Holy Family @ St. Apollinaris Parish

HOMILY - THE FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY
DECEMBER 30, 2018
7:30 AM, 9:00 AM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES



Completed in the year 1086 at the direction of William the Conquerer, the Domesday Book recorded how many hundreds of family estates were in each shire within the several counties of England and Wales; as well as what taxes were owed to the king.

After the wholesale redistribution of land following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the principle purpose of the survey was to determine what taxes were owed to William’s father – Edward the Confessor.

Not until the Victorian era Return of Owners of Land survey in 1873 – nearly 800 years later – was any survey of such extent and scope attempted in England.



In the 11th century, William’s purpose was to assess the financial resources of his kingdom; yet from an historical perspective, it can be shown which family held what lands as well as the land valuation of each estate … nearly one millennium ago.

The original manuscript from 1086 is held at the British Nation Archives at Kew (a district in the borough of Richmond on Thames) in London.



Today is the Feast of the Holy Family which is normally the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas.
An Octave is an eight-day extension of a particular feast. At one time, the Church held as many as 20 octaves associated with various feasts. In the simplification of ecclesiastical calendar in 1969, the Solemnities of Christmas and Easter are the only two feasts retaining Octaves.



Veneration of the Holy Family was formally instituted by the first bishop of Quebec in the last quarter of the 17th century.

It was instituted as a liturgical feast by Pope Leo XIII in 1893 as the Sunday within the Octave of the Epiphany (that is one week later than now). In the Extraordinary Form (the liturgical usage of 1962) it falls on the Octave day of the Epiphany – or January 13.



In instituting the Feast at the end of the the 19th century, Pope Leo XIII indicated that among the fruits of devotion to the Holy Family in the home:

charity is likely to be maintained in the family … a good influence is thus exerted over conduct … the practice of virtue is thus incited … and thus the hardships … are both mitigated and made easier to bear.

He further indicated that:

Joseph [gives fathers a] model of … vigilance and care. [Mary gives] mothers … an excellent example of love, modesty … [and] faith. And in Jesus … children … have a divine pattern of obedience …

In our own time, Pope Francis calls on all families to “find precious guidance for the style and choices of life, and … [to] draw strength and wisdom for each day’s journey” from the example of the Holy Family.

As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ … let us each from within our own family … seek to model our lives on the virtues and example of the Holy Family of Nazareth. May we always look to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph for guidance, strength, example, and perseverance.

Christmas @ St. Apollinaris Parish

HOMILY - THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
DECEMBER 24 / 25, 2018
5:00 PM (EVE), 8:00 AM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
12:00 NOON EXTRAORDINARY FORM (LATIN) MASS (RUTHERFORD HOLY FAMILY)



The year was 1968, and it was known as “The Year the Changed the World,” or “The Year that Changed America.”

The very unpopular Vietnam War was underway – and increasing numbers of troops were being drafted. The US was in the middle of the Cold War as well as the Space Race with the Soviet Union.

Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee – leading to riots in many major cities. Two months later, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles.

The Green Bay Packers won the Superbowl, and the Detroit Tigers won the World Series.

The most profitable movie of the year was 2001: A Space Odyssey; while Hey Jude was the hottest single of the year.

Indeed the people were changing, America was changing, and the world was changing.



On the shortest day of the year, Apollo 8 was launched out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The second manned launch aboard a Saturn V rocket, with a three-man crew.

It was to be the first manned spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit, reach the Moon, orbit it, and return to Earth.



Three days after launch, orbiting the Moon, the astronauts saw for the first time … the Earth rising over the Moon.



They also took this opportunity to read 10 verses from the Book of Genesis, which began:
In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth.


This of course led to multiple lawsuits from atheist Madeline Murray O’Hare – all three of which she lost through a failure to state a claim. I’m not sure if the astronauts having committed the offending action more than 230,000 nautical miles from any Earthly jurisdiction factored into it, but that’s my opinion.



The crew splashed down on December 27, and were named Time Magazine’s “Men of the Year.” Six months later, the US Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating this historic spaceflight.



Fifty years later, astronaut Jim Lovell, now 90 years old, commented that when they saw the Earth from the moon, so many hundreds of thousands of miles away, it struck him how fortunate we are to live:

on a planet that has the proper mass, has the gravity to contain water and an atmosphere, which are the very essentials for life," he said. "And you arrive on this planet that's orbiting a star just at the right distance — not too far to be too cold, or too close to be too hot — and just at the right distance to absorb that star's energy and then, with that energy, cause life to [exist] here in the first place.

Today, of course, is Christmas. And the Gospel we heard proclaimed was from the beginning of St. John. Which, like Genesis, starts out:

In the beginning …

While Genesis recounts the creation of all things … St. John’s Prologue recounts the re-creation of all things in Christ.



The coming of this one child – true God and true Man – in order to change us … so that we might change the world.



As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ … let us pray that the birth of Jesus Christ, when viewed by us through the distance of two thousand year, may give us pause and recognize that He has come … not only to us … but for us … right here and right now … sacramentally in the Eucharist … in order to transform us from who we are … into who God calls us to become.



On behalf of our pastor and myself, and all the deacons … staff … and volunteers … here at St. A’s … have a Blessed and Merry Christmas. And may you know and experience the transforming power of Christ, born for us today.

1st Sunday of Advent @ St. Apollinaris Parish

HOMILY - FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
DECEMBER 1 / 2, 2018
4:30 PM (SAT), 7:30 AM, 5:30 PM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES



The linguistic terms andative and venitive refer to verb forms that indicate coming and going, especially when it is relative to a particular location or person. The andative indicates going and doing something; while the venitive indicates coming and doing something.

In modern English, however, it can more often than not, be assumed that come and go are interchangeable; with the exception of a handful of particular situations.

For a native speaker, it requires no thought or effort at all. Whereas, for those learning English, it can be quite confusing.

And, on the other hand, when an English speaker tries to learn another language, they have to give some extra thought to using come or go in distinct and different ways – based on the rules of whatever particular language they are using.

That can all be a bit confusing. So I’ll leave you with the idiom: I don’t know whether I’m coming or going, which may be appropriate after all of that.



Today is the First Sunday of Advent.

The word advent comes from the Latin word advenire – which means to reach or to arrive. The prefix ad implies motion towards something, and the verb venire can mean both to go or to come.
This Latin word is a translation of the Greek word parousia which can mean presence, arrival, or an official visit.

In the New Testament, the word parousia shows up 24 times – 16 of which refer to the Second Coming of Christ.

And so, in the Season of Advent, we penitentially prepare ourselves for the arrival of Jesus Christ.

In the Collect, or the Opening Prayer, we prayed

Grant your faithful … the resolve to run forth to meet … Christ with righteous deeds at his coming.

And so, even in the first prayer we pray in the Advent Season, Christ is coming and we are going … running forth to meet Him … as He comes toward us.



The Season of Advent reflects upon the coming of Christ from three distinct perspectives. (1) His first coming, historically in Bethlehem, (2) His daily coming, in our hearts sacramentally, and (3) His glorious coming, ultimately, at the end of time.

As far as these three perspectives, we only have control over the second – how much or how little we allow Christ to come into our hearts through our participation in the sacraments and through the intensity of our prayer lives.

And as time rolls on … whether we like it or not – we move closer to that future coming – whether or not we’re around to experience it in this flesh.

As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us pray for a renewed resolve – these next four weeks – to indeed run forth and meet Christ Jesus – in whatever ways He may desire to come into our lives.

As we recall His first coming, may we allow Him more and more space in our lives; and when He comes in glory, may we go out to meet Him with all the Saints.