Homily 30th Sunday of the Year 28 October 2007

As many of you know, two Sundays ago
Saint Michael’s hosted the third annual diocesan Eucharistic Procession
to commemorate Respect Life Month.

Everyone who came and prayed experienced a real “labor of love.”

The walk was a mile and a half.
We were on our feet for well over an hour.
Our voices were worn out from praying and singing
and our bodies were spent from walking and standing and kneeling.

As Catholics, we are a people who pray with our whole bodies…
and in our procession many devoted people…
from this parish and around the diocese…
labored to walk and pray…
because they love Jesus and they love life…
and wanted to show by their public witness…
just how deep their love is.

We give thanks to God for the splendor of that day…
and for the lessons we learned as we walked and prayed.

As we carried our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament through the streets…
we were reminded of how important it is to witness publicly to our faith…
to take Jesus whom we adore and receive in the Eucharist “into the streets.”
We are called to bring Christ to the men and women in our lives…wherever we go.

In our procession we experienced the power and the beauty of prayer…
particularly the prayers of the Church…
and the power of hundreds of people praying together.

The Church in her wisdom has for 2,000 years
given us just what we need to nourish our spiritual lives.

During the procession we adored the Lord present in the Eucharist…
and stopped to celebrate Benediction…
a ritual prayer that has nourished the Church for centuries.

We are so blessed in this parish to have Eucharistic Adoration
every Thursday night from 6:00 to 9:00.
The Rosary is prayed at 8:30.
Whenever I am able, I offer Benediction at 8:45.

To rest in the Lord’s presence and pray…
to share with Jesus the cares and joys of our life…
is an extraordinary moment of grace.

I encourage you to come visit Jesus on a Thursday night…
and to pray to Him for all that you need.

You will not regret having sacrificed the time for prayer.

Finally, our prayer and Bishop Murry’s inspiring homily
strengthened our love for life
and our resolve to pray and work
so that all people may one day respect the dignity of human life.

Our procession was a serious experience of faith and prayer.

As Catholic people we depend on
the truth of the teaching of Christ and the Church…
the holiness and beauty of authentic worship…
and our own deeply personal relationship with Jesus Christ…
in order to understand who we are
and in order to face the challenges of life.

Our faith gives us identity and purpose…
makes us feel at home…
and is the rock on which we build our lives.

The faith which is at the foundation of our lives is not of our own design.
We did not invent the Sacred Liturgy.
We did not write the Creed or make up the teachings of the Church.
We do not create for ourselves the faith we celebrate.

Our faith is a gift to be received with humility, and to be lived with courage.

As people of faith…
we recognize that our Christian life is not meant to be a cause for boasting.
It is easy for us to make a checklist of religious observances…
and then to think that because we have done them…
we can feel good about ourselves.

We can say…
“I say my prayers…
I go to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days…I fast on Fridays of Lent
I am good to others…I don’t commit the big sins…
I don’t steal and I’ve never cheated on my wife.
I’m a good Catholic.”

It is easy for us to say:
“Look at what I have done.
I am an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion
I am a Lector.
Look at me!”

We can also begin to think like the Pharisee in today’s Gospel…
“Thank God I am not like the rest of humanity…
Thank God I’m not a terrible sinner like everyone else…
I pay my tithes and perform the fasts.”

The Pharisee made of his religious observance a reason to boast about himself!
He compared himself to others and took pride that he appeared to be doing better.



The message of the Scriptures today is that
the standard by which we strive to live in our journey of faith…
is not comparison with another
but the plan God has for us!

We have to examine our lives not in terms of what another is doing or not doing
but in terms of what God asks of us!

What is more…we cannot simply presume…
that because we have fulfilled certain obligations or ministries…
that our commitment to God and the Church is complete.

The Christian faith is a lifetime commitment…
a journey that never ends…
a relationship that continually deepens until it is perfected in heaven.

This journey…this relationship…is one that is best lived with great humility.
This is the lesson we learn from the tax collector in today’s Gospel story…
the man who recognized his sinfulness and did not boast about his life.
He did not even raise his eyes to heaven.
Instead, he acknowledged his place before God
and prayed “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

Jesus tells us that it was he who went home justified…
it was he whose prayer was pleasing to the Lord.

A life lived with humility pleases God.
In all things, the humble person places himself into the hands of God.

The true, humble Christian
recognizes that everything we have comes from God
receives the gift of faith humbly from the Lord and His Church
and does not recreate it in his own image
admits his sinfulness and complete dependency on God’s grace
for the strength to do better.

As people of faith…
we rejoice in the faith that has been passed on to us by our ancestors…
the faith which stands as the foundation and core of who we are.

Our faith is Eucharistic…it is hierarchical…it is Christ-centered…it is pro-life…
It is grounded in truth and tradition…
It is the greatest gift we have ever received.

We make that faith the center of our entire life…
striving always to live it with love and courage
to live it with humility…
to share it with others every moment of every day
until we are at last united with one another and with God
in the eternal glory of heaven!

Third Annual Diocesan Eucharistic Procession

On Sunday, 14 October 2007, Saint Michael Parish hosted the Diocese of Youngstown's annual Eucharistic Procession honoring Respect Life Month. For more, see the following link...

http://www.stmichaelcanton.org/page/page/5102482.htm

Homily Twenty-Eighth Sunday of the Year 14 October 2007

Each Sunday we gather as Catholic Christians in a spirit of deep gratitude
for the tremendous blessings God has bestowed upon us…
upon our families, upon our Church, our school, and our community.

The very word “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving”
and each time we gather to celebrate Holy Mass…
we give thanks that Jesus comes to be present with us
and that He nourishes our souls
with His own sacred Body and Precious Blood.

In this month dedicated to “respect for life…”
we give thanks for the precious gift of life…
for the beautiful life we are so blessed to share as human persons
as creatures loved into being by God our Heavenly Father.

As Catholic Christians who are grateful for the gift of our own lives…
we are called to pray and to work to defend the sanctity of all human life…
to help the world around us once again value human life…
and to never cease to proclaim the truth by our words and deeds:

The truth is that each and every human person…
from the very moment of conception until the moment God calls us home…
is a unique creation of God…
is loved by God…
and every human life is to be cherished as sacred.
[PAUSE]
Today…in a special way…we give thanks for the sacramental life of the Church…
through which we constantly nourish…strengthen…and deepen
our relationship with Christ.

In today’s Gospel we see the healing power of Christ’s love
effective in the lives of the ten lepers whom He heals.

In the life of the one Samaritan leper who returned to give thanks to Jesus…
we see a model of gratitude for the gift of life and for Christ’s healing grace.

What is striking in the story is that Jesus…
Who could have healed instantly
and without interaction with any other person…
says to the lepers:
“Go show yourselves to the priests.”

It is through the hands of unworthy priests
who act in the person of Christ…
that Christ makes Himself present on the Altar
and administers His healing grace in the Sacraments.
And so we give thanks for the gift of the Priesthood in the life of the Church.

As the Letter of Saint James teaches…
“If there are sick among you, let them send for the priests…”


Today the priests of this parish come to you to offer the healing of Christ’s grace
through the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.

We will invite those who are in need of this sacrament to come forward…
Those who are seriously ill…whether adults or children…
Those anticipating surgery…
The elderly who are sick or seriously weakened…
Those who have mental illness and are in need of healing…
And those who are in danger because their illness has worsened…

When you are invited to come forward,
please extend your hands that they may be anointed...

Together as the members of Christ’s Mystical Body,
we give thanks and praise
for the love that is made present to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

Homily Twenty-Seventh Sunday of the Year 7 October 2007

Autumn is a special time of year…
a beautiful season in the cycle of creation’s splendor…
when the forests are blanketed with a palate of vibrant colors…
and when the changing leaves and falling temperatures
foretell the inevitable death of Summer’s light and warmth
and the coming darkness and chill of Winter.

The signs in the world around us…
the decaying leaves…cooling air…and darkening skies…
keep our mortality before our minds.

“The dying of the daylight foretells creation’s end.”

[PAUSE]
In the world around us, there are other signs which speak to us of sad themes…
of a darkening cultural landscape, of decaying morals,
and of the sorrow that is felt when life is not treasured.
We need to read and ponder these signs of our times…

One such example is found in a story on the front page of last week’s
National Catholic Register.
As the story goes…
a young wife and mother in Italy had chosen to have a “selective abortion”
of one of the twins she was carrying…
because doctors discovered that the child had Down Syndrome.

When the woman went to a Milan hospital for this “procedure,”
the doctor mistakenly took the life of the “wrong” baby…the healthy one.
When the mother was later told what had happened…
she returned to have the other child aborted as well.

The Register reports an interview the mother had with an Italian newspaper,
in which she describes that…because of this sad chapter…
her life has been “ruined.”

She says, “Neither my husband nor I can sleep at night.”

The tragedy of this poor family’s story…
is that someone… a doctor…the media…politicians…???
someone is responsible for having lied to this young mother…
and telling her that her handicapped child is not worth bringing to life.

Now this terrible decision…
made by a mother who has been raised and formed in a culture
that presumes to know better than God about life and death…
has resulted in four casualties:
two dead children, and two ruined lives.

[PAUSE]
In our world today, very few have the courage to tell women the truth…
to love them in the difficult moments of pregnancy.

Our society tells people that abortion is the easy way out.
The countless mothers and fathers
who suffer profound scars after their children are taken from them
know that it is anything but easy.

The signs of the times declare to us loudly and clearly…
that human life is not cherished and respected as sacred…
and that the world is in decay as a result.

Doctors who take an oath to “do no harm” are helping the elderly end their lives
and calling it mercy.
Children who are considered imperfect are selected for abortion.
In China, the population of girls is regulated and female babies are killed.
Our death rows and execution chambers are used unnecessarily.

[PAUSE]
Sadly, we are growing accustomed to a world in which human life is not cherished.
The stories of violence and death cry out to us and no one listens nor intervenes.

On this “Respect Life Sunday”… the first Sunday of October…
a month dedicated to restoring respect for the sanctity of human life…
the Church calls each and every one of us…
here and now…in this place…
to stand together and declare that we are people who love life!

We are called by Christ to cherish life in all stages of human development…
from natural conception in God’s time…
to a natural death according to His plan.

We are also called to be clear and reasonable and to make distinctions.
We do not equate a war which may or may not be unjust…
with abortion which is always unjust.

We are called to witness to our belief in the dignity of human life…
I encourage you to join us as in our Eucharistic Procession next Sunday…

We stand for life…and we stand boldly…for we stand with Jesus Christ.
We pray…and we pray constantly…for in God alone shall the truth be victorious.
We have hope…and we have faith enough to move mountains…
for Christ has trampled death by His own death and will again restore life.

We are not ashamed to give testimony to our Lord…
and to the truth of the unique value and dignity and right to life
of every human person.

We are not ashamed because we have come to know Christ and in Him we trust.
May that same Jesus Christ be forever praised!