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Archive for the ‘05 Homilies by Fr. Reid’ Category

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Atheism by Fr. Reid

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2012/01/27 at 9:11 AM

• Over the past couple of decades, western society has witnessed a growing atheism. Little by little, the ranks of people who profess that God does not or cannot exist are increasing.

• Led by scientists like Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking, entrepreneurs like Warren Buffett, and even entertainers like Mick Jagger and the late George Carlin, atheists and agnostics are more and more finding a public voice.

• But from a Catholic perspective, atheism is both an intellectual and a moral failure.

• Atheism is an intellectual failure because it fails to recognize that the splendor, majesty, beauty, and rationality of creation could only come from the most splendid, majestic, beautiful, and rational of minds, from an ultimate first cause.

• But even worse is its moral failure. Atheism is a moral failure because it is, at its heart, a refusal of the natural law that is written upon the hearts of all men. It’s a refusal to humble oneself before the Almightly, whose fingerprints are all over the created world, while proudly insisting upon the preeminence of man.

• Of course atheism stands in stark contrast to the season of Christmas, which we just concluded last week, and which not only heralded the birth of our God made man, but also revealed His manifestation as the Light of the World to all nations.

• Like a lover who finds it difficult to depart from his beloved after a long day together, our readings today cling to themes we enjoyed in the Epiphany and Baptism of our Lord.

• Our first reading from Isaiah speaks of the “light to the nations” so that “salvation may reach to the ends of the earth,” which recalls the prominent themes of the Epiphany.

• And in our Gospel story today we have St. John the Baptist’s testimony to the Spirit descending like a dove upon Jesus, a clear reference to our Lord’s baptism.

• So why are we lingering with Christmas themes now that we are in Ordinary Time? Simply put, because Christmas is important! The Christmas Season is important to our Catholic faith because it is in the liturgies of the Christmas Season that we learn Who Jesus truly Is.

• You see, Christmas for Catholics is not simply the anniversary of our Lord’s birth. Christmas is the celebration that our Lord Jesus, veiled in human flesh, comes to us to dwell with us, to be one of us, so that He can save us from our sins.

• The Christmas Season celebrates our Lord’s birth, His manifestation to the world, and the revelation that Jesus truly is the Son of God. As such, the Christmas Season celebrates and extols our Lord Jesus Christ as Love and Mercy incarnate.

• And this is reiterated for us in the Gospel today in St. John’s testimony that Jesus is both the Son of the God and the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

• As the Son of God, Jesus has come to earth to be the Lamb of God, the One who will sacrifice Himself on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins.

• So while today’s readings hearken back to Christmas, our Gospel also points us toward Holy Week, when we will see this Lamb slain.

• As such, today’s readings serve as a sort of exclamation point on the liturgies of the Christmas Season. Yet our liturgy today serves as an invitation, as well, to meditate more deeply who Jesus Is, and what the revelation of His identity means to our lives.

• You see, my dear brothers and sisters, while our Catholic faith is both inherently rational and historically factual, and therefore supremely worthy of belief by all people, we must never allow ourselves to become comfortable in this knowledge.

• This is one of the ways that we differ from the atheists and agnostics. While so many atheists are smug in their proud rationalizations and the houses they build upon the sand of intellectual pride, their lack of belief does not demand anything of them.

• As an atheist you are free to adopt any type of moral behavior that you wish. Anything goes for the atheist because nothing matters. Nothing has eternal consequences. But even more importantly, nothing calls them to love outside of natural inclinations given to all humans.

• But our faith does make demands upon us. Through the Christmas Season we received the manifestation of the Word-Made-Flesh. He has revealed Himself to us as the Light to the Nations, the Savior of All, and Love Incarnate.

• And so it is not enough for us to intellectually consent to these truths. Our faith demands that we conform our lives to these truths, living in a manner that witnesses to our belief in Jesus as the Son of God and the Lamb of God.

• Indeed, according to St. Paul today, our faith demands that we be holy. Not simply nice, not simply good, but HOLY – because we have been sanctified in Christ Jesus.

• And our responsorial psalm reminds us of the fundamental attitude we must adopt if we truly want to be holy: a firm readiness to do God’s will, no matter what.

• Of course doing God’s will can encompass many things in our lives, but from a general point of view we must keep in mind the highest commandment that Jesus Himself gave us: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt 22:37).

• The first epistle of St. John reminds us that the love of God consists in obeying His commandments (1 John 5:3). And the 25th chapter of Matthew reminds us that we show our love for God by exercising the corporal works of mercy.

• Accordingly, exercising obedience and performing works of mercy must be integral to the way we live our lives if we love God. But there is something even more fundamental if we wish to truly love God and do His will so that we can be holy: we must pray.

• Last week I spoke a bit about how we go about receiving the sacraments, noting that being pious, reverent, and conscientious in our reception of the sacraments disposes us to receive the grace of the sacraments in such a way that it bears good fruit in our souls.

• But underlying our piety, our reverence, and our conscientiousness must be a deep, abiding, and personal love for God, and a true desire to serve Him. And this can only come if we have a true relationship with God – something that can only be formed in silent prayer.

• While prayer often has a vocal and expressive dimension to it, and while it can include our petitions to God, as well as our expressions of gratitude and love, the deepest prayer has no words at all, but is simply a matter of being with God in the silence of our hearts.

• For it is in our silent communion with God that He speaks to us and reveals Himself to us. It is in silent prayer that God gives Himself to us and we can fully give ourselves to Him, just as a bride entrusts herself to her bridegroom on their wedding night.

• It is silent prayer that we share now in the divine intimacy that will find its completion and apex only in the glories of heaven. So make time to pray in silence everyday. If you think you’re too busy to do so, you don’t have your priorities straight.

• Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: our Lord has revealed Himself to us as both the Son of God and the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Let us respond to Him by learning to love Him as we should in the silence of prayer.

Copyright 2011 by Reverend Timothy S. Reid

Reverend Reid is pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic  Church in Charlotte, NC

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Respect For Life by Fr. Reid

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2012/01/21 at 9:11 AM

• Before Jesus died, He founded a church on earth. And history bears witness to the fact that the church founded by Christ Himself is none other than the Catholic Church.

• And we know by faith that the full revelation of Christ’s truth has been entrusted to and preserved whole and entire by the Catholic Church. Vatican II teaches that while all churches and faith communities possess some share of the truth, only the Catholic Church possesses the fullness of truth.

• This fullness of truth was first given by Jesus Christ to the apostles, and it has been systematically handed down from generation to generation and enshrined in our teachings, beliefs and in our liturgies and safeguarded by the Holy Spirit.

• This is what we believe as Catholics.

• And the truth of Catholic teaching is evident in the fact that our teaching is unchanging. While some teachings have developed and been further defined over the years, we still believe today what we believed 2000 years ago.

• Therefore, as Catholics we must be willing to speak out when it comes to truth. As St. Paul reminds us today, “God did not give [us] a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self‐control.”

• Thus, we must “not be ashamed of [our] testimony to our Lord,” but we should “bear [our] share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.”

• And never is this more important than when it comes to issues that concern human dignity and human life.

• On Respect Life Sunday generally every year priests preach about the horrors of abortion, human cloning, euthanasia, or embryonic stem cell research – all of the major threats to life.

• These are difficult topics because they’re highly politicized in our country, and opinions on these issues – even among practicing Catholics – tend to vary and to be emotionally charged.

• And these aren’t even all the Pro‐Life issues. There are other threats to the dignity of human life in the realm of sexual ethics. Issues like contraception and family planning and same‐sex unions also have implications for the dignity of human life.

• Of course, I think we all know where the Church stands on each of these issues. The Church has always been constant in opposing abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, same‐sex unions, and contraception because of the threats they pose.

• In fact, the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church is the only institution that is constant in her opposition to all threats to human life and human dignity.

• Today I want to encourage you to courageously proclaim the truth of our Catholic beliefs, most especially when it comes to human dignity and human life.

• To do this, we must first understand both the philosophical and the spiritual issues that are at stake.

• I realize that for many people it is a difficult thing to believe and practice everything the Church teaches, especially when it comes to sexual ethics. And many Catholics struggle with or disagree with at least one of these pro‐life issues.

• But with issues that are as important as these, we must not simply allow our emotions to hold sway, nor must we allow ourselves to be formed by the liberal media and societal trends. We need to study these issues rationally, intellectually, and philosophically.

• It doesn’t matter what various states and countries choose to legalize. The legalization of an immoral act does not make it any less immoral.

• The basic reasoning behind the Church’s stance on any of these issues is derived from an understanding of human dignity.

• As Catholics we believe that each person is a special gift. Each of us is created in God’s own image and likeness. We are living images of the almighty Himself. And while we are all created in His image and likeness, we are all unique.

• While fully human, we were created with a divine purpose in mind. Specifically, we were created for eternal union with God! We also have intelligence and free will.

• Therefore, we have a particular dignity that other forms of life do not have. And all of us are “good” because of how we’re created. Each human life shows forth God’s goodness in a unique way.

• Thus, our faith teaches that human life in all its forms, from conception to natural death, must be respected for the unique gift it is. It makes no difference if a person is old and sick and dying or not even born yet. All human life possesses this special dignity, and therefore all human life is sacred.

• Because all life is sacred, the marital act by which life is created is also sacred, and therefore it is not to be misused. Moreover, the marital act has two purposes: first, the creation of new life; the other: for couples to grow in unity and holiness.

• Whenever we intentionally close this act to the possibility of life through contraception, sterilization, or aberrant or unnatural behavior, we change the nature of the act and rob the act of its inherent beauty, dignity, and sacredness.

• Moreover, when we use our God‐given freedom to destroy human life or misuse the gift of procreation, we rob ourselves and others of our God‐given dignity, and worse yet, we place ourselves at enmity with God. We separate ourselves from Him in a grave way.

• It is for these reasons that the Church teaches as She does on all of these issues.

• Spiritually speaking, at the root of all these threats to human life and human dignity are two terrible sins: pride and selfishness.

• It is a blinding pride that makes us believe that we know better than the Church, who was founded by Christ and whose teachings are safeguarded by the Holy Spirit. And it is wicked selfishness that induces us to pervert and misuse the marital act simply for our own pleasure.

• It is a monstrous pride that makes us believe that we can arrogate to ourselves the power of creating and destroying human life. It is the most insidious form of selfishness to kill an unborn baby because we fear the responsibilities of parenthood or simply find the child inconvenient.

• To be truly pro‐life, we must not only accept the Church’s teachings but also seek to be free from these forms of pride and selfishness. We must be humble enough to accept that all human life is a gift from God and therefore cannot be exterminated out of convenience.

• We must be humble enough to recognize that human sexuality is also a gift from God, that it comes with serious responsibility, and it is not to be misused for our own selfish reasons.

• And we must be generous: generous with our money to help those organizations that help promote a culture of life; generous with our time in praying for and working for pro‐life causes.

• And if we’re married and of child‐bearing age, we must ultimately be generous with our fertility. Having a large family is one of the best ways to witness to our Catholic beliefs on marriage and family life, and I think it’s wonderful that we have so many large families in our parish.

• My dear friends let us seek to defend and protect all human life by courageously proclaiming the truths of our Catholic faith, which alone can defeat the culture of death that so afflicts our society.

• Let us free ourselves from that pride and selfishness that hinder us from promoting a culture of life. And let us trust that our Lord will help us in this battle against the gravest evils in our society. May Jesus Christ be praised, now and forever. Amen.

Copyright 2010 by Reverend Timothy S. Reid

Reverend Reid is pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic  Church in Charlotte, NC

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The Holy Family By Fr. Timothy Reid

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2012/01/07 at 1:09 AM

Holy Family

• On the first Sunday after Christmas, Holy Mother Church celebrates the feast of the Holy Family, and She does so to remind us that – at least ideally – family life is one of God’s most precious gifts to mankind.

• Perhaps after spending Christmas with your family members some of you beg to differ! But hopefully not.

• In celebrating this beautiful feast, the Church holds the Holy Family out to us as a model for all families. The Holy Family is a family founded upon love and virtue, and we are called to imitate them to the best of our abilities in living with our own families.

• As we consider the nature of family life and how we live amongst our own family members, we should naturally turn our minds to the 4th Commandment, as it is the primary guide to governing the relationships in a family.

• The 4th Commandment, of course, is that we must honor our father and mother. It is a commandment that teaches us that families have a certain hierarchy that requires love and respect for them to operate as they should.

• In learning to live out this requirement of love and respect within our own families, we are ultimately prepared for the life we will have in Heaven as the adopted children of God the Father.

• In learning to honor, love, and respect our earthly parents, we are better prepared for living out our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Our readings today are really wonderful because they speak of these concepts of honor, love, and respect.

• Our first reading is from the Book of Sirach, which is truly one of my favorites books in all of Scripture. In a beautiful yet practical way, Sirach wisely counsels us in the proper ways to govern our familial relations.

• Sirach reminds us of the authority that parents necessarily exercise over their children, an authority that lasts as long as the parent lives. Yet Sirach also reminds us of the spiritual benefits that come with recognizing and heeding the authority of our parents.

• Whoever honors his father atones for sins, and preserves himself from them. When he prays, he is heard; he stores up riches who reveres his mother.

• Whoever honors his father is gladdened by children, and, when he prays, is heard.

Whoever reveres his father will live a long life; he who obeys his father brings comfort to his mother.

• They are beautiful promises, are they not? And yet it is all true.

• You see, our earthly parents – especially our fathers – are the first representatives of God in our life. They exercise authority over us in God’s stead.

• This is why we are called to honor, love, and respect them. And this is why Sirach says that the kindness we show our fathers will not be forgotten.

• And because we know God as a Father, our earthly fathers have the primary responsibility for teaching us about the nature of God.

• Generally we do this more through our actions than through our words. Obviously, this is an incredibly important responsibility, one that is too‐often neglected in our society today.

• We can easily see that when fathers fail to live up to their God‐given responsibilities of protecting, providing for, and educating their children, they inflict not only emotional and psychological wounds upon their children, but spiritual wounds as well.

• Much is being written and said today about the profound effects that the absence of a father has upon a family. Sociological and psychological data shows us that children who grow up fatherless suffer emotional and psychological consequences that make them more prone to crime, poverty, and educational failure.

• But the worst consequences are the spiritual wounds. When fathers fail to live up to their responsibilities, they can distort the image their children have of God the Father, thus impairing their children’s relationship with their Heavenly Father.

• Of course domestic bliss doesn’t depend solely upon fathers. All members of the family must take on their share of responsibility in maintaining peace and harmony within the home. And this is where we must turn to our second reading.

• St. Paul reminds us today of the importance of exercising compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience with one another. He reminds us of the importance of bearing with one another and forgiving one another.

• St. Paul also reminds us of the proper structure of family life: that men are called to be the head of the family – leading and directing the family, while wives – placing themselves under their husband’s leadership and protection, are called to be the heart of the family.

• Moreover, he reminds us of the duty children have to be obedient to their parents in all things, always respectfully trusting in the authority of their parents.

• At the same time parents must make sure to treat their children well, not provoking them or causing them to be discouraged in any way.

• But most importantly, St. Paul reminds us that we must in all things put on love. True love must govern all of our familial relationships.

• To love someone means that we will, that we desire, what is best for that person. But true love is also sacrificial, meaning that we must be willing to give of ourselves, to sacrifice our own wants and desires, for the sake of those whom we love.

• When it comes to family life, showing love for one another ultimately requires that each family member put aside all selfishness in order to care for the needs of the others.

• In practical terms this means that children should always share with their siblings, giving deference to their brothers and sisters. It also means that kids should be quick to obey their parents without complaining or hassling them.

• For parents true familial love requires seeking first the salvation of your children, placing that as the highest good. This in turn requires that you protect them from the evil and harmful influences that are so prevalent in our society, especially in the various forms of media.

• It means that you teach them our Catholic faith, ensuring that your children go to Mass each Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation, and that they receive the Sacraments. It means that you teach your children to pray, and to love and honor God.

• For spouses, true familial love is best expressed in constantly looking for ways to serve your spouse, caring for their needs above your own. It means praying for and with your spouse. It requires warm affection and a ready forgiveness when necessary.

• Ultimately, true familial love demands that we be willing to undergo any suffering whatsoever to help ensure that our family members go to Heaven.

• My dear brothers and sisters, family life is one of God’s greatest gifts to us. Let us strive to live it well, not simply for the natural pleasures that can be derived from it, but so that we can better prepare ourselves for eternal life with our heavenly family.

Copyright 2010 by Reverend Timothy S. Reid

Reverend Reid is pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic  Church in Charlotte, NC

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Nativity of Our Lord

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2011/12/25 at 9:11 AM

• Deep within the heart of all mankind is a longing. We have an innate sense within ourselves that there is more to life than working, taking our kids to soccer games, or watching TV.

• We know that there is even more to life than all the wonderful things that money can buy, success can attain, or freedom can promise.

• Beyond all the mundane tasks that fill our days, beyond our hopes for success and desires for comfort, there is more that our hearts desire.

• At the deepest core of our hearts is a desire for that which transcends this material world and all that it can offer. Indeed, at the deepest core of our hearts is a desire for that which is eternal: God Himself.

• Try as we might to fulfill this deep longing with material goods, with money or success or fame, everything this world has to offer ultimately rings hollow and unfulfilling. This is because only God Himself can fill that void at the deepest center of our souls.

• Thus the life of the God-fearing man is a long journey or quest for that complete and total union with the Creator, which alone can bring us lasting peace.

• When God created man so long ago, He created us for this complete and total union with Him, and our first parents enjoyed this union with Him in those halcyon days in the Garden of Eden.

• But through our own monstrous pride and the deceptions of the devil, that communion was destroyed by the one thing that has the power to separate man from God: sin.

• Thus it was that the sad drama of humanity was begun. Created to live in union with God in paradise, man turned away from God in a proud quest to usurp Him.

• And from that time onward man has been engaged in this “on-again, off-again” relationship with God: repenting and being reconciled to God, then turning away again through sin, only to repent and to be reconciled once more.

• We see this drama writ large on the pages of the Old Testament as we read the stories of the ancient Israelites. But, of course, each of us has our own similar story that has played out over the course of our lives. At times our struggle with sin can seem futile.

• But we must never lose hope! Especially not today.

• Although the flesh is indeed weak, if our spirits are willing, then Christ will help us. And it’s this fact that we celebrate with the great Feast of Christmas!

• You see, Christmas is not simply the anniversary of a historical reality: the fact that Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary on a cold night in Bethlehem. It’s so much more.

• Christmas is the celebration that our Lord Jesus, veiled in human flesh, comes to us to dwell with us, to be one of us, so that He can save us from our sins.

• The Gospel for Mass on Christmas Day is the Prologue of the Gospel of John, which tells us that: “The Word became flesh, and made His dwelling among us.” And St. John tells us that, “to those who did accept Him, He gave power to become the children of God.”

• This is because in becoming man, Jesus incorporated our human nature into His own divine nature. In doing so He renews and restores human nature, giving our mortal nature immortal value.

• Thus the Incarnation shows forth the great dignity that mankind possesses. God could have united Himself to any nature He chose, but He chose our human nature, showing that man is something wonderful in God’s eyes, something more special than anything else in all of creation.

• And because of this, because God became man, we are now able, through grace, to participate in God’s own divine nature. Salvation is not something we’re waiting for; it’s not something distant and extrinsic to us. It’s something we participate in now!

• But only if we choose to receive the Christ Child into our hearts, repent of our sins, and live as He desires us to live.

• God created all of us to live with Him forever in Heaven, to be His adopted sons and daughters through Jesus Christ. And this God accomplishes through the Incarnation, the very mystery of our faith that we celebrate today with Christmas.

• Obviously, this is a beautiful feast, and it’s beautiful for many reasons. Christmas is beautiful first in what it tells us about God’s love and mercy for us. But it is also beautiful in what it tells us about our human nature.

• Through the Incarnation our human nature has been transformed by grace! Through Christ’s incarnation the divine life of grace that was lost to us by Adam and Eve is now restored, making it possible to live divinely on earth so that we may inherit Heaven.

• And while Jesus died, was resurrected from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, He remains with us still in the Eucharist. Christ continues to be made incarnate through His Church, particularly through the priesthood that makes the Eucharist possible.

• It is by no coincidence that, at His birth, our infant Lord was laid in a manger – a feeding trough. For this was the great foreshadowing of the Eucharist.

• Christ Jesus came to us not simply to suffer and die for us. He came not simply to be worshipped and adored. He came, as well, to give Himself fully. So much does He loves us that He gives us His very flesh and blood as true food and true drink.

• Through the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist – and all the sacraments – God’s saving grace is communicated to us. In this way we are transformed and made into the adopted sons and daughters of God the Father. In this way we participate in our salvation now.

• But it all starts here on this day, for without the Incarnation, there is no salvation.

• My dear brothers and sisters, there is a longing within each of us for that which is transcendent, for that which is immortal. On this night that longing is fulfilled by a tiny babe, born in Bethlehem.

• He comes to heal us of our sins, to save us from eternal perdition, and to make us holy so that we can live with Him forever in the joys of eternity.

• Let us see in Him the only answer to the deepest desires of our hearts, and there let us make room for Him so that we may live according to His will.

Copyright 2010 by Reverend Timothy S. Reid

Reverend Reid is pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic  Church in Charlotte, NC

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Advent: the Coming of Christ

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2011/12/11 at 9:11 AM

 

• Advent is the particular time of the year in which we meditate on the two comings of Christ: one coming which has already been fulfilled in history; and another which we still await.

• While Advent is certainly a time to prepare our hearts to receive the Christ Child anew at  Christmas so that He may be incarnate in the world once again through us, there is another coming of Christ for which we must still prepare.

• It is His second coming when Christ will come again in glory at the end of time with salvation for His people, and I spoke about this at length last Sunday.

• And I also spoke about how we should prepare for these two comings of Christ by growing in love for one another and by truly striving for virtue.

• But while it is important for us to prepare for these two particular comings of Christ, St. Bernard of Clairvaux tells us that there is yet another coming of Christ which we must not neglect.

• For those of you who may not be familiar with St. Bernard, he was a Cistercian monk who lived in France during the 12th century and who was well known for his preaching and great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

• In preaching on the two comings of Christ for which we prepare during the season of Advent, St. Bernard tells us that there is also a third, intermediate coming, that exists between these two comings of Christ.

• While the first coming and last coming of Christ are visible and manifested in history, this intermediate coming of Christ is invisible, hidden, and only seen by the elect within their own selves.

• St. Bernard tells us that “in His first coming our Lord came in our flesh and in our weakness.” “In the final coming He will be seen in glory and majesty.” But “in this middle coming He comes in spirit and in power.”

• This intermediate coming of which St. Bernard speaks is Christ coming to us through the Word, which we keep in our hearts.

• You see, my dear friends, 40 days after His resurrection when our Lord ascended into Heaven with the promise that He would one day return again, He did not leave us bereft of His divine presence.

• To the contrary, our Lord abides with us even now, and not simply in the Word of Sacred Scripture, but through the sacraments, which provide us with a visible manifestation of and encounter with the Word Made Flesh!

• As Christians we know that we always have our Lord with us. He comes to us in this intermediate way first through the sacrament of Baptism, by which He enters into our souls and makes a home there, forging a covenant of love with us.

• And throughout the course of our lives Jesus comes to us again and again through all the sacraments, most especially the Blessed Sacrament: the Eucharist, by which He feeds us with His very own flesh.

• But Jesus also comes to us through the reading of Sacred Scripture, especially when it is proclaimed at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, speaking to us His word of truth.

• And so that we may never be without Him, our Lord remains with us in the tabernacle, His divine presence signaled by the glow of the sanctuary lamp, waiting for us to come to Him.

• Yet while it is true that our Lord blesses us with His presence in the tabernacle, we must remember that Jesus did not come to earth to dwell in a tabernacle of gold. He has come to earth because He wishes to dwell within something much more valuable: the tabernacle of our souls!

• While it is right and good that we prepare for our Lord’s two comings in human history

during Advent, we must not neglect to prepare for the daily coming of the Word-made-flesh in our souls. For indeed, this is the most intimate and personal way Christ comes to us.

• Just as we’ve spared no effort in making this church a suitable dwelling place for God through the use of noble materials, beautiful and theologically rich architecture and artwork, all the more must we work to make our souls suitable dwelling places for the Lord!

• Instead of the intricate stained glass, marble, and gold that adorns this church, we must adorn our souls with virtue and good works.

• Just as the light of the morning sun pours through these stained glass windows, illuminating them and providing us with a glimpse of the heavenly realities, so too must the light of faith, hope and charity pour through our words and actions so that people can get a glimpse of the Christ within us.

• Yet, my dear friends, if we wish to fully experience the grace of this intermediate coming of Christ, then we must come to Christ!

• We do this by making every effort to avail ourselves of His grace through our prayers, through our worthy participation in the sacraments, through our obedience to His Church, and through our service to others.

• My dear friends, if we are truly going to be prepared for our Lord’s coming as man in the Incarnation and His second coming at the end of time, then Christ must reign in our hearts now.

• And when we do this, when we allow Christ to reign in our hearts, He grants us the priceless gift of joy – that same joy that our first and second readings speak about today.

• As we now prepare ourselves for our Lord to come to us in the Eucharist, let us pray that we may have the courage to rid from our lives and from our souls all that prevents us from receiving our Lord as we should.

• Let us pray that we may receive Jesus now as the welcome guest of our souls, and in so doing, let us trust that when our lives on earth are over, He will receive us as His welcome guest in Heaven.

Copyright 2009 by Reverend Timothy S. Reid

Reverend Reid is pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic  Church in Charlotte, NC

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Season of Advent

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2011/12/08 at 12:00 AM

 • High atop Mt. Carmel in northern Israel is a beautiful view of a very interesting part of the world. To the west is the clear, blue water of the Mediterranean Sea. To the north are the mountains of Lebanon. And to the south and east is the plain of Megiddo.

• While it looks like a very peaceful and beautiful area, this plain – which contains the intersection of some of the main trading routes of ancient times – has been the site of many important battles over the centuries.

• In fact historians believe that more battles have been fought here than in any other place in the world.

• And it is in this area where Armageddon is located, which the Book of Revelation records will be the place where the forces of evil will gather to wage battle against Christ and the forces of good at the end of time when our Lord will come to earth once again.

• Looking across that plain a few weeks ago, it was difficult not to think about our Lord’s second coming, and indeed that is certainly what the Church is calling us to do at this time in the year.

• Today we enter once again into the season of Advent. While we typically think of Advent as the time of the year in which we prepare for our Lord’s coming as man in the Incarnation, it is also a time to prepare for His second coming.

• Our Gospel story from Luke speaks of our Lord’s second coming. We are told that the Son of Man will come “in a cloud with power and great glory”, and that “there will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.”

• The theological word we use to describe our Lord’s second coming is parousia. This Greek word literally means “presence” or “arrival.” In secular usage it refers to the arrival of the king or emperor in a city on a royal visit.

• For Christians, the parousia refers to Christ’s Second Coming or “presence” at the end of history. Throughout the New Testament there are numerous references to it in both the Gospels and the letters of St. Paul.

• Moreover, last week’s feast of Christ the King was meant to remind us of the kingly character of Jesus, i.e., that He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus is the Sovereign King to whom we must all render an account on that last day.

• As Catholics we believe that before Christ’s second coming, the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers and there will be great persecutions from the evil one (cf. 2 Thes 2:2ff).

• Then the parousia will occur amid cosmic travail (cf. Mk 13:24ff; Rev 8:7ff, 9:1ff; 2 Peter 3:6ff); the Son of Man will come on the clouds shining with radiant light (cf. Matt 24:30ff).

• Christ’s mere appearance will obliterate Satan (2 Thes 2:8; Rev 20:9ff), and the dead will be raised. This will be the definitive triumph of good over evil.

• The great judgment will occur and the hearts of all men will be opened and their innermost thoughts will be laid bare. Each person will then be rewarded or punished according to his works and according to his acceptance or refusal of grace.

• At this time, the world as we know it will end. All creatures will recognize and acknowledge Jesus as Lord. And Jesus will fully establish the Father’s kingdom.

• It can be a fearful thing to consider that someday we will all have to render an account of our lives to this King – an account of both the good things and the bad things that we have done.

• Indeed, today’s Gospel tells us some people will die of fright in anticipation of what will happen at the second coming. Yet when this happens we are told not to be afraid, but to stand erect and raise our heads because our redemption is at hand!

• In truth, my friends, as Christians the parousia should not cause us to tremble with fear, but rather it should cause us to tremble with joy and hope!

• You see, my friends, our king is no ordinary king. Christ the King is a shepherd at heart. And if we truly know this great King as we should, we will find that there is really nothing to fear in Him at all. All that we need fear is our own human weakness.

• As Christians we know that as long as we live on this earth, we are in exile from our true home: Heaven. And Christ is coming again at the end of time to save us, to take us from this land of exile to our heavenly home. He is coming to conquer sin and death forever!

• And Advent is a time of the year that we remind ourselves of these truths and earnestly seek to prepare for this second coming of our Lord, while we also prepare ourselves for the beautiful Feast of Christmas, which celebrates His first coming as a man.

• The way that we prepare for both of these comings of Christ is by learning to love and by striving for holiness. As St. Paul tells us in the second reading today, we must abound in love for one another.

• St. Paul tells us that we are called to be blameless in holiness, conducting ourselves in a way that pleases God, accepting and living according to the teachings of our faith that have been handed on to us.

• This requires that we foster within ourselves not only a knowledge of our Church’s teachings and a deep desire to conform our lives to those teachings, but also that we cultivate a sincere contrition for those times that we have failed to live out the truths of our faith.

• It is for this reason that during the season of Advent the color violet becomes prominent in our liturgies, for violet symbolizes contrition for sin and a desire for repentance.

• And so as we enter once again into this hopeful and joy-filled season of Advent, as we anticipate our Lord’s two comings: both His coming in the Incarnation and His second coming in the parousia, let us take the time to truly prepare ourselves spiritually.

• Make the time to really pray, and when you pray, meditate on the mystery of the Incarnation and the mystery of Christ’s second coming at the end of time.

• And go to confession, especially if you haven’t been in awhile. There is no better way to prepare your soul for God’s manifold gifts than by cleaning out all the sin that weighs us down in life.

• My dear friends, our King is coming, and He shall not delay! Therefore, let us prepare ourselves well by cultivating within our souls a true repentance for our sins and by striving for genuine holiness.

• And have no fear of Him. While it is true that our Lord is the mightiest of kings, He is also the most gentle and merciful.

• May Jesus Christ be praised, now and forever. Amen.

Copyright 2009 by Reverend Timothy S. Reid

Reverend Reid is pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic  Church in Charlotte, NC

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December 8 Feast of the Immaculate Conception

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2011/12/07 at 12:00 AM

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

•Today is one of the most beautiful feast days of the entire year: it is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, which calls to mind how our Lady was conceived without any trace of original sin in the womb of  St. Ann.

• It is also a very special day for our country, as our Lady, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, is the patroness of the United States.

• In coming to understand this beautiful mystery of our Catholic faith, the Church elucidates four elements that help us to more fully understand what it is that we believe about this dogma.

• First, we believe that God the Father chose Mary to be the Mother of Jesus Christ; in other words, she was predestined to be the Mother of God before the foundation of the world.

• Secondly, we believe that God prepared Mary for this unique and singular task from the first moment of her conception by preserving her free from all stain of sin.

• Thirdly, we know that this is a singular grace granted to no other person in history; Mary is thus the highest and fairest honor of the human race – higher in dignity than all men and all the angels and saints.

• And lastly, we believe that Mary enjoys a special place in the economy of salvation both in relation to the mystery of Jesus and of the Church.

• As we ponder this mystery and meditate on the first reading from Genesis, we are reminded of the devastating consequences of sin. The first reading reminds us that sin is destructive, and that there is always a price to pay for our sins.

• While our first reading tells us of how the serpent was banned from the animals and made to crawl on its belly and eat dirt, the very worst consequences of sin are the internal consequences that we don’t always readily perceive.

• Sin is spiritually corrosive. It eats away at our souls, making us less than who God has destined us to be. It distorts us, alienates us, and takes away our peace.

• Moreover, just as Adam and Eve lost paradise because of their sin, if our sins are mortal and we refuse to repent of them, we can lose the paradise of Heaven for all eternity.

• Yet as we consider the second reading and look upon this great gift our Lord has given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in preserving her from all stain of sin from the first moment of her conception, we see in this mystery of our faith the great love and mercy of God as well.

• In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul reminds us today that God the Father desires to adopt us as His very own children! Our Lord has chosen each of us for Heaven!

• For this reason our Lord desires us to be holy and without blemish before Him. And Mary, as our spiritual mother, is our pattern of holiness and our advocate in Heaven.

• By her sinless life, Mary is not only the worthy mother of God, but she is also the sign of God’s favor to the Church and the promise of its perfection as the bride of Christ.

• And at Nazareth Mary shows us the path to holiness in her exchange with the Archangel Gabriel by her whole-hearted willingness to fulfill God’s will. Full of grace, Mary does not hesitate to say yes to our Lord’s invitation.

• And the same must be true for us.

• If we wish to be holy as God desires us to be, then we must be willing always to say yes to our Lord’s divine will, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable His will may seem for us.

• My friends, on this special day in which we honor our Immaculate Mother, let us pray that through her intercession each of us may grow in docility and humble obedience so that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

• And let us give thanks to our Lady for being not only God’s worthy mother, but our worthy mother as well.

Copyright 2009 by Reverend Timothy S. Reid

Reverend Reid is pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic  Church in Charlotte, NC

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Christ the King (Whose feast is this Sunday)

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2011/11/18 at 11:11 AM

From the mid-17th century until the end of the 18th century most of Europe and even our American Colonies were caught up in the philosophical, intellectual, and cultural era we now call The Enlightenment.

• The great irony of this era is that we call it “The Enlightenment,” when in actuality it was a period that truly darkened and impoverished the great intellectual and scientific advances mankind enjoyed in previous centuries.

• I say this because the Enlightenment advocated reason, completely separated from faith, as the primary source of intellectual authority. The intelligentsia turned its back wholesale on the immaterial world, deciding instead that only that which is material was worth believing in.

• Of course this was a radical departure from the intellectual milieu common to the medieval and Renaissance periods, which understood Creation as a happy harmony of material and non-material elements.

• Ever since the Enlightenment, we have witnessed a growing antagonism between the sciences and religion in Western society. This is a sad development because it was the Church who gave rise to the sciences in the first place.

• Physics, chemistry, astronomy, and so many of the scientific disciplines were borne out of the patronage, intellectual inquiry, and hard work of Holy Mother Church and her members.

• But even sadder than the divorce of faith and reason is the loss of belief in and appreciation of the spiritual and non-material world by so many people.

• Every week at Mass we profess our faith in God with the Creed, acknowledging Him as the Maker of all that is, seen and unseen. Very clearly, our Catholic faith professes belief in and relies upon both visible and invisible realities.

• Understanding fallen mankind’s weakness of faith and need for concrete, visible realities, the Church makes the invisible realities of our faith visible through signs and symbols woven into our art, architecture, music, and most especially the liturgy itself.

• So part of the maturation process as a Catholic is learning to look beyond these signs and symbols to see and believe in these invisible realities.

• So well did our Lord understand fallen mankind’s need for material realities that He became man in the Incarnation, as St. Paul says: “the image of the invisible God.”

• But even though Jesus became man, in His humility He kept His divinity hidden for most of His life on earth. Of course we got glimpses of His divinity at His baptism, at His transfiguration, and through His miracles.

• Our Lord gave mankind these glimpses of His divinity in order to elicit faith and to build a body of believers who would become the nucleus of the Church that would continue His work after His ascension into Heaven.

• Interestingly, never was Jesus’ divinity more hidden yet more visible to the eyes of faith than in His suffering and death. At the same time, never was Jesus more “kingly” than in His suffering and death. As we consider today’s feast of Christ the King, we must strive to look beyond the visible reality of Calvary to see Jesus as king.

• His crown is a crown of thorns, but no less of a crown. His throne from which He reigns is a cross, but it is no less a throne. Rather than fine silk or linen, He is appareled with bloody wounds, but they are regal vesture nonetheless.

• There is a sign above His head that reads “Jesus, King of the Jews”, and yet there is nothing about Him that would suggest that He is a king. But we know by faith that “in Him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible.”

• Our faith teaches us and St. Paul reminds us today that Jesus “is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.”

• And we must recognize Jesus as such not for His sake, but for our own!

• Seeing the rise of atheistic communism and secularism as a result of people denying the  sovereignty of Christ, Pope Pius XI instituted today’s feast of Christ the King in 1925 to remind people of the absolute authority of Christ and His Church.

• The whole point of today’s feast is to draw us closer to Christ so that we might allow Him truly to rule our hearts. We must learn to be His loyal subjects so that He might save us from our sins.

• Being the gentle and humble king that He is, Jesus invites us to take joy in Him, to love Him, to honor Him, to serve Him, and to obey Him.

• Christ’s kingship is a spiritual sovereignty; it’s not a coercive sovereignty. His sovereignty is a gentle invitation to holiness – an invitation that must be accepted if we hope to go to Heaven.

• While we know by faith that Jesus is Lord over all creation, over all things – seen and unseen – He did not come to rule on earth, but rather to establish the Kingdom of God within the hearts of all men so that we might one day share in eternal life.

• But in order for this to happen, we must be willing to look beyond that which is visible and material to see the invisible realities our Catholic faith professes, especially with regard to today’s Gospel, which presents us with a great paradox.

• By all appearances the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is defeated upon Calvary, but it is His death that gives us life.

• So be not duped like Pilate, the Pharisees, the centurions and the mocking crowds that surround Him on the cross. This paradox is at the very heart of the Gospel!

• In order to save our lives, we must first lose them!! We must die to self, and Christ fulfills this paradox in His very body.

• The good thief, whom Tradition tells us was named Dismas, was not duped. He looked beyond the visible reality of the crucifixion scene and saw the regal majesty of Christ reigning from the cross.

• And like Dismas, we must look with the eyes of faith and see the truth that we were created by and for Christ. We were created to live and love as Christ lived and loved, and we were created to reign with Him forever.

• And so, my friends, let us pay homage to Christ our King, by living and loving as He did. Let us honor Him, not by waving palm branches, but through our charitable acts toward one another.

• Instead of throwing down our cloaks before Him, let us lay down our very lives and die to ourselves. My friends, surrender to our King. Get rid of whatever is in your heart or in your life that is keeping you from serving Him as you should.

• And have no fear of Him. While it is true that He is the mightiest of kings, He is also the most gentle and loving. And as we surrender all to Him, my friends, let us know that someday, like Dismas the Good Thief, we will be with Christ forever in Paradise.

Copyright 2010 by Reverend Timothy S. Reid

Reverend Reid is pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic  Church in Charlotte, NC

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All Souls’ Day, November 2nd

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2011/10/29 at 10:10 AM

• Today, my friends, is a beautiful day of prayer for Catholics around the world. While it is the day that we remember our deceased loved ones, it is also a day in which we are called to meditate on the gift of eternal life.

• And so while the vestment I wear is black to symbolize our mourning for the dead, it is trimmed in silver to remind us that in our mourning, we are called all the more to bear witness to our hope in the resurrection of all men.

• Throughout the course of our 2000 years of history, the Catholic Church has always recognized the pastoral necessity of praying for the deceased as a means of helping them on their way to Heaven.

• Yesterday at Mass I spoke a bit about purgatory, and I mentioned how purgatory is not so much a place of punishment, but rather is a manifestation of God’s great love and mercy for us.

• While it’s true that the souls in purgatory suffer, it is so they can be perfected and thus prepared for the joys of Heaven!

• I also mentioned that purgatory is necessary for those of us who have maintained a spiritual friendship with God and desire to be in union with Him, but who have failed to make sufficient reparation for our sins or who still harbor some attachment to sin.

• As Catholics it is of utmost importance that we realize the utter devastation of sin, even those little sins that we think no one notices.

• Yesterday I mentioned how God has an image of who He wants us to be in this life. But sin makes us less than who we are called to be. It deforms our natural goodness and strips us of our dignity as people made in God’s image and likeness.

• Moreover, all sin separates us from God and from one another. It weakens the love we have for God, and in the case of mortal sin, it actually destroys that love for God within us.

• Our Lord, who loves us in infinite fashion, shows us nothing but love and benevolence throughout out lives. And sin is a rejection of His love; and therefore every sin is an injustice against God.

• In order to help correct this injustice, we must do penance to make reparation for our sins. That’s why a priest gives us a penance whenever we go to confession.

• Furthermore, throughout our lives we should seek constantly to make reparation for our sins. And this is why traditionally the Church has encouraged Catholics to give up meat on Fridays, and why the Church asks us to fast during Lent.

• These acts of sacrifice are a means for us to make reparation for our sins, to correct the injustice we’ve committed against God. Penances also help to break our attachments to sin.

• If at the time of our death we are in a state of grace and not in a state of mortal sin, but still have not made sufficient reparation for our sins, our Lord allows us to be purified in the fires of purgatory so that whatever sin remains within us may be burned away.

• I think a helpful analogy is to think of a bride on her wedding day. Every bride goes to great lengths to be as beautiful as she can be for her bridegroom on her wedding day.

• In the same way, purgatory is like the morning of our eternal wedding day. The suffering that we undergo in purgatory is how we are prepared for our bridegroom and the wedding feast of Heaven!

• However, as Catholics we believe that we cannot do anything to help ourselves once we are in purgatory. Therefore, we must rely on the prayers of others to help purify us.

• We do this in a primary way at funeral Masses. You see, my friends, the primary purpose of a funeral Mass is to pray for the repose of the soul of the deceased person. The prayers of every funeral Mass are geared toward this intention.

• Catholics are also encouraged to have Masses offered for their loved ones, and many of you are very faithful to this practice.

• But we also have All Souls Day, which is the day set aside each year to pray for all the dead.This is the way the Church ensures that all the poor souls in purgatory are receiving prayers.

• This day occurs right after All Saints Day in order to highlight the connection between the three states in which the Church exists.

• Yesterday we honored all of the saints in heaven, and as Catholics we believe that there is a very real bond that exists between us who are living on earth and the saints in heaven. The communion of the faithful does not dissolve simply because some of the faithful die.

• As Catholics we believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ: those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven.

• We believe that together we all form one Church; and we believe that in this communion, the saints are always attentive to our prayers. They forever intercede for us from Heaven for our good and the good of the entire Church, and we refer to them as the Church Triumphant.

• But at the present time some of our Lord’s disciples are pilgrims on earth. This is us, the Church Militant. Others have died and are being purified in purgatory, and we refer to them as the Church Suffering.

• Just as the Church Triumphant prays for us, the Church Militant, so too must we, the Church Militant, pray for the Church Suffering so that they may become the Church Triumphant.

• Our prayers, sacrifices and penances can greatly aid the souls in purgatory, and thus the Church instituted today’s feast for that very purpose.

• And so, my friends, we meditate today on God’s promise of eternal life for those who love Him, and pray that all those who have gone before us may obtain the pardon of their sins, the help of God’s grace, and life everlasting.

• Let us assist the deceased with our prayers, and let us also pray that when we die our hope for eternal life may be fulfilled as well! Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them! Amen.

Copyright 2009 by Reverend Timothy S. Reid

Reverend Reid is pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic  Church in Charlotte, NC

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All Saints’ Day, November 1st

In 05 Homilies by Fr. Reid on 2011/10/28 at 10:59 PM

The saints remind us clearly of our call to purity and holiness of life. They remind us of the necessity of living in faith,hope, and love, and they show us the joy of embracing a life of virtue.

• But most importantly, the saints remind us that God has an image of who He wants us to be, and that we should strive with all our might to be that man or woman God has called us to be.

• Sacred Scripture tells us that our Lord has created us in His own image and likeness, but our Lord has also created each of us with a certain plan for our lives. In His mind our Lord has an image of the person He wants each of us to be.

• Throughout the course of our lives, if we choose to listen to our Lord through prayer, if we choose to follow God’s will, if we endeavor to grow in virtue and seek to make reparation for our sins, we are gradually transformed into that person our Lord has called us to be.

• In other words, growing into that person that God has called us to be is simply a matter of growing in holiness. It’s a matter of living out the Beatitudes that we heard in today’s Gospel.

• If we manage to live lives of holiness here on earth and become that person that God desires us to be and accept His mercy for the times we have fallen short, then we enter into the joys of Heaven and live united with our Lord for all eternity.

• Of course, if we are not sorry for our sins, if we have not asked for God’s mercy, if we have forfeited God’s friendship through mortal sin and have no desire to be united to Him, then we will merit the eternal pains of hell.

• But if we fail to realize God’s desire for our life but are still striving for holiness, and if we are sorry for our sins and have asked for our Lord’s mercy, then our Lord allows us to be perfected and made into the image He has of us in the afterlife. And this we call purgatory.

• Rather than being a place of punishment, purgatory, my friends, is actually a great sign of God’s mercy.

• You see, my friends, God and sin are mutually exclusive; they cannot exist together. So if we are to be eternally united with God in Heaven, then we must be free of all sin and all of our attachment to sin.

• If we fall short in our duty to grow in holiness in this life, or if we fail to make proper reparation for our sins, but still love God and desire to be with Him, then our Lord allows us to be purified in purgatory.

• This purification will involve suffering (commonly understood as purifying fire), and through this process God’s fiery love “burns” away all impurities on the person’s soul.

• And once the process of purification is completed, the soul enters into God’s presence and is fully united to Him. So purgatory is God’s way of preparing us fully to live with Him in Heaven forever.

• The saints are the people who have fulfilled that image God has of them during their lives on earth. They are people who have lived a life of holiness to a heroic degree and who have no need of purgatory.

• In other words, the saints are people who have proven not only that living a life of holiness is possible in this life, but that holiness is possible for any person living in any circumstance.

• In the Book of Revelation, we hear of St. John’s famous vision of heaven, and he tells us about the servants of God who come from every tribe of the children of Israel.

• St. John tells us of the great multitude of people standing before the throne of God, from every nation, race, people and tongue, and in doing so St. John tells us that sainthood is not restricted to a certain group or class of people. Sainthood is for all of us!

• And the Church’s history has borne this out. While the Church does make distinctions between various classes of saints, such as martyrs, pastors, virgins and religious, the Church’s roll of saints includes both men and women of all ages from every continent.

• And today’s feast calls us to be among their number when we die.

• The beautiful thing is that the saints not only call us to join them around God’s throne in the eternity of heaven, but through their merits and intercession they actually help us to fulfill God’s will and grow in holiness.

• The author of the Letter to the Hebrews speaks of the saints in Heaven as a “great cloud of witnesses,” and he writes: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith” (Heb 12:1-2).

• As we celebrate this great Solemnity of All Saints, as we bask in the glory of this great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith, let us trust in their intercession to help us in whatever struggles life brings to us.

• Let us look to their example of heroic virtue and purity of life and seek to imitate it for the sake of our souls. Like the saints in Heaven, let us live out the Beatitudes with faithfulness and integrity so that we may one day join them around God’s throne.

Copyright 2009 by Reverend Timothy S. Reid

Reverend Reid is pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic  Church in Charlotte, NC