17th Sunday in Ordinary Time @ St. Vincent de Paul Parish

HOMILY - 17TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
JULY 27-28, 2019
5:00 PM (SAT), 7:30 AM, 9:00 AM, 10:30 AM (SUN) ORDINARY FORM MASSES



Child development stages are theoretical milestones that involve studying patterns of growth and development. While each child develops in a unique way, there are general patterns of development despite wide variations between individual children.

For instance, most children over a couple of months begin to hold their head up, followed by rolling, grasping, sitting, crawling, standing, walking, climbing, and running. These stages represent motor development over the course of about two years.



Or, regarding speech milestones, a child will coo and babble, laugh, make vowel sounds, then syllables, perhaps musically, begin saying words, making up words, and then joining words – working up to sentences, questions, and eventual fluency over the course of 4 or 5 years.

There are also physical milestones in regards to length, weight, and proportion.

What is remarkable about this, is it’s relative consistency among humans. There is no course on walking or talking. No textbooks or classrooms. Rather, the home and the world – daily life and family interaction – for the most part – results in a reasonably normal child after a couple of years.



Today is the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

In the Gospel from St. Luke chapter 11, we hear one of the disciples ask Our Lord,

Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.

What we hear in Luke’s Gospel is a bit of a reduced version of what is recorded in St. Matthew’s Gospel – what we know as the Lord’s Prayer, which we we all recite together at the beginning of the Communion Rite today at Mass.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the Lord’s Prayer “truly the summary of the whole Gospel.”

Most analyses of the Our Father prayer consider that there are 7 petitions. And while quite a bit of ink has been spent on how the prayer is being translated into modern Italian, the English translation dates from the middle 17th century with minor early 20th century revisions.



This part of Luke’s Gospel follows immediately on the heels of last week’s reading which ended:

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.

It could, perhaps, be posited that the “one thing” … “the better part” … in last week’s Gospel is an admonition to greater prayer – emphasizing the primacy of prayer in the life of a follower of Christ.



In His response to the disciple, Jesus first gives the “Our Father” as a pattern of prayer. The prayer we all memorized as children, which we can recite – perhaps without too much thought (for better or for worse) – consisting of an introduction and seven petitions.

Jesus then goes on to speak of the need for persistence in prayer, and finishes by indicating the promises to those who pray.

The requirements of prayer are (1) a recitation – a prayer can be spoken audibly or recited internally … in the mind … from the heart. (2) Prayer requires a relationship – we are praying to someone; and that someone is God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit … with whom we have some sort of relationship through Baptism and the life of grace. (3) There are responsibilities we take on in prayer – to live within God’s will, to abide in His kingdom, to forgive others as He has forgiven us. And finally, (4) there are the rewards of prayer – the graces, mercies, and strengths we receive daily from Almighty God.



As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us enter into the Lord’s prayer – as a summary of the Gospel, but also as a “school of prayer.” Let us commit to deepen our own life of prayer … every day … as God’s blessed children, members of Christ, and vessels of the Holy Spirit.

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time @ St. Vincent de Paul Parish

HOMILY - 15TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
JULY 13-14, 2019
5:00 PM (SAT), 7:30 AM, 9:00 AM, 10:30 AM (SUN) ORDINARY FORM MASSES



Ikkyu Sojun was a Zen Buddhist monk and poet from the Muromachi period of Japanese history. He was born at the end of the 14th century, and lived 87 years.

He was known to be a bit of an iconoclast – going outside of the boundaries of normal polite society – and was considered as a bit of an eccentric as well. He was also a bit of a troublemaker – drinking too much, living outside his temple, in a word: mischievous.



While he was made the dharma heir – that is the lawful successor – to his own master … within the Rinzai sect – to which he belonged – he is considered both a saint and a heretic.
He wrote his poetry in classical Chinese. One of which is:

Many paths lead from
The foot of the mountain,
But at the peak
We all gaze at the
Single bright moon.

Today is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time.



St. Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians, speaks on the pre-eminence of Christ in four distinct points:

Christ is Savior,Christ is Creator,Christ is Head of the Church,Christ is the Beloved of the Father.

In this particular section, St. Paul develops a very emphatic Christology – that is, a solid theological defense – against those who might consider Jesus to be merely “a way, a truth, and a life” as opposed to “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”



In the Gospel, we hear the familiar story of the Good Samaritan. While the story is known to us, perhaps we may miss what goes before the parable – which is Jesus’s response to a challenge from a scholar of the law asking how to obtain eternal life.

Jesus answers the question with a question, and the man’s response is the prayer known to pious Jews as the Sh’ma Yisrael – from its first two words. In Hebrew, the prayer is:

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד
Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Eḥad.

That is,

Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is One.

This prayer is the centerpiece of Jewish morning and evening prayer. It’s twice-daily recitation is considered a mitzvah – a religious commandment. It’s meaning is simple – a profession of faith in the One God, and an acknowledgement of the Kingship of God.



The Old Testament reading from the end of Deuteronomy has Moses re-iterating the Law for the people of Israel. He points out that they have a choice to accept the Law and receive the blessings of God, or to reject it and recieve a curse.

In a short time, we will all make our own Profession of Faith – in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. We will profess our faith in One God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and our belief in One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.



Yet, this is not a question of rigidity on our own part, but rather our acceptance that God has revealed the Truth through His Son Jesus Christ and has established a Church through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Just before today’s reading from the Letter to the Colossians, St. Paul offers a prayer for spiritual intelligence, practical obedience, and moral excellence. We would do well to imitate his prayer and conform our minds, our wills, and our lives to Christ Jesus.



In regard to Ikkyu Sojun, there is indeed one mountain – one God. And for those who are called by God, in Christ through Holy Baptism, we each possess a unique vocation – an individual path of grace in our own daily ascent to God – as we work to grow in holiness and virtue.

As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us pray to not neglect our call. Let us pray that the graces we receive in this Eucharist today may unite us more closely with Christ and His Church, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, may we offer ourselves to God as an acceptable sacrifice.

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time @ St. Vincent de Paul Parish

HOMILY - 14TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
JULY 6-7, 2019
5:00 PM (SAT), 7:30 AM, 9:00 AM, 10:30 AM (SUN) ORDINARY FORM MASSES



The Temple of Concordia in Agrigento, Sicily, is the best preserved Greek temple, of the Doric style, in the world next to the Parthenon, in Greece.

For the record, Concordia is the illegitimate love child of the god Mars and the goddess Venus.



Many of the stories about the Greek gods and goddesses seem to have filled the role in the ancient world of modern day soap operas. The goddess Venus was married to the god Vulcan, but was having an affair with the god Mars. So, the children of Venus and Mars were Phobos and Deimos – the gods of fear and terror, respectively – as well as Concordia, the goddess of harmony; and the Cupids – winged deities representing the many facets of love.



She was thus often associated with the “Pax Romana” – representing a stable and harmonious society.

The Temple of Concordia was built in the 5th century BC, and nearly 1,000 years later in the 6th century AD was converted into a Christian basilica dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul.
Twelve hundred [1200] years later, it was the Christian refurbishments were removed, and the original temple restored.

Today is the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time.



In the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah, we hear the Lord God say, through the prophet:

I will spread prosperity over Jerusalem like a river,
and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent.

The word translated as “prosperity” is the Hebrew word “shalom” which is often translated as “peace” – which, indeed, it is; both in the King James translation and the Douay Rheims as well.

In the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians, he tells them – and us as well, to:

never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And to “all who follow this rule” he prays that they receive “[p]eace and mercy”.

St. Luke’s Gospel is the story of the sending of the seventy-two [72] “others” … “whom” … “the Lord appointed … [and] sent ahead of him in pairs”. They are instructed to go forth and upon entering a house to say:

'Peace to this household.'[And i]f a peaceful person lives there,
[their] peace will rest on him;
but if not, it will return to [them]. 

Now this word “peace” for us as 21st century American elicits thoughts of “peace talks,” “peace and love,” and perhaps “world peace.”



And this reflects as distinctly Western view of peace. Our culture is descended from the Roman empire, and in the language of the Romans – Latin – the word for peace is “pax,” which while meaning “peace” also carries the meanings of “truce” and “treaty.”



The letter of St. Paul was written in Greek, and the Greek word for peace is “eirene,” which while meaning “peace” also can mean “peace of mind,” “unity,” “quiet,” and “rest.”



And in Isaiah, we hear the Hebrew word, “shalom” which means “peace,” but also means “prosperity,” “completeness,” “soundness,” and “welfare.”

This presents us with many layers, and many flavors of “peace” which we can contemplate and digest. And perhaps, the best admonition is found in the Gospel Acclamation – sandwiched between the Alleluias we hear:

Let the peace of Christ [rule in] your hearts;
[and] let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us pray to receive the graces of peace – many layered and with many meanings – so that this Fruit of the Holy Spirit may rule in our hearts, and in our minds, and in our souls.