Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,
though perhaps for a good person
one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

…and isn’t that what Father’s Day is all about? Father’s Day is a day that honors sacrificial love.

Let’s take a few minutes to recall what fathering is about. Certainly it starts with children, but frankly anyone and anything can turn out babies. Even plants pollinate. So it isn’t necessarily about turning out babies. Fathering also includes things like setting an example, teaching, giving up poker night so you can stand in the middle of a driving rain at a soccer game, or giving up that fishing trip so you can sit through your daughters umpteenth dance recital. There’s a lot there. There is a lot of duty and most importantly, sacrifice.

Fatherly sacrifice does not mean that we give up our masculinity, our strength, or our guiding hand. Our wives and children need that. Those things are a gift from God – and are meant to strengthen and uphold the family. They are the means by which we render loving service as fathers. Service and sacrifice always founded in love and respect for those we were given.

On this day on which we honor fathers, on which we honor their sacrificial love, the Holy Church reminds us that the call to sacrifice is a call to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

St. Paul reminds us that God sent His only Son to be sacrificed, sacrificed so that we might say no to sin and yes to eternal life. God sacrificed so that we might be reconciled. As St. Paul says:

we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.

That’s the baptismal choice, the saying of yes to God and no to sin. What’s more, it is the opportunity to grow up and to model our behaviors, our lives, on the example of Jesus. Sacrificial love.

Let’s face it, it is hard, still very hard, to sacrifice, to give up one’s worldly reputation, to set aside one’s needs, to die to ourselves so that we might live for others. To die to ourselves so that we might live by the Way, Truth, and Life which is Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters,

We sit here each Sunday and listen. Today Jesus asks for two things.

First that we pray. Each day we are faced with the world’s reality – a lack of sacrificial love. We live in a me culture, gods that are me, Jesus who is really just like me. We find it easy to fashion our own personal Jesus – who is the image of ourselves, the image of our wants and needs. Our god is us – the one we find it easiest to worship. The ATM through which we easily slide our credit cards. In light of our selfishness, in light of the needs of the world, the sheep without a shepherd, the troubled and abandoned, our own sinfulness, we must pray. Master, send us laborers who will guide us in Your path. Send us good and holy fathers, priests, and deacons. Master, take our selfishness away and use us as You see fit. If we pray first our need for right guidance and counsel will be granted.

Second, we must act.

“Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons.
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.—

We must act because we are God’s holy nation. We are His Holy Church. God told Moses to impart these words to the people:

“You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.——¨

…and so we are.

My friends,

We must live up to God’s choosing us. That starts with prayer and ends with action. We are not here by accident or by mistake. We are called and we must get up and go. We must look at each and every person, every man and woman in this world, regardless of color, religion, or nation and we must be prepared to pray for them and sacrifice for them. Sacrifice out of God’s love, out of God’s Law. This is the sacrifice of parents, fathers, priests, deacons, mothers, servicemen and women, missionaries, and all workers in God’s field. The sacrifice of the people who model themselves after Jesus’ reality.

while we were still sinners Christ died for us

So too for us who must take after Christ. Life as a Christian is all about prayer and sacrificial love. It is dying to sin. We were buried in baptism. We went down into the water. Now we are reborn – regenerated into new men, new women. We are the new and everlasting Israel. We died to live a new life – eternal life. That is the promise we have received. That is what we are to pray for and sacrifice ourselves for – for God’s way – the only way. The way to heaven. Amen.

—I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.—

Faith requires us to do things that are completely crazy, outlandish in the eyes of the world.

Abraham believed, hoping against hope,
that he would become —the father of many nations, ——¨according to what was said, —Thus shall your descendants be.—
He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body
as already dead – for he was almost a hundred years old –
and the dead womb of Sarah.—¨

Can you imagine, the walking dead and the dead womb of an old woman setting off on a journey; a journey whose mission was to create a nation? Can you imagine the reaction of the relatives back in Ur when Abram set off for an unknown land – based on a call from an unseen God, based on a promise that was physiologically impossible? Today we would have these elderly folks put in a nursing home. We would think that they were failing, thinking unreal things, acting in unreal ways. We would be uncomfortable imagining them in bed together, trying to make children.

People of faith do outlandish things.

As Jesus passed on from there,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, —Follow me.——¨

Jesus called a tax collector and asked him to follow in His footsteps, to be His witness. Not only that, but He dinned at the tax collectors house, with other tax collectors and various notorious sinners.

Jesus, being a Rabbi, and knowing the Law, should not have done that. He should have shunned Matthew. He should have walked on the other side of the street from him. He should have avoided Matthew’s house, his food, and his company.

Jesus’ actions in this case were improper, irreverent, and against the tenants of the Law, at least the Law as the Pharisees saw it.

People of faith do outlandish things.

Brothers and sisters,

Like the people of Ur would have avoided Abram and his crazy thoughts, so too did those who were self-righteous avoid Jesus. People avoided Abram, they avoid Jesus, and they avoid and criticize His followers today because faith requires that we do things that are completely crazy and outlandish in the eyes of the world.

As Christians we are people of faith. Faith tells us that Jesus is our Lord, that this life is only temporary, that we have an important mission, and that we must be doers of faith.

The people of Hosea’s time were going through the motions. Justice and righteousness were a series of practices. God condemned them through Hosea’s words:

for it is love that I desire, not sacrifice,
and knowledge of God rather than holocausts.—¨

In other words, get in the game. Stand up and take action. Not action for the sake of action, but actions that show the depth of love we carry in our hearts. We are called to be 100% Christians, people who hear Jesus before they act. People who live the Christian faith in everything they do.

We are so weak, and so out of shape. We believe that we will be clothed in righteousness because our words are right and because we tread the well worn path to church each week. Know this, that path to church is only the warm-up. The words we have been taught are the rules. The time for the next step, for getting in the game, is here.

People of faith do outlandish things.

So must we.

Jesus came to call back sinners. He came to tell all of us, who are sinners, that through repentance, through following and actively living His word, we will be saved. Therefore, the hateful word must cease. Charity must prevail. Gluttony and lust must cease. We are to live restrained and continent lives. Greed must cease. What we have is the Lord’s for which we must be thankful and from which we must give cheerfully to all in need, asking no price in return. Let us come to Christ and His Holy Church – and go out equipped so that we may live up to the name we were given; live up to the faith we were blessed with, and the call we received.

Some among us will think, this is too hard. This is too much. Others will think I can do it. Know this, it is not too hard and we can do nothing on our own, but Jesus Christ alive in us through His sacramental presence and the Holy Spirit enveloping us will do all in us.

During this month of June let us resolve to allow Christ to take us up. Allow Him to do outlandish things with us. Allow Him to call us, to service as priests and deacons, to service as active members of this parish and of our Holy Polish National Catholic Church. Allow Him to lead us and let us surrender all to Him. For He said:

—Follow me.—

Jesus is waiting. This is the time. Amen.

Jesus said to his disciples:—¨
—Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’—¨
will enter the kingdom of heaven,—¨
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.—

These words, from God, call us to forcefully acknowledge the true source of our life, the thing that sets us apart and makes us a people of God. That thing is lived faith in Jesus Christ. As St. Paul tells us:

They are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption in Christ Jesus,—¨
whom God set forth as an expiation, —¨
through faith, by his blood.—¨
For we consider that a person is justified by faith

St. Paul begins by recounting the fact that all have sinned. Even the saints sinned. Paul himself was tortured by temptation to sin, even after he received the revelation of Christ and put his old ways behind him. The presence of sin and temptation to sin is a constant, and without our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus we would be without hope.

St. Paul tells us that God’s answer to his prayer that temptation leave him was: “My grace is sufficient for you.” In like manner we have God’s grace. Like Paul we must not stop at having grace, but rather we must respond to grace, we must act upon it.

By God’s grace we are not left orphaned and alone, left out on an open sea, to be buffeted all the day and night, with no hope of ever reaching the shore. By this gift of grace we have all that we need to respond in the way that guarantees everlasting life.

Faith then is the wise person’s response to God’s grace, to God calling us to Himself. Faith is the entry way to a transformative existence, an existence that makes all that Jesus Christ said and did real and powerful in our lives, and in the life of the world. Faith is the acknowledgment of God as our Father, His will as our will, and heaven as our home.

Brothers and sisters,

We are called to transformation, to being the actual and present people of God in this world. To do so we need to consciously understand Jesus Christ as reality.

Christ is real and alive. Jesus is in heaven and is among us. Unfortunately, in our Western way of thinking, in our conditioning at school and at work, we tend to look at things as — things. It is very easy to fall into that way of thinking when we consider Jesus, Holy Scripture, and the Holy Church. We tend to view Jesus, Scripture, and the Church as something outside of us, rather than as something that is part of us, part of our very being.

We might be tempted to look at Jesus as far removed, as no longer existing in our realm. After all, we saw Him ascend to the Father. We may see Him as removed from our reality, up there, rather than as the One who lives in and walks with us.

We might be tempted to see Holy Scripture as a nice piece of writing, interesting stories and poetry, and a sort of treatise best left to historical analysis and philosophical inquiry.

We might be tempted to look upon the Holy Church as an out-of-touch corporation, governed by committees and men in funny looking clothes.

That is what Moses cautioned against. When he said:

—Take these words of mine into your heart and soul.
Bind them at your wrist as a sign,
and let them be a pendant on your forehead.—¨

…he meant to tell us that we must keep the reality of God ever before us. To this day Orthodox Jews wear Tefillin so that the Word of God becomes part of them, so that it is attached to them and is ever before them.

The Tefillin are symbolic of what must occur in our lives, as part of the new and everlasting covenant. In the new covenant Jesus lives with us, transforms us into His body, the Church, and teaches us through Holy Scripture. Our response in faith is our transformation; into people who do something vital, that is the work of God. We are to live and act as people of God, making what we know real and apparent to the world.

My friends,

Our faith response makes us free, from sin, from disbelief, and most of all from apartness from God. We become new men and new women, people who live as if Jesus Christ were standing right next to them — because He is. By our act of faith we are regenerated and by that faith we live new lives. In those new lives we bear witness, to our families, to our co-workers, to our club members, to the world.

Moses said:

—I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse—

The blessing is making the choice for God, being regenerated, being transformed into people who actively live and do what God wills and teaches. The curse is living in captivity to the world and to our base selves, to living as if God is far off and apart from us, something that doesn’t see or hear, and may not even exist.

The choice, the regeneration, the transformation, our being called by the grace of God, and our response in faith, are the keys. Those who grab hold of those keys and live in and with God, who really live as children of the Father, and who do so actively, will be the ones who hear Jesus say:

You are the wise one who listen[ed] to these words of mine and act[ed] on them. You built your house on rock.

Amen.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

St. Paul’s words at the conclusion of today’s second reading take the form of a blessing we are familiar with. On this Solemnity of the Holy Trinity let’s take a moment to think of the meaning behind this blessing.

St. Paul begins by imploring that we be blessed with the grace of Jesus Christ. He asks that we receive the all giving love of Christ called grace – the love that gives us the ability to overcome the oppression of sin, the grace that leads us ever so slowly and incrementally toward the Father. Grace it is that calls us to proclaim the Holy Faith. Grace it is that calls us to unity with God and each other in the Holy Church.

Then there is the Father, the love of God. A love so vast that the Father would see His Son become incarnate for the sole purpose of teaching man how to love like God loves. He came to show us the vastness of the Father’s love, a love so great that He allowed Himself to be sacrificed for us, for our salvation. He died and rose so that we might be joined in unity with the Father who is love.

St. Paul then prays that the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be ours. The Spirit which the Father sent forth to give us life, to strengthen and guide us, to inspire us so that we might all be one as God is One.

Brothers and sisters,

The Three Persons of the Holy Trinity are calling us to unity. The Three persons of the Holy Trinity – One God.

St. John of Damascus in his Exposition of the Orthodox Faith sums up the oneness of God when he says:

So then in the first sense of the word the three absolutely divine subsistences of the Holy Godhead agree: for they exist as one in essence and uncreate.

The Three Persons are One and so we as their witnesses must be one. We must boldly proclaim the revealed truth of God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In living and making that proclamation we must be one.

This leads us to the first part of today’s second reading in which St. Paul says:

Brothers and sisters, rejoice.
Mend your ways, encourage one another,
agree with one another, live in peace,
and the God of love and peace will be with you.
Greet one another with a holy kiss.

St. Paul is reminding us that we must actively live the faith that speaks of the Holy Trinity. We must live as the children of the Holy Trinity. We are in Christ because we are in His body, the Holy Church. When we do evil to one another, when we act uncharitably, when we slander and gossip, when we hold grudges, when we fail to forgive, and when we neglect our duty in love, we loudly proclaim that the Trinity means nothing, that we are apart from God and what God is. For God is not divided, God is One.

Today’s Gospel reminds us:

Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Do you believe? Do I believe? Do we truly believe in Jesus Christ. If we do then we act in unity and in love. Not just in this town, not just in this parish, not just with that priest or deacon because I like them better than the other, not just with this family because I agree with it more than the other, but with all members of the Holy Church. We must live lives that show to their very depth that we live in unity and in love with every man and woman who bears the name Christian.

Our God is the One God, the Holy God, the Almighty and Everlasting God. He has come to us and has taught us: You as my followers must be one as I am One.

My friends,

Moses came face to face with God.

The LORD stood with Moses there
and proclaimed his name, “LORD.”
Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out,
“The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God,
slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.”

This is our God, the Lord. Our first reaction must be like that of Moses:

Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship.

We must recognize the He is God and is due our worship.

Our second reaction must be like that of Moses:

—pardon our wickedness and sins,
and receive us as your own.”—¨

We must be aware of our sin and beg God for mercy because we do not live as He would have us live.

Finally, our life must be the life of the Apostles – life in and of the Holy Church:

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Lives lived in faithfulness to God and His way – lives lived in unity with God and each other. Lives that say we are members of the Body of Christ. Let it be so so today. Let it be so always. Let us proclaim our oneness in all we say, think, and do. Amen.

the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews

The doors were locked, because of fear. Fear, an enemy of faith, an enemy to those who work to do God’s will.

In our day and age it’s easy to fear. We have wars going on all about us. Our cities are ravaged by crime. Immigrants come from all corners of the world and we are distrustful of them. We are in the middle of a political war that will drag on for at least another six months. Real fear and fear perceived. As people of faith we cannot let fear turn us from our mission. We cannot left fear rule human lives.

Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, —Peace be with you.—

We hear that the disciples rejoiced. Of course they did. Their rock and strength had returned. They saw the awesome power of God. No one could touch them now.

Jesus said to them again, —Peace be with you.

What happened in-between the first peace, the rejoicing, and the second peace?

I think that the disciples soon realized that Jesus wasn’t going to hand-hold them anymore. Perhaps they realized that He would soon ascend, leaving them to do something, something they were ill prepared for, something that no locked door could stop. Something they did not understand because of fear.

Then Jesus said:

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.—
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
—Receive the Holy Spirit.

The disciples couldn’t lock the door any longer. The danger wasn’t on the outside anymore. The disciples held the most dangerous thing ever given man in their hand and hearts – Jesus’ commission to them.

They now had a power and a commission that could not be contained in a small locked room. On Pentecost Sunday it burst forth:

And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

My friends,

So what?

So what?

The strong driving wind, the tongues of flame, the fire and power of the Holy Spirit, given to us so that we might carry out the commission of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, mean absolutely nothing unless we get to work.

Our parish does a lot. We sponsor many events. We talk to many people. These are all worthy and valuable endeavors, but only insofar as we use them as a means to further our core mission – the proclamation of Christ, the teaching of the unchurched, and the baptism of the unbaptized – all in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

We received the Holy Spirit – each of us was anointed and the bishops of the Holy Church breathed upon us – just as Jesus did, and they said to us – receive the Holy Spirit.

We have to get to work because the people out there are slipping away. They do not love Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. They do not follow His commands. They think that God is about being nice and polite. It’s not true. God is dangerous and subversive because He destroys fear. The vastness of His love is scary, and His mercy is undeserved, and He gives freely of love and mercy. They need to know that He is here, that He has shown the way, that eternal life awaits them and that God loves them. We need to call them so that they would acknowledge and cling to His way.

We cannot lock our doors, trying to hold it all in, fearful of what is out there. They are out there, and they are living in fear – they are waiting to hear His word. We have to get to work.

Like the disciples, Jesus isn’t going to hand hold us. Jesus has left us with something we must do, even if we feel ill prepared for it. No locked door can stop what we must do. Let us get up. Let us be on our way. We have the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, a commission, and faith. Throw open the doors, and be about His work. The people out there will say of us:

—we hear them speaking in our own tongues
of the mighty acts of God.——¨

Amen.

I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me,
because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours
and everything of yours is mine,
and I have been glorified in them.

Why is it that Jesus doesn’t pray for the world?

We would love to have Jesus pray for the world. We would love it if He would perfect the world. It would make everything easier, peaceful, kinder, wonderful. We live here and would like it to be a little slice of heaven. Jesus, why didn’t you pray for the world? Also, why is it that Jesus prays only for the ones the Father has given Him? Is He only praying for the Apostles and disciples? Did He neglect to pray for everyone?

Brothers and sisters,

We ask: Jesus, why didn’t you pray for the world? The answer is: Jesus does not pray for the world because the world is not our destination. The world is the place where we battle against every type of sinfulness. It is a battleground and a crucible in which we are proved.

St. Peter tells us that as Christians we are to avoid and reject sin. We should not be made to suffer on account of committing sins:

But let no one among you be made to suffer
as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as an intriguer.

St. Paul lists the many sins Christians are to avoid. In 1 Corinthians 6:7-10 he says:

To have lawsuits at all with one another is defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?
But you yourselves wrong and defraud, and that even your own brethren.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts,
nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.

In 1 Timothy 1:9-10 St. Paul goes on to describe that:

the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
immoral persons, sodomites, kidnapers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine

We are to battle against all that and all sin. We are to fight the urge to malice, gossip, calumny, and bickering. We are to resist the temptations laid out before us by the world: fame, lust, greed, contempt for others. We must resist the world and resist every temptation, here in our parish, in our parish meetings, in our homes, at work, and at play. We are to fight against every evil. We are to love, even when loving is hard.

My friends,

We do not have it easy. That is why Jesus’ prayer for those the Father has given Him is Jesus’ prayer for us. We are the people the Father has given Him. In fact, every person in the world is to resist evil because the Father has placed the whole of mankind into Jesus hands. The Father has seen the whole of mankind washed in the blood of His Son – our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Jesus prayed for us. For this parish. For you and for me. He knew the strength of temptation and the lure of evil. Knowing that He reminded the disciples, just before they left for the Garden on the night He was betrayed:

I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me;
but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

The ruler of the world has no power over Jesus or over us. That is why we are to reject sin, reject the world’s easy and wide road of sin. In rejecting sin we make ourselves ready to do the Father’s will, to show the world that we love the Father.

We are Jesus’ disciples. We bear His name – Christian. We must do as the Apostles, the women, and the brothers did:

All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer

We are to be of one accord. We are to pray together first, then work together, bear with one another, and above all love each other. We are to forgive and in forgiving reject the root of sin – selfish desire to put ourselves first, to call ourselves perfect and just.

St. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6:11 that we were sinful worldly people:

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

We have been washed and we are renewed. We, the people of this parish, the people of our Holy Polish National Catholic Church are to do our best, and with God’s grace fulfill Jesus’ prayer; that He be glorified in us.

Reject sin. Love and serve God and each other. Amen.

I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
but you will see me, because I live and you will live.

Jesus’ promise is counter to everything we know and think. We believe in a God we cannot see. Many try to empirically understand Jesus. They provide lengthy narratives on the proof of God – why Jesus is God, why He came to us, why He died, and that He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.

Attempts at proving the truth of Jesus are noteworthy, and help us in deepening our faith, but because of our human limitations, fall short. Jesus said that the world would no longer see Him, so it takes something more, something greater, something we all have the capacity for, faith.

Brothers and sisters,

That faith is in us. Jesus is telling us that we – the faithful, will see Him. The world sees Jesus because we live, because we love, worship, adore, and have faith in Him. Some will come to us and they will say, ‘Show me Jesus. I have faith, I want to see Him.’ We must be prepared to say to them: ‘See Him.’ As St. Peter tells us:

Always be ready to give an explanation
to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope

This is not an explanation in human terms, but in divine terms. It is an explanation of our faith and hope. It is an explanation that comes from our essential faith.

My friends,

Our humanity, and most especially our weaknesses, prompt us to define ourselves, our Church and parish, our faith and belief, our life together as a human endeavor. We think – well if we have a process, a strategic plan, goals, a committee, a work team, if we read The Purpose Driven Church and put it into action, that will be the key. That will work. We work and work and work and in doing so we forget Jesus’ warning:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?’
For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.—

Brothers and sisters,

Listen to what the Deacon Philip did:

Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and proclaimed the Christ to them.
With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip
when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.

All of us, and all the people out there – the unchurched, the lonely, the sad, the rich, the poor, need to see something other than a plan and a process. They need our witness to Jesus Christ. They need to see us seeing Him. We need to do what Philip did – proclaim Christ to them.

If people see the Holy Church as dogma and rules, if they see us as adherents to process and committees, they will flee from us. We must proclaim what Bishop Hodur proclaimed. Our Church is a union of free men and women, all of whom are seeking the Kingdom of God, all of whom freely subscribe to the journey of faith. All of whom start and end with faith. All of whom live, breathe, act on, and witness to faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Jesus promised us:

“Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.—

We have His commandments which are His words. We have faith and we love. We are a union of free men and women, joined together in our ascent to the heavenly kingdom. Set aside the plans and the processes. Set aside the self-reliance. Build a foundation on rock, the rock of faith. Have faith. Show faith. Live faith. Do so and Jesus will reveal himself. Do so:

—…and all these things shall be yours as well.—

—Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.—

Christ is risen, alleluia!—¨
He is truly risen, alleluia!

A special message for you Madeline Ashley, and a message for all of us.—¨

We are blessed today. All of Christendom is blessed today. A new member will be added to the faith. A new member of the Holy Church will be born through water and the Holy Spirit. Just like the early Church we continue to grow.

The word of God continued to spread,
and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly

By the addition of this one life, we are increased greatly.

In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we learn of the Apostles struggle to keep on top of everything. They had spiritual duties, evangelical duties, and administrative duties. The Church kept growing, and it was getting difficult to do it all. They decided to appoint seven – the first seven deacons – to assist them. These deacons would assist them in their administrative and charitable works.

Within a few chapters from the Acts we will see deacons witnessing to the faith in myriad ways. Stephen the Deacon will be dragged before the Chief Priest and the Council and will strongly proclaim the Word of God. Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. For preaching the Word and Truth of God he will be stoned to death.

In a few more chapters Philip the Deacon will be be prompted by the Holy Spirit to go out to the road between Jerusalem and Gaza. There he will come across an Ethiopian eunuch traveling on a delegation from Candace the queen of Ethiopia. Philip will explain the work of Jesus Christ to the eunuch. He will expose the references to the Christ that are found throughout scripture. Philip will baptize the eunuch and when he comes up from the water the eunuch will rejoice, because he has Christ.

Madeline,

Today you will come up out of the water and you will have Christ.

Look at this Bible. This Bible – a book of books. A lot of people have a bible. It is a great work of literature. It is history, poetry, songs, wisdom, many many things. Some are very pretty – well manufactured Bibles, they look great on a table or in a library. Some are historic and quite valuable – like the Gutenberg Bible.

Today you will come up out of the water and this Bible will mean far more to you. You, like all members of the Holy Church, will truly have this Bible. You won’t just own one, you will have one – and its words will be written upon your heart and soul. It will still be history, poetry, songs, and wisdom, but most importantly it won’t just be those things. Its books make use of those forms to reveal to you the life of Christ Jesus your Savior.

Like the Ethiopian eunuch you will have the revealed Word of God and you will know its true meaning. The Bishops, priests, and deacons of the Church, along with your parents and grandparents will explain its words to you. They will tell you that its meaning is this. Madeline – God loves you. God sacrificed Himself for you. He died and rose so that you might live. He has gone before you, and He tells you:

I am going to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back again and take you to myself

You have that assurance by your entry into the Holy Church – into the Body of Christ. Today you are buried with Him so that you may rise again on the last day. Today you meet the One Who said:

“I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.—

Today you come to the Father through the Son. Let no one fool you Madeline. There is no promise greater, no assurance stronger, no one who or no thing that can give you what your parents and the Holy Church give you today. You have entry to the Kingdom of God through your profession of faith in Jesus Christ in this baptism. He is the one who is the way, truth, and life. In Him you will live forever.

So Madeline, and all my brothers and sisters,

—Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.—

…Who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Proclaim His name, fear not, go out and baptize all in His name, for the salvation of the whole world. Live as witnesses to all He has has said and done. He is with and in you. He will be forever.

Amen.

Los sacaré de entre las naciones, los reuniré de entre todos los pueblos, y los haré regresar a su propia tierra.

For I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land.

Christ is risen, alleluia!—¨
He is truly risen, alleluia!

Today we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday, and today we will baptize Caterina. What an appropriate thing to do.

Jesus has come to us and has announced to us that He is the Good Shepherd. He is here, with us, constant in His vigilance, knowing us, and allowing us to know Him. By this baptism Caterina will be welcomed into the sheepfold. She will enter through the gate, which is Christ, and she will abide with Him.

As Caterina grows, as she matures in life and in faith, Jesus the Good Shepherd will be with her. Today her parents, Roman and Cecelia have assured Caterina that the Good Shepherd will be with her. They have given her the greatest of gifts. The gift of eternal life.

Caterina’s family comes to us from afar, with a different language and a different culture. Though different in some respects this family lives as one with us in faith. Christ Jesus is their Shepherd and our Shepherd, Shepherd of all nations and of all peoples without exclusion. It is this faith in the Good Shepherd, the Shepherd who loved us so much that He endured death so that we might have life, that joins us now and which will join us forever in the resurrection on the last day. It is our faith in Him that breaks down all walls, all barriers, and binds us together as one nation and people.

Jesus came to us, and on the day of His baptism in the Jordan, we hear the Father’s voice.

—Tíº eres mi Hijo amado; yo tengo en ti mis complacencias.—

“Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.”

The Father was well pleased in His Son who came to Shepherd us, to lead us to the Father, to eternal life.

Caterina will now share in that life. By her baptism and her faith, by listening to the words of the Good Shepherd and the faith that her parents will share with her, she will remain constant – focused on the joy and the happiness to be found in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Today we welcome you Caterina, and your family, in the name of the whole Church, in the name of the faith we all profess.

En esta mañana damos la vienbenida a Caterina y su familia en nombre de las Iglesia y la fe que todos profesamos.

Amen.

That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus

Christ is risen, alleluia!
He is truly risen, alleluia!

That very day, the first day of the week,
about a hundred of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a town called Latham.

That my brothers and sisters is us. So here we are, on the first day of the week.

Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

We have a problem. That problem is our inability to recognize Jesus. When we try to recognize Jesus we often compartmentalize our recognition.

Some of us look to the clergy. They must surely represent Jesus. They have all the training, have Holy Orders, are leaders in our spiritual journey. I can see Jesus there. That works for all of about one second, until the clergy make mistakes. Till their humanity shines forth in all its brokenness. No Jesus there.

Some look to the poor. Surely Jesus is there. They are poor like Jesus, rejected like Jesus, and we are supposed to treat them like we would treat Jesus – the least of my brothers. That works for all of one second, until, in the face of our charity, they remain distraught in poverty and brokenness; till they blunder in not being thankful for our charity. No Jesus there.

Some look to secular leaders. They have power and might like Jesus. They are all for the common good like Jesus. Anyway, Jesus told us to render unto Caesar – He had no problem with government per se. Certainly government leaders talk about Jesus a lot. They have faith. That lasts for all of one second, until we see the corruption, the violence, and the selfishness of human power; till we see their words as a ruse. No Jesus there.

Some look to Jesus. Ok, He’s the One. He has it all down – and anyway He is completely perfect. After-all, He is God. Yep – that’s right, I’m looking to Jesus who is in heaven. When He comes on the clouds in all the glory of God, with trumpet blasts and smoke and fire and sits on the judges bench… Oh yeah, that. Maybe it would be better if I didn’t look there. No, no, that’s not my Jesus.

Brothers and sisters,

How do we recognize Jesus?

Look around you. The rich and poor, the powerful and weak, the employed, retired, and unemployed. Look at the person next to you and look at yourself. Look at this parish – from its priest, to the parish committee, to the organizations, to the pew dwellers. Jesus. There He is in those we agree and disagree with. In the meek and the know-it-alls. There He is. His image. Jesus.

With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him.

We have to live together, work together, and most importantly we have to start right here, this moment, in these pews facing this altar. In a few minutes Fr. Andrew, in the person of Jesus Christ will raise that bread – and Jesus will be here. Just prior to communion Fr. Andrew, in the person of Jesus Christ, will break that bread. We must stop – think – and recognize Christ here, among us, and in us.

My friends,

It starts and ends right here. The in-between stuff is hard. When we are about to slip and think – no Jesus there – stop! He is there and He is here. He is in the clergy, the poor, the powerful. He is there. He is in you. He is in us.

I urge you. Take Jesus out of the compartment. Take Jesus with you and see His image in each-other, in all those that we meet. Do not let doubt, hurt, or anything separate us from a member of this parish or from any other person. Start here, recognize Jesus, and walk out of here knowing that Jesus lives in and with us. Christ is risen, alleluia! He is truly risen, alleluia!

Amen.