To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ be glory forever and ever!

My family in Christ,

Glory to God for His wisdom. Glory to God for His mercy.

God gives David a message: I have my own plans and who are you to take charge? Look at what I have done for you and how, through you, my plan of salvation will be fulfilled. I will raise up and heir to you who will be king forever.

God tells us through Isaiah 55:8-9: “My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts; but just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

There is no contradiction or lack of knowing in God, but there is finite understanding in us. God is perfection, our knowledge is transitory and limited.

Today we held our semi-annual penance service. At every Holy Mass our Church imparts penance and absolution after you pause to reflect on your sinfulness and privately confess to God. Do you do a good job every week? Do you focus on those recurrent sins in your life? Do you formally tell God, —I am sorry, I did wrong, I hurt You, please forgive me?— Are you serious in acknowledging God as Father and in understanding that you are made to love Him above all?

Today was the way we try to get ourselves back on track, to remember those ways we offend God and hurt our brothers and sisters. Did you know that those reflections were in our pew missals? Good practice —“ get here early and read those reflections.

My sisters and brothers,

This was indeed a mysterious week. We are sad at the death of our Bishop, Casimir Grotnik. At the same time, we recognize our joy that the Lord has rescued Him and is now holding him in His arms. Bishop Grotnik will hear the words: ‘Come to me good and faithful servant.’

Why did he have to suffer so much? Why in the face of suffering, was he so filled with love and generosity?

I tell you, from personal experience, it is so difficult not to question God. It is also difficult to see our suffering as so much less than the suffering Jesus Christ endured for our salvation.

In the book of Job, Job remains faithful to God. He does not turn on Him in the face of horrendous suffering. But he does question why. When God comes to him and his friends God is very clear:

Then the LORD addressed Job out of the storm and said: Who is this that obscures divine plans with words of ignorance? Gird up your loins now, like a man; I will question you, and you tell me the answers! Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its size; do you know? Who stretched out the measuring line for it? Into what were its pedestals sunk, and who laid the cornerstone?

God goes on to question him through two chapters. In summary God is saying: —What do you know?—

Our answer must be: —Nothing! You are God!—

Like Mary, we must respond to God with the willingness to take on all God asks of us. To accept suffering with joy, to be humble, to thank Him for the blessings we have received, and to know God is our Lord and master.

And … Mary said, —Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.—

Let us pray that along with Mary we may answer, as we wake each morning, “May it be done to me according to your word.—

Amen.

The scripture passages and Gospel for today: Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Clear and unambiguous, great and heroic.

My brothers and sisters in Christ,

This day is the third Sunday in Advent. We draw ever closer to His coming. The anticipation grows and we want to cry out, —My soul rejoices in my God.—

The beauty of the first reading is its simultaneous anticipation and in our knowing its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

When we read or listen to these passages we know how they apply. There is however an important insight – these prophecies apply to us.

God has indeed anointed us. By our baptism and confirmation He sends us bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD, and a day of vindication by our God.

The day of vindication has come and is coming. We will commemorate that magnificent day in two short weeks. Today, and on that day, we must renew our pledge to live lives worthy of God’s magnificent gift – the gift of eternal life with Him.

Isaiah tells us to rejoice heartily in the LORD, in our God who is the joy of our soul; for he has clothed us with a robe of salvation, and wrapped us in a mantle of justice.

The Lord GOD made justice and praise spring up before all the nations. He sent us His only Son, Jesus. Jesus purchased our salvation and left us with a mandate.

We go forward with that mandate and we, with Paul, rejoice always. We pray without ceasing. In all circumstances we give thanks, for this is the will of God for us in Christ Jesus. We do not quench the Spirit nor despise prophetic utterances. We test everything; retaining what is good. We refrain from every kind of evil.

Paul tells us that the one who calls us is faithful.

John knew this. He had no fear of the lawyers, scholars, and bureaucrats. He did not wilt in the face of the powerful, for his power, like yours and mine, comes from the One. It comes from God who is all in all our light and salvation, our Father and Lord.

Like John, we must go forth from this place. We must go forth for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through us. On our own we are not the light, but we must, by our presence here and by our lives out there, testify to the light. Testify to the truth of Jesus and to His one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

This must be our testimony in the face of our family, friends, and co-workers; the public, those who hate God and who especially hate Christianity. When they ask you: —Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?— You must say: —I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord.’ There is one who is returning, one you do not recognize,— who will as John proclaims, take up His winnowing fan to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn.

John was clothed in camel’s hair,
with a leather belt around his waist.
He fed on locusts and wild honey.
And this is what he proclaimed:
—One mightier than I is coming after me…—

My brothers and sisters in Christ,

John surrendered himself, John who could have had a good life as the son of a temple priest; he surrendered himself to God’s will.

What a goofball, —One mightier than I is coming after me?— John, do you understand that you are wearing camel’s hair, a leather belt, and that you’re eating locusts and wild honey? John, anyone could be mightier than you. Who is coming next, a street beggar? John, the only thing you have going for you is a lack of fear, and that, in itself, is dangerous.

Yet they came.

People of the whole Judean countryside
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they acknowledged their sins.

Just like you do each week, they came. They came to hear the message of God, the promise of salvation. Repent, the time is drawing near.

Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!
Here comes with power the Lord GOD,
who rules by his strong arm;
here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.

John understood his mandate, his duty, and his mission. That is what we must do, because the time is drawing near.

The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard —delay,—
but He is patient with you,
not wishing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance.

Peter’s message is vital. He knew patience better than anybody. He knew how many chances Jesus gave him. He knew the deep intimate and unexpected love Jesus brought. He also knew the powerful demand of accountability and repentance that Jesus mandated.

Jesus demands much from us.

We need to live in truth. We need to hold to our beliefs and faith even if everyone, family, friends, co-workers, and parish members think we are goofballs. We need to wear the modern equivalent of camel’s hair and a leather belt. We need to be who we purport to be.

As Catholic Christians in the Polish National Catholic Church we hold a unique position in the history of the Church. Our beliefs are orthodox in many ways. We are very traditional in liturgy and church polity. We abide in the underlying message of hope and trust in God. It is orthodoxy with joy. It is also the proclamation of a message of personal accountability, responsibility, and repentance.

In the PNCC we believe that Hell is a state of suffering and a place where we may go to atone for our sinfulness. It is not eternal for everyone. We believe what Peter taught:

He is patient with you,
not wishing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance.

We teach that God’s patience is eternal and everlasting. He always offers His love and provides us with opportunity to change. This is as true in this life as it is in eternal life.

The point is, and the problem is, that we must accept it. We must make a conscious choice and accept it. We must change and be regenerated in the Spirit. We must be responsible and accountable.

Most importantly, you are called to action now. Do not delay. Do not put off to tomorrow. Those who will spend eternity in Hell are those that want it. Those who are obstinate and unrepentant. Those who see their way as more important than God’s way. Those who create a life for themselves that says, I don’t need God, I can wait, I’ll pay tomorrow. The very people who rejected and eventually beheaded John.

What happens to the obstinate and unrepentant is that they find themselves fully believing in their own way —“ a way that refuses to subjugate itself to God’s way. A way they have trained themselves in every day of their lives.

The PNCC does not have a Satan, exorcists, or even a mention of the devil in its catechism. What we do know is that evil is real and that it is your choice —“ and your responsibility.

Persist in evil; persist in casting your responsibility off on Mr. Satan. Persist in believing that you will go to heaven and only the really evil will go to Hell. Persist in having it your way. Persist on living on borrowed time.

If you and I persist in being what we want, believing what we want, and in failing to meet God’s demands and expectations, then welcome to the Hell that we have created for ourselves.

If we change, if we are regenerated, if we keep working on it (because we are not perfect), then our dedication to God will move us along on the road to heaven.

You are here, so remain. You are here, like the people of Jerusalem —“ here to hear the message. You are here to receive sanctifying grace through penance, the Word, and the Eucharist. You are here to build strength for the road. You are here to change —“ for heaven’s sake.

Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from Your ways,
and harden our hearts so that we fear You not?

In other words, Lord, why do you allow us to be the people we are? Why do you let us go on and on? Why, why, why?

We are always asking God why. Why am I the way I am? Why do I suffer? Why do others hurt me? Why do I hurt others? Why Do I keep forgetting about God?

We really do want an answer. More than an answer, we want a sign. We want Jesus to come back and straighten everything out.

Over the past few weeks the Gospels have dealt with being prepared. They dealt with the end of time. We want that. Please separate the sheep from the goats, answer my questions, give me a firm foothold and a grasp on what is really going on.

Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
with the mountains quaking before you,

And this is echoed in the words of our Psalm response: —let us see your face and we shall be saved.—

We are literally dying to get to the Lord.

The inescapable fact is that as we age, as we approach our end, our hope increases. We will see His face and be saved. This is because our time of waiting, our time of expectations is drawing shorter and shorter.

Saint Paul gives us this assurance and more:

I give thanks to my God always on your account
for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,
that in Him you were enriched in every way,
with all discourse and all knowledge,
as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift
as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, we have been enriched, given every gift, and all the knowledge we need. The gift we have is our Christian/Catholic faith. The sustaining gift we receive is the Eucharist, Jesus’ very body and blood, and His Word, the Gospel, both filling us with sanctifying grace. These gifts prepare us for His revelation. We have the answer we need to follow Jesus’ command:

Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: (Watch!)

Your job is to question less and believe more. We have all we need to become regenerated. God’s offering is on the table. Come forward, accept it, let it fill your heart and renew you. Become the new man, the new woman, alive in faith, alive in the hope and expectation of Christ.

Eat His body, drink His blood. Walk in His ways. Know that you have all you need to do this. Use your free will and take it on.

The answers are there and they all begin with Jesus.

Why am I the way I am? Jesus asks you to use your unique gifts and personality to build His kingdom. You are essential to His kingdom.

Why do I suffer? Jesus was not above suffering. Do not trade your cross for His or another’s. Bear it for love of Jesus. Offer up your cross and make of it sacrificial suffering for His kingdom.

Why do others hurt me? Why do I hurt others? Jesus told us we are sinful and are in need of repentance. You must cast aside your sin and accept His forgiveness.

Why Do I keep forgetting about God? Jesus’ eternal love is less attractive than worldly cares, or so you think.

Now is the time, this is the moment to re-orient yourself. Do not let this second pass without your personal commitment to Jesus Christ. Do not let this time of expectation be spent in indecisive waiting, but in waiting with the blessed assurance that Jesus Christ is our life, our salvation, and our end.

Amen.

When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

My fellow subjects of Christ the King,

The veil will be lifted and we shall see God as He is.

This passage in the Gospel has always held a special place in my heart. It lets me look at the last days as a sort of observer. I’m watching the sheep and the goats from on-high. I’m watching Jesus in His glorious second coming. Jesus robed in gold, surrounded by angels, seated on a throne. Trumpets blast, paradise to the right, damnation and fire to the left. A huge sea of humanity before Him.

I wonder if anyone has ever captured this event in a movie? The Gospel lets us watch this movie in our minds.

But, the veil will be lifted,

The veil to be lifted is our veil of voyeurism. We will not be watching this event, but will be participants in it. We will not have the luxury of checking out all the cool sights and sounds; we will be shaking in our shoes.

Remember those small wrongs we have all done? We put them quickly out of our minds. Remember those small and sometimes big lies? We thought the passing of time would wipe them clean. Remember every sin you have committed? Remember those times you put yourself and your money ahead of the stranger, the naked, the sick or the imprisoned? Remember that time you —just couldn’t make it— to see mom or dad, your brother or sister, Aunt Susan or Uncle Tony? Remember that time you judged the person next to you? You’ll be in line thinking about those things pretty fast.

The veil will be lifted,

As we look upon Jesus Christ our King seated on the throne of glory we will also be looking at the rest of humanity around us. We will not be seeing Bob, Nancy, Jim, Mary, Tom, Hassam, Fatima, Manuel, Hilda, Miecislaw, Jadwiga, Juan, Hiroshi, or Kameko. We will be looking at Jesus Christ crucified in them. They will see Jesus Christ crucified in us. We will see the pain and loneliness we have inflicted upon others.

We will see very clearly that Jesus is within each of us. When we hurt another, when we criticize another, when we imply motives to another person, we do it to Christ. We drive the nails straight into Jesus’ hands right through the heart of the person next to us.

The veil will be lifted,

It is something that you and I will not be able to bear. Remember how Peter cried after he disowned Jesus? The old story is that the lines in Peter’s face were from the rivers of tears he cried for days after hurting Jesus.

Very few of us approach Christian perfection and frankly we are all headed to the left. It is pretty cut and dried.

But the veil will be lifted.

The Bible says that we all sin, we all fall short of God’s glory and righteousness. We do not and cannot earn God’s acceptance, nor do we need to. Jesus has purchased that for us by His death on that cross.

On that last day our hope is in Jesus Christ the true shepherd. The Bible tells us that when Jesus saw the crowds “He had compassion on them for they were helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Jesus let us press thorns into his head, beat him, whip him, and nail him to a cross. He carried that cross and died on it for our sin. Enduring enormous suffering, Jesus paid for sin on our behalf.

He died, but rose again, showing the world that He has complete power over death. When Jesus said he came to give us eternal life, he showed that he owned eternal life and he offers it to us as a gift. In His kingship we receive that gift.

This is God’s remarkable love for us. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him…might have eternal life.”

This is what our Church, the PNCC teaches. The road to the left is not the final curtain. We teach that repentance, sorrow for our sins and the desire for God opens the door to God’s everlasting love, a door that is never closed. Our Church preaches the hope of the Gospel. Not a false hope of happy times and the easy way, but a hope that comes from right belief. Give yourself to the shepherd and he will take you into His sheepfold. Desire Him above all else, repent and make amends.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in him…might have eternal life.”

Amen.

For to everyone who has,
more will be given and he will grow rich;

My sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus,

I love biblical lessons on investing.

Consider these questions: Can we invest with our own knowledge and skills and obtain an everlasting reward? Can we go toe-to-toe with God and answer Him in regard to what is right? Can we expect a return for our investment of time in this Church this Sunday?

To the first and second question, no. We cannot rely on ourselves. We cannot approach God as experts, demanding of Him.

What is sadly lacking in our hearts is humility and knowing our place. It is lacking because society and the world tell us that we are grand. Our ideas are perfect, our opinions and feelings are important. Our desires should be met, whatever they are. False and dangerous reasoning.

For the third question, Can we expect a return on this Sunday’s investment of time? Maybe. If we are led by the Holy Spirit, and come to God of our own free will, perhaps. If we live Christian lives beyond this Sunday morning, all the more certain.

But, we must first come here. We must come and lay our lives and our desires at the foot of the cross.

If we come with humility and the desire for God burning within us we have found wisdom, the worthy wife. —her value is far beyond pearls.—

I thank God that we have been called. That we have been called here, not because of our own righteousness, but because of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Our acceptance of the call and our follow-through in living the call is the outward sign of that wisdom.

Reflect on your parents’ gift to you at Baptism. Your inclusion and membership in the Body of Christ, not by your own desire and demand, but by your humility.

Think about Baptism. A small child, little self consciousness or determined will. A child subject to the will of another. A child, ultimately, really, and symbolically carried to the waters of Baptism. The child, pure humility and reliance.

Jesus told us that we must be as the little children, even now.

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness,
for that day to overtake you like a thief.
For all of you are children of the light and children of the day.

No, you are not in darkness. You know that, as children, we must be humble before God. You know that we must set our own will and desires aside —“ to let God lead us. To free ourselves from the darkness of earthly desires and enter into the light of the kingdom.

Jesus told Peter this.

—Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.—

And this is what we must do as good investors. We must come to this Altar free from self-will. Reliant only on the grace and love of God. Humble in receiving Jesus Christ into ourselves through the Word and through His body and blood. Dependent on an act of faith, trusting in God. Come forward and proclaim your faith. Stand now and profess your act of faith.

My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

My family, joined together in the name of Christ Jesus,

We all thirst. Within us is an unquenchable desire. During the month of November we reflect even more deeply on this desire.

On All Souls Day Father Andrew and I read the names of our deceased brothers and sisters. Before each High Holy Mass throughout the month we will re-read those names, and pray for the repose of their souls. A strong symbol of our desire to remember them.

For All Souls Day we broke out the black vestments. You do not see these very often. They are however very representative of our feelings. They are symbolic of our emotions, our longing, and our need.

When I visit a funeral home before the Requiem Holy Mass, I ask people what color they would like us to use for their loved one’s funeral. They have a choice of black, purple, or white. Invariably, people choose white. White is obviously symbolic. We celebrate our brothers’ and sisters’ entry into heaven. We celebrate their life. We are supposed to be ‘happy’.

In today’s second reading, Saint Paul reminds us that death is not a time for mysterious grief, but a time for ardent hope. We know where we, as people who hope in the salvation of Christ Jesus, are going.

—We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,
about those who have fallen asleep,
so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.—

My brothers and sisters,

The fact is, we are not happy. We miss them. Even weeks, months, years later we will cry for them. Our pain might ease over time. But we are not predisposed to forget them. We cannot wash away our sadness and desire in a sea of joyful white. When we try to mask the reality of our existence, when we try to cover our true feelings, we are failing to touch the humanity that God gave us.

The first reading speaks of the gifts of wisdom. Wisdom is found in truth.

The truth is, we are thirsting. We thirst for the Kingdom of God. We thirst to be joined together. What we see now is only shadows, and what we know now is not everlasting happiness. What we do know is that we must walk the way of the cross before we can reach the Resurrection. Good Friday comes before Easter Sunday. We know that we must be truthful and deal with the pain and sadness represented in black before we can get to the white.

The ten virgins represent this difference. Five were wise. Five were prepared for and understood reality. Five knew that the bridegroom has his own schedule. Five were foolish. Five thought they knew what was going to happen and were left unprepared.

The foolish ones, when taking their lamps,
brought no oil with them, but
the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.

The five foolish virgins created their own reality. They had their own dreams and schemes. You would think that after sitting there, waiting for a while, at least a few of them would have gotten nervous. You would think at least a few would have rethought their positions on what is real. But no,

Since the bridegroom was long delayed,
they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

They waited to rethink their concept of reality and didn’t do so until it was too late.

‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him.
Then the door was locked.
Afterwards the other virgins came and said,
‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’
But he said in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’

Now is the time to reconnect to what is real. Now is the time to worship what is real. Now is the time to buy your oil and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now is the time to be ready. Do not think that you have the power to define reality. That is God’s job.

Let us pray that our reality will be the truth taught by wisdom. Let us pray that we rethink our perceptions and concepts, and that we sacrifice what we think at the foot of the Cross. Lord Jesus Christ, take my life and teach me Your truth. Amen.

On this All Souls Day I want you and I to focus on the body of Christ.

The Body of Christ —“ the Church with you and me as its members. The Body of Christ with our deceased relatives, friends, and benefactors as its members. The Body of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

The Body of Christ is what we are and what we are becoming. Each day that we come to Holy Mass we are being transformed. We are transformed in a way that requires us to give up our appearances and our facades. We are transformed in a way that requires us to become what God has always intended for us to be.

When we receive Holy Communion we are changed. We are primarily nourished spiritually. We are made part of Christ. Jesus Christ is taking us unto Himself. This is unlike regular eating, where the food we ingest strictly becomes part of us. At the same time we are fortified by the bread so that the ‘staff of life’ strengthens us for the Holy work ahead of us.

How does this transformation occur? It occurs in the most mysterious and magnificent way, through our reception of our Lord, Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. In his Summa Theologiae (3a.75.1), St Thomas Aquinas addresses the question: ‘Is Christ is really and truly present in the Holy Eucharist, or is He only there in a figurative way, as a sign or symbol.’ St. Thomas’ belief, and ours, is that Jesus Christ is really the Holy Eucharist. He is here body, soul, humanity, and divinity, because Jesus desires to maintain friendship with us. There is no more bread or wine, it is Him.

St. Thomas summed it all up by making several points:

· The charity of Christ led him to take a real body, to become human and unite that body to the Godhead to save us.
· The law of friendship requires that friends should live together in union.
· Jesus promised us his bodily presence.
· Jesus has not left us without his bodily presence in our pilgrimage to heaven.
· Jesus specifically told us, —He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.—

These thoughts from the passages in St. Thomas’ work are truly wonderful. They tell us what we know by instinct. Friends and lovers cherish each other’s bodily presence. Our bodies are the very means of our communion.

Some Protestant churches do not believe in the real presence as we do. Their theology has boiled down the relationship with Christ to an —I and thou— personal communion. The Body of Christ is more than Jesus and me.

The Body of Christ is all of us together. God and I are not alone. I am not alone in my joys, sufferings, happiness, sadness, struggle or triumph. I am joined to Christ and to the entire Christian community everywhere and throughout all time.

Jesus Christ is indeed real and present with us and for us. The bread and cup are his visible body. When Jesus says, —This is my body. This is my blood— He is telling us: —Here I am for you. I love you. I died for you. I forgive you. I fill you with my Spirit. I give you eternal life. Come, come feast upon me. I am the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation.—

Today we conduct this immemorial remembrance for our deceased brothers and sisters. We reaffirm that they are not gone, wiped out of existence, but that they are present here with us spiritually as they pray and intercede for us in heaven.

In the funeral liturgy we remember that those who have died were baptized into the Body of Christ, made members of His Holy Church. We remember too that they ate the Bread of Life and drank from the Cup of eternal salvation.

In the Holy Eucharist we, the Body of Christ, encounter the source of our life and salvation —“ Jesus Christ, God and man. We eat His flesh and drink His blood. We chew on Him and digest Him so we can become more like Him, less like us.

When you approach the Eucharist today, and I encourage you to approach Holy Communion as often as it is available, know that you are purified and sanctified by God’s grace. Know that you are regenerated into our Lord’s very body, and that you are joined to the entire Body of Christ, living and deceased, militant and triumphant.

May our prayers for our beloved dead be blessed and received this day through the merits won for us by Him who is our Lord, Jesus Christ, and through His grace may we all be joined together in the Kingdom of God.

[My special thanks to Al Kimel from the Pontifications Blog for the inspiration for this homily]

Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us,
by letting us be called God’s children;
and that is what we are.

But we’re turning into the Maytag repair man. Our lot is getting very lonely. Being a true Christian, especially in a traditional Catholic/Christian community is not very easy. It takes a special gift of the Holy Spirit to hold true to what is right in the Church.

In the Roman Catholic tradition there is a great battle going on. It is between those who which to re-invent the Church in their own image and those who hold fast to a very traditional, dogmatic way of thinking.

Neither is correct.

I recently read a series of articles in the St. Anthony’s Messenger, a Franciscan magazine. These were effusive articles relating the great things that Vatican II brought about. The commentators and the —everyday people,— selected to write brief observations, were completely one sided in their views. The funny thing was that there was a common thread, besides the ‘this is all great’ part of their message. The common thread was that they all said ‘something is missing’. They couldn’t put their finger on it or describe it. But it was there, a longing for the holy, the sacred.

When you look at our Church, the PNCC, you might observe that its congregations are small. You might notice that its church buildings are not huge cathedrals or modernist monstrosities. You might see churches that speak of holiness in honor of God. You might observe everyone pulling together and cooperative decision making. You might notice a respect for the sacred and a love of democracy.

You might notice —“ the Catholic Church.

Look around you. Look at these walls, this Altar, the windows, the statues, the candles. People are dying alone, without the comfort and love of the Catholic Church they grew up in because all this was done away with. It went into the garbage pile. They are hurt and cannot find their way home. They stay away in anger because they have no home.

On this All Saints Day, the saints are crying. They are calling to the world and saying, we are here, the martyrs and mystics, the doctors and confessors, the virgins, the priests, deacons, and bishops, the holy men and women.

Look around you and give thanks. We are not ultra-modern. We are traditional. We pray. We light candles and use incense. We say novenas and the rosary. We do the Stations of the Cross. We believe in penance, repentance, and forgiveness. We believe Jesus Christ is truly present in the Word and in the Eucharist, and that the Holy Mass is a sacrifice not a holy mess.

I could walk into many churches, go to the tabernacle, pull out the ciborium, throw the Eucharist on the floor and step on it. No one would probably notice or care. Only 30% of Roman Catholics even believe anymore.

Long-time syndicated columnist and editor at the Dallas Morning News, William Murchison describes how Europe has lost its Christian faith.

—If you don’t believe a thing is true, or vital, or relevant, in due course you quit acting as though you did, notwithstanding any sentimental attachment you might have to the outward forms and symbols of the old belief structure…You look elsewhere for satisfaction. Europe has long been looking elsewhere for the satisfactions Christianity once supplied.—

A church as a museum is not a Church. Look at these walls, look at the blending of the old and the new. Look at the democracy and will of the people. No one here threw out the baby with the bathwater. No one here threw out the saints and what they fought for. No one denigrated the ancient and sacred tradition of the Holy, catholic, Church.

When you come here and feel small. When you come and there are only 50, 75, or a hundred people here, remember that it is not the number that counts. Remember that it is whether those who come believe. Whether this is a Church.

Saint John said, —Because the world refused to acknowledge Him, therefore it does not acknowledge us.— We live the beatitudes and hold the faith of the saints. You yourselves are called to be saints. To be those things the world does not want. To be what everyone else modernizes out of existence.

Being poor in spirit and gentle; to mourn and hunger and thirst for what is right; to be merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and persecuted in the cause of right.

Listen again to Saint John:

My dear people, we are already the children of God but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He really is.

May God bless you and May God sustain our PNCC.

—Teacher which commandment in the law is the greatest?—
He said to him,
—You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.

My sisters and brothers in Christ,

What follows this statement, —You shall love your neighbor as yourself.— is often the focus of the homily on this Sunday. We focus so much on —You shall love your neighbor as yourself.— that we often overlook the first part, the greatest commandment —You shall love the Lord, your God—. Or we see —You shall love your neighbor as yourself!’ as an equal substitute for loving God.

Of course our neighbor is easy to see, sometimes even to love. Look around you. This Church, this community are filled with your neighbors. You’ll shake their hands at the sign of peace.

But what about God? God is in your neighbor of course, but your neighbor is not God. Nothing on earth is God, or anything in the heavens. God is the infinite and the ultimate. He cannot be contained in anything, not even in everything created. The created can only point to Him.

So my family in Christ, let’s focus on God.

You’ve all heard of the terrible term WMD’s, weapons of mass destruction. Today I will talk about an equally terrible weapon we all carry, IMD’s.

What is an IMD? An IMD is the tool of evil in our life. It is intimidation, manipulation, and domination. It is the set of
tools that evil gives us to make us feel secure in our own power and sense of control.

Intimidation, manipulation, and domination.

Perhaps we use these tools with our spouse, perhaps with our children, maybe with our co-workers or subordinates. Intimidation, manipulation, and domination make us feel secure and in control.

Evil in our lives, the force of evil in the world, leads us to believe that we need power and control. It tempts us, and when we sin, when we acquiesce to the idea that we need to gain knowledge, power, and control by using IMD’s, we discard the greatest commandment. God is not in charge anymore. We are. There is no God. We are not loving God heart, mind, and soul. When we sin we are not loving Him at all.

So what of God? Isn’t He the most powerful, most almighty, most everlasting. Isn’t He the ultimate IMD, the mother of all IMD’s.

No.

When we think of God we think, He can fix it, he can make it better, He has the power. And we disappoint ourselves, because we did not gain power and control over our situation through God’s hands. We didn’t get the power to control and understand what is happening. We didn’t change the outcome.

What does God give us? How does He act? Does He use I MD’s?

Well, He gave us His son, He allowed himself to be brutally killed so we could have everlasting life.

That is why the cross is a stumbling block. It does not represent intimidation, manipulation, and domination. It represents sacrifice, suffering, and love. Jesus did not promise us a honkey-dory existence. He did not promise us a rose garden. When we suffer, when we sacrifice, when we are in pain and need, we are ever closer to Him. When we realize our sin and repent from it, His death on the cross becomes real for us. When we set aside our need for control and put all in God’s hands, then we are Christian.

God gives us Himself in the presence of His Son in this tabernacle. His Son gave us all we need. He did not guarantee us power and control —” quite the opposite. He did however open the doors of heaven to us. He guaranteed our everlasting life. And He left us with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The point of all this is who do you believe? Do you believe in God, in Jesus Christ, in the Cross and the power of the Holy Spirit? Do we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind? Or do you believe in yourself and your ability to use IMD’s.

The next time you are tempted, put down the IMD’s and follow the greatest commandment. Love God, that all may be well with you.