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Homilies from Saint Bernadette Catholic Church, Prospect, KY
Episodes
Sunday Apr 09, 2017
Sunday Apr 02, 2017
Sunday Mar 26, 2017
Sunday Mar 19, 2017
Sunday Mar 19, 2017
3rd Lent-A’17
“Stop - Drop - Pray”
Fr. Jeff Nicolas
“Communication is the key.” How often do we hear this? Communication is the key, but truth be told most of us are not terribly great at it. No wonder there are so many communication self-help books on the shelves.
Did you know for example that in one-on-one conversations between people only 7% of what is communicated is actually the words that are said? 38% of the message is communicated by the tone used, and 55% of the message communicated is shared by body language! It’s a wonder we can communicate with one another at all.
Miscommunications surround us. Take these bloopers that have appeared in church bulletins:
“Thursday at 5pm there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club. All ladies wishing to be a Little Mother please meet the pastor in his study.”
“Tonight’s sermon: What is hell? Come early and listen to our choir practice.”
On a church kiosk: “Don’t let worry kill you off, let the church help.”
Miscommunications abound today just as they always have, even in Jesus’ day. This story of Jesus meeting the woman at Jacob’s well is chock full of miscommunications. Jesus says one thing and those talking with him hear another.
Jesus mentions living water and the woman thinks he talking about a creek.
Jesus mentions to the disciples having the food of doing the Father’s will and they think he’s talking about some takeout he got while they were away.
Miscommunications, our Gospel is full of them. The folks Jesus talks to just don’t get it; can’t get it. You see, he has yet to go to his cross, has yet to rise from the dead. Those folks don’t get it. But not so with us, we understand, and this is where things come to a head for anyone listening to this homily today.
Unlike the Samaritan woman and the disciples in today’s Gospel, we know how this story ends. We know Christ dies, rises from the dead, and will come again. We profess it each weekend… “When we eat this bread, and drink this cup, we proclaim your death O Lord, until you come again.”
We know Jesus Christ is the Messiah. We know Jesus offers us the living waters of a relationship with him. We know Jesus calls us to worship in spirit and in truth. We know all of this, yet, how do we live? Does our knowing this in our heads effect the way we are living our lives?
We hear today of the ancient Israelites who complain about God. Here they are, just set free from slavery by Yahweh, and yet almost immediately they turn their collective back on Him. Almost immediately their faith is shaken. Now, we can think to ourselves, “What is wrong with those people? How can they have forgotten God so quickly?” But are we much better?
Came across a St. Patrick’s Day story that may speak to this. Seems there was an accident at an Irish brewery over the weekend…
——————————————————————————————————————
Brenda O’Malley was at home as usual, making dinner, when Tim Finnegan arrived at her door.
“Brenda, may I come in?” he asks. “I’ve somethin’ to tell ya.”
“Of course you can come in, you’re always welcome, Tim, but where’s me husband, Seamus?” “That’s what I’m here to be tellin’ ya, Brenda. There was an accident down at the Guiness brewery…”
“O God, no!” cries Brenda. “Please don’t tell me…” “I must, Brenda. Seamus is dead and gone, I’m sorry.”
Brenda reached a hand out to her side, found the arm of the rocking chair by the fireplace, pulled the chair to herself and collapsed into it. She wept for many minutes. Finally she looked up at Tim, “Tell me, how did it happen Tim?”
“T’was terrible, Brenda. He fell into a vat of Guiness Stout and drowned.”
“O dear Jesus! But you must tell me true, Tim, did he at least go quickly?”
“Well, no Brenda. I’m sorry too say, it wasn’t quick at all.”
“Oh dear Lord,” said Brenda, “me poor Seamus!”
“Aye,” said Tim, “fact is he got out three times to pee.”
——————————————————————————————————————
It’s a funny story, but are we not just like it? Christ in his mercy plucks us out of our vat of sin time and time again; yet we keep climbing back in! Why?
There is only one reason I can think of, our desire for God is not as great as our desire for the sin. On the scale of things, in the immediacy of the moment, our desire for whatever pleasure or advantage any given sin promises outweighs the desire we have for God.
Want to change that? Want to stay our of the vat? Want to really turn away from sin this Lent and be faithful to the Gospel? Then try this… STOP - DROP - and PRAY.
STOP circling around your prayer as if it is just one in a thousand bullets on a loaded to-do list. Make praying your one thing necessary.
DROP the justifications and excuses that get held up in defense of putting off seeking a deeper relationship with the Lord today. Make now the time to go deep.
and PRAY!! Don’t just think about God. Don’t just rattle off a shopping list of wishes, hopes, or demands. Be with God. Ask to know His will for you. Waste time simply listening for Him.
This afternoon at 3 o’clock, at St. Albert the Great parish, several of our area priests will be gathered to forgive sins, myself included. What a wonderful opportunity to put into practice our STOP - DROP - and PRAY.
STOP circling around your need to hear out-loud the words of Christ, “I absolve you of these and all your sins, in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
DROP the justifications and excuses that have kept you away from this sacramental gift of mercy.
And PRAY that this time we will each really hear Jesus’ words in the depth of our hearts, “I Love You!” (Not the “you” you present to the world; not the “you” you wish you could be; but the real YOU I created and died to save.)
Then we can experience what St. Paul wrote to the Romans… “our hope will not disappoint for the love of God will be poured out into our hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Sunday Mar 12, 2017
Sunday Mar 05, 2017
Wednesday Mar 01, 2017
Sunday Feb 26, 2017
Sunday Feb 26, 2017
Sunday Feb 19, 2017
Sunday Feb 19, 2017
7th Sun. OT-A’17
“Impervious”
Fr. Jeff Nicolas
I once read a small book entitled, “Seven Secrets of Confession,” by Mr. Vinny Flynn. What started out as a curiosity read became a centerpiece of my prayer.
You see, “Seven Secrets of Confession” is not really about secrets at all. It is really about highlighting long standing truths such as the Father of Mercies is always loving us; God is always ready not only to forgive, but to heal; and God is eager to restore us as His creation recreating us in His image and likeness. None of this is a secret.
But then I was reminded of a hard truth: there are barriers that block God’s love, block God’s forgiveness, and block God’s healing (barriers often unknown and unintentional).
As Psalm 30 says, barriers that can hide God’s face from us.
As Psalm 32 says, a fault, a sin, that can cut us off allowing us to waste away and wither.
One barrier in particular has me worried given today’s Gospel, unforgiveness.
Vinny reminds me that God’s love has no bounds, but my reception of God’s love does. My reception of God’s love depends completely on one condition…
“And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Vinny points out that “The Catechism of the Catholic Church” says,
“We can pray [The Lord’s Prayer] in bold confidence because, though we are sinners, we feel a firm hope in God’s mercy, His forgiving love poured out for us through the sacraments.”
That’s the good news, but there is more, for the Catechism continues, “Yet, this outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us… In refusing to forgive our brothers and sisters, our hearts are closed and their hardness makes them impervious to the Father’s merciful love!” Impervious to God’s love! This means God can’t get in!
As a preacher, God’s love flowing through me is essential to the task of creating encounters with Christ. Yet, just as clogged arteries lead to heart attacks, I fear my unforgiving may block God’s ability to use me. It is blocking all of us harboring unforgiveness from becoming the best versions of ourselves.
I have been leading parishes for over twenty-three years now, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that trying to lead communities typically brings with it some woundedness. The woundedness is normal, but I fear my lingering accumulated unforgiveness may be chaining me to the wounds.
With Vinny’s help I found myself asking, who do I need to forgive? What hurtful memories are alive and kicking? What of my cold or hostile relationships? What of my feelings of frustration, irritation, anger, and resentment? And not just at other people, but situations, circumstances, unfulfilled needs, unanswered prayers, and derailed plans?
What about God’s failure to follow my script? This is me, what about you?
For the longest time I clung to my unforgiveness because I was in the right, constantly nursing and rehearsing tapes (playing in my head and out loud) that decry how I had been wronged. But what if this is blocking what God wants to do through me as a priest, as a preacher? What if God wants more for me? What if God wants more for you?
God does want more.
God wants our freedom. Jesus Christ wants our healing. The Holy Spirit wants to flow through us. Listening to today’s scripture makes me realize how far I have to go to “be perfect, just as my heavenly Father is perfect.” The scripture highlights my failure to forgive. Yet, it is one thing to realize I am chained by unforgiveness; it is another thing to take action to become free. We must turn our curses into blessings.
The “Seven Secrets of Confession” book offers a set of actions to take: repent, revoke, and replace. Call to mind any unforgiveness to which you are clinging… picture that person, name that frustration or disappointment, feel that betrayal. Then consciously decide to turn that wound into an opportunity for grace.
First verbally repent of holding the unforgiveness. (“Lord I repent of not forgiving that person for causing me such undeserved heartache. I repent from holding onto the wound of that injustice.”) Perhaps you can take this into the Sacrament of Confession.
Next, verbally revoke anything said or felt stemming from the unforgiveness. (“Lord I revoke all my negative, unkind thoughts. I un-think them, I un-say those words.”)
Finally, verbally replace those “curses” with a blessing. (“Lord I forgive Tom, and I bless him, and I ask that you bless him too.”)
I believe Vinny’s “Three R’s” (Repent, Revoke, and Replace), when embraced, can become a manifestation of our will to forgive that opens us to the healing and freedom God wants for each of us. Then our past unforgiveness can become an opportunity to bless rather than curse, and a means of imitating Jesus Christ who from his cross said, “Father forgive them.”
Any path we might take to the freedom that comes from forgiving others must first begin with our seeking forgiveness from God. Holding on to unforgiveness is a sin. We have to first be set free from this by God before we can set others free.
The prayer we have been learning over these past weeks can also be applied here. I Can’t. You Can. I’m Your’s.
REPENT: Lord Jesus I CAN’T keep holding onto my unforgiveness, my resentment, my need for retribution and to curse the other. I repent of doing this.
REVOKE: YOU CAN undo all the harm within me that my unforgiveness has caused. Help me, revoke the harm.
REPLACE: I’M YOUR’S Lord Jesus, replace my curses with blessings for my enemies.
If anything I have preached speaks to you today, then use this Lent to repent, revoke, and replace. God’s love wants to get into you!