5/20/2016 – Friday of the 7th week in Ordinary Time – James 5:9-12

     Our reading from James today comes near the end of the letter in the form of encouraging words and advice that James has for the faithful.  I mentioned earlier in the week how a lot of the advice James gives can be easily translated to our modern world. James talks about patience and tolerance today, advising that we should not judge and grumble against our brothers and sisters.  That is one of the most common things I hear in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, that we lack patience in our modern world and that we very easily get angry at others. When we look at the road rage and accounts of violence in the news, we see how prevalent this anger is in our modern world.  It is easy to criticize someone, isn’t it, especially when we are looking in from the sidelines and aren’t putting ourselves in the other person’s shoes.  One of the points of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy is that beyond the works themselves that help others, these acts are to convert our own hearts and transform our own lives.  James holds up the prophets as good examples for us to follow. That I why I see it very beneficial in our journey of faith to learn about the saints in our faith, put those official saints who have been canonized by the Church as well as the “unofficial” saints, as their journeys of faith and their virtues can be such great examples for us as well.  Lord, give us the patience and perseverance to do your will.  Lord, help us to try to understand our brothers and sisters instead of just criticizing and complaining. 

5/19/2016 – Thursday of the 7th week in Ordinary Time – James 5:1-6

     Today, in a continuation from the letter of James, we hear James criticize the rich. But, if we delve deeply into the message of today’s reading, we see how according to James, the real sin of the rich is not just that they store wealth for themselves, but that they have become wealthy at the expense of others who were deprived of their most basic needs. Specifically, James mentions the wages that the rich withhold from the workers who harvest the fields of the rich.  Just this week, I was reading an article about an electric car company based in California called Tesla.  The company’s owner, a man named Elon Musk who is originally from South Africa, is worth over $12 billion and is considered one the one hundred richest men in the United States.  His company has gotten a lot of subsidies from the US taxpayers in order to produce these very expensive electric cars, most of which are produced by the elite and the wealthy.  Yet, the company is accused of having built a new paint factory for their cars in northern California using subcontractors and paying foreign workers from Eastern Europe to build the factory wages of less than $5 an hour and with little benefits or overtime pay.  Some of the models of cars that Tesla makes cost more than $100,000.  Since Pope Francis became pope, he has spoke a lot about the rights of workers and the inequality of wages in the world.  He also speaks frequently on how we priests should live a simple life and how we should not be attached to riches or the material things of the world.  In fact, his harsh words have not only influenced me to reflect upon this in my own lifestyle as a priest, it has really affected my morale as a priest in a very negative way.  I thought about the missionary priests I knew in Ecuador who literally go without eating meals because they have no resources with which to buy food, about priests in our own diocese who pay a lot of their own expenses out their own pockets rather than asking to be reimbursed by their parish.  Are we too attached to the material things of this world?  Do we oppress others in order to get ahead ourselves?  Or are the values we live by rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ? 

5/18/2016 – Wednesday of the 7th week of Ordinary Time – James 4:13-17

     Today, we hear a reading from the letter of James from the New Testament.  We know that there were two apostles names James – James the Lesser and James the Greater.  The author of this letter is neither of these apostles, but rather another man named James who was most likely a relative of Jesus’ and a leader in the Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem.  James is considered one of the most practical books of the Bible, full of advice on real-life situations that faced the members of the Early Church, advice that we can easily apply t our modern lives of faith.  Today’s reading from the 4^th chapter of James addresses how we can have all kinds of plans in life, but we never really know how life will enfold for us or what realities we will face even if we have everything planned out.  We know that we can make plans, but then those plans can go out the window very quickly.  And we can blame many different things when our plans go awry.   When I was a missionary in Ecuador, many of those who were members of the Catholic Church still believed in a form of black magic, of witch doctors who put curses on others and who caused destruction in the lives of the people.  If someone was going through great difficulty or sufferings, such as the failure of a business venture or a sickness in the family, it was easy to blame it on a curse that someone could have put on them rather than looking at some of the harsh realities that face us in life.  As missionaries, we spent a lot of time battling those belies and trying to instill in the people of values of Christianity.  James not only calls us to place our dependence on the will of God, but he also calls attention to the frailty and fragility of our lives, how we are like a vapor that appears briefly and then vanishes.  Discerning the will of God in our lives and then trying to follow that will – not an easy way to approach life, but this is certainly the way that calls us to live.  May we not waver from that road to which God calls us to in life, no matter how difficult or challenging it may seem. 

      

15 de mayo de 2016 – Pentecostes - 1 corintios 12,3b-7, 12-13, Juan 20,19-23

       Cada domingo en nuestra misa, invoquemos nuestro Dios como trinidad   – el nombre del Padre, del Hijo, y del Espíritu Santo. El don del Espíritu Santo es el tema de nuestro celebración hoy.   El Espíritu Santo es la fuerza de Dios en nuestra Iglesia y en nuestro camino de fe.  San Agustín, un teólogo muy importante en nuestra Iglesia católica, escribió esta oración sobre la presencia del Espíritu Santo en nuestra vida:

Espíritu Santo, inspíranos, para que pensemos santamente.

Espíritu Santo, incítanos, para que obremos santamente.

Espíritu Santo, atráenos, para que amemos las cosas santas.

Espíritu Santo, fortalécenos, para que defendamos las cosas santas.

Espíritu Santo, ayúdanos, para que no perdamos nunca las cosas santas.

       El Espíritu Santo es una realidad en en cada momento que tenemos en nuestra vida y en cada momento que tenemos en nuestra Iglesia.   Hoy, yo tengo siete misas.  Y cada misa tiene una realidad diferente.  Tengo cuarto misas dominicales.  Tengo un funeral. Dos bautismos.  La misa de la ordenación sacerdotal de nuestro Diácono en la catedral en Jackson.  Y la misa de bachillerato para los jóvenes del colegio.  El Espíritu Santo está con nosotros para celebrar en nuestros gozos y para consolarnos en nuestros sufrimientos y nuestra tristezas.  En cualquier don que recibimos de Dios, en cualquier logro o honor que tenemos, el Espíritu Santo debe ser guía y luz en nuestra vida.

       Había 50 niños que recibieron la primera comunión en nuestra parroquia este año.

Había 21 jóvenes que recibieron el sacramento de confirmación.  Había 26 jóvenes en la misa de bachillerato.  Cada momento de estas misas eran momentos importante en nuestras vidas.  Pero, la cosa importante para recordar es que nunca terminamos con nuestro camino de fe – siempre necesitamos crecer y desarrollar en nuestra fe.  Para tener la presencia del Espíritu Santo en nuestra vida, para reconocer y escuchar a esta presencia, necesitamos tener una formación en nuestra fe y en la doctrina religiosa.  El  Espíritu Santo puede hablar en muchas experiencias que tenemos en nuestra parroquia –

(1) en el viacruces

(2) en el rosario

(3) en las clases de la doctrina de la fe

(4) en la presencia de la Santísima Eucaristía

(5) en la santa misa y la santa Eucaristía

(6) en el estudio de la Biblia

(7) en un grupo de la oración en la parroquia

(8) en la enseñanza a los estudiantes y los jóvenes

(9) en una obra de caridad con nuestro prójimo

Pero, si no asistimos a estas experiencias de la fe, no podemos tener este contacto con el Espíritu Santo. 

      Como Pablo nos dice hoy en su primera carta a los Corintios, que es el Espíritu Santo que nos permite llamar a Jesús "Señor"; es el Espíritu Santo que nos forma en la Iglesia y forma en un solo Cuerpo de tantas partes y tantos diversos dones.  Al celebrar el Espíritu Santo y el final de la temporada de Pascua hoy, oramos para que el Espíritu Santo de Dios entra en nuestras vidas, que nos renueve y renueve nuestra Iglesia, y renueve la faz de la tierra.

5/15/2016 – Pentecost – 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13, John 20:19-23

       As well celebrate Pentecost today, think about how we start mass each time we gather around the table of the Lord.  After we make the sign of the cross, we begin the holy sacrifice of the Mass,  commemorating the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord that Jesus first celebrated with his disciples at the Last Supper and quoting from St. Paul's second letter to the Corinthians: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all."  God as a Trinity, as 3 divine persons that comprise one God, is a central mystery of our Christian faith.  The Holy Spirit is an essential part of our God.

       Today, we celebrate the solemnity of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world.  We invoke the Holy Spirit today as we celebrate our baccalaureate Mass with our youth who are graduating from high school.   As a priest this weekend, I am celebrating or con-celebrating 7 different masses, marking different moments in our lives of faith.  Besides our 4 weekend masses at St James, I am celebrating a baptism and a presentation of a 3-year old with one of the families in our parish on Saturday evening, I am concelebrating at the ordination mass of Joseph Le and Jason Johnson of our diocese in the cathedral in Jackson, and then on Sunday evening, I am celebrating a funeral liturgy.  In all the diverse moments of our life of faith, the Holy Spirit is there is celebrate our joys with us, to console us in our sorrows, and to be there in the ordinary moments that make up our lives to lead us and guide us.

       St Augustine, one of the great theologians and leaders of our Catholic faith, who was Bishop of Hippo in northern Africa in the early 5^th century, prayed this beautiful prayer to the Holy Spirit: 

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.

Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy.

Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy.

Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy.

Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. Amen.

      No matter what path God calls us to in life, no matter what our accomplishments or our accolades, no matter what our gifts and talents, we need the Holy Spirit of God as a beacon of light and guide in our lives just as St Augustine invoked the Holy Spirit in his prayer.

       Of those of you who are graduating this year, I remember when most of you went through confirmation last year.  That sacrament of confirmation is all about the Holy Spirit as well, of the Holy Spirit entering your lives in a special way and infusing you with wisdom, faith, and understanding.   When I had the interviews with all of you at the beginning and the end of your confirmation journey, I remember many of you telling me about the wonderful experiences you had during your confirmation year and how you had progressed on your journey of faith.  Others told me of struggles you had on your journey of faith, of certain doctrines of the church that you struggled with, of not wanting to come to mass or not feeling fulfilled on your journey.  As I think about your confirmation journey a year ago, as I think about all of your accomplishments this past year and of your hope and dreams that are accompanying you to college and to the workforce in this new phase of your lives, I think of all the prayers and best wishes that will be accompanying you from our parish, your family, and your loved ones.  Out my love and care for you as your pastor, the best advice I can give on the day of your baccalaureate Mass is to encourage you to not only be a life-long learner on your journey through life, but specifically to be a life-long learner on your journey of faith.  Our faith can seem to by a mystery sometimes that is so difficult to understand or comprehend.  In fact, the Danish existentialist philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once said: “If you think you understand, then, it is not God.”  But through our faith we seek greater understanding.  And through our understanding, we grow in our faith.  And that faith and understanding can come through different experiences we have on our journey of faith – when we are praying the Stations of the Cross or the Rosary, when we are receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, when we are contemplating God in front of the Blessed Sacrament, when we are reading his Holy Word, when we attending a Bible study or prayer group, or when we are serving one of our brothers and sisters through a work of mercy. 

       As Paul tells us today in his first letter to the Corinthians, it is the Holy Spirit that allows us to call Jesus “Lord”; it is the Holy Spirit that forms us in the Church, to form one Body out of so many parts and so many diverse gifts.  As we celebrate the Holy Spirit and the end of the Easter Season today, as we celebrate with all of our graduates, we pray that the Holy Spirit of God come into our lives, to renew us, to renew our Church, and to renew the face of the earth. 

5/13/2016 – Friday of the 7th week of Easter – John 21:15-19

     In the Passion of the Lord that we heard during Holy Week, Peter very famously denied Jesus three times.  Echoing those denials, Peter in today’s Gospel affirms that he loves Jesus three times.   It may be easy for us to say that we love Jesus, to even do so multiple times, but do we show this to be true in our actions?  

     There are different ways we can take action in our lives of faith. Mysticism is a word we often hear in Christian theology and spirituality. Mysticism is a way to express and live out our faith and spirituality.  But, what exactly is a mystic?  That is a good question, isn’t it?  We hear of different saints being mystics, such as Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Sienna, Therese of Lisieux, Hildegard of Bingen, and John of the Cross. We define a mystic as someone who unites himself with God in a profound way, which could be in a state of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness that has a special religious or spiritual meaning. Julian of Norwich, the saint of the day, is a famous mystic from England from who was born in the middle of the 14^th century.  Little is known about Julian.  In fact, we don’t even know her real name.  The name she is known by is taken from the church where she lived as an anchoress – the church of St Julian in Norwich, England.  An Anchoress was a deeply religious woman who chose to live a solitary life in her town or village in a confined quarters called an anchorage, which usually consisted of a single small cell. Scholars debate as to whether Julian was a lay woman or a nun.  However, what is known, is that Julian’s book entitled The Revelations of Divine Love, a written account of 16 visions she had of Jesus while she was suffering from a grave illness, is earlier known book written by a woman in the English language.  Julian has many well-known quotes, but perhaps this is her most famous: “But Jesus, who in this vision informed me of all that is needed by me, answered with these words and said: ‘It was necessary that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”  Like the way Peter was able to redeem himself, Julian’s quote reflects the hope and encouragement that are a part of our faith.  We have sin and temptation in our lives, but we also have reconciliation and salvation and conversion.  We are always with the hope that our faith provides. 

5/15/2016 - Blessing for high school graduates at our Baccalaureate Mass - St James Catholic Church of Tupelo Mississippi

Blessing for Graduates –

Before you were even formed, God knew you.

While in your Mother's womb, God named you.

At your birth, God's breathed life in you.

Today we celebrate this special moment of time in your lives – your high school graduation. Let us pray:

God of our beginnings,

We thank you for the gifts of these graduates;

for their enthusiasm, for their awesome wonder and curiosity, for their dreams and their passions.

The contributions of these graduates have blessed and challenged us in our parish community here in Tupelo.  We have become a richer and more diverse community because of them.

As they step forward into the world that awaits them at this moment of their high school graduation, we ask that you comfort their fears with the full knowledge of your divine presence.

Strengthen their resolve to walk in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ as they live as modern-day disciples in a world that needs their spirit.

Guide their feet as they move through life.  

Protect them from any pitfalls and struggle as the walk as children of the light. 

We ask this blessing upon each of these young people as we celebrate their high school graduation with them and their families, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.