The thread of grace (11th OT Sunday homily)

 If you are wondering what thread binds all these readings together, 

I will tell you what I see. That thread is grace.

What is grace? Here’s a short answer:

Grace is God’s love and life, acting in our lives, to make us like God.

First God nudges and prompts us, and even blocks our way, 

all to steer us away from spiritual danger and toward life.

Those helps, nudges, prompts – which can come in our conscience, 

or from our guardian angel, or from other people – 

comprise what we call “actual grace.” 

What we also call grace is that infusion of God’s own life into our lives.

That is “sanctifying grace,” because it makes us holy. 

This grace forgives us and changes us to become heavenly.

To become like God. To be united to God!

Jesus gave us the sacraments as certain sources of sanctifying grace.

He chose and transformed the Apostles to bring the sacraments, 

to give us visible, tangible assurance of his grace.

Here’s an analogy.

A friend looks at you says, “You don’t look well. 

You need to go to the doctor.”

So, you go to the doctor, she says “Yes, you are very sick”;

but she gives you medicine, and you get better.

The friend’s nudge was actual grace;

what the doctor gives – to heal you – is sanctifying grace.

Although sorting grace in this way is helpful, 

ultimately grace boils down to one reality: 

God, who is mercy and life; who is holy, who is love.

As you and I encounter God, either we are drawn in, 

and transformed, into God – this we call purgatory and heaven –

Or else we resist and reject his life.

It is sobering to realize, that if we isolate ourselves from God,

the word for that self-chosen isolation? Is hell.

Notice what God told the people in the first reading:

I carried you. And what Paul said: that we were “helpless.”

And what Jesus said: what you receive, you received “without cost.”

So here are two key points I urge you to reflect on deeply. 

First: Grace – God’s love, God’s mercy – is all a GIFT.

No one earns heaven; no one pays for his or her sins.

It is not necessary; it is not possible.

The only response that is possible is to accept God’s love, 

and be transformed into love! Or else, to refuse it.

The idea that you or I could offer any “payment”

is equal parts offensive and laughable.

Second point: God’s grace always is ahead of you.

You may think it was your idea to turn back to God, to put things right; 

but in fact, it was God’s idea first. 

His grace nudges you; supports you, draws you, 

assists you all the way to the destination, which is Himself.

The only thing you and I can contribute is “yes.”

Once given, that “yes” becomes something astonishing.

Think of our Blessed Mother: what came from her simple “yes.”

This is the mystery of it all: 

Even the breath to speak that yes is itself God’s grace!

But it is still ours, enabled by him to be freely given.

If it sounds like I’m saying that it is all God, and none of ourselves, 

I am not quite saying that. This is the jaw-dropper:

A finite creature – us – 

is drawn up into the Infinite Love of God. 

We are both overwhelmed, and by that overwhelming, 

at last we become truly human.

The one right and necessary response is openness and gratitude. 

Because of our own narrowness, these are lifetime tasks.

This is the rationale to prayer, penance, acts of self-denial,

Mass each Sunday, and regular confession.

It’s not about paying God or impressing him – good luck!

No! These are time-tested tools to help us cooperate with God.

When I was a boy, my parents provided everything for me.

But like all the rest of us, at times my father and mother said,

Get off the couch, come help.

My “help” wasn’t that much help; sometimes it was a distraction.

But my folks knew that my response and participation

was going to help me become less selfish, more generous – more human.

Has it occurred to you what is happening right now?

By God’s grace you are here. Right now he is giving you life.  

Receive it without cost—so that you may share it without cost. 

Like the Apostles, you and I are sent.

Not as experts with all the answers, 

but as people so full of wonder that others cannot help but ask: 

“What happened to you?”

Three Words for Corpus Christi (Sunday homily)

 Pope Francis often created a homily 

around three words from the readings; 

that’s what I am going to do today.

The three words are “Remember,” “Participation” and “True.”

Let’s start with Moses telling God’s People to “remember.” 

“Remember how God directed your journey,” he said.

That was the point of the Passover, with the sacrificed lamb: 

to remember God’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt.

But for Moses and the people, 

that remembering didn’t just involve a thought process. 

By sharing the sacrificial meal together, 

they went back in time in a sense, truly reliving the saving events.

And that is what happens in Holy Mass. 

You and I are, in a real sense, present at Calvary.

Present at the empty tomb. 

Present at the eternal supper of the Lamb.

Even though those are events either in the past, or ahead of us,

Nevertheless, God makes all these things present:

That’s what “remembering” means to God;

Because, realize, there is no past or future for God;

He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Now let’s add in St. Paul’s word: “participation.”

A lot of people misunderstand what it means to “participate” in Mass.

While it’s good to give the responses, or to sing, 

or perhaps to help as a reader or usher 

or some other role at Mass,

these are not the primary way you or I “participate” in Mass.

So, someone might say, the Mass is in Spanish, so I can’t participate.

I can’t see, or I can’t hear, so I can’t participate.

These are legitimate concerns, but stop and think:

Do we really mean to say that folks with bad eyesight, 

or bad hearing, are unable to “participate”? 

That can’t be the right answer.

No, even if you don’t understand the language, you still participate.

The fundamental way we participate is by our intention:

We join our prayers and faith with those of God’s People, 

and above all, with Jesus himself, who is the true priest,

who really is the one offering the Mass.

Sometimes people won’t bring their children to Mass, saying, 

“Oh, they’re too young to get anything out of it.”

My answer is: What about grace? They get grace! Isn’t that the key?

We don’t come to Mass to get a bulletin or a homily or — 

sorry to shock you — even to get Holy Communion.

You and I are drawn here to be united with Jesus in his suffering, death, and resurrection. 

That’s the heart of what we come to “do” and what we come to “get.”

Of course, Holy Communion is the most profound gift — 

the summit of that union.

But if we reduce participation in the Mass to doing certain things, 

or to a certain level of understanding, 

or even simply to receiving Communion, 

we are missing the deeper reality.

The central reason we are here is because Jesus chooses — 

in the Mass — to offer himself in the fullest possible way. 

Yes, most of the Apostles weren’t at the Cross — only John was — 

but they should have been! Mary was there!

And let me explain that the reason 

some people shouldn’t receive the Eucharist is not about “worthiness” – 

because no one is ever worthy – but about “readiness.”

Not everyone is ready for that most intimate form of participation.

Some are too young – First Communion comes usually in second grade.

Some are wrestling with mortal sins and need confession.

Still others haven’t decided what they believe;

Or whether they really want to commit themselves.

Because we all agree that Holy Communion is supremely important,

Then, being ready in all these ways seems obvious.

Now let’s look at the third word, from the Gospel: “True.”

Jesus – who is the Truth – tells us, 

“My Body is true food. My blood is true drink.”

Through history, divisions have sadly arisen among Christians, 

As a result, we don’t all share the same understanding.

We Catholics must bear witness to what Jesus himself says:

Holy Communion isn’t bread and wine, it isn’t merely a symbol.

The Mass truly is a sacrifice, of Jesus’ true Body and Blood.

You and I cannot be smug or superior.

Yet: this Gift of the True Sacrifice and True Presence is here!

Ask the Holy Spirit for words of grace and love, to tell others!

Invite people to come and pray in our church.

Explain: that’s the altar; that’s the tabernacle. 

Welcome people to discover Jesus in our midst.

The Holy Trinity is the 'why' of Christ's mission (Holy Trinity homily)

 Since I don’t have a screen up here, use your imagination with me:

Picture an adult walking with children behind, 

all of them holding onto a rope, the end of which mom or dad is holding. 

I’ve actually seen this in action. 

It’s a simple but effective way for a parent, teacher, or scout leader 

to keep the children close — and that can be really important. 

I hope this image helps us keep today’s feast of the Holy Trinity 

closely linked to Easter and Pentecost. 

This feast emphasizes the “why” behind 

Jesus giving us the Holy Spirit: 

to bring us into the very life of the Holy Trinity.

Jesus’ whole mission — becoming human, dying on the Cross, 

rising from the dead, and sending the Holy Spirit — 

is to bring us into relationship with God. 

Today we focus on who that God is.

Some people say, “Who cares if God is a Trinity? 

I just believe in God — that’s enough.”

But think about it: the Romans called Julius Caesar a god. 

Is that the God you believe in? Not mine. 

A god is not the same as the God. 

And since God himself tells us who He is, 

wouldn’t it be rude to reply, “Oh, I don’t care”?

The reason we profess God as Trinity 

is because Jesus himself revealed it. He didn’t use the word “Trinity,” 

but He commanded us to baptize 

“in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” 

But let me illustrate why clarity matters. 

I have a friend who I hadn’t seen for many years; 

and we got talking and he caught me up. 

He’d gotten married, and it turned out, his wife was Muslim. 

Then he told me, he became a Muslim; he renounced Jesus!

And he tried to say, oh, it’s all the same.

My heart broke when I heard this!

No disrespect to our Muslim neighbors, but it’s not the same — 

and Muslims would be the first to tell you so. 

They do not accept that Jesus is God the Son, 

or that the Father sends the Holy Spirit through Jesus.

This goes to the heart of Christianity: 

God is not a solitary “other,”

but a relationship of Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

The whole mission of Jesus

is to draw us into that relationship, that divine Life.

Of course we ask: How can I possibly “relate” to God? 

Without grace, it’s impossible — no more than a gnat can relate to us. 

Yet this is the point:

God descends, down, down, down, way, way down, to our level.

But not to say “hi” and leave; but to take us with him, back …

Up, up, up, in, deeper, deeper, all the way into the heart of God!

*** At 11 am only ***

At this Mass, we have a young man 

who is making his profession of faith as a Catholic, 

receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation and his first Holy Communion.

____, you entered this Divine Life through baptism.

Through confession and Holy Communion, 

God will nourish this life in you. 

Maybe right now, you’re thinking, “oh I’m so nervous!

I don’t know what’s happening!” That’s okay!

God himself, with our help, is doing all the work for you.

In confirmation – and you’ll hear this in the prayer in a moment –

He “seals” you with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

God wants to “seal” that Divine Life in you, and you, in Him!

Thank you for being here, today,

so the rest of us can see God’s Plan unfolding before our very eyes.

***

Saint Paul said, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, 

what God has prepared for those who love him.”

That “what” is nothing less than sharing in the life of the Holy Trinity.

Jesus came to show us the Father. He and the Father are one. 

Through Him the Father gives us the Holy Spirit. 

He is the Vine, we are the branches — sharing His very Life.

Not two different forms of life: one Divine Life.

You might say, wow, how then do I receive this Life?

God gives it to us through baptism, confirmation, 

the Holy Eucharist, and all the sacraments.

We repair the damage from sin, through confession and conversion.

We share this Life together as Christians, nourishing each other.

This is who we are as Catholics! We share this Divine Life.

And we tell others in our own words what we have been given, 

and what we are eager to share.

So, short answer: why do we believe God is a Trinity?

Two reasons: because Jesus told us so.

And because that Trinitarian life is where Jesus is leading us.