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Good and Evil

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2016/09/23 at 12:00 AM

• Every man’s soul is like a universe unto itself. Eternal in nature and capable of transcending time and space, our souls are mysterious and limitless.
• Within each soul are both light-giving stars and beautiful planets, as well as ice- shrouded moons and black holes.
• Each of us is capable of great good, of beautiful acts of virtue. We see this today in the steadfastness of Mary and the other women, in the fidelity of St. John, in the generosity of Joseph of Arimathea, and even in the repentance of the good thief.
• Yet each of us is also capable of unspeakable evil. We see this so clearly today in the betrayal of Judas, in the murderous rage of the chief priests, in the cowardice of Pilate, and in the cruelty of the Roman soldiers.
• And yet Christ makes a gift of Himself nonetheless for all of us, saint and sinner alike: a gift of redemption of which all men may partake – if only we are humble enough to ask for it, and contrite enough to receive it.
• In considering the Passion narrative, we may try to content ourselves with the belief that we’re not as bad as those angry people who clamored for Barabbas’ release and screamed for our Lord’s crucifixion – and maybe we aren’t as bad as they were.
• But even if we aren’t as bad as we could be, can we honestly say that we are as good as we should be? Do we truly measure up to the demands of Christian discipleship?
• Of all the deaths this world has ever witnessed, Jesus’ death on a cross is the most extraordinary. This is so not because of the unjust brutality in which it was carried out, but rather because of the love with which Jesus accepted and allowed it.
• In dying as He did, Jesus shows us what true love is. Though completely innocent and without sin, Jesus willingly sacrificed Himself, suffering the most cruel, inhumane, and unjust of deaths.
• In so doing, Jesus shows us that true love is, by nature, both sacrificial and long- suffering. True love gives all of itself. And honestly, a love of this type demands a response. To remain unmoved in the face of such love is to deny a part of our humanity!
• If we are to be good disciples of Christ by imitating Him in all ways, then we must be willing to give Christ and His Church the fullness of our love and devotion, seeking complete union with Him, and begging pardon for the times we fail to love as we should.
• Ultimately, as we ponder Christ’s love for us poured out in His passion, we must realize that Christianity is a not a religion that can be practiced well by half-measures. Our Christian faith demands that we give Christ our all.
• This is done not so much by great works on our part as it is by great love.
• Over the course of Holy Week, we will see in beautiful detail just how much our Lord
loves us as He becomes for us both priest and victim, offering Himself for our sins.
• We will see Christ’s love shine forth as He gives us the twin gifts of the priesthood and
the Eucharist; as He endures His agony in the Garden, in His arrest, trial, and crucifixion,
and we will see His love pour out of His wounds in all it’s crimson glory as He dies.
• And as we see this, we must ask ourselves this week: How will I love Him in return?
• May we each be given the grace this Holy Week to love our Lord with all our hearts, all
our souls, all our minds, and all our strength – for His glory, and for our own salvation!

© Reverend Timothy Reid

Fr. Reid is the pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church, Charlotte, NC

Homilies from June 17, 2012 onward have audio.
To enable the audio, lease go directly to Fr. Reid’s homily homilies and select the matching date.

Link to Homilies:
http://stanncharlotte.org/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=8&Itemid=61

St. Kateri Tekakwitha, “Lily of the Mohawks”

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2016/09/16 at 12:00 AM

Known as the “Lily of the Mohawks,” Kateri lived a life of holiness and virtue, despite obstacles and opposition within her tribe.

Kateri was born in Auriesville, N.Y., in 1656 to a Christian Algonquin woman and a pagan Mohawk chief. When she was a child, a smallpox epidemic attacked her tribe and both her parents died. She was left with permanent scars on her face and impaired eyesight. Her uncle, who had now become chief of the tribe, adopted her and her aunts began planning her marriage while she was still very young.

When three Jesuit fathers were visiting the tribe in 1667 and staying in the tent of her uncle, they spoke to her of Christ, and though she did not ask to be baptized, she believed in Jesus with an incredible intensity. She also realized that she was called into an intimate union with God as a consecrated virgin.

Kateri had to struggle to maintain her faith amid the opposition of her tribe who ridiculed her for it and ostracized her for refusing the marriage that had been planned for her. When Kateri was 18, Father Jacques de Lamberville returned to the Mohawk village, and she asked to be baptized.

The life of the Mohawk village had become violent and debauchery was commonplace. Realizing that this was proving too dangerous to her life and her call to perpetual virginity, Kateri escaped to the town of Caughnawaga in Quebec, near Montreal, where she grew in holiness and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

Kateri lived out the last years of her short life there, practicing austere penance and constant prayer. She was said to have reached the highest levels of mystical union with God, and many miracles were attributed to her while she was still alive.

She died on April 17, 1680, at the age of 24. Witnesses reported that within minutes of her death, the scars from smallpox completely vanished and her face shone with radiant beauty.

Devotion to Kateri began immediately after her death and her body, enshrined in Caughnawaga, is visited by many pilgrims each year. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980, and she was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

— Catholic News Agency

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“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after justice….

In 06 Scripture & Theology on 2016/09/16 at 12:00 AM

While the Church has a duty to call attention to the temporal problems of the world that have a moral dimension, it is not her role to solve them. Hers is to satisfy peoples thirst for the restoration of the relationship essential to man by applying the merits of Christ’s life and death through the Sacraments so as to give man the ability to love God and live in union with him. The Church is involved in guiding souls to freedom from eternal death from the claws of the devil and from the seductions of the flesh.

The lay members of the Church in particular have a responsibility to try to see that society’s laws and customs are in accord with the teachings of Christ in education, the home and the workplace.

Each woman has an obligation to make her environment more Christian and to pray for the legislators, government officials and business leaders to solve the major problems that confront society today. While justice is an essential component of resolving problems, it is charity/mercy that is the main component. Mercy/charity enrich and make justice effective.

No Christian woman who hopes to live her faith cannot in political action ever support ideologies or groups which propose false and distorted views of mankind or the dignity and nature of the person or just plain sin

All the fundamental principles of the natural law God implanted in man’s nature must be respected, supported and defended. This means standing firm against contraception, sterilization, abortion, euthanasia, divorce, same-sex unions, and for religious and academic freedoms and property rights.

What is due to a person in justice cannot be considered charity. What is due to a person is a demand of justice. Each person is another Christ and this is particularly so in the case of the weak, the defenseless and the needy. Our hearts need to have compassion for the pains of the injustices that afflict others.

One acknowledges God’s presence in another individual by treating that person with both justice and charity. Each person’s dignity and greatness is derived from God who gives the soul its spiritual reality and who gives meaning to every person’s life.

How can one judge progress in society and science? Very simply: by how the dignity of the person is acknowledged in word and deed. Man is not an economic entity or gadget. He is neither merchandize nor tool but a member of a society with God given rights for the protection of which is the main purpose of laws and governments.

An aspect of justice which is very much ignored in our times is the right to one’s good name. Gossip has become a media staple. Sins by unbridled tongues included envy, negative criticism, slander, calumny; all of which are acts of defamation, whether spoken, broadcasted by the media or printed as well as e-mailed or texted.

Justice towards others in thought and deed must proceed from our hearts if we are to live harmoniously with others. We must beware of partial truths, flawed simplifications, hasty judgments and empty words. At all times we must be open to having our opinions calibrated to truth.

Beware of excessive curiosity and of any intrusion into the private lives of others particularly now that the Internets parades before us the lives and follies of others. Also, beware of false zeal which conceals hypocrisy. When you are with others, beware of falling into making rash judgments of others, gossiping, making false deductions and accusations or revealing the flaws of others that detract and diminish others’ view of them. Be instead actively committed to denounce unjust accusations made of anyone. Reject any type of falsehood in word or cheating in actions. Do not be a gossip or spread rumors. Be scrupulous in respecting others rights to their good name, their property and their possessions. You are your brother’s keeper.

St. Thomas Aquinas

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2016/09/16 at 12:00 AM

 

This week Holy Mother Church celebrates the feast day of one of her most beloved and important saints: St. Thomas Aquinas, who, even though he died in 1274, continues to influence the Church with his philosophy and theology.
Originally, St. Thomas’ feast day fell on March 7th – the day he died. But in the reform of the liturgical calendar, his feast day was moved to January 28th, which is the day his relics were transferred to Toulouse in 1369, where they remain to this day.
When we think of St. Thomas Aquinas, most of us think of his scholarly accomplishments and the important theological works that he produced. For this reason St. Thomas Aquinas is the patron saint of universities and students.
But in addition to his keen intellect and his patronage of scholarly pursuits, St. Thomas is also a great patron for those struggling with sins of the flesh.
When St. Thomas decided to become a Dominican, his family strenuously opposed him, for they wanted him to become a politically powerful churchman, something that would not be possible in a religious order as new as the Dominicans were in St. Thomas’ day.
Wishing to be free from family opposition, St. Thomas asked to be sent away to Paris, but his two brothers, both knights, captured Thomas en route to Paris and took him prisoner.
When Thomas steadfastly refused to give up the idea of being a Dominican, his brothers sent a woman of ill repute into his room to tempt him to break his vow of chastity, and hopefully thereby dissuade him from following his vocation.
When this woman entered his room, St. Thomas picked up a burning stick from the fireplace and chased her out. Then, falling on his knees, he prayed to be delivered from these trials.
Immediately, St. Thomas was enveloped in a mystical experience in which angels girded him with a cord of chastity, saying as they did so: “On God’s behalf we gird thee with the girdle of chastity, a girdle that no attack will ever destroy.”
From that time forward St. Thomas never again experienced the temptations of the flesh, and it is for this reason that he is a powerful intercessor for those struggling with the temptations of the flesh.
Last Sunday I spoke at length about marriage and the marital act, and how a disordered view of the marital act has not only distorted our society’s understanding of marriage, but has also led to the acceptance and proliferation of abortion and same sex unions.
This week I want to focus on the solution to these terrible problems in our society: chastity.
As a priest and confessor, it seems to me that of all of God’s wonderful gifts to humanity, thegift of our sexuality is the one that is most often misunderstood and misused – so much so
that our society is drowning in a sea of licentiousness and lust.

Truly, chastity has become a forgotten and even discarded virtue in our world today, eventhough it is one of the most beautiful and helpful of the virtues.
We see this very clearly in the movies, television shows, and music being produced today –so much of which extols and encourages lustful acts as healthy, normal, and even virtuous.
But as Catholics we know that there is nothing healthy or virtuous about any sinful behavior!Sin always wounds us! Yet we must do more than simply believe the truth.
No, my brothers and sisters, in response to the terrible sexual vices we see being promoted inall segments of the arts and entertainment of our culture, we must live the truth of human sexuality by learning to be pure and chaste, and we must encourage others to do the same!
And good St. Thomas Aquinas can and will help us in this difficult battle!
There was a message from Our Lady of Fatima that more souls go to hell for the sin of lust than any other. However, this does not mean that it’s the worst sin, only the most popular.But nevertheless, lust – in whatever form it comes – must be avoided at all costs.
Because they are pleasurable, sins of the flesh easily become habits that enslave us to sin.
As we habitually give ourselves to these sins over time, our understanding of human natureand human sexuality becomes distorted, and then we begin to treat other people as objects
rather than treat them with the dignity proper to all human beings.

This is why we need chastity. Chastity is the virtue that helps us fight lust and moderates ourdesire for sexual pleasure, which is so alluring and so easily corrupted.
Chastity is the successful integration of sexuality within a person so that we don’t misuse thisprecious gift. It is an enduring orderliness among all of one’s sexual instincts, emotions, thoughts, and desires. Thus, chastity subdues our impure inclinations and desires which allow the vice of lust to get a foothold within us.
In short, chastity, like all of the virtues, is a reflection of Who God Is: He is PURE LOVE! To say that something is pure is to say that it’s “authentic, simple, wholly itself, true.”
Having a chaste love or a pure love means loving with authenticity, wholly, and with truth, i.e., according to God’s will. Thus, chastity reveals to us the true nature of conjugal love.
Because our sexuality is the part of our humanity most easily corrupted, chastity can be very difficult to attain – and thus we need help! And that’s where St. Thomas comes into play.
If you pick up a bulletin today after Mass, you’ll notice in my weekly letter that I wrote about the Angelic Warfare Confraternity, which is a supernatural fellowship of men and women bound to one another in love and dedicated to pursuing and promoting chastity together under the powerful patronage of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Obviously, the Blessed Virgin Mary is a powerful intercessor, and as the all-pure one, she is the perfect intercessor for those striving for chastity.
As for St. Thomas, throughout his life his behavior and demeanor proved that he had received a special grace of chastity and purity from our Lord – a grace that he is now ready and willing to share with others through the communion of saints.
By becoming a member of the Angelic Warfare Confraternity, one places himself into the hands of St. Thomas and our Lady, and enjoys their intercession in fighting the sin of lust.
But there are certain responsibilities for the Confraternity members, namely: to guard one’s own purity, to seek the truth, to pray the Rosary daily, to wear a chastity cord or the medal of the Confraternity, and to pray prayers for chastity on a daily basis.
The Confraternity is open to all confirmed Catholics who are in full communion with the Catholic Church. To become a member, one has to be enrolled.
Therefore, I am planning an enrollment ceremony for all of you who are interested in becoming members on Thursday, March 7th – the original feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas.
In the next several weeks I will be providing information about the Angelic Warfare Confraternity and the enrollment ceremony in the bulletin and on the parish website.
If you are a baptized and confirmed Catholic, regardless of whether you struggle with chastity or not, I encourage you to think about becoming a member of the Angelic Warfare Confraternity, for there are many graces for those who are members.
So please take a bulletin home and learn more about the Confraternity.
May we all strive for purity and chastity: for our own sake, and the sake of our society at large.
St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.
27 January 2013

© Reverend Timothy Reid

Fr. Reid is the pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church, Charlotte, NC

Homilies from June 17, 2012 onward have audio.
To enable the audio, lease go directly to Fr. Reid’s homily homilies and select the matching date.

 

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“Catholax” by Deacon James H. Toner

In 07 Observations on 2016/09/09 at 12:00 AM

What we think is the right road
I go to Mass every Sunday, usually. But when Mass is over, I have a life to lead as I want. I’m a Catholic, but I’m not a fanatic or a zealot.

But it’s the wrong road

Vice President Joe Biden is Catholic, as are five of the eight current justices of the Supreme Court, about 160 members of Congress, and about a dozen of the 35 (or so) people President Barack Obama has named to his cabinet. One might conclude that U.S. public policy must be well grounded in Catholic moral and social teaching. Not so, of course.

The reason that our public policy often directly contravenes Church teaching is that so many of our “leading” Catholics are, well, “Catholax.”

Laxism (from the Latin for “slackness”) is a 17th-century concept in moral theology that excused Catholics from their moral duties on very slight and insufficient grounds. When Catholic teaching authorities (ranging from parents and priests to college faculties) abandon the inculcation of moral virtue, replacing it with casuistry – case studies and weak-kneed or perplexed ethical “analysis” – laxism results.

Modern laxism dates at least to 1960 when presidential candidate John F. Kennedy declared, “I do not speak for my Church on public matters; and the Church does not speak for me.”

If, as we Catholics believe, Our Lord is head of the Church, then denying the authority of the Church is tantamount to denying the authority of Christ.

So often, all of us – not just politicians – find it much easier to acknowledge the “authority” of a “replacement supreme being.” That replacement may be the idol or mammon of power, prestige, pelf (money) or politics, but the replacement of God or of God’s authority is always at the heart of sin. When we substitute anything for God, we endorse that substitute as divine, and we begin the worship of false gods (see Catechism of the Catholic Church 398).

Worshipping spurious gods invariably leads to treating the world and the things of the world as more sacred than what is truly divine. Wrote philosopher Peter Kreeft: “The Church needs to recover some moxie, some chutzpah. We need to stop being nice and conforming to the world, saying, ‘We’re going to win you by being just like you.’ The Church has got to say, ‘We’re better than you – not better people than you, but we have a better worldview, a deeper truth. Our product’s the best one on the market.’ The Church has been so bedeviled by the American religion of egalitarianism that we are terrified to claim superiority. Only if you believe you have something better can you be enthusiastic about it.”

Having become tepid about Catholic teaching, we find it convenient, perhaps necessary, simply to ignore the admonition found in Revelation: “Because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of my mouth” (3:16; see also Rom 12:11).

So Catholic enthusiasm may be necessary but, as St. John Paul II told us, enthusiasm alone is not sufficient: “The enthusiastic faith which enlivens your communities is a great enrichment, but it is not enough. It must be accompanied by a Christian formation which is solid, comprehensive and faithful to the Church’s Magisterium.”

“Catholax” may be remiss or negligent about doctrine. They may be vague or slack about the faith. They may be careless or indifferent about the liturgy. The effects of such moral atrophy, however, are well beyond the realm of what may be. The result of lax Catholicism is public policy unmistakably corrupted by “serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action, and morals” (CCC 407).

Our pre-eminent Catholic duty is always to be witnesses for Christ and for His Church (see CCC 2044). That duty is not minimized – in fact, it is maximized – when one enters the corridors of power and politics. We must speak for Christ and for His Church; and God have mercy upon our souls if we say that Christ and His Church do not speak for us. Courageous public witness requires our being steadfast in the faith: “Unless your faith is firm you shall not be firm” (Is 7:9; see also 1 Cor 16:13). No wonder the lax flicker and flutter, slip and slide, and toss and turn in every political wind: they have no moral anchor. So they are “children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful men, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent” (Eph 4:14; see also Col 2:8, Heb 13:9).

We are called “to be the light of the world. Thus, the Church shows forth the kingship of Christ over all creation and in particular over human societies” (CCC 2105). That is our duty, despite the siren songs of the world. And firmness – not laxity – in the faith is our trust (2 Tm 1:14) and our joy (Rom 12:12).

Deacon James H. Toner serves at Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro.

– See more at: http://www.catholicnewsherald.com/104-news/viewpoints/713-deacon-james-h-toner-catholax#sthash.exHxfnqs.dpuf”

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Love is…

In 06 Scripture & Theology on 2016/09/09 at 12:00 AM

St. Gregory the Great comment in his work, Moralia 10.7-8 re St. Paul’s I Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient, because it bears serenely the injury it suffers.

It is kind, because it repays evil with good.

It is not jealous, because it covets nothing in this world: it does not know what it is to envy worldly prosperity.

It is not boastful, because it yearns only for spiritual reward, and it is not carried away by external things.

It is not arrogant, because it thrives only on the love of God and neighbor and avoids whatever would take it from the path of righteousness.

It is not coveousts, because although it ardently pursues its own spiritual goals, it does not desire the goods of others.

It does not insist on its own way, because it scorns as as lien those things it temporarily possess here below: it seeks to hold on only to what is enduring.

It is not irritable and even though injuries seek to provoke it, it does not let itself have any desire for vengeance, for no matter how difficult a time it may have in this life, it hopes for greater rewards in the next.

It is not resentful, because it has invested its thought in the love of purity, and having rooted out all hatred, it is incapable of harboring in its heart any type of aversion.

It does not rejoice at wrong, because it feels affection for others and does not rejoice in seeing the ruin of its enemies.

It rejoices in the right, because by loving other as it loves itself, it is pleased to see goodness in them as if it were indeed something to its own personal advantage.

On Free Will

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2016/09/09 at 12:00 AM

• While most Catholic pilgrims to the city of Paris generally flock to Notre Dame, Sacré Coeur, Sainte-Chapelle and Rue de Bac, my favorite church in Paris is Saint-Étienne-du- Mont, which though off the beaten path a bit, is just as stunningly beautiful as the more famous houses of worship in the City of Light.
• Best known for being the resting place of St. Genevieve, Paris’ patroness, Saint-Étienne also houses the tomb of the French philosopher and physicist, Blaise Pascal, whom most of us know for his famous wager!
• Pascal’s wager states that it is a better bet for a man to believe in God and embrace His commandments, rather than not believe in God and live contrary to His laws.
• For if a man believes in God and tries to live a virtuous life, but finds upon death that there is no God, all that he lost was of finite value – perhaps some of life’s pleasures.
• But if a man does not believe in God and lives contrary to His laws, and finds upon death that there is a God, then his loss will be infinite, for he will have lost his soul for eternity.
• Pascal’s point was that we all wager our souls by the way we live. Either we live for God, or we live for ourselves. And in Pascal’s mind, it makes much more sense to live according to God’s laws rather than risk our souls on the fleeting pleasures of sin.
• This bold and startling reality of all of us having to choose either for God and His commandments or against Him is set before us today in our readings.
• Sirach tells us today in no uncertain terms that God will honor our choice. He says: “Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses shall be given him.” He also tells us that, “if [we] trust in God, [we] shall live.”
• And in the Gospel Jesus makes it clear that He has not come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them! Those who break God’s commandments and teach others to do so will be the least in the kingdom of heaven.
• “But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” And then He goes on to discuss how to overcome certain sins.
• So it seems rather simple, doesn’t it? If we just follow God’s commandments, we will be saved, right? The short answer is yes!
• If we obey the Ten Commandments while also keeping the 2 greatest commandments of truly loving God above all else and loving our neighbor as ourselves, we have every right to hope in God’s salvation. Just as Sirach tells us today, “If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you.”
• But always keeping the commandments in each and every circumstance, and choosing to love God above all else and our neighbors as ourselves isn’t always as easy as it sounds, is it? Sometimes, even when we know better, we disobey God’s laws, don’t we?
• That’s the scourge of concupiscence; it’s our sad inheritance from Adam and Eve’s sin.
• Our Father in Heaven has given us the great gift of free will so that we might choose to love Him by following His commands. However this same great gift that enables us to love God
can be used by us to turn against God. That’s the problem!
• Even for those of us who know and love God and who believe in the truths of our Catholic
faith, always choosing for God is difficult, for we all have to wrestle with 3 great foes: the
world, the flesh, and the devil. At times they are fierce foes indeed!
• Each of these foes can work against us so that we use our free will not for loving God, but for
turning away from Him. So let’s look at each of them.
• St. Paul speaks a little bit about the influence of the world in our epistle today, noting how the wisdom of our faith runs contrary to the wisdom of the world. Just as in Paul’s day, our Catholic values stand in stark contrast to the values our culture now embraces.
• When the culture around you espouses tantalizing and enticing values like sexual freedom, the importance of wealth and material goods, and moral relativism, it’s easy to begin believing that the world’s values are the right values.
• What makes things worse in our society is that our government is now embracing as good things contrary to the very laws of nature, like same sex unions and contraception.
• And as these evils are enshrined into our laws, it makes it easier for the poorly formed Christian to believe the lie that these evils are good, and it makes it harder for the well formed Christian to practice his faith with integrity.
• As for the devil, we must remember two things: First, that he is alive and well and working to take our souls to hell; second, that he is a liar who, like a skillful politician, will often use half truths to tempt us to sin – just as he did with Adam and Eve.
• Not every temptation we experience comes from the evil one and his demons, but certainly some of them do. The hallmarks of his handiwork are fear, despair, pride, hatred, and unfulfilled promises of pleasure and power for the sins we commit.
• Lastly, we must deal the flesh, i.e., our own passions and willfulness that often lead us to do what we know is wrong. The difficulty of the flesh is that our passions can be strong, and it is very easy to develop sinful habits and addictions that can be hard to break.
• Just as the virtues grow into good habits through repeatedly using our will to act virtuously, so too do the vices grow into bad habits whenever we repeatedly commit a sin. Sadly, many people today are absolutely enslaved by their sinful habits.
• Those who are enslaved by sin often believe that they can never be free of their sins. This is exactly what the devil wants us to believe. He wants us to believe we can never be free of our sinful habits so that we despair and ultimately turn away from God.
• This, too, is one of his lies. For even a man with the most vicious of addictions never fully loses the ability to exercise his will. While our capacity to exercise our wills for the good may be mitigated by our habits, we always retain some capacity to choose rightly.
• And in the spiritual battle we must all wage for our souls against the world, the flesh, and the devil, our Catholic faith gives us many powerful weapons. Of course first and foremost are the sacraments, most especially Holy Communion and confession.
• Frequent recourse to these two sacraments forgives our sins, strengthens us in virtue, and gives us the courage to say no to temptations.
• The practices of prayer, fasting, and alms giving, as well as meditating on Sacred Scripture and the faithful use of the Church’s sacramentals also greatly aid us.
• We must also have recourse to the angels and saints, most especially Our Lady, for as the Virgin Most Powerful, she has the ability to crush the head of the devil, and as the Help of Christians, she gently helps to form us in virtue and strengthen us against sin.
• Lastly, simply asking God to help you love Him more than you love your sins during those moments of temptation often procures for us the grace we need to avoid sin.
• My brothers and sisters, while our fallen human nature often makes it difficult for us to win every battle against sin and temptation, by God’s grace we can win the war for our souls. We must never lose heart, even if our sins are great, for God’s grace is sufficient!
• So let us entrust ourselves to aid of Our Lady, who never fails to show her children the path to Heaven. With her help may our wills be strengthened to do what is right so that we may all be saints some day!

© Reverend Timothy Reid

Fr. Reid is the pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church, Charlotte, NC

Homilies from June 17, 2012 onward have audio.
To enable the audio, lease go directly to Fr. Reid’s homily homilies and select the matching date.

Link to Homilies:
http://stanncharlotte.org/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=8&Itemid=61

Having Hope

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2016/09/02 at 12:00 AM
  • When someone whom we love dies, we often console ourselves with thoughts of their salvation and the joys we hope they are experiencing in Heaven.
  • Knowing of our Lord’s mercy – which is beyond all understanding – and trusting in the promise of salvation for those who love Him, consoling ourselves in this way is only natural. And, in a Christian context, it can be an act of faith.
  • One of the greatest consolations of hoping in someone’s eternal salvation is knowing by faith that the veil of death separating heaven and earth is not completely impenetrable. Indeed, at times that veil can seem very thin indeed.
  • Many of us, no doubt, have had experiences of feeling the presence of deceased loved ones at certain moments in life. Even though we know they are dead and gone, even though we cannot see them, we just know that they are with us.
  • Sometimes we just know that they’re looking out for us.
  • Thus it is that we rejoice in our faith that the souls in Heaven, whom we call the ChurchTriumphant, are like a great cloud of witnesses who pray and intercede for us – mostespecially that one day, we too will join them.
  • In fact, so confident was she in her own salvation and so sure in our Catholic beliefsabout the intercessory power of the souls in Heaven, St. Thérèse of Lisieux wrote in herautobiography that she would spend her eternity in Heaven doing good on earth!
  • The Little Flower said that she would rain down roses from Heaven! And our piousbelief is that when one prays to St. Thérèse and she intercedes with our Lord to answerour prayer, she sends us roses as a confirmation.
  • As someone who has been praying novenas to St. Thérèse for over 20 years, I can attestto having received dozens of roses from her in a variety of ways, along with the answersto my prayers. She’s truly a most generous and consoling saint.
  • And today, as we celebrate our Lord’s entry into Heaven 40 days after His resurrection,we should find even more consolation – for as our Lord, Jesus is infinitely closer to usthan even the saints.
  • Perhaps it seems ironic that the Lord and the souls in Heaven are closer to us in Heaventhan they were on earth, and yet that’s the promise our Lord makes to us in the Gospelof St. Matthew as He ascends into Heaven.
  • Whereas St. Mark’s account of the Ascension stresses the marvelous gifts that will begiven to those who believe Him, i.e., the ability to cast out devils, to speak new languages, to handle serpents, to drink poison, and to heal the sick, St. Matthew simply records our Lord saying that He will be with us always, until the end of the age.
  • What a marvelous thought: our Lord is always with us! For those of us who are baptized, our Lord is not only with us, He is within us – living within our very souls.
  • As if it were not enough for God to become man – and an infant at that! As if it were not enough for Him to suffer and die unjustly for us. As if it were not enough to give us His body, blood, soul and divinity in Holy Communion, our Lord chooses to dwell supernaturally within the souls of all the baptized who remain in a state of grace!
  • My fellow Christians, do you understand what this means? Can you grasp the sheer magnificence of this gift? Can you fathom your own dignity at being the very dwelling place of the Lord – a Temple of the Holy Spirit?
  • Just as Jesus did not leave the Father when He came to earth and took on our human flesh, neither does He leave us as He ascends to the Father! In fact, our bonds with Him are made even stronger.
  • And His presence with us is not merely a natural presence, as God is naturally present in the earth, the skies, the seas, and in all of this beautiful world that He has created.
  • When we speak of God’s omnipresence, we recognize that God is present in all of His creatures, and His natural presence in His creatures is what sustains them in being and makes them what they are.
  • But our Lord’s indwelling within the souls of those in sanctifying grace is a supernatural presence, that is, beyond the natural. This divine indwelling is a special gift to those who love God and enjoy His friendship by obeying His Word.
  • What the saints teach us is that this divine indwelling is a special intimacy with God, an intimacy that enables us to know God as He truly is, just as only a man knows his wife as she truly is.
  • And in this knowledge, we are given the capacity to love Him as He desires to be loved.
  • Thus, the divine indwelling is the greatest of God’s gifts to man, for from thissupernatural gift springs our capacity to cooperate with God’s saving grace! If we havethe gift of sanctifying grace at the moment of our death, we will be saved!
  • Yet notice that I said “if.” In other words, this great gift of our Lord’s indwelling can belost. Indeed, it is lost if we commit a mortal sin, and can only be regained through thegrace of a good confession.
  • Thus, those of us who are baptized and have received this great gift of God’s indwellingare charged with tremendous responsibility.
  • Firstly, we must strive to keep our souls clean from all sin. For while only mortal sincan rob us of the divine indwelling, even venial sin weakens our intimacy with our Lordand displeases Him Whom we should love with our whole hearts.
  • Secondly, we must show our gratitude to God for this gift of Himself by striving to adornour souls with all virtue and banish from them all that is not compatible with Hispresence.
  • Lastly, we must be our Lord’s witnesses to the ends of the earth – just as He charged Hisdisciples to be – so that other souls can be brought to Christ and enjoy this sameintimacy with our Lord.
  • My dear brothers and sisters, today we celebrate our Lord’s Ascension into Heaven. Sowhile our Lord is no longer physically present on this earth as He was with His disciples, He is still with us – present not only in His Word and sacraments, but in our very souls.
  • Indeed, for those of us who have been baptized and live in His sanctifying grace, He is closer to us than we can possibly imagine!
  • May we never despair of our Lord’s love for us or of His presence in our lives, but may we strive always to live in His sanctifying grace and thereby become worthy of the promises of Christ.

 

© Reverend Timothy Reid

Fr. Reid is the pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church, Charlotte, NC

Homilies from June 17, 2012 onward have audio.
To enable the audio, lease go directly to Fr. Reid’s homily homilies and select the matching date.

Link to Homilies:
http://stanncharlotte.org/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=8&Itemid=61

In God We Trust?

In 16 Deacon Ruben Tamayo on 2016/09/02 at 12:00 AM

God gives us every reason to trust Him. We read throughout both the Old and New Testaments that God is trustworthy not just a few times but many times. One such example is Psalm 145: “The LORD is trustworthy in every word, and faithful in every work.”
The Bible is also littered with plenty of examples of humanity deciding that God and His ways should not be trusted, doing things their way, and then suffering the painful consequences of their petulance and obstinacy. Here are just a few examples:
Adam and Eve disobey God, not because their lives aren’t all good and full of blessings, but because the serpent plants a seed of doubt in them about God’s love for them.
After growing impatient waiting to conceive Abraham’s child as God had promised, Sarah takes matters into her own hands and has Abraham lie with her maidservant Hagar so that Abraham may have the child God promised Him.
The Israelites create a golden calf and worship it despite the great miracles God performed for them simply because Moses took “too long” to return from his meeting with God at Mt. Sinai.
In Luke chapter 11, the Pharisees accuse Jesus of driving out demons with the help of Satan himself even after witnessing Jesus feed thousands with just five loaves of bread and two fish, bringing back to life the widow’s son, and healing many others.
So, why does this pattern, i.e. our continually turning our backs on God despite His proven faithfulness to us, keep repeating over and over throughout all of history and in our lives today? The short answer is because we provide Satan with an opening to drive a wedge, pride, between us and God. God is always trustworthy. How about us humans? Sadly not so much. St. Teresa of Avila says this well: “Consider seriously how quickly people change, and how little trust is to be had in them; and hold fast to God, who does not change.”
Satan, whom Jesus calls the “Father of Lies” (John 8:44) appeals to our pride and attachment to earthly vices to convince us that he is the one who is trustworthy, not God. After all, God doesn’t give us what we want when we snap our fingers so God must be lying when He tells us that He loves us. God even lets us suffer – what kind of love is that?! We are foolish to fall for these lies!!!
This is reminiscent of the scene from the Disney animated film, the Jungle Book, where Kaa, the serpent, hypnotizes the young boy Mowgli while singing: “Trust in me, just in me, shut your eyes, trust in me.” Kaa obviously doesn’t care about the well-being of the boy – he just wants to gain control of him to eat him. “Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” from 1 Peter 5:8 comes to mind as well.
The good news is that God gives us free will and Satan has no power over us. But we must grow in humility and recognize that we always need God’s help – God who is always trustworthy. St. Vincent de Paul provides great advice on this point: “The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it.”
Reflection based on the Mass readings for the 3rd Thursday of Lent 2015: Jeremiah 7:23-28, Psalm 95, and Luke 11:14-23)

Cultivating a Spirit of Generosity

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2016/09/02 at 12:00 AM

 

  • During his time as pastor of the small parish of Ars, St. John Vianney was well known for his austere lifestyle. Though diocesan priests do not take a formal vow of poverty, parish priests in the 19th century often lived very poor lives.
  • Certainly the patron saint of parish priests was no different. St. John wished to live the same sort of life as his poor parishioners, and so he did not permit himself many of the creature comforts he could have availed himself of.
  • Yet when one visits his parish church in Ars, France, and tours the building that was his rectory, one notices that although his home was quite simple and not terribly comfortable, St. John did have very beautiful vestments!
  • This is because St. John Vianney believed that poverty ends at the Communion rail. In other words, there is nothing too good for God! Our Lord deserves only the very best that we can give when we come to worship Him.
  • So when it came to purchasing items used for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, St. John Vianney used what little money he had to acquire the nicest things possible. Rather than spending his hard earned money on himself, St. John spent it on God.
  • He was a man who, amongst his many other virtues, had his priorities in line. God had first place in the life of St. John Vianney, and this is why he is a saint.
  • Knowing what’s important in life and keeping our priorities straight is really the theme of our readings today.
  • In our first reading we hear this beautiful story of King Solomon, to whom God appears in a dream offering to answer any request. And what does Solomon ask for?
  • He says, “Give your servant…an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.”
  • And because Solomon asked for the gift of wisdom rather then riches, a long life, or the defeat of his enemies, God is pleased with him and happily grants his request.
  • In his considerable wisdom Solomon knew what was important to ask for, and God, in turn, gave Solomon a wisdom that became renown throughout the world.
  • Today’s Responsorial Psalm, too, speaks of how we should value God’s laws above thousands of gold and silver pieces, of how we should value God’s command more than gold, however fine.
  • Of course our Gospel today speaks of the value of salvation, and how the person who understands the value of salvation will joyfully do whatever is necessary to attain it.
  • Following upon last week’s Gospel that spoke of the separation of the weeds and wheat and how the weeds will be gathered into bundles and burned, today’s Gospel also speaks of the separation of the wicked from the righteous, and the casting of the wicked into “the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
  • In other words, we must never presume upon salvation, for there will be a reckoning for all of us. The presumption of this Gospel is that some people won’t make it through the pearly gates into the eternal life of Heaven.
  • So that is why we must strive to get our priorities straight now – here on earth – while there is still time to do so.
  • If we take our readings seriously today, we must ask ourselves, “What are my priorities in this life?” Or, “what is my pearl of great price?” Even more pointedly, we need to ask ourselves if getting to Heaven is our highest priority.
  • Generally speaking, the answers to these questions can be found by looking at our bank statements and calendars, for they tell us how we spend our time and money.
  • But rather than approach these important questions out of a servile fear of hell, I think it’s good for us simply to look at God and all the many blessings He bestows upon us, and then set about ordering our lives.
  • My dear brothers and sisters, do you understand how much our Lord loves you? Do you realize the great gift of grace it is to be not only alive and well, but to be Catholic?
  • Are you not amazed that in His goodness, God is willing to pardon even the worst and most wicked of sins if only we repent of it, so great is His desire to save us?
  • It’s astounding really – and the only proper response is to be grateful and to live our lives in gratitude to God for His many gifts.
  • To be sure, our lives will be much more joyful if we order them out of gratitude, rather than allowing them to be ruled by fear. And so we must constantly show our gratitude to God for His blessings, His grace, and His mercy toward us.
  • While in our gratitude we’ll never be able to repay God for all that He gives us, we still have to try. We must try to be generous to God just as He is generous to us. Treating God as He deserves to be treated should be our highest priority in life.
  • Generosity can take many forms. We can be generous with our money and material resources, with our time, with our talents and abilities. We can even be generous with things like our fertility.
  • What’s important is that we realize that everything we have – whether it is our money, our property, our talents, or any of our blessings – are gifts from the Almighty. And so when we give of these things, we are simply passing on what has been given to us!
  • Of course we should do our best to be generous by tithing on our income and sharing our material goods with others.
  • We should also be generous stewards of our time by praying daily and looking for opportunities to use our God-given talents to serve others.
  • But most importantly, let us be generous with our hearts by truly loving God. Let us be quick to obey Him with joy, trusting that doing His will is the very best thing that can ever happen to us.
  • As we go about seeking to be generous to Him by being generous to others, let us do so courageously, placing all our faith in the simple fact that we can never outdo God in generosity, and that He will always repay us for our service to others.
  • My brothers and sisters, our readings call us today to really examine our lives and our priorities. They call us to bear in our minds the importance of salvation, and thus they call us to make God and the practice of our faith our highest priority.
  • Like St. John Vianney and all the saints, may we love God above all else and truly make Him our highest priority. Let us serve Him generously in this life, so that we may be assured of enjoying His mercy for all eternity.

© Reverend Timothy Reid

Fr. Reid is the pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church, Charlotte, NC

Homilies from June 17, 2012 onward have audio.
To enable the audio, lease go directly to Fr. Reid’s homily homilies and select the matching date.

Link to Homilies:
http://stanncharlotte.org/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=8&Itemid=61