed upon the earth, 

and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.

Our Father... Hail Mary...

O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful people, look mercifully upon Thy servant Francis, whom Thou hast chosen as shepherd to preside over Thy Church. Grant him, we beseech Thee, that by his word and example, he may edify those over whom he hath charge, so that together with the flock committed to him, may he attain everlasting life. 

Through Christ our Lord. 

Amen.

Easter Sunday

Readings for the Easter Vigil
Readings for Easter Sunday

If you’ve never been to the Easter Vigil before, do yourself a favor and attend it next year. It’s the single most beautiful liturgy of the entire Church Year and with good reason.

It begins in darkness, the crowd of people arriving and making their way to their places. It begins with a simple spark and a small flame. The flame builds into a fire. The people gather around the fire and from the fire comes forth a single flame to light the Paschal Candle, a symbol of Christ the Light of the World. The candle moves to the door and a word is proclaimed: the Light of Christ! All respond: Thanks be to God! And the light spreads to a few, the servers of the Mass. The Candle proceeds into the midpoint of the church and the people fall in behind. Again the proclamation: the Light of Christ! Thanks be to God! The servers share the light with those around them and it begins to spread. The candle proceeds once more, now to the sanctuary and all file into the seats and again the proclamation: the Light of Christ! Thanks be to God! Now the light has spread to the candle of every person in the church and the light has begun to cast out the darkness.

Now the Exsultet is sung, an ancient hymn of blessing upon the candle. At its conclusion, a little light is added to the church as the Old Testament readings are read and responses sung. These tell us the ancient stories of our faith and the ways that God worked to bring about our salvation. At the end of the readings the Gloria is sung and the light come up in the church and the altar candles are lit; more light. After a New Testament reading we sing the Alleluia and the lights are all turned on full strength; more light. After the Gospel and homily, baptisms are celebrated and baptismal candles are lit. But there still remains one light that is dimmed: the sanctuary lamp. After the Consecration of the Blessed Sacrament, the lamp is lit indicating the Eucharistic Presence in the tabernacle. 

The beauty of the Easter Vigil is that while it is primarily the triumph of Jesus Christ over the darkness of death by virtue of His Resurrection to Life, it also is a recounting of the whole story of salvation history, as well as the story of God working in each individual soul.

The world was created in darkness, as we heard in Genesis, and light was created. This can be viewed as God revealing things that otherwise would be unknown to us and it happens continually over the centuries. It begins with a man. Then a couple. Then a family. Pretty soon the family turns into a tribe of people and then into a whole nation. This nation is blessed by God with a leader to become a Kingdom. That Kingdom endured much for a thousand years until the Lord took flesh and came among us to build His Church. Generation after generation came to know the Lord a little bit more than those before them. The light continued to grow and increase until the Light itself came.

The same can be said of the unfolding of the Resurrection story. Mary goes first and witnesses it, then she tells Peter and John, they tell the other disciples, and the flame spreads and grows through the earth and throughout the centuries down to us, to you and me. And should we expect it to be any different after us?

The little flame of faith, symbolized by the baptismal candle we each received, took root in our hearts and began to grow and spread and the Lord Jesus wants to make that little light into a raging fire filled with the Holy Spirit. But we have to be willing to help Him! We have to be willing to share the Light with others and let them know the good news. At St. Joseph Abbey there was an venerable tradition that followed the Easter Vigil. The seminarians had all been fasting and praying while on retreat during the Triduum and were free to go home after the Vigil ended, so inevitably it would let out and a whole slew of famished young seminarians would immediately head home. But before hitting the interstate we would stop at the Wendy’s, which was right at the end of the road to the seminary. Sinking our teeth into a greasy cheeseburger and fries never tasted so good as on that night! Well, confession time: I like to keep that tradition alive. So after the Vigil I went out to McDonalds and got a big cheeseburger and feasted. As I was leaving with my food I thanked the young lady at the window and said, “Happy Easter!” She just looked at me dumbfounded and probably though ‘this poor pastor doesn’t even know it’s only Saturday’.

That’s my invitation to each of you – to share the good news that Jesus Christ has Risen from the dead with everyone you meet this week. It can be by telling everyone “Happy Easter”, which might confused the mess out of people come Thursday or Friday. It can be by acts of kindness, gift of prayers, or any number of things. But the simple point is that we have to share the light. Jesus Christ has conquered the darkness of sin, death, despair, and everything else that this world tries to use to quench our hope. Some people don’t yet know that, and sometimes we still struggle to accept it ourselves. Let the light spread. Help the Lord cast out the darkness. Christ is Risen! Alleluia, alleluia! He is truly Risen! Alleluia, alleluia!

Always.

Readings for Sunday, December 14/ Gaudete Sunday:
Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11

Luke 1:46-50, 53-54
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28

As most of you likely know, my previous parish assignment was to the River Road communities of Convent, Paulina, and Gramercy. One weekend we had a high school retreat with the students and parents in attendance at Most Sacred Heart in Gramercy and we had decided to speak about the church architecture and all the stuff one normally finds in a church as a means to praying. Fr. Vincent and I would go back and forth noting the things that struck us most about the church and at one point he asked if anyone had ever noticed the windows. Of course, everyone started looking from side to side at the large stained glass windows all along the sides of the church. He point out that the accents in the windows on one side were all images of wheat and the other side was all images of grapes. He then began to speak about the Eucharist and the community as the Body of Christ. I started to feel bad about myself since I had been there for almost two years by then and hadn’t even noticed the pattern. That was, until after we concluded and some of the parents came up to me and mentioned that they had been here for 40 or 50 years and had never noticed it either! This story came to mind as I was sitting by our own stained glass of the Blessed Virgin receiving the Holy Spirit and noticed for the first time in almost six months that the artist’s name was etched into the glass at the bottom, right next to where I normally rest my arm. These stories got me to thinking of how easy it is to miss something when our eyes aren’t looking for it and I began to wonder how aware I am of God’s activity in my own life? How many things is God doing – or waiting to do – but I’m totally oblivious to it?

This is what the season of Advent continues to draw our attention to: the activity of God in our midst. In the Gospel we see the priests and leaders of the community going out to find the Messiah. This was their whole mission, to find the one that was to save the people of Israel and fulfill all of the ancient prophecies. And so they went to John the Baptist and start asking questions: Are you the Messiah? Elijah? The Prophet? Who are you? When John gives his reply, he doesn’t just stop there but point out that “there is one among you whom you do not recognize.” How interesting that the leaders come out seeking the Messiah and they are so focused on John that they’re standing side-by-side with the Lord Himself and fail to recognize Him!

In this blessed season we hear and work to put into practice the call of habitual readiness for the Lord’s coming. That was the obvious tone of the First Sunday’s gospel call to “Be watchful!” The subsequent weeks help direct us the way of being habitually ready for the coming of Christ in His glory. Last week we were reminded that the most important and effective way to prepare for the Lord’s coming is repentance. John the Baptist’s call to turn from sin, confess one’s faults, and receive a baptism of repentance invite us to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where we do the exact same thing. There we find the means to breaking the chains of sin and experiencing the freedom to follow the Lord when He comes.

This week, with the freedom from sin established, the next step to be always ready is found in the passage from St. Paul and his three other ‘always’ type statements: “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances, give thanks.”

It begins with ‘pray without ceasing,’ which we know isn’t walking around praying rote prayers all day long. Prayer is simply a dialogue or relationship with the Lord, so to pray without ceasing is to go through our day doing our best to keep in mind that God isn’t just up in Heaven and He isn’t just in the tabernacle at the Church, but that He is right there with us and is actively involved in our life. Sometimes we have tangible experiences of His presence and sometimes we can started putting clues together that our prayers are being answered or that God is leading us in a certain direction. That is the unceasing prayer that St. Paul invites us to, because it is then that we see the Lord working, speaking, and moving in, through, and around us.

As we start to recognize the Lord among us throughout the day, we will begin to express more deeply our gratitude. We will give thanks in all circumstances because we will be able to see the Lord in all circumstances. And as we allow our hearts to give joyful praise to the Lord the ways that He is working in our lives, we are led to that third piece of rejoicing always.

Rejoicing isn’t having warm emotions of happiness, feeling good about things, or the result of positive events taking place in our life. Rejoicing is the spontaneous reaction of our heart to the presence of the Lord. Why does Isaiah rejoice in our first reading? Because God placed on him the robe of salvation and the mantle of justice; God came to him in his brokenness and he encountered the God of love and mercy. Why does Mary rejoice in the responsorial? Because the Lord looked upon the lowliness of His handmaid and done great things for her – because she had a profound encounter with the Lord and His messenger Gabriel. Why does St. Paul call us to rejoice always? Because He first was knocked off of his horse by the Lord and filled with the Light of His Presence. And us? Why should we rejoice? Because just like Isaiah and Mary and Paul, God has come to us too. He came 2000 years ago, He comes daily in the Eucharist, and He comes to us in the course of our daily lives over and over and over again.

So where is God acting in your life today? Where is the Lord inviting us to find Him today? And are we ready to experience His presence and be filled with rejoicing?

Come, Lord Jesus.

Come, O Come, Emmanuel. 

HWP: Prayer of Thanksgiving

If you read my Sunday homily from this past week, you'll have noted that our mission chapel was broken into and robbed this past week. Over the weekend many prayers were offered for a good resolution to the situation and yesterday it came: the detective informed us that the person responsible had been apprehended and our missing items had all been recovered. As soon as I'm done typing this I'll be heading our to pick it all up. How's that for prayers answered! So, with that in mind, I offer this week's Half-Way Prayer of the Week...

A Prayer of Thanksgiving for Prayers Answered

O God, I offer praise and thanksgiving for favors granted and prayers, answered especially those obtained through the intercession of (N.,), who have faithfully and generously brought my petitions before You. Help me continually to see the workings of your grace and blessing in my life and strive always to live by the example of your Son, Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and all the saints of heaven, especially those for whose intercession I have prayed. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Feast on the Mountaintop

Mass Readings for Sunday, October 12/28th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Isaiah 25:6-10
Psalm 23:1-6
Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20
Matthew 22:1-14

Heaven. We all want to go there. Most of us probably don’t want to go just yet, though I think we ought to be prepared, what with Mississippi State being #1 in the country and the end of the world likely soon to follow! But seriously, we all want to know what Heaven is like. Most often we take those things about which we are most passionate and put them on a grand scale. If we like cotton candy, Heaven is a whole world of cotton candy where we can eat it all day and never get a stomachache. If we like cars, Heaven is a car show where we can drive anything before our eyes.  If we like clothes, Heaven is a closet bigger than any mall we’ve ever stepped foot in.  But the reality is so so much more that we cannot even conceive of it, and yet the Lord in His mercy gives us some clues to help us at least think about it.

From Isaiah the prophet we hear that intriguing description: “On this mountain the Lord of Hosts will provide for all people a feast of rich food and choice wines; juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain He will destroy the veil that veils all people.” Heaven is like a great banquet. We shouldn’t be surprised by this, after all, since the Lord is often found sitting at table or sharing meals with others and a banquet is that place where joy is found in abundance, the senses are overwhelmed by food, drink, music, and dancing, and the person is able to know and be known by others. The thing, though, is that the feast of heaven isn’t just a normal feast – it’s a wedding feast.

The image of a wedding feast resonates greatly with me right now, as I celebrated weddings Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Those occasions were beautiful and filled with a palpable joy. The build-up and preparations that go into a wedding bring great excitement to the heart of those who take part and when the day finally arrives, you can almost grab handfuls of joy right out of the air. The radiant couple makes their vows to one another and exit the Church to applause, cheers, and great fanfare, proceeding to the party where time seems unimportant. Most people aren’t looking at their watch all through the reception afterward. Rather, they’re enjoying the good food, watching the ceremonial first dances, listening to the music, and visiting with family and friends. It’s a situation in which hours can easily pass without thinking about it because of the richness of the celebration. It’s fitting that such an image would be used to help us contemplate Heaven. But in order to really grasp the meaning of this imagery we have to ask ourselves three very important questions: Who is the Bridegroom? Who is the Bride? Where is the feast?

First, who is the Bridegroom? Well, of course, it’s God. All throughout the Scriptures we hear the Lord God described analogously as a spouse to the people of Israel. The prophets are loaded with these references, but another place we can look for great insight is the book of Song of Songs. This Old Testament book might seem a bit racy to some, but it is a poetic text that richly describes the love between a man and woman, symbolically between God and humanity. The New Testament picks up on this strong marital imagery in the person of Jesus, who we hear described by St. John the Baptist as the bridegroom and by St. Paul as spouse of the Church. The passionate love of the God, the Divine Bridegroom, is made manifest most clearly in the self-emptying love of the Crucifixion, where Christ died that to make His bride perfect, free from the bondage of sin.

We’ve answered the second question already – the Bride is the Church, it’s us! Though sinful individuals, the Catholic Church as a whole is that spotless, perfect bride that Christ Jesus came to join to Himself for all eternity. Interestingly, in Jesus’ day, it was part of the ceremony to have the bride undergo a washing with water before the wedding celebration (it’s always good to take a bath before your wedding, right?) and we see this lived out still. St. John the Baptist symbolically washes the Bride of the Lord Jesus in his baptisms of repentance and even today we become members of the Church only through the washing of water in Baptism. How great is the joy of the Heart of Jesus to see us spotless before Him waiting for us to say yes to His invitation to go to the marriage feast. So that leaves us at the final question: what is the feast?

Believe it or not, ladies and gentleman, you’re already there. The feast is happening right here in the celebration of the Mass. A couple of weeks back I spent time with the 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd grade students for CCD and went over the one thing I know best: the Mass. I brought them all over here and as we all walked up the front steps one boy looked up and said, “Wow! It’s like climbing a mountain!” The other students laughed a little and the adults just smiled at how imaginative he was, but I stopped him and said, “You are absolutely right and it was built to make us think that.” Have you ever noticed that most churches have step to get up into them? And that sanctuaries and altars are also elevated? It’s not just to be able to see better. “On this mountain the Lord of Hosts will provide for all people a feast of rich food and choice wines.” On this mountain, right here (pointing to the altar), the Lord of Hosts feeds us with food the likes of which we could never have conceived to ask – His own flesh and blood. Here our Beloved comes to us to give us Himself and seeks to have us respond in an exchange of love. Here is where we the bride come to meet our Bridegroom and for a brief moment, the veil that veils all things is lifted.

You’ve likely noticed that when I celebrate Mass, I have placed over the chalice a cloth that matches my vestments. It’s called a chalice veil and I use it to remind myself and each of you of two realities. First, that we are the bride.  The veil is nice and decorative, but the attention to detail that I give to it is not just me being picky in the liturgy. It’s because of the simple fact that nobody wants to see a bride walk down the aisle looking sloppy. I spend those extra moments preparing the chalice veil just right to highlight the attention we need to have for ourselves as we come to meet the Lord. The wedding garment that Christ wants to see on us is that of virtue, holiness; the perfect bride prepared for the perfect Bridegroom. And the second reason I use the veil is because in that moment, we enter into the heavenly banquet, where the veil is lifted. The ultimate veil that veils all things is death, after which we will (hopefully!) be able to see God face to face. But for now, we come and have the veil lifted in a small way to He calls us all to Himself, literally coming forward to meet Him down the aisle. He comes and repeats those blessed words from Revelation 3, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” as He knocks at the door of our heart and stands there waiting for the answer to one simple question: Will you marry Me?


***
Reading Suggestions:
Jesus the Bridegroom by Dr. Brant Pitre
This Tremendous Lover by Fr. Eugene Boylan

Made for Heaven

Fr. Joshua Johnson

Readings for Sunday, June 1/ Ascension Sunday:
Acts 1:1-11
Psalm 47:2-3, 6-9
Ephesians 1:17-23
Matthew 28:16-20

I don’t know about you, but this weekend has been an incredible one from my experience. Yesterday morning I had the joy of concelebrating at the Rite of Ordination of Priests at Sacred Heart Church in Baton Rouge. Deacon Joshua Johnson walked in at 10am and Father Joshua Johnson walked out just around noon changed, a priest of Jesus Christ. The experience, as every ordination I’ve been to, was one of incredible joy and hope. The diocesan choir and gospel choir present were both beautiful and lifted our hearts to the Lord in ways that rarely happen, the bishop preached an inspiring and challenging homily, and each of us priests was filled with thoughts and sentiments of our own days of ordination. The joy was palpable and not a single person that walked out the church did so without a smile on their face and a sense of awe at what had just taken place. In the midst of it all I simply tried to soak up the moment because days like that are few and far between.

Our vocation as Christian, Pope Francis continually reminds us, is to be a people of joy, hope, and life that reach out into the world that shine with the radiant Light of Christ. But you know as well as I that we don’t have to look very far to find things going on that try to steal that joy, hope, and life from us and replace them with sorrow, frustration, and despair. The torrential downpour that left many in our community – including some of you present today – with water in your homes, the expected or unexpected death of loved ones, illness that changes your daily life drastically, or just a whole slew of little things that seem to keep going wrong. These and others are ways that the evil one wants to quench the fire of hope in our hearts. But how do we fight back? How do we keep hope when things seem so difficult for us? Heaven. Remember that you and I were not made for this life. We were made for Heaven.

The feast of the Ascension, which we celebrate today, has two main points to it. First, it is about the Lord Jesus reclaiming the glory that is rightly His. The second point is that He doesn’t go to reclaim that glory alone, but to draw us into the glory of the Trinity with Him. The feast of the Ascension is celebrated because the Lord first humbled Himself and descended to be with us, draws us to Himself like a great magnet, and hoist us back up into Heaven with Him.  In short, the Ascension reminds us of that reality that Heaven awaits us and that it is our ultimate goal. The Collect for the Mass today spoke it such a wonderful theological and visual manner: where the Head has gone in glory, we the body are called to follow. Christ wants us to be with Him in Heaven because there alone we can find our fulfillment. There alone will we know true joy. In Heaven, the joy of our hearts will be so great that the greatest thing we experience in this life will seem as very little and the worst day here will seem as though it never even existed. Heaven is a place of such great glory that we can’t even comprehend it or conceive of an idea that comes close. And that is what we were made for.

The problem that I have personally is that while I know all of this in my head, it is often difficult for me to put it into action in my daily life. So as I was preparing for this homily I focused on three ways that I myself could try to re-orient my focus to Heaven. They are to simplify, reconcile, and pray.

Simplify. I’ve mentioned before that I love books. I don’t have that many valuable possessions or possessions at all for that matter, but I do have a good number of books. It’s funny because I always buy books. I don’t read them necessarily, but I buy them to have them in case I get to read them. I keep amassing this pile of books and the reality is that while all of those books are good and holy – mostly about Christ, the Church, the Mass, and other theological things – they are things that keep me focused on earth rather than Heaven. They enable me to do exactly what they are trying to prevent me from doing! And that’s not all. I fill up my time with all sorts of various activities and other things that complicate my life rather than letting things remain simple, permitting me to lift my mind to Heaven. To simplify is to remind myself that I don’t belong here. My treasure should be elsewhere.

Reconcile. In Heaven, every person will be perfectly united with God. They will have passed through purgatory and had cast aside all that separates them from the Blessed Trinity. And if every person is perfectly united to God, then that means every person is necessarily perfectly united to one another. And you and I both know that is not how this life works, unfortunately. I see in my own life that there are people with whom I am not completely reconciled. There is still room for forgiveness, increased unity, and a willingness to set aside past hurts, pre-conceived notions, biases, and all that other junk that divides me from others in order to build up here on earth what is going to be the reality of all eternity. To reconcile with others is to build up the body of Christ here and to prepare for the joy of true unity in the life come.

Pray. My vocation is primarily to pray and secondarily to serve the people of God. That sounds rather self-centered, but if I fail to spend the necessary time in prayer then my ministry among you will not be filled with the Holy Spirit but will be filled with the spirit of Fr. Brent Maher and whatever I feel like doing, and that is not what God wants. I recognize in myself that there are times that I pray well and am grateful for it, but there are also times where I fail to pray as well as I could. It’s easy to pop in the rosary while riding the roads and simply say the words but not give my mind to the mysteries and mark of my “pray the rosary” on the spiritual checklist. It’s easy to say the words of the psalms and readings for my obligatory priestly prayers each day and check that off too. But that is not what I am called to do. I am called to enter into real prayer that changes the way that I live my life. When I really pray, when I give myself time to enter into the presence of the God of Heaven, I interact with others differently, I interact with the Lord differently, my experience of life is approached differently. Everything changes because I was with the Lord and lifted up into Heaven.

It’s not about doing grand things. It’s about being willing to do regular things, but for the Lord. I was struck by a quote from St. Jean Vianney that I read the other day. It says this: “If we would only do as much for God as we do for the world we should all be saints.” How easy it is to get caught up in the things of this life! But when we do so we set ourselves up for sorrow, frustration, and despair because we were not made for this. We were made for Heaven. Let us pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit to be with us to help lift our eyes to the place that awaits us and be filled with the joy that comes from God, knowing that what awaits us is even greater.