Saint + Elizabeth + Ann + Seton + Parish

The word of God is that power that makes even the wilderness to blossom. And that’s the message that all of the readings want us to hold onto this morning: the message of hope, the message of healing, the message of restoration in Christ Jesus. 

All the faithful share in understanding and handing on revealed truth. They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who instructs them and guides them into all truth. Catholicism is in and with the Faithful, who have received the Holy Spirit. Catholicism hasn’t been lost, stolen, broken, or hidden away. It is alive and well in the People of God!Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church citations online HERE.Download Homily Transcript

The work of our hands is where we are called to be Christ-like. And one mark of being Christ-like through the work of our hands is to be Messianic—just like Jesus, who was sent to bring freedom to those who are captured, to bring sight to those who are blind, to bring liberty to those who have been held down by burdens. So you and I, through the labors of our hands, are called to be agents of freedom, agents of joy, agents of gladness. 

What is religion? To have pure and undefiled religion is to recognize the dignity of every person and to cherish all our relationships—not striving and competing and trying to one-up the other, and trying to crawl or grab your way to the top. Instead, you’re just living as a pure person in relationship to God and with others. And this is who the widows and orphans teach us to be—to have that kind of simplicity in our experience as a human person. 

You as Christians, you as Catholics, can indeed flourish in the wounded body of Christ because, fundamentally, our journey as Christians is an interior life with Christ. We all can flourish regardless of the woundedness, because our life with Christ is deeply and fundamentally interior. And it is that interior life that the Holy Spirit revives again and again. 

Imagination is a gift from God. We can use our imagination to see something better, and then, in ourselves, we can respond so that we can move, in hope, toward something better. 

If we are honest, too often we want God to come to us on our terms rather than us continually coming to God on his terms. We come up to something hard; our weak humanity cries out and we are tempted to turn away.So Jesus asked the Twelve, Do you also want to leave? Forever the leading spokesman, Simon Peter answered him, Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”Download Transcript

Mary is the epitome of what it is to be human in the world. Her respect and esteem for everyone she came into contact with is the model for all humanity. Mary was, in a word, the first Christian. When we need to see a true Christian, to know what a Christian ought to be, and have a model to follow, Mary is that exemplar—that superlative example of how we ought to be and act toward one another. Then, assumed into Heaven, Mary points the way to eternal life.Download Transcript

Mary, in her exaltation as mother of our Lord, was given the privilege of being the first to enter fully into all that her Son has won for us. The Assumption of Mary is a sign of the fullness of salvation that is ahead for all who belong to Jesus Christ.Pray for us, most holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.Download Transcript

"You and I are on a journey. We want to get to the mountain of God: eternal life. How do we know that we are believing and listening and learning (which is another way of saying 'obeying')? What results can we expect? What should be the effect in us when we eat the living bread? We find that answer in the Epistle reading: our faith affects us in basic, tangible ways."Download transcript

When we’re facing these kinds of difficulties in our own lives, these painful periods when we feel like we just want to give up and throw in the towel and forget about it, God sends a messenger our way: Maybe just the smile of a little child, maybe a friend, maybe someone offering a prayer for us. We don’t even know it’s happening, and suddenly we feel a little strength coming on, and we can persevere and move forward in the promise that we will reach the mountain. 

Saint Paul tells of an old self and and a new self. We’re all too familiar with the “old” and it’s not very good. God did not intend awful things; he created us to know and obey him, but he also gave us the dignity of choice. Long ago the choice was made to disobey God and choose by ourselves what is right and wrong. That is why something is horribly wrong in the world. We were not created to live without God.Download Transcript

Paul tells us that, in Christ, those who have authority and those who have power in God’s kingdom are to be the servants and the last and least of all. They are there to meet the needs of the people, to heed their complaint, to fulfill what it is they need to thrive. So it’s inverted. In the world, it’s how many people serve me. But in the kingdom of God, it’s how many people I can serve. 

The infinite God is able to “condense” himself totally and faithfully into the person of a human being! If God, the Maker of heaven and earth, is miraculously able to become a Man in the person of Jesus Christ, then that same God-Man Jesus is miraculously able to come physically again and again into what looks to us like simple bread.Download Transcript

What are we to do when those responsible to care for us, hurt us or, worse yet, threaten to destroy us? What are we to do when those claiming to be God’s people reject—even hurt—us? Now there’s no denying that this is one of the most damaging, destructive things that can ever happen to us. Like abuse and neglect within a family, religious failure and abuse strikes at our core, our soul, our deepest self. It contradicts the moral claims of our religion, and threatens to destroy our confidence in those claims, and leave us doubtful and bitter.Download Transcript

I want to highlight some important things from the Gospel that actually extends the Amos model as our paradigm for interacting with society. First, I love the fact that Jesus uses the motif of pilgrimage, journey. He sends them out, two by two, on a journey. Our Christian life is a pilgrimage. Your life and my life—we are on a journey. 

Paul tells us that every suffering has a meaning. And what makes you overcome your suffering is to begin to locate and find the meaning in your suffering. Paul tells us that for him as Paul, the meaning in his suffering was the fact that vulnerability makes him spiritually humble. And when we are spiritually humble, we now become malleable in God’s hands. When you are spiritually humble, God can now mold and re-mold you according to His will. 

Death is troubling whenever it comes. Death is never, ever, a convenience—and, on an emotional and relational level, never welcome. So it’s always troubling. And perhaps we’re not ever more troubled than when death is drawing near, and we—if we are facing death ourselves, or we are representing someone we know and love—we have to make a series of decisions. Download Transcript

The Gospel tells of the power of God and the gracious healing action of Jesus. This is the essence of the Good News. God is more powerful than the awful things in this world. Jesus has come into our world to turn what seems “natural” upside down and to give a hope that the brokenness we see and experience in the created order will be healed.Download Transcript

Among the nameless millions of people  who span history and inhabit our world right now, God chooses to manifest himself in conspicuous ways in some (actually, a very few). This is meant to open our minds and hearts to wonder…. and to hunger and thirst for God.Download Transcript