Deacon's Corner
Homilies By Our Parish Deacons
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Third Sunday in Ordinary Time * January 14, 2018 |
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Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time * July 30, 2017 |
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Corpus Christi Sunday * June 18, 2017 * 9:30am Mass
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Corpus Christi Sunday * June 18, 2017 * 8:00am Mass
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"Remember and do not forget: Fathers, God & Corpus Christi"Deacon Serge Dube' To access readings - usccb.org, click on Bible tab and then Today's reading tab, then click on Calendar for June 18 |
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Divine Mercy Sunday * April 23, 2017 * 11:00am MassDeacon Steve McMahon |
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Divine Mercy Sunday * April 23, 2017 * 9:30am MassDeacon Don Battiston |
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"This Easter Season"Deacon Serge Dube' This Easter Season, let us make a firmer commitment to be kind to one another with our words, our faces and our actions. Even to those who act toward us in any way that is unkind, in person or through social media, may we meet them with kindness. Resist the default, defensive posture of reacting. Instead, take a deep breath and act by seeking to be understanding, for we are unaware of the struggles, pains, and wounds that others may be experiencing. Paul encouraged the Church in Ephesus to never let evil talk pass their lips and to only say the good things people needed to hear, “only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear” as well as: "Be kind to one another, compassionate, and mutually forgiving, just as God has forgiven you in Christ” (cf Ephesians 4;29-32). We can see that what we are experiencing in our country and world today is nothing new! Here are a few concrete practices I came across a few weeks back when listening to a podcast (The Art of Catholic with Matthew Leornard, episode 062: The Power of Kindness) on the way in to school. When making the intention to be kind, decide each day to: RESIST: thinking unkindly of anyone, speaking unkindly to anyone, and acting unkindly to anyone. DO COMMIT: at least once per day, to speak kindly of someone, think kindly about someone, and act kindly toward someone. WHEN WE FALL, as we all will, let us then: make a brief act of contrition - recognize the unkindness we have done immediately and ask God to forgive us, offer an apology to the one we have been unkind to if possible, and third, offer a prayer of blessing for the person we have thought unkindly about, spoken about or to in an unkind manner, or acted unkindly to. I invite you to sow some of these seeds of kindness with those to whom you interact with in person, online, while driving, and in our homes, through our faces, words and actions. EACH PERSON we encounter is created in the image and likeness of God and is deserving of respect and is to be treated with dignity. There is a lot of vitriol, poison and darkness being expressed from many. We have a choice to meet discord with understanding, darkness with light, hatred with love, to, as Jesus did, meet people where they are, listen instead of react, and then be bearers of his understanding and mercy. To be able to disagree but not be disagreeable, to accept the dignity of the person offering a differing view, to stand for what we believe in through dialogue not monologue, meaning being able to listen and talk with, not just talk over the other. We cannot do this alone, we need to support one another, draw strength from one another and smile at one another. If we invite Jesus to help us we will also have the infinite power of our loving God and Father to fill us with that peace that surpasses all understanding. With our Amen, our yes, let us be conformed to the Body of Jesus the Christ, that we may be bearers of his love, his mercy and his grace to a people in need of healing. I invite you to forgive someone today, to let go of a grudge, to pray for someone who has offended or hurt you in any way. I invite you to direct a smile to someone today, to discern the words you let loose vocally or in print. May we be present to one another and mindful of what we say, to speak so as to bring healing, to speak so as to empower, to speak so as to inspire, and to speak so as to be kind. Being that it is Earth Day, may we also make a commitment to extend our kindness to all of God’s Creation, especially our Mother Earth: “LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs" (Pope Francis, Laudato Si, 1). Peace and all God’s good, |
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Third Sunday of Lent * March 19, 2017 * 5:30pm MassDeacon Stephen Scienzo Click HERE to read Deacon Stephen's Homily. |
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Third Sunday of Lent * March 18, 2017 * 4:30pm MassDeacon Serge Dube' Click HERE to read Deacon Serge's Blog. |
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“Today if you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts.”Deacon Serge Dube' Those who pray the Liturgy of the Hours have the option of reading this verse each day of Lent up until the Fifth Saturday of Lent. You may have also heard it said or sung this past Sunday as: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” It was the antiphon for the Responsorial Psalm during the Third Sunday of Lent in this year. The verse comes from Psalm 95:6-8: “Enter, let us bow down and worship; let us kneel before the Lord who made us. For this is our God, whose people we are, God’s well-tended flock. Oh that today you would hear his voice: Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the desert.” This verse and Psalm 95 also echoes Exodus 17. The Israelite community made camp at Rephidim and are quarreling with Moses because they have no water. Instead of trusting in God to provide for their need, the people are contentious with and put the Lord to the test when they say to Moses: “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and livestock” (Exodus 17:3)? The people would appear to rather seek a return to slavery in Egypt and have their basic needs met rather than to journey onward as a free people toward the Promised Land. The real concern is: “Is the Lord in our midst or not” (Exodus 17:3). The people certainly had a valid concern, there was no water and they were in the midst of the desert. Yet in their suffering and fear they chose not to trust, they instead hardened their hearts questioning the presence of God in their midst. They focused solely on the challenge before them instead of reaching out to the one who had parted the waters, who had fed them with manna and quail. Time and again God remained faithful and time and again the people grumbled and complained to Moses. Yet time and again the people did not invite God into their situation, did not reach out to him in their need, instead they turned their back to him, they hardened their hearts toward him. Today if you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts! This is a call for us to be a people of prayer, not just when trials and tribulations arise, but as St Paul invites us: “Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Jesus Christ” (Thessalonians 5:17-18). A key way to repent, to turn back to God and recognize him in our midst, is to give thanks for what we have been given. Many times if we are sad, frustrated, angry, we are, like the Israelites, focusing on what we do not have rather than what we do have. In this way, we can, with the Israelites wonder if God is in our midst or in our contemporary version wonder in fact, is God dead? If we are not spending time with God in prayer, meditation, the liturgy of the Mass, or examining how he is interacting with us every day, we can wonder if he is in our midst or if he even does exist, or worse, believe God does, but live our life as if he does not, not taking time to consult God in the making of our decisions, not making time to read the Bible, to pray to attend Mass. God only exists as one to complain to when things go wrong. This does not have to be. If you do not believe in God, if you are not sure, or you do but you are estranged from him, or feel he is distant. Lent is a time, today is an opportunity to encounter Jesus in your midst. Each day is a new beginning, a new invitation to take the hand of Jesus that is held out to us. No matter if you have never prayed or haven’t for some time, have wanted to and do not know how, or have made attempts to pray and felt you have failed. I invite you today to spend some time in prayer. Sit somewhere comfortable and imagine Jesus sitting there with you. Quietly take five minutes with Jesus in silence, call to mind, even just one thing you are thankful for, and thank him. A heart that is thankful is soft. If after five minutes you can think of nothing to be thankful for, thank him for spending time with you. Thank him for five minutes to rest in him. God our loving Father seeks to speak with us, to build a relationship with us. He sends his Son to be present through the love of the Holy Spirit. Even when we feel nothing or do not experience anything, even when we feel alone, we have not failed at prayer. We may be tempted to think nothing is happening, or we may ask “Is the Lord in our midst or not”. Know and trust that Jesus is with us, he will not forsake us. When we open our heart to him he hears our prayers and is present. When we call on his name he is in our midst, because just as with the woman at the well, whom I mentioned in my last post, Jesus is already waiting for us. As Karl Rahner (1904-1984) wrote, “to be human persons is essentially always already to be those who listen for a possible revelation of God. Since at the same time and for the same reason that we stand before God, we stand before the God of a possible revelation, there always occurs something like a revelation, namely the speaking or the silence of God” We are created to be in communion with God. Prayer is one of the means of that communion; one of the ways God reveals himself to us. Let us resist the hardness of heart that keeps God and others at arm’s length, let us resist the fear of being still and quiet, instead embracing an opportunity to unplug and enter into the silence with hearts open, let us say yes to his invitation to love! If today you hear the voice or silence of God, harden not your hearts! Rahner, Karl. Hearer of the Word. (New York: Continuum, 1994), 72. |
DEACON SERGE'S BLOG
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