• On the Feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost, I spoke about the divine indwelling, i.e., that through the Sacrament of Baptism, the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, comes to dwell supernaturally within our souls.
• This divine indwelling is a special intimacy all the baptized share with God, so long as we remain in a state of grace. For mortal sin robs our souls of our Lord’s supernatural presence, and it can only be restored through the grace of a good confession.
• Of course we would never want to lose this divine indwelling through sin, even though it can be restored in the confessional, for the divine indwelling is a special gift – a gift enabling us to know God as He truly is, and thereby love Him as He desires to be loved.
• Because we have been gifted with our triune’s Lord supernatural presence within our souls, we are called to live lives of faith, hope, and charity. In fact, we know from God Himself that His greatest desire is for His creatures to love and worship Him.
• And because our Lord has commanded that we worship Him and love Him above all else, it’s important that we love and worship Him well! As Catholics, we do this primarily through the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
• As I mentioned last Sunday, at Mass we are transported to Calvary, where our Lord’s redemptive sacrifice there is re-presented to us in an unbloody fashion, and ordinary bread and wine are changed into our Lord’s Body and Blood for our consumption.
• Stop and ponder these mysteries for a moment!
• In His benevolence the Lord of all creation comes to dwell within our souls through theSacrament of Baptism.
• If we forfeit His supernatural presence in our souls through mortal sin, in His mercy He iswilling to pardon us and come back to us through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
• And in His great love, our Lord is humble enough to give us His flesh and blood as true food and true drink in the Eucharist. As St. John tells us today, “whoever eats [His] flesh and drinks [His]blood has eternal life, and [God] will raise him on the last day.”
• My brothers and sisters, is there any love that can compare with this love?
• While the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is our central and most important form of worship, thereare other ways to worship our Lord. There are other ways to love our Lord!
• I know that many of you have participated these past few days in our annual 40 Hourscelebration in honor of our Eucharistic Lord.
• These annual 40 hours of Eucharistic adoration, as well as the 33 hours of Adoration we havehere every week, are an opportunity for us to be with God and thank Him for His love. They arean opportunity for us to love God in return.
• So often when we think about our spiritual lives, so many of us worry about how close we are toGod. So many people tend to consider their spiritual lives only from their own vantage point andfor their own benefit.
• But do we ever truly consider how close God is to us – regardless of how we may feel? Do weever really consider His undying love for us? Do we ever just consider God in Himself andmarvel at Him in wonder and awe?
• In our decadent western society, we have been conditioned to think first and foremost aboutourselves. We are told that we need to take care of ourselves, that we have to do what’s best for ourselves, and we are all too quick to assert our personal rights.

• We can see the evil fruits of our decadent selfishness most appallingly in our society’s willingness to abort unborn children for the sake of convenience.
• Our society as a whole has become so selfish that we can think we can even change the nature of things inviolable, like marriage and the marital act, so that people can be free to pursue whatever form of gratification they desire – even if it be deviant in nature, detrimental to their well-being, and devoid of all dignity.
• Demanding rights to self-expression and self-gratification, we have come to believe that we can define reality for ourselves and demand that others respect, honor, and even celebrate our selfish and depraved choices.
• My brothers and sisters, this type of thinking and acting – which has become all too common in our society – is not only crazy, but it’s antithetical to a life of holiness and the proper practice of our Catholic Faith. This is why we need the Eucharist.
• When we understand the Eucharist for what it really is: the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ – and not merely a symbol of His body and blood, then we can begin to understand what a tremendous gift it is!
• It’s not simply that our Lord is giving us food and drink. He’s giving us His very self through an act of self-sacrifice! Jesus died for us so that we might live eternally!
• Through the regular and worthy reception of His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, we are given all the grace we need to stay on the steep and rocky path to Heaven.
• When we receive Holy Communion worthily, all of our venial sins are forgiven, we are fortified against future mortal sins, and our bonds with Christ, His Church and one another are strengthened so that we truly become one body in Christ.
• It truly is the Bread come down from Heaven! It is a completely gratuitous gift!
• But while there are tremendous graces to be found in receiving Holy Communion worthily, thereare tremendous graces as well in coming before our Lord in Adoration!
• When we adore our Lord in Eucharistic Adoration, Jesus gives us a deeper understanding of Hissacrificial love, for the Eucharist is the great sign of our Lord’s self sacrifice; it is the great signof His love.
• When we adore our Lord regularly, we begin to desire to imitate His sacrificial love and drawcloser to Him.
• Indeed, adoration He teaches us that true joy and peace come not from seeking to satisfyourselves, but in humble union with Him!
• In our humble union with Him, not only do we grow in faith in God’s goodness and come todesire Him more ardently as our final end, we are filled with the desire to love God by servingothers. True adoration always leads us to charity.
• In other words, when we make a habit of adoring our Lord in the Eucharist, we learn to makethat fundamental shift from focusing always on ourselves to focusing on God and others. And then, not only do we grow in holiness, but we experience true joy – a joy that this world with all its pleasures can never give.
• My brothers and sisters, as we celebrate this marvelous feast of Corpus Christi, may we each be given the grace to turn away from all selfishness and turn toward God in humble adoration.
• May we show Him proper thanks for this great gift of the Eucharist by putting the needs ofothers before our own.
• O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine!

· Indeed, this belief about the nature of God is what sets us apart from every other religion and conception of God. No one but Christians understands God in this way. To be a Christian absolutely requires that one hold this Trinitarian understanding of the Almighty.

· Perhaps most of us take it for granted that God exists as a Trinity of Persons, having accepted this truth as young children when we first learned to pray. But for those who approach Christianity from another faith, the Trinity is a difficult concept to grasp.
· Truly, how can we understand that God is both Three and One? It is in truth a mystery that is as high as the skies and as deep as the oceans, a truth so profound that the human intellect is incapable of fully understanding in this life.

· And therefore it is a truth simply to be accepted with love and obedience, but not blindly – for our knowledge of the Trinity comes from Christ Himself.
· Because Jesus Himself revealed the nature of the Trinity to His apostles during His time on earth, we can have full confidence in our belief that our One God exists as Three Persons.
· But simply believing in the Trinity is not enough, my brothers and sisters. We cannot simply acknowledge the truth of the Holy Trinity without worshiping the Holy Trinity. It is the very nature of God to be worshiped.
· In a sense man is “hard-wired” to worship; it’s part of our human nature to worship, to give ourselves to something that we perceive is greater than ourselves. And whether we recognize it or not, all of us worship something – regardless of whether or not we go to church.
· In the brokenness and blindness caused by his sin, man often worships created things. Turning his back on God, sinful man is often in search of a golden calf.
· The problem with worshiping created things is that it strips man of his human dignity. Love effects a likeness with the beloved. In other words, we become like that which we love.
· If we love something less than ourselves, or even if we worship another human, we are degraded; we become less than who God has created and called us to be.
· It is only in worshiping God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in giving ourselves fully to Him that our human dignity is fulfilled. In the process of worshiping our One Lord in Three Divine Persons, we become like Him in Whose image we have been created.
· Truly, my dear brothers and sisters, we must fix it in our minds and hearts that God alone is to be worshiped and adored, and that our entire lives – even the smallest details of them – must be ordered to worshiping Him. Every thing we do should in some way glorify Him.
· As members of His Body, we must be wholly convinced that God alone is worthy of all praise and honor, and we must order our lives toward whatever is most pleasing to Him.
· Simply put, we must live for Him rather than for ourselves. We must seek His will in all things rather than our own. We must seek His honor and glory rather than our

own. And this begins by choosing to worship Him rather than ourselves and our own comfort.
· Our primary way to worship our Lord is through our prayer, especially liturgical prayer, and most especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

· We begin Mass by first recalling our sins in the Confiteor and begging pardon for them in the Kyrie eleison. We then open ourselves up to listening to God’s word through the readings and homily, hopefully allowing ourselves to be shaped and formed by Him in this way.
· By seeking His mercy and allowing ourselves to be instructed by Him, our Lord prepares us for union with Himself, and so it is that we profess our faith in Him in
the Credo.
· And as the bread and wine are raised up at the Offertory, we offer ourselves to Him as a sacrifice – willing to join Him on the cross in an act of self-oblation and surrender.
· Once we have done this, He draws us to Himself in the sweetness of Holy Communion, where – kneeling suppliant in His presence – we receive Him as a bride receives her bridegroom and become one flesh with Him.
· As we consider the great solemnity of this act of worship and the great gratuity by which our Lord receives our humble homage and gives Himself to us in return, it is absolutely imperative that we undertake the Mass with the utmost decorum and reverence.
· Thus it is that Catholics have always gone to great lengths to build beautiful churches, adorned with the best art and filled with glorious music, while using the finest materials available for the things necessary for the Mass – for nothing is too good for God!
· But while golden vessels, beautiful vestments, and lovely art are important, the very best gift we can give to our Triune Lord is an undivided heart. What God wants most from us is us!
· That is why, in His mercy, our Lord is willing to forgive any sin for which we are sorry in order to have us all to Himself for eternity. And we prepare for this eternal union with God most especially by the way we worship Him at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
· In instructing Catholics on how to worship at Mass, the Fathers of the 2nd Vatican Council spoke of the “full and active participation” that is the right and obligation of Catholics, and that is demanded by the very nature of the Mass (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, #14).
· However, in the years following the Council, this phrase: “full and active participation” has been wrongly understood to mean that the faithful in the pews had to “do” something in order to truly participate in the Mass.
· While I am certainly grateful to the wonderful service rendered by our lectors, our altar boys, our ushers, and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, “full and active participation” at the Mass is really a matter of being rather than doing.
· In an ad limina address to the bishops of the United States in 1998, Blessed John Paul II said that: “active participation does not preclude the active passivity of silence, stillness and listening: indeed, it demands it. Worshippers are not passive, for instance, when listening to the readings or the homily, or following the prayers of the celebrant, and the chants and music of the liturgy.”

· And more recently, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote that: “Active participation is not equivalent to the exercise of a specific ministry. . .Fruitful participation in the liturgy requires that one be personally conformed to the mystery being celebrated.” (Sac. Caritatis #53, 64)

· In other words, there is an interior disposition that each of us must cultivate when we come to Mass, a disposition of receptivity that recognizes God’s ineffable greatness, and our absolute need for Him to save us from our sins.
· We must cultivate an interior awareness that God alone is to be worshiped and adored, and that each of us is called to serve and honor Him gratefully with every fiber of our being – being willing to suffer any hardship to ensure He is acknowledged as the Lord of all.

· As we honor the Most Holy Trinity today, let us examine the way we worship at Mass. Are we here to render honor and thanks to God, or simply to fulfill an obligation? · Do we come to Mass seeking to give ourselves to Him or to get something from Him? Do we give our best to God at Mass by the way we act, the way we dress, the way we pray?
· May we all dedicate ourselves to honoring and loving the Most Holy Trinity with pure and undivided hearts. May we worship Him, and Him alone.

26 May 2013

© Reverend Timothy Reid

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

Homilies from June 17, 2012 onward have audio.
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Link to Homilies:
http://stanncharlotte.org/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=8&Itemid=61

• Since our Lord’s Ascension into Heaven, the Church has been in a period of joyful expectation. In a sense these 9 days between the Ascension and Pentecost are like a mini-Advent as we await the mighty coming of the Holy Spirit.
• The promise by our Lord Jesus to send us the Holy Spirit is, perhaps, the most important promise ever made to humanity, for upon this promise depends the very livelihood and existence of the Church and the sanctity of each of her members.
• Today we commemorate the fulfillment of that promise when the Holy Spirit descended as tongues of fire upon our Lady and the apostles gathered in prayer in the Upper Room.
• And we who are heirs to the faith of the apostles and members of the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic church, have received this same Spirit, too: first when we were baptized, and then again at our confirmation, which completes our baptism.
• On the Feast of Ascension I spoke about this divine indwelling, i.e., the fact that through the Sacrament of Baptism, the entire Holy Trinity is brought to dwell within our souls – and remains there in a supernatural way as long as we remain in a state of grace.
• While we commonly speak only of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within the souls of the baptized, I say the entire Holy Trinity comes to dwell within us because whatever God does outside of Himself is always done equally and simultaneously by all 3 Persons of the Holy Trinity.
• However, it is to the Holy Spirit that we attribute all works that reflect God’s love and our union with Him. It is for this reason then that we often speak only of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
• As I mentioned, our Lord’s indwelling within the souls of those in sanctifying grace is a special intimacy with God, an intimacy that enables us to know God as He truly is, so that we might love Him as He desires to be loved.
• This divine indwelling that makes us temples of the Holy Spirit confers upon us a dignity that is beyond our understanding.
• Whenever we baptize someone, we typically dress them in a white gown or garment of some type as a symbol of this newfound dignity. And yet even the purest and whitest linen is but a clumsy symbol of our baptismal innocence.
• You see, my brothers and sisters, when our Lord comes into our souls at baptism, our souls are radically and eternally transformed – shaped more into an image of Christ – so that we might be made worthy of the Lord’s promise of eternal life.
• Supernatural life is breathed into our souls as they are made worthy dwelling places for the Lord of all creation.
• Indeed, the waters of baptism, by which the Holy Spirit first enters into our souls, have the power to quench the very fires of hell within us and to unleash within us the same living waters our Lord promised to the woman at the well.
• Not only are we given sanctifying grace – the grace that saves us, not only are all of our sins forgiven, but we are given as well the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, knowledge, counsel, understanding, piety, courage, and fear of the Lord.
• These gifts enable us to live out our duties as Christians, and they complete and perfect the virtues within us. When we receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, which is our own Pentecost, these gifts are increased and strengthened within us.

• Through confirmation we are rooted more deeply in our divine sonship, we are united more firmly to Christ, our bond with the Church is strengthened, and we are given a special strength of the Holy Spirit to be faithful and courageous witnesses of Christ.
• Thus, through the grace of confirmation, we are better able to live out the virtues of faith, hope, and charity that we first received at baptism and thereby live up to the demands of our status as Temples of the Holy Spirit.
• Because we have received the indwelling of the Lord within us through the sacraments, we are called to live a life of faith, believing in God and trusting in Him in every detail of our lives.
• We are called to live lives of hope as well, keeping our eyes on Heaven – knowing that this world is not our true home, but rather a place of exile.
• Most importantly, we are called to live lives of charity – lives of love! As a reminder of this, around the Holy Spirit dove affixed to the ceiling of our sanctuary, we painted the words: “Come Holy Spirit, enkindle in us the fire of your love.”
• I love that, in describing the descent of the Holy Spirit at that first Pentecost, St. Luke uses the imagery of “tongues of fire”, because it’s so apt.
• To be sure, the fire of the Holy Spirit that we receive through the Sacraments is a refining fire – capable of burning away the dross of our faults and imperfections.
• In burning away our faults and imperfections, the refining fire of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to love as we should! But this is true only for the souls of those who remain habitually in a state of grace.
• This is a very important point. As I mentioned on the Feast of the Ascension, whenever we commit a mortal sin, we lose the supernatural presence of our Lord within our souls, and we become displeasing to God.
• In fact, St. Teresa of Ávila teaches that, “all the good works [a soul] might do while in mortal sin are fruitless for the attainment of glory” (cf. IC, 1st dwelling places, ch. 1).
• The reason for this is that since the soul is separated from God by the gravity of its sin, its good works do not proceed from God (Who is the One Who makes our virtue virtuous), and therefore cannot be pleasing to Him.
• Of course, as I mentioned on the Ascension, we can regain our Lord’s supernatural presence in our souls through repentance and the grace of a good confession.
• But considering the sublime nature our baptismal dignity, and considering the marvelous gift it is that our mighty God is humble enough to dwell within our souls, we should strive to keep our souls clean of all sin – venial or mortal, and to beg pardon for the times we fail.
• As we celebrate this Pentecost Sunday, let us ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds and hearts to anything within us that is displeasing to Him. May the Holy Spirit help us to know our sins and to confess them courageously.
• May we truly receive Him who transforms us, consoles us, and sanctifies us. And may our souls always be worthy dwelling places for so great a guest.