Holy Family @ St. Vincent

HOMILY - THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH
DECEMBER 28/9, 2019
5:00 PM (SAT), 9:00 AM (SUN) ORDINARY FORM MASSES



Born in 1894 in Surrey, England; Aldous Huxley was the author of nearly 50 books – both fiction and non-fiction.

He was a humanist and a pacifist, with interests in mysticism and universalism. In all, he was nominated for a Nobel Prize seven times; and widely acknowledged as one of the foremost intellectuals of his day.

His fifth and most famous novel, and his first dystopian work, was titled Brave New World.



In this work, a World State has created an imposed stability through genetic engineering, and medical and psychological manipulation. Yet, it maintains order by obliterating the individual, and destroying and discouraging strong bonds and relationships with others.

Words such as family, mother, father, brother, or sister have become obsolete; and their use is even considered perverse and obscene.

While we may consider family as our some of our strongest bonds and our family relations have given us the roots of our identities; in Huxley’s novel, the World State demands quite the opposite. And by manipulating language, individuals thoughts and ideas are manipulated; and ultimate control is exerted.



Today is the Sunday after Christmas, since 1969 known as The Feast of the Holy Family.

Devotion to the Holy Family can be traced to the 16th century. By the end of the 19th century, Pope Leo XIII approved this feast, and encouraged Christian families to dedicate and consecrate themselves to the Holy Family.

Pope Benedict XV extended the celebration of the feast to the entire Church in 1921, as the Sunday after Epiphany. And in 1969, it assumed its current location in the liturgical calendar.
In the early 12th century, St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote,

God, to whom angels submit themselves and who principalities and powers obey, was subject to Mary; and not only to Mary but Joseph also for Mary’s sake [….]. God obeyed a human creature; this is humility without precedent. A human creature commands God; it is sublime beyond measure.

Our First Reading from the Book of Sirach is a commentary on the Fourth Commandment, namely:

Honor your father and your mother.

Our Lord exemplifies this commandment through His humble submission to his human parents. Humility is a difficult concept for anyone, and it would do us good to contemplate the immense sublimity “humility without precendent” of Christ.

We hear in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians, the text leading up to the parallel of Ephesian’s chapter 5. While the text may sound old-fashioned to our modern ears, twenty-five years ago in my Naval training, we were taught:

To be a good leader, you must know how to be a good follower.

The key to any of this is relationship. The term ‘family’ can be considered and examined through both macroscopic and microscopic lenses. Whether it’s a nuclear family, an extended family, a community – large or small – the family of the Church, or the human race … we are all part of some sort of family.

Considering that the roots of the English word ‘holy’ are the same as the words ‘whole’ and ‘healthy’ – our membership(s) in the various families to which we may belong … complete us and make us whole.

Through the intercession of the Holy Family – Jesus, Mary, and Joseph – may we obtain the grace to give and take in a ordered way … and grow in our human relationship. And may the Eucharist we receive today – Body, and Blood; Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – unite us ever more closely with God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Christmas @ St. Vincent

HOMILY - THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD
DECEMBER 24/5, 2019
10:00 PM (TUE), 9:00 AM (WED) ORDINARY FORM MASSES



In his 2008 book A Portrait of the Brain, British neurologist Dr. Adam Zeman uses neurological case histories to illustrate the various layers of the brain; zooming out from atoms, to genes; proteins; to organelles; neurons to synapses; neural networks and lobes; ending with the psyche and soul. In all he provides an interesting introduction to neurology for a general audience.

In the Epilogue, titled O Magnum Mysterium, Dr. Zeman reflects on how “music speaks so directly to our feelings … [and] keys readily and powerfully into the brain’s activity.” Concluding that because music is both “mathematical and mindful” that we are enraptured by it because “we, ourselves, are music.” And at least because “our brains are governed by a constant interplay of rhythms.”

Indeed, even with all that science – the complex processes and complicated wiring of (this thing up here) – the human brain remains a mystery.



As an example Dr. Zeman refers to his own euphoric intoxication upon hearing Morton Lauridsen’s 1994 setting of O Magnum Mysterium. Lauridsen has been called “the only American composer in history who can be called a mystic”.

For the record, O Magnum Mysterium is the fourth responsory, occuring in the second nocturn of Christmas Matins. The text and it’s chant are at least 1,000 years old. It has been set in choral polyphony by both Palestrina and Victoria in the 16th century, as well as Ivo Antognini in the 21st century.

Translated into English it reads:

O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the newborn Lord,lying in a manger.

Blessed is the virgin whose wombwas worthy to bearthe Lord, Jesus Christ.

It evokes the imagery so familiar to us, which has its roots in the third verse of the prophet Isaiah; and is tied in with the second verse of Philippians in St. Paul’s hymn to the humility of Our Lord.



Today is Christmas.

And whether you are hear because gramma said so, or because it’s your annual trek to the 100 year old hard pews of St. Vincent’s. In the very least, I hope that the rhythms and melodies of the familiar carols have brought you here.

As the music speaks to your feelings; allow the prayers and chant; the incense and bells to key into your brain’s activity and stir you into a heightened mindfulness.



Because today is Christmas. The culmination of 4,000 years of divine promise and mystery; played out in the liturgical rhythms of the Mass in Word and Sacrament. For the past 2,000 years.

Tune into this magnificent mystery. Encounter Christ Jesus in this admirable Sacrament.

For,

Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.

Blessed are you, for your eyes have seen and your ears have heard,

good news of great joy 
that [is] for all the people.

Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.

Welcome home.



Merry Christmas.

Visuals used to highlight points in homily graphically.

4th Sunday of Advent @ St. Vincent

HOMILY - FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
DECEMBER 22, 2019
7:30 AM, 10:30 AM (SUN) ORDINARY FORM MASSES



Based on a 15th century French funeral procession, the origins of the tune to the hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel were discovered in 1966 by an British Augustinian canoness and musicologist named Mother Thomas Moore Berry.

The text has more ancient origins – dating from perhaps well before the 9th century.

The Latin text as we know it comes from a 1710 hymnal, and the English translation from the middle 1800s.



Each of the seven verses contains a title for the coming Messiah, foretold in various Scriptural prophecies.

The titles are also featured in the Gospel (Magnificat) antiphons of Evening Prayer (Vespers) in the Liturgy of the Hours for the last seven days leading up to Christmas.

The titles, which begin the countdown to the Nativity, are: Wisdom from on High, Lord of Israel, Root of Jesse, Key of David, Rising Dawn (Sun), King of the Nations, and Emmanuel.



And so, today’s title is King of the Nations, and the text of the Evening Prayer antiphon for today is:

O King of the nations, and their desire,the cornerstone making both one:Come and save the human race,
which you fashioned from clay.

As a bit of medieval trivia, when read backwards in sequence, the first letter for the seven titles in Latin spells out the Latin phrase “I am coming tomorrow.”

The last title, Emmanuel, which is in the final antiphon, comes from a Hebrew word meaning “God is with us.”



We hear this title repeated throughout the liturgy for this Sunday.

In the prophecy of Isaiah – where Isaiah confronts Ahaz, doing his own thing despite being told otherwise by the Lord. In an attempt to feign humility, Ahaz gets on Isaiah’s nerves … and according to Isaiah, God’s nerves.

If Ahaz keeps this up, he will be the last king in the line of David … until such time as:

the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.

St. Matthew, begins his Gospel with “the genealogy of Jesus” listing out 40 generations from Abraham to Joseph and Mary. In the section we heard today, he ties everything back to the one prophecy we heard in the first reading.

According to some Bible scholars, there are over 300 messianic prophecies in Scripture that are fulfilled in Jesus. The probability that all of these could be randomly fulfilled in one man is astronomical.



As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, and as we move toward the completion of this holy season of Advent and into the Christmas season … let us recognize in Jesus Christ our desire, and our cornerstone; our Savior, and our newborn King.

3rd Sunday of Advent @ St. Vincent de Paul

HOMILY - THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
DECEMBER 15, 2019
7:30 AM, 10:30 AM (SUN) ORDINARY FORM MASSES



In India, there is a story - perhaps it’s more of a parable - about six blind men and an elephant. Maybe you’ve heard it before ... or maybe you’ve heard the poem written by American Poet John Godfrey Saxe.

The premise is that each of the six blind men approach the elephant from a different perspective. One grabs a leg and reports that an elephant is like a pillar; another feels the tail says an elephant is like a rope; one feels the trunk says the elephant is like a snake; one feels the ear says the elephant is like a fan; another feels the side and says the elephant is like a wall; and the last who feels the tusk says the elephant is like a spear.

Each of them had a perspective, but none of them had the whole story.



Today is the Third Sunday of Advent.

In today’s Gospel, we hear that John the Baptist sends his disciples to figure out who Jesus is. Now, remember - John was the one who baptized Jesus, saw the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus like a dove, heard the voice of God the Father call Jesus His Son. And John himself called Jesus “the Lamb of God.”

So what’s going on here? Realize that at this point, John is locked away in prison, and we can only imagine what challenges he is experiencing in a first century middle-eastern prison cell. John’s faith, which came so easily with the vision of the Spirit, and hearing God’s voice ... is being tested. So he sends his disciples to check up on what he once was so sure of. Perhaps, too, some of his disciples were giving him bits and pieces of what Jesus was saying or doing ... and John wanted a better perspective ... that is, John wanted to get the whole story.



In the First Reading, Israel is overrun by the Assyrians. The Prophet Isaiah gives them a vision of what will happen when the Messiah - the Anointed One - the Christ - will come. And this is exactly the message Jesus sends back to John.

Yet this restoration ... this transformation by God’s grace to a new sort of wholeness ... which has never been seen before ... is more than a prosperous farm in the desert ... or a miraculous hospital for the infirm.

 Rather, as St. James reminds us in the Epistle, it is also an inner transformation ... a transformation of our hearts ... and our minds ... and our souls.



A key thing to remember here, is that God doesn’t zap us into submission, but rather He patiently waits for us to catch up to His way of doing things, to become aware of His presence in our lives and in ourselves ... God waits for us to give Him permission ... to allow Him ... to change our hearts, and our minds, and our souls.

This is the ‘big picture’ of salvation ... the ‘whole story’ of holiness. And we know that the promises God made throughout Sacred Scripture are fulfilled in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ. That is why we celebrate this Four Week period of spiritual preparation each year in anticipation of the Great Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord ... that is, Christmas.

We need to take this time ... so that through prayer, penance, and sacrifice ... we might be strengthened in Faith, Hope, and Love ... so that we can better persevere through the hardships of this life ... and wait on the Lord with patience, and with forbearance.



As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ ... let us pray for the graces to be patient in waiting on the Lord ... and for the Lord’s time ... for the things we desire to receive from Him. And let us also pray that we might be made ready to receive the wholeness ... the holiness ... the whole package of Salvation in God through Jesus Christ. As we pass the half-way point, and head into the ‘home stretch’ of this time of prayer and preparation ... this Advent 2013 ... may we accept God’s grace to help us to be transformed from who we are ... into the holy people that God has called us to become in Christ Jesus Our Lord.

2nd Sunday of Advent @ St. Vincent de Paul

HOMILY - SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
DECEMBER 8, 2019
7:30 AM, 10:30 AM (SUN) ORDINARY FORM MASSES



Released nearly 15 years ago, and recorded by American country music artist Carrie Underwood as the first single from her debut album “Some Hearts”, the single “Jesus Take the Wheel” spent six weeks as the number one on Billboard’s “Hot Country Songs,” and peaked at number four on Billboards “Hot Christian Songs,” becoming a top twenty hit on Billboards “Hot 100” chart.

The ballad tells the tale of a young mother. As she drives through an Ohio snowstorm late on Christmas Eve, she reflects upon and takes stock of her hectic life. Suddenly, the car hits black ice and spins out of control. In a panic, she takes her hands off the steering wheel and cries out “Jesus take the wheel!” And in an instant, the spinning stops, the car slows, and safely comes to rest on the shoulder of the road.

Today is the Second Sunday of Advent.



The first reading from Isaiah is the last of three prophecies in the Book of Isaiah regarding a child. The first, in chapter 7, is the prophecy of a virgin birth and the child Emmanuel – whose name means in Hebrew “God is with us.” The second, from chapter 9, speaks of a king who possesses divine and supernatural power.

Finally, the third, what we heard today, from chapter 11 speaks of “a shoot [that] sprout[s] from the stump of Jesse” taking root and blossoming … a proclamation of a future kingdom of Jesse.



And more than a restoration of an ancient dynasty, the prophecy speaks of a restoration of all creation. No more “harm or ruin on all [God’s] holy mountain.”

And finally, the last line speaks of a new Exodus. But this is not a departure from slavery as was the Exodus from Egypt. This is a return to the primordial freedom of Paradise as the children of God the Father.

St. Paul speaks of “service” in three ways in the 15th chapter of Romans. We hear the first word – diakonos in today’s reading. This is where we get the English word deacon. But Paul goes on in the next several lines to talk about leitourgos, and hierourgeō … the priestly service within the action of holy rites.



Paul’s use of these words points to the service of Holy Communion – the Eucharistic service – in the early Church.

In today’s text, the word translated here as “welcome” is perhaps more properly translated as “receive.” That is, as we are to receive one another in the same attitude as we dare to receive Our Lord in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Separation or division within the Body of Christ brings judgment, not mercy; as St. Paul indicates elsewhere in Scripture. And while this is at a minimum a “welcoming,” it is more than that. It is a visceral recognition that we, as the People of God, must be united in mind and in worship.



The Gospel of St. Matthew presents us with St. John the Baptist; whose message of judgment, in the power and authority of the Holy Spirit, offers a baptism of repentance that points to something beyond – points to someone greater; whose sandal John is not worthy to carry.

Namely, Jesus; as Head of the Body, the Church; and the one, true Minister of all the Sacraments.

So, where are we?

Is prayer or worship feeling empty or distracted? Allow yourself to be received by Christ, as you receive His Holy Body and Precious Blood.

Is life or work or school spinning out of control. Too much planning and shopping, the chaos and busy-ness of the season?

Let go, and let Jesus take the wheel. Slow down. Calm down. Let go. Receive and be received. Let yourself be renewed in mind, and body, and spirit. In silence and in hope.



As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ … let Him take the wheel. Give Him your permission to take control of your life. Let Advent be a time of silent anticipation; as we prepare for the coming of Christ … in history … in eternity … and right here … right now … in Word and in Sacrament.

1st Sunday of Advent @ St. Vincent de Paul

HOMILY - FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
NOVEMBER 30 / DECEMBER 1, 2019
4:30 PM (SAT), 9:00 AM (SUN) ORDINARY FORM MASSES



At the University of Colorado (Boulder), Dr. Kenneth P. Wright heads up the “Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory” which does research in the psychological and physiological issues surrounding sleep and wakefulness.

One of his areas of research is in what is called ‘Sleep Inertia’ - which is outlined in an article titled: “Waking Up is Hard to Do.”



According to research, during the first three minutes after waking up, a person can exhibit severe cognitive impairment - such as poor memory, slowed speech, impaired decision making and performance issues.

In the first ten minutes, some may continue to have difficulty speaking clearly or show difficulty in counting.

And over the next two hours – which, of course can vary from person-to- person – an individual may continue to show certain performance problems.



When a person wakes up, their heart rate increases; their breathing becomes more rapid and deeper; circulation and blood flow increase; the brain is flooded with various hormones and chemicals; and every organ in the body shifts into a more active (or waking) mode.

Today is the First Sunday of Advent.



In the First Reading and Psalm Response we hear the admonition to “Come up” and to “go up” to the House of the Lord ... on the Mountain of the Lord of Hosts. There is talk of “peace” on various levels - between nations, within the walls of the city, and within each person.

And in the Second Reading and the Gospel we hear the call to “wake up.”

The season of Advent is one of two penitential seasons the Church gives us to “fix up” our relationship with God and Jesus Christ.

Jesus tells us that up to the moment of the flood, everybody was on autopilot ... doing what they had always done. Everyone, except Noah and his family.



 If we desire to make spiritual progress during this new liturgical year, it certainly behooves us to “wake up” to what is going on around us. To turn off the autopilot, and to take an assessment of our relationship to the Almighty ... Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And similar to waking up bodily, when we “wake up” spiritually ... it will affect every aspect of who we are ... engaging us ... body, mind, soul, and spirit.



St. Paul expands on this ... going beyond the call to “wake up” and admonishes his readers - and us as well - to “clean up” and in a certain sense to “grow up.”

We are to “clean up” by putting away any “works of darkness”, and “put[ting] on the armor of light.” We are to “grow up” by “conduct[ing] ourselves properly as in the day” and “put[ting] on the Lord Jesus Christ”.

As we begin our new liturgical year ... entering into this holy Season of Advent ... “let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord” ... “that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths” so that we might receive His peace ... the peace that the world cannot give.



And as we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ ... let us pray for the graces we need to “wake up” despite the slumber of the world around us. Let us cast off whatever spiritual inertia is holding us back from a fuller relationship to Jesus and to His Father. Let us “walk in the light of the Lord” ... putting on Christ ... and living in the light ... As we move forward into a new Church year and prepare to welcome Christ anew in His Nativity.