19 June 2011

Non-Stop Homilies

It's been awhile since I've written, and I apologize.  Since Lent began some 90+ days ago, it's been a non-stop whirlwind of constant activity.  But I did want to share two weekday homilies that I gave recently.  I usually don't write down my homilies, but I needed them to be succinct, and so I wrote them down so I wouldn't find myself rambling.

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Gospel: Matthew 6.7-15

The Lord gives to us this day the perfect prayer.  We, in turn, pray through Him and, once again, offer to the Father the Perfect Sacrifice.  We do so that, through our prayer and offering - and through the the reception of the Eucharist - we join in the work that God's Kingdom will come, and that His will - not ours - will be done and be the mission we live out.

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Gospel: Matthew 6.19-23

"Heart speaks to heart."   This motto of Blessed John Henry Newman summarizes what we are called to reflect upon today.  The Lord reminds us that where our treasure is, there is our heart.  Our hearts, my brothers and sisters, are ultimately resting in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, finding their solace in His Paschal Mystery.  Our task is to seek the true treasure which His Heart is, and to constantly find solace and rest there.  And that seeking begins here - at the Table of the Word and the Altar of Sacrifice - when we place our hearts, when we place our all at the foot of the Cross, seeking nothing more than to find our treasure at the Feast of Life - the treasure of the very Heart of God poured out for us, speaking to our own hearts, "Follow me."
 

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Interestingly, the Gospel for the second homily fell on a day when I and a youth minister of the Diocese were going to use this particular Gospel for our opening prayer in a Morality course that we were teaching.  Truly, the Lord works is awesome ways.






Enjoy the journey . . .