St. John’s Book of Revelation speaks so beautifully today of the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. He tells us that it “gleamed with the splendor of God. Its radiance was like that of a precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal.”
In speaking of this new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, St. John is, of course, speaking of Heaven itself! Hopefully hearing about the beauty of Heaven will make us desire it all the more.
As Christians Heaven is our greatest hope. God, who has created us for Himself, dwells there; and thus the greatest shame for any of us would be to miss out on it, where we will enjoy eternal union with Him.
The beautiful thing about our Catholic faith is that it’s designed precisely for this purpose: to get us to Heaven, and this it does primarily through the grace we receive in the Sacraments.
As we consider the magnificent graces available to us in the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, who of us could ever leave Holy Mother Church, especially as we consider the glories of Heaven and the pains of hell? For walking away from the Church and her Sacraments greatly jeopardizes our chances for salvation.
While our Catholic faith is demanding and difficult to live well, and while many people within the Church are poor examples of what a Catholic should be, the fact remains that Catholics have the best opportunity to get to Heaven because of our access to the Sacraments.
This truth doesn’t make us better than people of other religions, but it does make us more blessed – and it places upon us a greater responsibility for living lives of holiness by conforming our lives to God’s will.
In addition to the Sacraments that help us get to Heaven, our Lord has also given us His Immaculate Mother, the Queen of Heaven, as an intercessor and guide to help us along the steep and narrow path that alone leads to Heaven.
In the example of her sinless life we are given the perfect model of all that a Catholic should do and be. And from her throne in Heaven where she reigns with her crucified and risen Son, she intercedes for us to procure for us every grace we need to get to Heaven.
It’s for this reason that every Catholic should be so dedicated to Mary!
Last Sunday I spoke about the importance and power of our Lady’s Rosary, and I encouragedall of you to pray the Rosary every day in this month of May, as May is a month that we
dedicate to Our Lady.

Meditating on the mysteries of the life of Jesus and Mary in the Rosary helps us to knowJesus and Mary better so that we might become more like them. Meditating on the mysteries
of the Rosary also deepens our gratitude and increases our love for them.

But more importantly, as I mentioned last week, Our Lady revealed to Blessed Alan de laRoche that she promises incredible graces to those souls who are dedicated to the Rosary to
aid them along the path to salvation, especially at the moment of their death.

So once again I encourage all of you to pray the Rosary daily, especially in this month ofMary, for in praying with those beads we can find the help we need to get to Heaven!
Throughout history the Blessed Virgin Mary has appeared to many saints and seers and hasspoken to them of the vital importance of the Rosary and the great help it is to one’s personal holiness.
One 20th century seer to whom our Lady spoke about the Rosary was Lúcia Santos, one of the three children from Fátima who received apparitions of Our Lady in 1917.
8 years after the Fátima apparitions, Our Lady appeared to Lúcia again, who by then had entered a convent in the city of Pontevedra. During this apparition Mary gave to Sr. Lúcia the parameters for what we call the 1st Saturdays devotion.
Just as Friday is the day of the week that we dedicate to our Savior, Jesus Christ, for His suffering and death, so too is Saturday the day we focus on the sufferings of Our Lady.
Saturday is the day dedicated to Mary in commemoration of that 1st Holy Saturday some 2000 years ago when Mary would have felt the sword of sorrow that the aged Simeon prophesied about piercing her Immaculate Heart so very keenly, as her divine Son lay dead in the tomb.
Mary had first mentioned the 1st Saturday devotions when she appeared to Lúcia and the other two children in Fatima on July 13, 1917. When Mary appeared to Sr. Lúcia again 8 years later, she confirmed her desire that the 1st Saturday of each month be set aside as a day of reparation for sins against her Immaculate Heart.
Just as we wound the Sacred Heart of Jesus by our sins and ingratitude toward Him, we also wound Mary’s Immaculate Heart in the same way, for their hearts are perfectly united. We cannot honor or offend one of them without honoring or offending the other.
Specifically, Our Lady said to Sr. Lúcia:Look, my daughter, at my Heart encircled by these thorns with which men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, strive to console me, and so I announce: I promise to assist at the hour of death with the grace necessary for salvation all those who, with the intention of making reparation to me, will, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the beads, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.
Over time the Five 1st Saturday devotion was clarified to consist of making reparation for sins against Mary’s Immaculate Heart by the following elements: going to confession within a few days before or after the 1st Saturday, receiving Holy Communion on the 1st Saturday, praying 5 decades of the Rosary on the 1st Saturday, and spending at least 15 minutes in meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary (in addition to simply reciting it).
Yesterday, of course, was the 1st Saturday of this month, and so hopefully some of you were able to fulfill Our Lady’s request. But for those of you who were unaware of this devotion, please keep it in mind for the months to come!
As Christians we must always keep the goal of Heaven ever before us. While it is true that we are living on earth, we must remember that we are but strangers and sojourners here, and that our true citizenship is in Heaven.
Alas, because of our sinfulness getting to Heaven is not easy, and we all need help! And Our Lady is that help!
It is for this reason that one of the titles by which we venerate Mary is “Gate of Heaven,” and it is for this reason that when we pray the Hail Mary, we ask her to pray for us now and at the hour of our death.
Confident of her constant love and powerful intercession, may we always turn to her who is our life, our sweetness, and our hope, trusting in her maternal protection and solicitude.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, Cause of our Joy, pray for us!
05 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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 Very few works of art in our world have the impact of Michelangelo’s Last Judgment, which adorns the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel.
 Completed in 1541 after 4 years of work, this Renaissance fresco is a riot of color and images, which excites the eye and stimulates both mind and heart.
 The great genius of this fresco is not so much its sheer beauty and artistic imagination, as it is the clear message that each of us must make a radical choice to either accept or reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, for this fresco provides a glimpse into that great final moment when Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead!
 Seated in the center of the painting with His Blessed Mother to His side, Jesus is depicted as strong and powerful, reigning supreme as He is surrounded by His saints and pronouncing judgment on souls who ascend to the heavens or fall to hell accordingly.
 The most interesting part of the fresco, though, is the very bottom in which angels and demons wrestle for souls, a reminder of the spiritual battle for our souls that is constantly being waged around us whether we realize it or not.
 In the bottom right of the picture is Charon from Greek mythology, steering the ferry that carries the damned down the River Styx to where they are greeted by Minos, Hell’s gatekeeper, whose body is coiled about by a serpent.
 On the faces of the damned are terror, fear and loathing, for now they realize that their grave sins and refusal of Christ’s mercy have merited an eternity of hellish pain and suffering.
 On any given day, we can open the newspapers or turn on the news and learn of anotherterrible tragedy or saga of sorrow in our world. It is not hard to find examples of incredible
human suffering.

 But truly, my brothers and sisters, the greatest tragedy any of us can face is eternaldamnation. And what this means is that the greatest burden in this life is to be in a state of
mortal sin, for to die in mortal sin necessarily means that we will be damned for eternity.

 What matters most in this life, then, is not to be free of suffering or sorrow. It is not ofgreatest importance that we are comfortable and happy in this life. All that truly matters is
that we are living in a state of grace!

 When we maintain our souls in a habitual state of grace, we can truly exercise the beautifulvirtue of hope “…by which we desire the kingdom of Heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (CCC, no. 1817).
 But this does not mean that any lapse into mortal sin should ever extinguish our hope for eternal life, for just like the widow’s son in the Gospel, Jesus can bring us back from death to life by His words.
 If we are dead in sin, but contritely place ourselves under the healing hand of Christ in the confessional, His words of absolution – spoken by Him through a priest – brings us back to life just as surely as Jesus revives that young man in today’s Gospel.
 But this new life that we receive in the confessional should not be taken for granted, nor should we ever flirt with grave sin, rashly presuming upon God’s mercy.
 Rather, as true followers of Christ we must seek to live habitually in a state of grace – avoiding even the near occasion of sin.
 Remaining in a state of grace requires living a spiritual life, and avoiding a life of carnal pleasure. As St. Paul reminds us: “what a man sows in the flesh, from the flesh also will reap corruption. But he who sows in the spirit, from the spirit will reap life everlasting.”
 Of course there’s more to living a life of grace than merely avoiding sin and seeking to live a spiritual life. While doing so may keep us in a state of grace, our goal must be true holiness, for this is what glorifies God and secures our salvation.
 Yet holiness is never attained simply by focusing on ourselves. To grow in genuine holiness requires reaching out in charity to help others. This is the all-important virtue that we must strive for, for it is the virtue of charity that helps to form the other virtues within us.
 Charity takes many forms, but I think the most important form of charity is helping people to overcome their sinfulness so that they may grow in genuine holiness.
 If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my life as a priest, it is that people are fragile. All of us bear particular wounds and sufferings that are the mark of sin – either our own sins or the sins of others. Oftentimes the wounds we bear inhibit our growth in holiness.
 But that doesn’t have to be the case! For when we seek to live by the spirit, we can see in our wounds a means of growing closer to Christ. When we unite our wounds to Christ’s wounds, they are transfigured and become a means of spiritual strength for us.
 Yet oftentimes, this is only possible when someone lends us a helping hand. Just as we often need the assistance of others when we are physically wounded in order to find healing, so too do we need the assistance of others to find healing for our wounds of sin.
 As St. Paul tells us today, we should be willing to bear one another’s burdens, and not grow tired of doing good. This requires the virtue of magnanimity so that we may look beyond a person’s sin to see his wounds that have helped bring about that sin.
 So often when we see a person sinning in a grievous way, we are tempted to judge them and to be scandalized. And worse yet, we often turn to gossiping about them as well.
 But St. Paul tells us today that when we see someone sinning, we should instruct them in a spirit of meekness – not judging, but realizing that we, too, could fall into a serious sin.
 This doesn’t mean we should ever excuse the sins of others, especially when those sins aregrave and scandalous. But like Jesus with the woman caught in adultery, we should show
compassion for that person’s woundedness while gently admonishing them not to sin again.

 Brothers and sisters, each of us is precious in God’s eyes, no matter how numerous or graveour sins may be. And each us, in working out our own salvation, is called to help others
along the path to salvation.

 Sometimes all it takes is a kind word, a smile, or an earnest prayer coupled with a generoussacrifice on our part to help turn another away from sin and find healing for his wounds.
 In a spirit of humility, may we be always clear in our understanding of what is sinful andoffensive to God, while never judging the hearts of those we see sinning.
 In a spirit of meekness and magnanimity, may we each be willing to bear the burdens ofothers, gently correcting and helping each other to heal from our sins.
 And through the practice of the virtue of charity may we merit to be resurrected from theeternal death our sins deserve so that we may reign with Christ Jesus forever in Heaven.

September 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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Inside the Scrovegni Chapel in the city of Padua are some remarkable frescos painted by the Giotto, one of the fathers of the Italian Renaissance. Completed in 1305, the frescoes of the Scrovegni Chapel detail the lives of Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Through 7 of these frescoes the story of how our Lady’s birth came about is explained.
The frescoes show us that the elderly Sts. Ann and Joachim endured a great deal of sufferingand shame for being childless, so much so that Joachim was even expelled from the Temple
and had to go live amongst the shepherds outside of Jerusalem.

But eventually both St. Ann and St. Joachim received a message from an angel that theywould have a daughter. After a joyful reunion at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem, which was
near to their home, they conceived and St. Ann gave birth to the Mother of our Savior.

Today, September 8th, is the day that we celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary –9 months, of course, after the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
While today’s celebration of our Lady’s birth is a rather low-ranking feast on the liturgicalcalendar, and therefore is suppressed in lieu of the Sunday Mass propers and readings, we cannot underestimate how important this feast is, for in Mary’s birth we see the light of hope just beginning to dawn for mankind who had been hopelessly trapped in the darkness of sin.
Truly, in Mary we are given not only the Mother of our Redeemer, but we are also given the perfect model for holiness and Christian discipleship. Of all who have followed Christ, none have followed Him as perfectly as His very own mother.
So as we celebrate her birth, we celebrate as well her role in the economy of salvation, her perfect union with Christ’s divine will, and her willingness to help by her prayers and intercession us poor sinners, so that we, too, might His disciples be.
Once again this Sunday we are given another Gospel passage in which our Lord sets the bar for discipleship. And as usual, He sets it high!
What we must understand, my brothers and sisters, is that no one stumbles into Heaven by accident or dumb luck. Going to Heaven requires that we be our Lord’s disciples, and this is not easy.
For today’s Gospel makes it clear that being Jesus’ disciple requires absolutely everything from us: not only all of our possessions, but even our relationships with loved ones.
These are hard words, indeed, but this message from our Lord should not trouble us greatly. Rather we should strive to understand His words in the context of the entire Gospel message.
In telling us that we must hate our loved ones, our Lord is teaching us today that our love forHim should have pride of place in our hearts! Therefore, we must avoid or expunge from our
lives anyone that keeps us from loving God as we should.

You see, my brothers and sisters, there should be a hierarchy of loves in our hearts, with thelove of God being our highest priority. This is the demand of discipleship, and this is the
proof that we truly are our Lord’s disciples.

But we must also be willing to avoid or expunge from our lives any material goods to whichwe might become overly attached.
In saying that we must renounce all of our possessions in order to be His disciple, Jesus is notsaying that absolute poverty is a prerequisite for discipleship.
But while God doesn’t demand strict poverty, He does demand detachment from worldly goods. Knowing how easily man becomes attached to created things, and how attachment of this type can be an obstacle to salvation, our Lord spoke strongly on this issue several times.
We see this especially in His interaction with the Rich Young Man, who went away sad at the prospect of giving up his many possessions (cf. Mt 19:16-22). And what does our Lord say to His disciples after that encounter?
He says: “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mt 19:23-24).
In other words, riches and the good things of this world can certainly be a blessing, but they can also be a hindrance to our salvation. And so if we are blessed with material wealth, we must be willing to part from our goods in order to love God as we should.
In fact, my brothers and sisters, our love for God must be so strong that we are willing to suffer anything, willing to carry any cross, out of love for God.
One of the great perspectives that Christianity provides to mankind that other religions don’t is that suffering – even in its most grievous and painful forms – doesn’t have to be a tragedy. Indeed, we believe that suffering is redemptive – if we unite it with Christ’s suffering.
Carrying our crosses is a powerful means of uniting ourselves with Jesus, of growing in virtue, and of making reparation for our sins. By willingly carrying our crosses, we share in our Lord’s work of redemption, and this is a great privilege.
Of course embracing suffering of any kind seems counter-intuitive, does it not? Certainly the notion of carrying one’s crosses is antithetical to the wisdom of the world.
But that’s the point of the first reading from the Book of Wisdom. This reading tells us that left to his own devices, man is limited in his capacity to find and understand true wisdom, which only comes from God.
Distracted by the cares of life, we are in need of the Holy Spirit if we are to walk in the ways of God. But we also need the Holy Spirit’s spouse: Mary, for she is the one who shows us just how beautiful Christian discipleship can be.
Sometimes when we hear Gospels like the one we have today, we may be tempted to either disbelieve the strict demands of discipleship, or to look upon our discipleship to Christ as a great and terrible burden.
But in our Lady we see that the radical detachment from others and from the things of this world that Jesus asks for is not only necessary but also beautiful and good.
Mary’s life was a life of virginal simplicity, unencumbered with material goods or unhealthy relationships. This enabled her to develop a true poverty of spirit by which she desired to possess only one thing: God Himself. So we can see in her how detachment from the things of this world helps us to be attached to the things of God.
While there can be no doubt that our Lady loved her parents, her other relatives, and dear St. Joseph with that gentle intensity that springs from genuine charity, there can also be no doubt that her greatest love was reserved for her Son.
But most importantly Mary proved her worth as a disciple by her willingness to suffer and to carry her crosses. And aside from our Lord Himself, no one suffered as much as she. Being perfectly united with Jesus, Mary suffered her own Passion right along with Him.
My brothers and sisters, true discipleship is costly. Our Lord demands much of us if we are to follow Him. But let us not be daunted or deterred by the demands of discipleship.
Instead, let us turn to our Lady for timely help. Let us place ourselves in her hands, and she will show us how best to love and follow her Son.
Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us!

8 September 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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When it comes to understanding our beautiful Blessed Mother, the Catholic Church hands on to us 4 dogmatic teachings that have been carefully thought out and defined over many, many centuries.
Dogma is a truth appertaining to faith or morals, revealed by God, transmitted from the Apostles in the Scriptures or by tradition, and proposed by the Church for the acceptance of the faithful.
So when Holy Mother Church proposes a teaching as dogmatic, we, the faithful, must believe and hold that teaching as infallibly true.
The 4 dogmatic teachings about the Blessed Virgin are: 1) Mary is the Mother of God;
2) Mary enjoyed perpetual virginity; 3) Mary was immaculately conceived; and 4) Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven.
Of course it is this last dogmatic statement – which wasn’t solemnly defined until 1950 – that concerns us today.
Today we celebrate that most glorious moment in the life of the Mother of God when she, after the course of her earthly life was over, was assumed body and soul into the glory of Heaven.
Immaculately conceived and persevering in perfect and sinless innocence throughout the entire course of her life, Mary was accorded this one final favor from our Lord at the moment of her death.
Our Lord had already favored Mary above all other women by making her the Mother of His only begotten Son, all the while preserving for the entirety of her life her virginity, even after the moment of Christ’s conception and birth.
Indeed, our Lord favored Mary from the very first moment of her conception with a very particular and unique grace: complete sinlessness.
Immaculate in every way, even from the taint of original sin, the Blessed Virgin Mary became not only the Mother of God, but also the new Eve.
In complete cooperation with her Son, the new Adam, this new Eve helps to undo the reckless damage brought about by the sinfulness of our first parents.
Whereas the first Eve was a seductress, who herself was seduced by the wiles of the serpent, and in her folly with Adam brought forth death into the world, Mary – the new Eve – is innocent, pure, and chaste beyond measure.
And instead of giving birth to the curse of death through her selfishness, as did the first Eve, Mary in her maternal solicitude and selflessness gave birth to Him Who Is the way, the truth, and the life.
In Mary the waywardness, the concupiscence, the infidelity, and the pride of our first Mother Eve is reversed and conquered by her integrity, her purity, her steadfastness, and most especially her humility.
“Through Eve the gates of heaven were closed to all mankind; through the Virgin Mother they were opened wide again.”
It is for this reason that the Church calls our Lady the “glory of Jerusalem, the joy of Israel,” and “the fairest honor of our race.”
While Mary procures for us the graces necessary to rise above our sinfulness and to grow more and more into the likeness of her Son, the effects of our first parents’ sin are sadly still with us.
Because of original sin we struggle with concupiscence. And because of our sins, our bodies are subject to corruption after death. We are indeed dust, and in our sinfulness unto dust we shall return.
Our Lady, however, being immaculately conceived and a most perfect virgin throughout her life, as well as the noble associate of the divine Redeemer, obtained from her Son the favor that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb.
In this favor we see the magnificent heights to which mankind – persevering in virtue and steadfast in the pursuit of holiness – can be raised.
Without a doubt the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a unique privilege meant for Our Lady alone, but it is also meant for our encouragement!
In her Assumption Mary shows us the way to Heaven, and from her place in Heaven she so capably aids us on our journey there.
Unequaled in her love for God and in her capacity to procure the divine assistance, she is also unwavering in her love for us and therefore procures and hands on to us every grace our Lord grants.
Our Lady is both our greatest advocate with the Lord, as well as our greatest protector from the evil one. And on this day we should therefore praise and thank our Lady!
Most importantly, we should entrust ourselves completely to her maternal care: calling upon her, relying upon her, and trusting in her maternal love and protection.
My brothers and sisters, for the past 33 days many of us in this parish have been preparing to consecrate ourselves to Jesus through Mary. After Mass today we will pray together our prayer of consecration.
We will renew our baptismal vows, and we will give ourselves totally to Mary and ask that she make use of us according to God’s divine will.
As your pastor, I solemnly promise you, that if you are faithful to your consecration promise throughout your life, you will go to Heaven at the end of your life.
My brothers and sisters, as we celebrate this magnificent feast in honor of our Lady, let us give thanks to our Lord for the great gift of His Mother.
Let us each one entrust ourselves whole-heartedly to her maternal care, and when our life on earth is over, may we follow her with great joy into the everlasting life of Heaven.
O Mary, gloriously assumed into Heaven, pray for us!

15 August 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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© 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:
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As I’ve mentioned a few times in the past several months, it is my hope that we will be able to raise enough money with our capital campaign not only to pay off our debt, but also pay for a mural on the apse wall of the sanctuary.
Specifically, I’m working with an artist right now to create a scene of Heaven. The mural will show Jesus as the Paschal Lamb standing atop an altar, surrounded by angels who are holding the instruments of His Passion and death.
Looking down from above will be God the Father and the Holy Spirit, while to the sides – coming before our Lord in adoration – will be various biblical figures and saints.
The reason why I want our mural to be a scene of Heaven is because I want Heaven and the gift of salvation to be ever before your minds whenever you are here in this church.
Heaven is precisely what we should be meditating on whenever we come to Mass! Indeed, the Mass, by its very nature, is ordered toward getting us to Heaven.
The Mass is not simply some ritual that we follow as Catholics. At Mass our Lord’s salvific actions on Calvary are re-presented to us in an unbloody fashion. That gift of salvation that won for us on Good Friday and revealed on Easter Sunday is given to us once again.
Because of this, every thing in the Mass should point us to, remind us of, and prepare us for Heaven. The music, the reverence by which the Mass is offered, and even the church building itself should in some way point us to Heaven.
To be sure: the Mass is about salvation! And St. Paul reminds us today of the primacy of salvation in his 1st Letter to St. Timothy today. He tells us that God “wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.”
Think about that for a second: God Almighty – He Who is the Creator of all things – desires that each and every one of us be saved and go to Heaven. That is His explicit will.
Hopefully this isn’t news to any of you, but nonetheless, it is always good to be reminded of this very profound and hopeful truth. Our God is a God who saves – Who desires that all of His children enjoy eternal life.
This is a truth that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has been championing repeatedly during his short time as Christ’s Vicar. Certainly, the message of salvation is the context within which his recent interview that came out this week must be understood.
Some of you may have seen the headlines in the past few days about the lengthy interview that the Holy Father gave last month to a fellow Jesuit.
Unfortunately, the New York Times and other news outlets have predictably distorted and misinterpreted his comments about abortion and gay marriage to serve their liberal agenda.
Their news stories make it seem that these were the only topics he discussed in this interview, and that he was critical of the Church’s stance on these issues.
But if you read what the Holy Father actually said, you’ll find that while he does mention both abortion and gay marriage, he doesn’t question the Church’s teachings at all.
He merely states that helping people to salvation requires that we look at more than just these issues, and that we, as a Church, keep in mind the woundedness of each person and seek to heal those wounds as we try to introduce them to the truths of our Faith.
Indeed, what the Holy Father said in the interview was really quite beautiful. In particular he picked up on what we hear from St. Paul today as the primary duty of the Church: the proclamation that Jesus Christ has redeemed us!
The Holy Father states in this interview that before we can talk to people about their mortal sins or engage the world on controversial issues such as abortion, gay marriage, and contraception, we must first preach Christ as merciful savior.
If people do not first believe in God or in their absolute need for His grace, then there’s very little chance that they will listen to the Church’s moral teachings.
Thus, the primary work of the Church today is the New Evangelization: the re-presenting of the Good News of the Gospel to a world that has largely forgotten it. The Church first and foremost must be the agent of God’s mercy and love.
But this is not simply the work of bishops and priests; it is the work of all of us.
Every single one of us who is a baptized believer must take on the task of proclaiming JesusChrist as the savior to a world that is drowning in disorder and chaos, and is therefore so inneed of His mercy.
Just this week alone we saw two more cases of mass killings in our country: in Washington,DC, and in Chicago. I submit to you that these incidents are not isolated, randomoccurrences, but are rather the fruit of the moral chaos that is reigning in our country.
And in the face of these terrible events, it is all the more important that we, as Christians,constantly proclaim Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation to the world around us.
Our first reading today speaks of our dealings with the poor, while the Gospel reminds us ofthe importance of being a good steward.
I think the poorest people in this world are those who do not know Christ and are enmeshedin terrible sin, and therefore we must not to neglect them. I also think that while it’s very important for us to be good stewards of our time, talent, and treasure, it’s even more important that we be good stewards of our faith!
If we have been baptized, we have received the gift of faith. And it’s so very necessary that we practice our faith so that it will grow and mature. But it’s also so very necessary that we share our faith with others so that they, too, might come to a saving knowledge of Christ!
If we consider those who do not know Christ as Savior, or those who have rejected Him, to be the poorest people in the world, then it makes so much sense that we should be willing to share the riches of our faith with them.
Pope Francis did not say that we should back away from the truths of important issues like abortion, gay marriage, or contraception. His point was that we must first help people enter into a relationship with Jesus so that they will be better able to receive His teachings.
Truly, helping a person to know Christ so that they might experience His saving mercy and compassionate forgiveness that He so willingly extends to all of us is the greatest gift that we can give anyone. It is the most charitable thing that any of us can do.
But we can only give this gift of faith if we are strong in faith ourselves, which means being in a relationship with Jesus ourselves through prayer. It also means being knowledgeable of and obedient to our Church’s teachings.
And it means having the courage to share our faith with others when given the opportunity.
My brothers and sisters, our world may seem very dark right now. But Jesus Christ is ourlight and our salvation! May we who received the light of Christ at our baptism keep this flame of faith alive in our hearts.
May we keep our eyes always on Heaven, and may we use this flame of faith to set the worldon fire with love for God!

22 September 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.

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

In our Gospel today our Lord asks His disciples a question about identity. He wants to know if the world around Him recognizes Him for Who He Is. The answers given by the disciples reveal that many people recognize at least aspects of Jesus’ identity.
Like John the Baptist, Jesus did come to call people to repentance. Like Elijah, Jesus did come to preach and defend the truth about God. But these are only aspects of Jesus’ identity and mission and not the full story.
Only St. Peter, the leader of the nascent Church, gets the answer correct. He knows that Jesus is more than a prophet, greater even than John the Baptist. Peter sees the truth that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Messiah, the One Who will save us from our sins.
Perhaps we are a bit scandalized that so many of the Jews of Jesus’ day did not recognize His divinity. How many people does one need to heal, how many demons does one need to drive out, and how many miracles does one need to perform to prove one’s divinity?
But we mustn’t be scandalized or hold the Jews of Jesus’ day in any more contempt than we hold modern man, for even now – 2000 years later – can we say with any certainty that mankind truly recognizes the full truth about Jesus, even those who profess a Christian faith?
While many people in this world may profess belief that Jesus is the Son of God, the Word- Made-Flesh, the second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, our Savior and our Redeemer, so many of us fail to live our lives in a way that provides validity to our belief.
Living our lives in a way that provides validity to our belief that Jesus is both God and man is not to say that we must live perfectly sinless lives, but it does mean that we must be at least striving for perfection.
It means that we must be sorry for our sins and confess them, that we must live prayerful lives – adoring Christ and giving thanks to Him – and it means that we must try to follow His teachings, which are given voice in the teachings and traditions of the Church He founded.
Most importantly, if we profess belief in Jesus Christ, then we must seek to imitate Him in all ways, to identify with Him, to be as much like Him as possible.
Ultimately, it means that we must be willing to suffer and die with Him and for Him, for it is in our Lord’s suffering and death that we see our Lord’s identity most clearly.
In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul mentions today that through the Sacrament of Baptism we clothe ourselves in Christ. Just as a bride takes on the name of her bridegroom at the time of their marriage, so too do we take on the name of our Lord at baptism.
Baptism makes us Christians. Once we are baptized, our Christianity becomes our primary identity…so much so that St. Paul says that: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female.”
And so if we have been baptized, we must learn to think of ourselves first and foremost as Christians. It matters little what country we come from, what job we hold or profession we practice, or what color our skin is.
Nothing that the world says is important should truly define our identity, for nothing the world says is important will give us a better chance of being saved.
But being a Catholic does, for within the warm embrace of Holy Mother Church we find not only the fullness of Truth, but also an abundance of sanctifying grace, by which alone man is saved!
Yet if we wish to enjoy the sanctifying grace given to us and strengthened within us by the Sacraments, we must live out our identity as Christians, most especially in our willingness to suffer and die to self. This is the hard part about being a Catholic, and it’s often the reason why some people leave the Church: they simply don’t want to change their lives in the ways the Church demands.
Let’s face it: it’s hard to be a Catholic with integrity. And when we really take the Church and Her teachings at face value, what we find is that the Catholic Church is perhaps the only institution in the entire world that demands the transformation and ultimate perfection of every person and even of this fallen world.
If we live our faith well, as it’s meant to be lived, we find that our lives as Catholics are one long uphill battle against our vices and imperfections, but as well a battle against the evil we find in this world.
While we are called to forgive sin and to be understanding with the weaknesses of others, we mustn’t ever compromise with sin or come to a truce with it – most especially the sin within ourselves.
It is for this reason that our Lord tells us today that if anyone wishes to follow Him, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily! The follower of Christ must lose his life in order to save it!
That we must die to self so that we might live is one of the great paradoxes of our Faith, but as paradoxical as it may sound it is nonetheless true!
What does it mean to die to self? It means, my dear brothers and sisters, that we must live for God and God alone. All that is not of God: sin, attachments to worldly goods, desires for fame or fortune, must find no safe harbor within us.
We must be so convinced of the infinite goodness, loveliness, and beauty of God that glorifying Him becomes the soul purpose of our lives. And anything that hinders us from this joyful task of glorifying God in every aspect of our lives must be cut out.
St. John of the Cross teaches that, on that steep and rocky path through the narrow gate of Heaven, “there is room only for self-denial and the cross” (Ascent of Mt. Carmel, 7.7).
But he goes on to say that: “The cross is a supporting staff and greatly lightens and eases the journey, [for] if individuals resolutely submit to the carrying of the cross, if they decidedly want to find and endure trial in all things for God, they will discover in all of them great relief and sweetness” (Ascent of Mt. Carmel, 7.7).
In other words the cross – while causing pain – becomes a source of joy for those who carry it because the act of embracing and carrying the cross transforms us into an image of Christ, which is our goal as Christians! This is another great paradox of our faith.
The saints show us that suffering freely embraced and endured with faith, hope, and charity transforms us. The freer we are to embrace and endure the cross, and the greater our faith, hope, and charity, the more transforming our suffering becomes.
Brothers and sisters, we are given a hard Gospel today. Our blessed Lord calls us to recognize Him as the Christ and to follow Him. This means we must deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and be willing to lose our lives if we hope to save them for eternity. There is no shortcut to Heaven.
But while we will have to undergo the pain of dying to self, we will find much joy in doing so.
May we each resolutely strive to cut from our lives all that hinders us from denying ourselves and carrying our crosses.
• Through the intercession of our Lady and all the saints, may we each embrace our identity as Christians and die to self so that we may live solely for our Lord.

23 June 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.

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

As I begin today I want to first thank all of you for your words of encouragement and your condolences expressed both to Sr. Judy and me.
It’s been a tough week, and we are both so grateful for the many kindnesses we’ve received from you as we’ve dealt with the sudden death of Sr. Helene.
Neither Sr. Judy nor I have family around, and so you are our family. And we have both felt very supported and well loved this week. On her behalf and my own I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your goodness to us.
In listening to so many of you, it seems that we were all shocked by the suddenness of Sr. Helene’s death.
Not only were we deprived of a chance to say good‐bye to her, but the way she died was a very pointed reminder of the fragility of human life and the fact that our good Lord can call us home anytime He so chooses.
Sr. Helene’s sudden death reminds us that our blessed Lord is indeed omnipotent, and that, at times, He can seem very unpredictable. Our readings today speak to these qualities of our Lord.
In our first reading from the prophet Ezekiel, our Lord proclaims His omnipotence boldly to us as He speaks of how He brings “low the high tree, lift(s) high the lowly tree, wither(s) up the green tree, and make(s) the withered tree bloom.”
Our Lord’s point here is that He can and will do with us as He chooses. All things are possible to Him; all creation is subject to Him.
In our Gospel today Jesus tells the parable of the man scattering seed on the land. He tells us that the kingdom of God is like this man, whose seed sprouts and grows, he knows not how.
In other words, our Lord is telling us that there’s a very mysterious element to the kingdom of God. There are things that happen that we do not always understand.
To be sure, life is a holy mystery! We can plan all we want, but God can change our plans in the wink of an eye.
I know that last weekend Sr. Helene had plenty of plans…and frankly, having a heart attack wasn’t one of them. But our Lord chose to take her as He did. And whether we like it or not, we must accept this hard reality.
But in accepting this hard reality, we need to make a decision: either to trust in our Lord’s providence, believing with St. Paul that all things do work for the good of those who love God; or we can harden our hearts toward God – disbelieving His promise of mercy and fearing His omnipotence.
As a man of faith, I can tell you that surety on this side of the veil separating heaven and earth can only be found by giving ourselves to the Lord whole‐heartedly, by trusting in His will.
But nevertheless, it can seem a bit counter‐intuitive to give oneself fully to a God Who at times can seem so unpredictable. And so we must look to words of St. Paul to the Corinthians today for courage.
St. Paul tells us to walk by faith, not by sight. In other words, St. Paul is encouraging us to walk according to Whom we know, and not what we know.
We must walk according to our faithful belief that our God is a loving God, that He is a God Who always desires what is best for us – even as it requires suffering, rather than walk according to the ways of the faithless, who do not believe in the Lord’s goodness, and who harden their hearts in the face of suffering.
Indeed, my brothers and sisters, God’s seeming unpredictability should not be cause for alarm within us, but rather an invitation to greater abandonment and faith in Him.
The Psalmist today tells us that God is just, and that in Him there is no wrong. We who have the courage to aspire to please Him “shall flourish like the palm tree.” Indeed, “They that are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.”
And so it is that we must always seek to belong to the Lord rather than to the world.
We live in a world today that prides itself on its technological advances and scientific
knowledge. Certainly the sciences have greatly aided our understanding of nature and

of the universe, and technology has given man great mastery over creation.

The downside of technology and science is that man’s successes in these areas can tempt us to believe that we are greater than we really are. Sadly, many place their
hopes and trust in science and technology to the peril of their faith in God.

But no matter how far technology advances, man will never be omnipotent. Only God is
omnipotent. And no matter how far science advances, man will never be omniscient.

There will always be things that are knowable only to God.

Despite how good technological advances and scientific knowledge can be, they will
always leave us wanting in some way.

In humility we must accept that that there are limits to what man can and should
achieve, and that we will always be subject to our Lord’s omniscience and omnipotence.

As we reflect on God’s goodness and mercy, do we really want it any other way?

Therefore, with our Lady and with all the saints who have already passed through this
vale of tears faithfully and courageously, let us abandon ourselves completely and

entirely to our Lord’s providence.

Let us thank Him today for all the many blessings He has so lovingly bestowed upon us.
But let us thank Him for our sufferings, too, trusting that He allows crosses to come into

our lives in order to strengthen and sanctify us.

And lastly, let us each pray for an increase of faith in our world, that all mankind may
come to know and trust our sovereign Lord.

17 June 2012

© Reverend Timothy Reid

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

© 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, please 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