Homily for Sundy October 1, 2017

Acclaim Jesus as Lord

A Reflection for the Twenty Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

October 1, 2017

By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFM

Mission Sts. Sergius & Bacchus? Order Franciscans of Mercy

www.missionstsergius.org

In the first reading for this Sunday we hear Ezekiel telling us “When the sinner renounces sin to become law-abiding and honest, he deserves to live. He has chosen to renounce all his previous sins; he shall certainly live; he shall not die”  (Ezekiel 18:28)  What a wonderful affirmation for us, to know that we are guarantied forgiveness of our transgressions, which as humans we are bound to commit, if we but ask God for forgiveness.

In Paul’s letter to the people of Philippi Paul tells us that LOVE is what binds us together as Christians. “ if love can persuade at all, or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness and sympathy, then be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose and a common mind.”  Paul goes on to say; “Always consider the other person to be better than yourself, So that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people’s interests instead. In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus.” … “Being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:1 – 11)

In Paul’s letter we are advised to emulate Christ and be considerate of others and not just of ourselves. Paul goes on to describe how Jesus, even though he was divine, humbled himself and took on human attributes even to the point of accepting the ignominious death of a criminal on the cross just so we could have complete forgiveness of our sins and have everlasting life in the hereafter with His Father , himself and all the heavenly elect.

The Gospel reading ends with Christ telling the chief priests and the elders that; “I tell you solemnly, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of God before you”. .. “John came to you, a pattern of true righteousness, but you did not believe him, and yet the tax collectors and prostitutes did” (Matthew 21:28 – 32)

The lessons to be learned from these readings, I believe, is that no person will be denied acceptance and the promise of everlasting life if they repent for their sins and seek God.

Seeking God means to live our life in a manner that extends love to ALL those we come in contact with and being considerate of their needs rather than our own self interests.

In these days of turmoil in our world and financial turmoil in our country it would be very easy to forget about others and only look after our own self interest. If this is the road we choose to travel, we become no better than the Chief Priests and the elders who professed to be servants of God yet rejected God’s messengers John the Baptist and Jesus Himself.

Sometimes I feel that some of our professed Christian leaders have followed the same path as the Chief Priests and Elders in that they have failed to live in a manner consistent with Christ’s teachings and example. They promote things that will insure them popularity and financial security and power rather than a spirit of welcoming and Love for ALL God’s Children.

This past week I have been given a great opportunity to witness and put into action Christ’s teachings. I will not go into details but I tried to comfort and put at peace a grandmother whose grandchild had been murdered.  I was also blessed to be able to assist a man who has suffered the loss of much of his muscles and has difficulty eating by preparing food in a way that he could swallow it and would gain nourishment. I considered this opportunity a gift from God because it brought home to me the knowledge of how many blessings I have been given throughout my life.

The key to receiving God’s blessings, I believe, is to be willing to accept all that God sends you without grumbling and willingly as Christ did and to put your entire life in God’s hands.

We need to open ourselves up to God’s will and stop trying to analyze God’s intent. God has a reason for all that He has done. God creates people as they are for a reason and it is not our place to reject any of God’s children or to deny them the same rights and privileges as every other citizen. We need to have compassion for those who are sick and the poor and do all in our power to ease their suffering so that they will know that someone cares for them and by that action we can bring them to know of God’s infinite love.

By living our life for others and not ourselves we then “Become united in our love” not only for God but for all God’s children and in so doing we “acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father”

Let us go forth proclaiming our love of God through our actions and by exhibiting God’s love by our love toward all God’s children we encounter in our daily lives. Let us be more aware of the needs of others so that we become less self centered and more generous toward those who God has given to us for that purpose.  AMEN

26th Ordinary Sunday 1012017

REFLECTIONS Video for 9/24/2017

REFLECTIONS video for 9/24/2017

Homily for Sunday Sept. 24, 2017

Seek the Lord for True Peace

A Reflection for the Twenty Fifth Sunday or Ordinary Time

September 24^th, 2017

By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFM

Mission Sts. Sergius & Bacchus/Order Franciscans of Mercy

www.missionstsergius.org

www.orderfranciscansofmercy.org

“Seek the Lord while he is still to be found, call to him while he is still near” these words taken from the first reading from the book of Isaiah 55:6-9 should be a wakeup call for us even in this the twenty-first century. 

The second reading for this Sunday from Paul’s letter to the Philippians 1:20-27 has some wise words of advice for us also when he tells people to; “Avoid anything in your everyday lives that would be unworthy of the gospel of Christ”

This week’s gospel story is a very familiar one of the landowner who hires laborers at various times of day offering to pay them the same amount as those who were hired at the beginning of the day. At the end of the day when the laborers were being paid many complained that those hired at the last hour of the day received the same amount as those hired in the morning as being unfair Jesus answered them with this statement; “My friend, I am not being unjust to you; did we not agree on one denarius? Take your earnings and go. I choose to pay the last comer as much as I pay you. Have I no right to do what I like with my own? Why be envious because I am generous?” Thus the last will be first, and the first, last.”

The lesson for us is quite simple, it does not matter when we decide to live according to Christ’s teachings, nor does it matter at what hour of our lives we call upon God to be with us, God will accept us with love and forgiveness and welcome us into the heavenly kingdom.

The only requirement that is needed to receive the same reward as those who have labored faithfully from the beginning is desire to be a true follower of Christ and then for us to actually live according to Christ’s teachings.

To live as Christ taught means to have compassion for the sick, poor, aged and reach out to help them. We need to be fair and honest in all our personal and business dealings.  We must speak out against injustice and demand equality for everyone.

Our world is facing many challenges and has far too often rejected many of these principals.  Wars are being waged unjustly and with tragic results.  Some nations seek to dominate others and greed and materialism have replaced compassion and justice.

In the United States, our government is proposing laws that will give tax breaks to the super rich while also advocating cuts in programs that help the poor, elderly and sick have bare minimum quality of life.

Seniors on fixed incomes buying power has lost more than 50% in the last 10 years while the percentage or millionaires have increased greatly.

The government has cut the food stamp allocation claiming the cost of living has gone down while every food item in the stores has gone up by more than 10%.

To be a true follower of Christ one must always be aware of the needs of those less fortunate and make sure they are cared for adequately.

A True follower of Christ would welcome all who came to seek God with open arms and not reject them or drive them away.  A Person who loves God would love all God’s children as God and Christ love.  No follower of Christ would cause any child harm or abuse them. The aged and sick would be cared for and receive affordable quality medical and dental care.

If we are to “Seek the Lord while he is still to be found, call to him while he is still near” we need to heed Christ’s teachings and insure that we do all in our power to make the adjustments in our society that are needed so that we, as a nation, can live up to the motto “One Nation, under God, with liberty and justice FOR ALL” and truly be a country that lives and practices what our founding fathers envisioned when they wrote these words in the Declaration of Independence “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” and in the Constitution of our country; “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America”

Let us all pray that those who claim to be followers of Christ, and those who worship the one God, creator of all, will reflect on the teachings  of Christ, Buddha, Mohammad, Gandhi, and all those who have advocated peace, brotherhood, mercy, compassion and love over injustice, war, poverty and dissention. Let us “Seek the Lord while he is still to be found, call to him while he is still near” AMEN   

25th Ordinary Sunday 2017

Homily for Sunday Sept. 17th

A Reflection On Forgiveness

For 24^th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2017

September 17, 2017

By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFM

Mission Saints Sergius & Bacchus/ Order Franciscans of Mercy

www.orderfranciscansofmercy.org

www.missionstsergius.org

“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times”

These words from the Gospel of Matthew 18:21 tell us that we are obliged to forgive others for any indiscretions they commit against us. There is no doubt in my mind of how difficult that can be. It is not easy to forgive a person for even one transgression against us, let alone seven or seventy times seven times.

If we think about it though we need to think about how many times we commit sins and expect God to forgive us. What if he forgave us only once and when we, because of our human weakness commit the same sin again, God said: “I have already forgiven you once you went back and made the same mistake so I guess there is no hope for you”
This would never happen of course, because God is an everlasting and infinitely merciful and loving God who understands our human weaknesses and will forgive us if we are truly sorry and show some intent to try to not return to the same indiscretion.

How many times have you broken a friendship or held anger within you because of something that another did against you which made you upset and angry and when they asked forgiveness you were unwilling to forgive them?

I know of a case where an adult daughter is unwilling to forgive her father for divorcing the mother and leaving her. She was devoted to her father and was said to be his shadow as if attached to him. When in his company she was never more than a foot away from her dad. When the parents separated she was very hurt and felt that the father left her, which was not the case in any way. That all happened when she was 6.

Today she is a brilliant successful lawyer and yet she will not call her father “dad or father” but refers to him by his first name. On many occasions the father has apologized and told her how much he loves her and is proud of her achievements in spite of the fact that he was not there for much of her youth. The young lady has, according to others, actually torn up birthday and Christmas cards which included money or checks without even opening them.

This is not the way God wants us to act. The father can understand the daughter’s anger over feeling that the father had abandoned her, which was not the case since gifts and other messages were always being transmitted to her. The father always made sure that the children, (there were also two sons in this family) received presents on their birthdays and other occasions and when in the area would visit them.

This kind of anger is not in keeping with what Christ has instructed us, but can be harmful to the health of an individual. I know of another case where a person held anger over things that had happened to them in their youth inside them and the anger ate away at them making them sick much of their life. They held on to the negative things that happened to them and tended to forget all the wonderful things.

God’s promises are forever. God promises us that we will have salvation and eternal life with Him in these words found in Deuteronomy 6:2 “If you fear the Lord your God all the days of your life and if you keep all his laws and commandments which I lay on you, you will have a long life”.

We have been given many ways to show our love and devotion to God, The rules of the Old covenant were clarified for us by Jesus Christ.

Christ affirmed this when he responded to the scribe who asked him what the greatest commandments were and after being told “The scribe said to him, ‘well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that there is but one God and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’ Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God’. And after that no one dared to question him anymore. (Mark 12:33-34)

If we can learn to forgive those who have caused us pain and anguish or worse and strive to the best of our human ability to live our lives daily exhibiting love, compassion and forgiveness to all we encounter as we travel the road of life God promises to extend His infinite mercy and love and forgiveness to us for our transgression and moments of weakness with these words; “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:33-35)

24th Ordinary Sunday 2017