9/22/2011 – homily for Thursday of the 25th week of ordinary time – Haggai 1:1-8

        Haggai was a prophet in ancient Israel at the time when the Jews were returning from their exile in Babylon.  Their beloved Temple had been destroyed.  Work started in rebuilding the Temple, but due to opposition from others, the work stopped.  When King Darius became the leader of the Persian Empire, he supported the efforts to continue to rebuild the Temple.  Haggai’s message tried to encourage and motivate the Jews in this rebuilding effort.

         Sometimes, the obstacles that are in our way seem insurmountable.  Sometimes we feel like that is no way we will get ahead, that there is no way will be able to solve our problems or get back on track.  The journey ahead of us may seem like it is a million miles long.  However, unless we make that first step, unless we put one foot in front of the other, we won’t even start making progress. 

         Haggai did not mince words in what he said.  The people who returned from exile were building luxurious houses for themselves, yet the house of the Lord was in ruins.  Unless we have the Lord at the core of our being, unless our goals and values are right, we will eat and drink and never be satisfied, we will sow and bring in the harvest, but it will never seem like it is enough.  Haggai’s words were a wake-up call to the Jews, to get them back on track, to call them back to a life of faith.  Perhaps many of us need a prophet like Haggai in our lives to wake us up as well.  

9/20/2011 – Homily for Tuesday of 25th week of ordinary time – Luke 8:19-21

Jesus' words today may seem rather cold and harsh.  When he is told that his mother and family members had arrived and were waiting to see him, Jesus announced that those who hear the word of God and who act upon it are truly his brothers and sisters.  In the ancient Mediterranean world in which Jesus lived, the family unit was the most important thing, as it shaped one’s life and one’s destiny, it determined where a person fit into society.  Even in our modern world today, we have our biological families, but our community of faith is also so important in our identity and who we are, in how we interact in the world. 

         We just celebrated Catechetical Sunday in our Church last weekend, in which we kicked off our school year of religious education programs, in which we wanted to show how important it was to grow and learn in our lives of faith.  Our community of faith helps us to learn and grow.  Being Catholic, being disciples of Christ, should be an important way we see ourselves, and it should be an important way we identify ourselves to the world. 

         In the different ministries we have here in the parishes in Yazoo City and Belzoni, with the prison ministry and the other outreach programs we have, in our visits to the sick and shut-in, we have a brotherhood and sisterhood of believers, we are indeed a family of believers in the faith.  I see it in the way people love each other and reach out to one another.  May we always feel like we are members of Jesus’ family.  

9/18/2011 – Homily for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle A – Homily for Catechetical Sunday – Philippians 1:20-24, 27

       Today, in the Catholic Church in the US, we celebrate Catechetical Sunday.  We not only celebrate the beginning of our parish’s religious education program for the school year, but we recognize the commitment that our religious education teachers and that we as a parish make in educating our children, our youth, and ourselves in the faith. 

         The theme for Catechetical Sunday this year is “do this in memory of me,” which fits so appropriately with the Year of the Eucharist that we are celebrating in the Diocese of Jackson this year.  As we recognize the real presence of Christ that is with us in the Eucharist, we hear Paul reflect upon his faith in a letter the he wrote to the faith community in Philippi.  Paul wrote this letter while he was enduring house arrest in Rome, so it might amaze us how much joy and fervor he has in his faith.  While he ponders his precarious situation with the Roman authorities, he expresses his desire to magnify Christ in his body, whether he is here on earth, or whether he ends up dying for the faith.  Paul gives glory to God for the way Christ lives in him, in the new life he has in Christ.  Paul longs for the day when he will be reunited with the Lord in God’s heavenly kingdom.

         If you recall, Paul had a very real encounter with Christ.  He was going all over the countryside persecuting the followers of the Way of Jesus when Christ literally knocked him off his horse and blinded him with a bright ray of light.  Christ called Paul to a very special mission, which he accepted with courage and tenacity.  If all of us Christians could have the joy, commitment, and enthusiasm that Paul had in his faith, there would be no limits to the ways we could bring Christ’s message to the world.

Even though we live more than two centuries after Christ’s birth, we also have a very real presence with Christ in our lives as well.  The National Directory of Catechesis tells us that through the Eucharist, we have a real experience with Christ – we come to know the paschal mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection in a very intimate and experiential way.  Through the Eucharist, we not only attain knowledge of God, we also experience the living God in our lives. 

         Religious education for children, youth, and adults is more important than it ever has been, especially since families in our modern world are dealing with a lot of different issues.  On many levels, family life itself is disintegrating. Our faith is not being passed down to many of our youth and children. And so many in our society are struggling with issues such as domestic violence, abortion, drug and alcohol addictions, gang violence, poverty, and unemployment.  Our faith and our faith community help us overcome and endure what we face in life, which is why it is so important for us to always educate ourselves in our faith.  Growing and educating ourselves as individuals and as a community help us along this life-long journey of faith.  Our theme this year for Catechetical Sunday focuses the Eucharist, for when we grow in our understanding of the Eucharist, we not only better understand it’s meaning when we gather together around the table of the Lord, but also how it affects our lives after we exit the doors of the church after mass.  Our faith is not something that stands still and remains stagnant in our lives.  It is like a plant; if it is not growing and developing and being nurtured, it will wither up and die.  We nurture our faith by the Eucharist, by our religious education experiences, by the way we apply our faith in our daily lives.

         I have told you a lot of stories about my missionary work down in the jungles of Ecuador.  We had one mission site that served around 90 different villages throughout a vast river-system in that jungle.  I’ve described to you how I would travel on foot and by canoe for hours to get to any one of those villages.  You can image how most of the people living in the jungle rarely had the opportunity to go to mass.  Well, here in Yazoo City, we are blessed with a Catholic community that has been here for 160 years, with two parishes that were founded here that met the needs and the reality of the community.  We are blessed with beautiful church buildings and resources at our disposal.  Yet, I will be very honest with you.  If we don’t fight for our faith, if we don’t make a commitment to our Catholic faith, if we don’t nurture our children and ourselves in the faith, how long will we be able to endure here in Yazoo City?  This is an alarming reality, but if we all work together, if we all make a commitment to our faith and reflect in our community and our lives the real presence of Christ that is with us, our faith will grow and develop and attract others.

         Today, Catechetical Sunday, is a good place for us to look at the ways we want to grow in our faith this year.  As we celebrate the Year of the Eucharist, as we look forward to the new English translation of the Roman Missal that we will get in November, as we kick off our religious education programs, we “do this in memory of Christ,” in recognition of the presence of Christ who is here with us on our journey.  

9/10/2011 - Photos - Cotton is ready for harvesting in the Mississippi Delta

I took these photos driving back from Belzoni this evening. 

This was taken in the community of Midnight, Mississippi 

in Humphreys County.  Cotton production has been way

down in Mississippi in recent years, but I read recently that

the acreage of cotton planted in Mississippi this year is up about

47% compared to last year.  The farmers I've spoken to are 

hoping for a good harvest this year.  We pray for our farmers 

at all of our masses.  

9/16/2011 – Memorial of St Cyprian – Homily for Friday of the 24th week of ordinary time – Luke 8:1-3

        We have a very short Gospel reading today, but it’s very rich and vivid in its imagery.  I can imagine Jesus and this ragtag group of disciples and other followers going from village to village as he cures the sick and expels demons.  Yet, he does this not as magic tricks or to earn a living, but rather a signs of God’s kingdom.  How would we react if such a group entered our own village this week?  Would they touch our lives of faith with this message, or would we be suspicious and skeptical? 

         St. Cyprian is the saint whose memorial we celebrate today.  Cyprian died in the middle of the third century.  Just as we heard about the way Jesus and the disciples proclaimed God’s kingdom to ancient Israel in today’s Gospel reading, we learn about the saints as a part of our journey of faith because of the way they led lives of holiness and proclaimed God’s kingdom in their lives.  Cyprian did not convert to the Way of Jesus until he was an adult, and he was selected as Bishop of Carthage in northern Africa against his own personal desires.  The early Church in northern African had its great struggles with paganism and idol worship still being popular even amongst converted Christians.  Cyprian died for the faith, but his witness still speaks out to us today in the way he proclaimed God’s kingdom. Cyprian worked tirelessly for unity in our faith, as he once said: “He cannot have God for his father who has not the church for his mother.”

         We each have a calling from God in which we are to live out our faith in proclamation of his kingdom.  May we discern that calling, and live it out with the zeal and courage that Cyprian and the other saints displayed.  

9/15/2011 – Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows – homily for Thursday of the 24th week of ordinary time – Luke 2:33-35

Mary, you have been there before me.

You have been dismayed and shocked by terrible, unwanted news.

You have known fear, sadness, and worry about the future.

You have had to quiet the heartaching distress within you.

You did not give up hope.

You did not drown in a pool of self-pity.

You did not let disappointment and anger destroy your ability to love.

You placed your trust in God.

Woman of Compassion, Mother of Sorrows,

I draw inspiration from your journey.

I, too, can move through the pain of my present situation.

Your faith and courage lead me to my own.

These words were written by Sister Joyce Rupp in her book My Sorrow Is Your Sorrow: Hope and Strength in Times of Suffering as a meditation on Simeon’s prophecy that a sword would pierce the heart of Mary.  Mary knew sorrow from the life of her son Jesus, from the life of discipleship that she led, from the love she had for him in the very core of her being.  She stood by Jesus as he suffered on the cross when so many of his disciples abandoned him.  We, also, have sorrows in our lives, and the sorrows that mothers bear are perhaps some of the most difficult sorrows of all.  For a mother to see her child go to prison, or to struggle without end with alcohol or drug addiction, or to see a child leave this world into eternal life while she is still on this earth.  For a mother to struggle to put food on the table to feed her children, to want to give them every opportunity in life, but failing to meet that goal.  We just observed the 10^th anniversary of 9/11; we can imagine Our Lady of Sorrows crying out at that tragedy, as we unite what we are feeling with her motherly love.  Mary can understand our feelings, our sorrows, our anguish, our struggles.  We approach Mary, and we unite our prayers with her prayers, we unite our sufferings with her sufferings.  And as our mother, she is there for us.  

9/11/2011 – la homilia del Domingo XXIV del tiempo ordinario - aniversario de 9/11 – ciclo A - Mateo 18, 21 - 35

Jesucristo nos llama a perdonar.  Cuando perdonamos a nuestros hermanos, cuando perdonamos a nuestros enemigos, imitamos el perdón, el amor, y la misericordia de Dios, la verdad que tenemos en El. En el Evangelio de hoy, nuestro Señor nos da una parábola del siervo sin misericordia.  Este siervo debía a su maestro una cantidad de dinero muy grande.  Su maestro podía tener un corazon muy rígido con èl, pero el maestro tenía compasión y le perdonaba su deuda grandísima.  Esta parábola demuestra el perdón de Dios en una manera que podemos entender muy bien. Es mucho que nosotros le debemos, pero Dios tiene misericordia para nosotros - El nos perdona.  Podemos hacer muchas cosas en nuestra vida de fe.  Podemos hacer obras de caridad.  Podemos luchar contra la opresión y la injusticia que existen en nuestro mundo moderno.   Pero, nada es suficiente para pagar nuestra deuda con Dios.  Dios nos perdona siempre, porque su miericordia no conoce las fronteras, no conoce los limites.                                                                    La palabra de Dios siempre habla a la realidad de nuestra vida.  Y hoy dia tenemos una realidad que no podemos olvidar. La fecha de hoy es el once de septiembre de 2011.  Es el décimo aniversario de los ataques terroristas aqui en los Estados Unidos.  Vivimos en un mundo donde muchas personas viven con el espiritu de venganza, de retribución, de violencia.  Pero, todo de eso es contrario del espirito del Evangelio de Jesucristo.  Con el perdón de Dios que tenemos en nuestra vida de fe, tenemos la libertad de elegir nuestro camino. Y diez años despues de estos ataques terroristas, podemos ser como el siervo de la parábola en el sentido que no queremos imitar la compasión que Dios nos enseña.  En la parábola, Jesús explica que el siervo no es capaz de ser compasivo con quien tiene con él una deuda pequeña. Y hay deudas pequeñas y deudas grandes en nuestro camino de fe - es verdad. La llamada que tenemos en el Evangelio de hoy es muy fuerte. Necesitamos sembrar las semillas de perdón y de misericordia en nuestra vida, con nuestros hermanos y con nuestros enemigos. Para el perdón que tenemos en nuestra fe cristiana, es muy importante para tener conciencia de sentirse perdonado por Dios en la realidad de nuestra vida. Sólo en nuestras relaciones con Dios, podemos encontrar el sentido de perdón en el contexto de las ofensas dolorosas que hemos comitido.  La enseñanza que tenemos en nuestro Evangelio es clara: sólo quien perdona a su prójimo puede recibir el perdón del nuestro Señor. La persona que no está dispuesta a perdonar, demuestra que no tiene un corazón renovado.