Now, I don't want to discourage gifts - especially with my birthday coming up!...
Today we have one of my favorite Scripture verses, Sirach says "my child, conduct your affairs with humility and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts". (3:17)
Now, I don't want to discourage gifts - especially with my birthday coming up!...
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Addressing puzzles of parable of the virgins:
This weekend I am showing the video for the Called to Serve as Christ campaign. It's a major campaign to meet the needs of elderly priests and sisters. As you will hear Archbishop Bishop Sartain explain, the phrase "as Christ" means something more than imitating Christ. It refers to the fact that through faithful Christians Christ serves others.
Last week I asked some parishioners to make phone calls on my behalf. In a sense they phoned as Father Bloom. I was acting through them. How much more does Christ act through us. Christ worked - and continues to work - through our elderly priests and sisters. With that in mind I ask you to give your attention to this video about the Called to Serve as Christ campaign. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=5AKRHcqvJdM Cristo trabajó, y continúa trabajando, a través de nuestros sacerdotes y hermanas mayores. Con eso en mente, les pido que presten atención a este video sobre la campaña Llamados a Servir como Cristo.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/3pPopt4uJkI?start=1 Celebrating Mary as Queen of Heaven we have a parable on the kingdom of heaven as a wedding banquet. Jesus shows three reasons why people refuse to enter or are excluded: indifference, indignation and incomplete repentance.
Homily for Annual Outdoor Mass (mainly English with Spanish summary)
Homilia para Misa Anual al Aire Libre UPDATED God assumed Mary body and soul into heaven. But what is a body? Two extremes: Body is everything - when body dies we disappear. Body is nothing - only mind matters. Biblical view is between those extremes. What this means for understanding Mary's Assumption.
A few weekends ago, my 20-year-old daughter and I traveled to Spokane to drop some things off at the apartment where she will be living during her junior year at Gonzaga University. While in Spokane, we had lunch at a small downtown restaurant located in a former saloon. The café, which still has a large bar along one wall, serves only vegetarian meals. It is an interesting place! Each of its restrooms has a large blackboard on one wall and pieces of chalk so people can write messages. As I read some of the messages on the blackboard in the men’s room, I was not expecting to find wisdom. Yet, that is just what I encountered, Written on the blackboard was this message:
“We are shaped by what we love.” Thank about that for a moment. Let its wisdom soak through your skin and deep into your heart. Ask yourself: What does this say about me? What do I love? Money? Pleasure? Power over others? Possessions? The approval of others? If what I love shapes me, what shape am I in? When Jesus, our divine Master, seemingly delayed in coming, arrives on an unexpected day at an unknown hour, in what sort of shape will he find me? Our first reading from Wisdom reminds us that the Israelites, our ancestors in faith, knew beforehand when the Passover was coming. Thus, they prepared the sacrifice and placed the blood of the lamb on their doorposts so the angel of death would pass over their homes and spare their first-born sons. We, too, know that the Lord will call each of us to “pass over” from this earthly life into eternity. Death will come for us all, but we know not the day nor the hour. Perhaps you find this thought depressing or frightening. Do not despair! Have faith! As we hear in today’s second reading from the letter to the Hebrews, “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” Jesus himself tells us in today’s Gospel, “Do not be afraid.” He assures us that our “Father is pleased to give us the kingdom.” We are promised eternal life in heaven as beloved daughters and sons of God the Father, invited guests at the banquet of the King. As Abraham, our father in faith, trusted in God’s promise, we, too, are invited to place our trust in the promise of eternal life given to us through the new covenant of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. Put another way, we are called to set our hearts on Jesus – to love him above all else and before all else. In loving Jesus and living as his faithful missionary disciples, we are shaped, not by what we love, but by who we love. Jesus invites us to let go of everything to which we cling; to place our faith and trust in God alone. “Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourself that do not wear out … that no thief or moth can destroy.” As disciples of Jesus, we are to make him the center of our lives; to love him with all our heart; to treasure him above all else. In loving Jesus, we are transformed. We are shaped by who we love, not what possesses us. In the freedom that comes from placing all our faith and trust in Jesus, we find ourselves loving those whom Jesus loves: those who are forgotten, the people marginalized by the powerful and the strong, those who hunger and thirst for food and justice. Our hearts, which burn with the Holy Spirit, move us to reach out, to accompany, and to love in the name of Jesus. In loving Jesus and permitting him to love others through us, we become more and more like him. As St. Paul writes in his letter to the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20). In this way, when the Master returns, he will us transformed by the Holy Spirit into himself, loving and serving and evangelizing in his name. We will be awake and ready for his return. For where our treasure is, there also will our heart be. Hace unas semanas, mi hija de 20 años y yo viajamos a Spokane para dejar algunas cosas en el departamento donde vivirá durante su tercer año en la Universidad Gonzaga. Mientras estábamos en Spokane, almorzamos en un pequeño restaurante ubicado en un antiguo salón. La cafetería, que todavía tiene un gran bar a lo largo de una pared, solo sirve comidas vegetarianas. Es un lugar interesante! Cada uno de sus baños tiene una gran pizarra y tizas para que las personas puedan escribir mensajes. Mientras leía algunos de los mensajes en el pizarrón en el baño de hombres, no esperaba encontrar sabiduría. Sin embargo, eso es justo lo que encontré, escrito en la pizarra fue este mensaje:
"Estamos formados por lo que amamos". Pensar en eso por un momento. Dejar que su sabiduría penetre su piel y profundamente en su corazón. Preguntarte: ¿Qué dice esto sobre mí? ¿Que amo? ¿Dinero? ¿Placer? ¿Poder sobre los demás? ¿Posesiones? La aprobación de los demás? Si lo que amo me da forma, ¿en qué forma estoy? Cuando Jesús, nuestro divino Maestro, aparentemente retrasado en su llegada, llega en un día inesperado a una hora desconocida, ¿en qué forma me encontrará? Nuestra primera lectura de Sabiduría nos recuerda que los israelitas, nuestros antepasados en la fe, sabían de antemano cuándo vendría la Pascua. Por lo tanto, prepararon el sacrificio y colocaron la sangre del cordero en las puertas para que el ángel de la muerte pasara por sus hogares y no tocar a sus primogénitos. Nosotros también sabemos que el Señor nos llamará a cada uno de nosotros a "pasar" de esta vida terrenal a la eternidad. La muerte vendrá por todos nosotros, pero no sabemos el día ni la hora. Quizás encuentre este pensamiento deprimente o aterrador. ¡No desesperarte! ¡Tener fe! Como escuchamos en la segunda lectura de hoy de la carta a los Hebreos, "la fe es la forma de poseer, ya desde ahora, lo que se espera y conocer las realidades que no se ven". Jesús mismo nos dice en el Evangelio de hoy: "No temas". Nos asegura que nuestro "Padre ha tenido a bien darte el Reino". Nos promete la vida eterna en el cielo como amados hijos de Dios el Padre, invitados. en el banquete del rey. Como Abraham, nuestro padre en la fe, confió en la promesa de Dios, nosotros también estamos invitados a poner nuestra confianza en la promesa de vida eterna que se nos da a través de la nueva alianza de la pasión, muerte y resurrección de Cristo. Por decirlo de otra manera, estamos llamados a poner nuestros corazones en Jesús, a amarlo por encima de todo y antes que nada. Al amar a Jesús y vivir como sus fieles discípulos misioneros, no estamos formados por que amamos, sino por quien amamos. Jesús nos invita a soltar todo a lo que nos aferramos; para poner nuestra fe y confianza solo en Dios. “Venden sus bienes y den limosnas. Consiganse unas bolsas que no se destruyen...donde no llega el ladron, ni carcome la polilla ". Como discípulos de Jesús, debemos hacer de él el centro de nuestras vidas; amarlo con todo nuestro corazón; atesorarlo por encima de todo lo demás. Al amar a Jesús, somos transformados. Estamos formados por quienes amamos, no por lo que nos posee. En la libertad que proviene de depositar toda nuestra fe y confianza en Jesús, nos encontramos amando a quienes Jesús ama: los olvidados, las personas marginadas por los poderosos y los fuertes, los que tienen hambre y sed de comida y justicia. Nuestros corazones, que arden con el Espíritu Santo, nos mueven a alcanzar, acompañar y amar en el nombre de Jesús. Al amar a Jesús y permitirle que ame a los demás a través de nosotros, nos volvemos más y más como él. Como San Pablo escribe en su carta a los Gálatas, “He sido crucificado con Cristo; pero vivo, ya no soy yo, sino Cristo que vive en mí; en la medida en que ahora vivo en la carne, vivo por fe en el Hijo de Dios que me ha amado y se entregó por mí ”(Gálatas 2:20). |
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