Homily for the Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Given at St. Patrick's Church
By: Rev. Fr. Ronnie P. Floyd
Many of you know that before entering seminary
I worked for the US Senate Budget committee.
You can imagine that one of the most frustrating things
about my old job was looking the US Government's Budget.
It was difficult not just because of the sheer amount of our money
that Washington was spending daily.
But most of all because of the way
they accounted for our money in the budget.
Most of us make a weekly, monthly, or yearly budget
by figuring out how much money we have
in income, savings, and investments
and then figuring out how much we need to spend
making priorities and sacrificing items that just don't fit the budget.
In Washington, in contrast, the budget is calculated
based on how much was spent last year
regardless of whether or not there was enough money
to pay for last years expenses.
Budgeting zero dollars for a particular item in Washington
doesn't mean that you are going to spend zero dollars
but simply that you aren't going to spend more than last year.
And I knew it was time for me to leave Washington,
when a high level economist friend told me
that it was impossible for the US Government
to ever have too much debt. > talk about drinking the coolaid.
In the Gospel today Jesus shows us
another method of accounting
that is in stark contrast to Washington's method.
The widow in the Gospel today
put only a few cents in the collection plate,
and yet in Jesus' estimation she gave more than the rich
who gave large sums.
For the widow without income of her own
she must depend on the generosity
of her friends and family for income.
To the widow a few cents is a major portion of her livelihood.
And yet in her poverty she gives generously.
To God the widow's few cents are greater
than all the money in the federal budget,
because they are given out of love.
The rich, in contrast, who give large sums, give out of a surplus
out of monies they really don't need,
and so there is no sacrifice involved in giving these donations.
And whats more, Jesus reveals the true intentions
behind many of the large gifts of the rich.
These acts of charity, Jesus judges, are done more to be seen,
for the sake of human respect and honor, than out of simple love.
The fact of the matter is that it is easy to give, to love,
when it doesn't hurt, when it doesn't cost us anything,
and when our gift is rewarded by joy, respect, or honor,
just as it is easy for Washington to be generous
when they are spending other peoples money
and getting honor and praise for it.
True love in contrast is tested and proved
when we get nothing for our gift of love.
When our love is unnoticed, unappreciated, and even unwanted.
Any parent knows this—sure its great to have a baby
when they are clean and cute and giggling,
the object of affection for all who see them.
But a parent's true love is tested and proved
when they spend the whole night with a puking child.
Or when their teenage child rejects their loving concern.
The same is true with all human relationships,
love is for better or for worse, as we say in marriage vows,
and its only in the midst of the worse that our love is proven true.
Jesus shows us on the cross that the purpose of this life
is to learn this sacrificial love.
To learn to love God and our neighbor
even when we don't want to, when it hurts,
when we feel unloved and abandoned.
On the Cross Jesus gains us the grace needed to love,
not just superficial but selflessly and passionately!
As we hear in the Letter to the Hebrews
we have one life to learn this lesson,
to learn to love, and to choose to love.
And we will be judged on how well we learn it.
God judges not by appearances but realities.
God Judges the heart.
And the scary thing about God's judgment
is that who we are is determined by each of our actions,
every time we fail to love, when we act selfishly
we turn away from God—and choose not be be God's children.
God's judgment is simply the revealing of the truth
about who we have chosen to become.
Thankfully through the power of the cross of Jesus Christ,
even the most hardened sinner,
can have the slate wiped clean,
and can be given a second chance.
Last night I was at the Barnstable county jail hearing confessions
and over and over again I heard the same question
asked in different ways—Do you think I can change.
I always answer the question the same way:
The grace of Baptism and the Sacrament of Pennence
gives us the ability to change.
But it doesn't take away all the bad habits
that our former lives of sin have formed.
Change is possible, for all of us who sin so often
but like love itself, it isn't easy! It takes constant vigilance!
We must always be aware of what we are doing
and why we are doing it!
We must always keep Love of God in our mind
so that our motives always remain pure.
And focus on doing all the little things in our life well
so that when it comes time to love sacrificially
when it comes time for those big and difficult things
when it comes time for our cross
we can pray as Jesus taught us: your will be done.
Each time we make a choice
we are making a gift to God,
and when those choices are both good and difficult
our pennies start to add up.
Lets ask the Lord for the grace to live and love sacrificially.
Like the humble widow in the Gospel today.
What Recompense can I give to the Lord?
Ordination to the Diaconate
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Purgatory
All Souls Day
Homily given at St. Patrick's
By: Rev. Ronnie P. Floyd
What joyous words spoken by our Lord today in the Gospel: I will not reject anyone who comes to me.
Today as we remember all those who have died who are dear to us, > this is the reason for our hope. As Jesus says: this is the will of the One who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what He gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day.
We believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
We believe that in the mystery of the incarnation God became and experienced everything that is truly human and becoming like us in all things but sin gained for us, for our humanity, a place in heaven. We are here today because of that hope!
We believe that God who is Love, will gather all those who live in Jesus into the perfection of the Kingdom of heaven even though we are not perfect even though we so often fail to love.
However, even though we gain the promise of eternal life, for sinful man it is still necessary to be purified from our sins, by the fires of the Holy Spirit after death.
We know and believe that God who is good and just requires this purification, as a punishment for the sins we commit in this life but more importantly, as a preparation for a fuller share in the life of heaven.
Our current life is a school of love, where God gives us the opportunity to learn what it truly means to love so that in heaven we can enjoy His Love. All that matters in this life is the sacrificial and Eucharistic love that Jesus demonstrates on the cross. When we suffer in this life, that love is tested and deepened, and our attachments to all that is not God are weakened. But what we do not learn and suffer in this life, God allows those who die in the Lord to learn after death.
And just like preparing for a race, this preparation is rightfully called painful, and just as the difficulty of this training is increased by the bad habits we have--our sins--must punished, and overcome, if we are to share in that perfect love of Heaven
The Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, is the doctrine of a second chance, a second opportunity to learn to love, given to those already chosen by the Lord. And while those who die in the Lord are destined for heaven.
We believe that we can help them in their preparation for life with God.
And that they can help us, by their prayers for us to God the Father.
And so on this All Souls day we are filled with hope that our loved ones who have died, died in the Lord and are even now in the hands of God.
And we offer up our memories of these beloved dead as a prayer of thanksgiving to God for their lives while at the same time we ask Him to purify our loved ones quickly so that they may be admitted into the Kingdom where we will experience the radiant embrace of God's Love and see His face, and know true happiness.
Eternal Rest Grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them may they rest in peace. May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed by the mercy of God rest in peace.
Homily given at St. Patrick's
By: Rev. Ronnie P. Floyd
What joyous words spoken by our Lord today in the Gospel: I will not reject anyone who comes to me.
Today as we remember all those who have died who are dear to us, > this is the reason for our hope. As Jesus says: this is the will of the One who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what He gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day.
We believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
We believe that in the mystery of the incarnation God became and experienced everything that is truly human and becoming like us in all things but sin gained for us, for our humanity, a place in heaven. We are here today because of that hope!
We believe that God who is Love, will gather all those who live in Jesus into the perfection of the Kingdom of heaven even though we are not perfect even though we so often fail to love.
However, even though we gain the promise of eternal life, for sinful man it is still necessary to be purified from our sins, by the fires of the Holy Spirit after death.
We know and believe that God who is good and just requires this purification, as a punishment for the sins we commit in this life but more importantly, as a preparation for a fuller share in the life of heaven.
Our current life is a school of love, where God gives us the opportunity to learn what it truly means to love so that in heaven we can enjoy His Love. All that matters in this life is the sacrificial and Eucharistic love that Jesus demonstrates on the cross. When we suffer in this life, that love is tested and deepened, and our attachments to all that is not God are weakened. But what we do not learn and suffer in this life, God allows those who die in the Lord to learn after death.
And just like preparing for a race, this preparation is rightfully called painful, and just as the difficulty of this training is increased by the bad habits we have--our sins--must punished, and overcome, if we are to share in that perfect love of Heaven
The Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, is the doctrine of a second chance, a second opportunity to learn to love, given to those already chosen by the Lord. And while those who die in the Lord are destined for heaven.
We believe that we can help them in their preparation for life with God.
And that they can help us, by their prayers for us to God the Father.
And so on this All Souls day we are filled with hope that our loved ones who have died, died in the Lord and are even now in the hands of God.
And we offer up our memories of these beloved dead as a prayer of thanksgiving to God for their lives while at the same time we ask Him to purify our loved ones quickly so that they may be admitted into the Kingdom where we will experience the radiant embrace of God's Love and see His face, and know true happiness.
Eternal Rest Grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them may they rest in peace. May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed by the mercy of God rest in peace.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
The Miracle is Existence
Sermon for the 22nd Sunday after Pentacost
Given at St. Francis Xavier in Hyannis
By Rev. Ronnie P. Floyd
In the Gospel today Jesus heals the royal official's son taking pity on the man, who believed that Jesus had the power to save his son.
However at the center of this Gospel, it seems, is not the miracle itself, but Jesus' exasperated statement: Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.
Our God is so good He called us into being out of nothing simply because He loved us and He gives us all that is for our use and edification. He created the sun which warms the Earth, and gives us light, rising and setting so beautifully. He created the stars of the night, and the moon, the sky, and the clouds which bring us rain. The earth is his handy-work as are all the creatures that walk on it, fly over it, and swim in its oceans. God created all things, creating us last, because all of creation was made for man,
and He infalliablly declared it all good. And yet despite all this, Man reject's God's word unless he sees signs and wonders.
My friends miracles are a means of get out attention, or answering the purest of our prayers. But we must not forget to see and thank God for the greatest miracle of all: our existence! This too is truly a miracle, which no scientist can ever explain away! How often we take it for granted that we exist, and yet logically speaking there is no need for it. That we exist is a marvel, this is why Jesus tells us that we must have hearts like Children to enter God's kingdom, children wonder in awe at the gift of the world, and receive each new experience with such eagerness and joy. Children, at least until we spoil them, are born with an innate spirit of wonder and thanksgiving.
St. Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians reminds us of the need to approach the world in this way when he says:
Address one another (in) psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.
Jesus did not come into the world to temporarily heal the little boy in today's gospel, or Peter's mother in law, or the blind man on the road to Jereco
He didn't even come to raise Lazarus, his friend, temporarily from the dead!
Jesus came to heal us all, by renewing in us the spirit of Thanksgiving, and with it a loving trust in God's providential plan for mankind. On the cross Jesus shows us that even the greatest evils, the greatest suffering, and the loss of the gift of life can be made to work for good, if we love and trust God!
As Christians we must take Paul's instruction to heart and live our lives openly praising God for the goodness of existence! & Teaching others to do the same
Modern culture today is really not much different than pagan culture at the time of Christ
it is a culture of death, because weary of its own sin, it has rejected the goodness of Life of existence. Thus, our Christian duty to give witness, to be martyrs, to the Gospel begins with this spirit of thanksgiving.
It was this spirit that allowed the early Church to suffer every sort of persecution for the sake of the Gospel doing so not just with courage, but with such joy that the pagans thought we were drunk!
Friends, do not get drunk on wine, instead get drunk on the goodness of God made manifest in the goodness of Creation.
Given at St. Francis Xavier in Hyannis
By Rev. Ronnie P. Floyd
In the Gospel today Jesus heals the royal official's son taking pity on the man, who believed that Jesus had the power to save his son.
However at the center of this Gospel, it seems, is not the miracle itself, but Jesus' exasperated statement: Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.
Our God is so good He called us into being out of nothing simply because He loved us and He gives us all that is for our use and edification. He created the sun which warms the Earth, and gives us light, rising and setting so beautifully. He created the stars of the night, and the moon, the sky, and the clouds which bring us rain. The earth is his handy-work as are all the creatures that walk on it, fly over it, and swim in its oceans. God created all things, creating us last, because all of creation was made for man,
and He infalliablly declared it all good. And yet despite all this, Man reject's God's word unless he sees signs and wonders.
My friends miracles are a means of get out attention, or answering the purest of our prayers. But we must not forget to see and thank God for the greatest miracle of all: our existence! This too is truly a miracle, which no scientist can ever explain away! How often we take it for granted that we exist, and yet logically speaking there is no need for it. That we exist is a marvel, this is why Jesus tells us that we must have hearts like Children to enter God's kingdom, children wonder in awe at the gift of the world, and receive each new experience with such eagerness and joy. Children, at least until we spoil them, are born with an innate spirit of wonder and thanksgiving.
St. Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians reminds us of the need to approach the world in this way when he says:
Address one another (in) psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.
Jesus did not come into the world to temporarily heal the little boy in today's gospel, or Peter's mother in law, or the blind man on the road to Jereco
He didn't even come to raise Lazarus, his friend, temporarily from the dead!
Jesus came to heal us all, by renewing in us the spirit of Thanksgiving, and with it a loving trust in God's providential plan for mankind. On the cross Jesus shows us that even the greatest evils, the greatest suffering, and the loss of the gift of life can be made to work for good, if we love and trust God!
As Christians we must take Paul's instruction to heart and live our lives openly praising God for the goodness of existence! & Teaching others to do the same
Modern culture today is really not much different than pagan culture at the time of Christ
it is a culture of death, because weary of its own sin, it has rejected the goodness of Life of existence. Thus, our Christian duty to give witness, to be martyrs, to the Gospel begins with this spirit of thanksgiving.
It was this spirit that allowed the early Church to suffer every sort of persecution for the sake of the Gospel doing so not just with courage, but with such joy that the pagans thought we were drunk!
Friends, do not get drunk on wine, instead get drunk on the goodness of God made manifest in the goodness of Creation.
The Incarnation is the Good News!
Homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
Given at St. Patrick's Parish in Wareham, MA
By: Rev. Ronnie P. Floyd
One afternoon a little boy was playing outdoors. He used his mother's broom as a horse and had a wonderful time until it was getting dark. At dust he left the broom on the back porch and came inside. His mother was cleaning up the kitchen when she realized that her broom was missing.
She asked the little boy about the broom and he told her where it was. So she asked him to go get it.
The little boy informed his mom that he was afraid of the dark and didn't want to go out to get the broom.
His mother smiled and said 'The Lord is out there too, don't be afraid'.
So the little boy opened the back door a little and said 'Lord if you're out there, hand me the broom'.
This past week I was visiting an 8th grade class, that was talking about the good news, the gospel. And as I heard one student read that the definition of the word Gospel was good news I began to wonder if these students knew what the good news was! What is at the center of our faith after all?
When I read this weeks readings I wondered if the majority of Catholics could answer the same question. What is at the heart of the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ?
You see, many people think that at the core of the Gospel there is a moral ethic—rules—do this, don't do that, love however the heart of the Gospel is not a commandment but a historical fact.
First and foremost we believe that God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son so that we may not perish but have eternal life!
The good news is that in the midst of the darkness of the world our loving and all-powerful God is with us not just spiritually, but physically. He shares in our human experience not as a spectator but as a brother, a team-mate, a real partner. And while he might not do our job for us, He never asks us to do anything that He himself was not willing to do!
The reality of the Incarnation, the reality that God loved us so much that He came down from heaven, becoming truly man, while remaining truly God, so that he could show us what it meant to be man and prove to us that holiness is possible, in spite of sin, is at the heart of our faith.
Jesus shows us by his life that man can travel the road of perfection, even in the midst of an imperfect world. Jesus shows us that while we may suffer much in this life it is possible to choose to love, trust, and serve God inspite of all life challenges. Jesus shows us that God is truly with us in our sufferings.
Jesus remains with us today, really present in the Sacraments most particularlly the Eucharist. And from heaven, Jesus intercedes with the Father for us. As Paul says:
we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.
The Miracle of Christmas and of Easter, the miracle of our weekly celebration of the Mass is the central mystery of our faith, The miracle that God who owes us nothing and who doesn't need us in any way shape or form so loves us, that He remains interested in us. Interested to the point that He allowed:
His un-containable being to be contained in the body of a tiny baby.
His all-knowing Word to be taught by human parents and contradicted by his enemies
His unchanging perfection to grow and change, experiencing all the states of life, with all their challenges and difficulties.
His Holy name to be attacked by his detracters.
His all powerful strength to be made weak on the road to Calvary and
His undying person to be killed on the cross.
If God loves us so much, an knows us so well how can we do anything without realizing his presence
and asking for His help? Our faith is a great gift, that changes the world we live in. Don't ignore the awesome goodness of the Gospel.
Given at St. Patrick's Parish in Wareham, MA
By: Rev. Ronnie P. Floyd
One afternoon a little boy was playing outdoors. He used his mother's broom as a horse and had a wonderful time until it was getting dark. At dust he left the broom on the back porch and came inside. His mother was cleaning up the kitchen when she realized that her broom was missing.
She asked the little boy about the broom and he told her where it was. So she asked him to go get it.
The little boy informed his mom that he was afraid of the dark and didn't want to go out to get the broom.
His mother smiled and said 'The Lord is out there too, don't be afraid'.
So the little boy opened the back door a little and said 'Lord if you're out there, hand me the broom'.
This past week I was visiting an 8th grade class, that was talking about the good news, the gospel. And as I heard one student read that the definition of the word Gospel was good news I began to wonder if these students knew what the good news was! What is at the center of our faith after all?
When I read this weeks readings I wondered if the majority of Catholics could answer the same question. What is at the heart of the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ?
You see, many people think that at the core of the Gospel there is a moral ethic—rules—do this, don't do that, love however the heart of the Gospel is not a commandment but a historical fact.
First and foremost we believe that God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son so that we may not perish but have eternal life!
The good news is that in the midst of the darkness of the world our loving and all-powerful God is with us not just spiritually, but physically. He shares in our human experience not as a spectator but as a brother, a team-mate, a real partner. And while he might not do our job for us, He never asks us to do anything that He himself was not willing to do!
The reality of the Incarnation, the reality that God loved us so much that He came down from heaven, becoming truly man, while remaining truly God, so that he could show us what it meant to be man and prove to us that holiness is possible, in spite of sin, is at the heart of our faith.
Jesus shows us by his life that man can travel the road of perfection, even in the midst of an imperfect world. Jesus shows us that while we may suffer much in this life it is possible to choose to love, trust, and serve God inspite of all life challenges. Jesus shows us that God is truly with us in our sufferings.
Jesus remains with us today, really present in the Sacraments most particularlly the Eucharist. And from heaven, Jesus intercedes with the Father for us. As Paul says:
we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.
The Miracle of Christmas and of Easter, the miracle of our weekly celebration of the Mass is the central mystery of our faith, The miracle that God who owes us nothing and who doesn't need us in any way shape or form so loves us, that He remains interested in us. Interested to the point that He allowed:
His un-containable being to be contained in the body of a tiny baby.
His all-knowing Word to be taught by human parents and contradicted by his enemies
His unchanging perfection to grow and change, experiencing all the states of life, with all their challenges and difficulties.
His Holy name to be attacked by his detracters.
His all powerful strength to be made weak on the road to Calvary and
His undying person to be killed on the cross.
If God loves us so much, an knows us so well how can we do anything without realizing his presence
and asking for His help? Our faith is a great gift, that changes the world we live in. Don't ignore the awesome goodness of the Gospel.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
As it was in the beginning
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Homily given at St. Patrick's Parish
By Rev. Ronnie P. Floyd
People often give the Church a hard time because we have so many rules about relationships and about the way men and woman live together. But the fact of the matter is that the Church really only has one rule: The rule of marriage—that Jesus points to today. And as Jesus points out, this is God's rule, that follows God's plan—and is given for our happiness!
So what is the rule of marriage? Its what we all want in our heart its the desire to be loved and to love another person totally.
It's the desire to spend our life learning about the mystery of ourself by exploring the mystery of another physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
All of us want to be loved, and we are, by our God, our parents, our siblings and family but at some point we all begin to desire a mutuality and intimacy with someone who is at once our equal and yet so very different from us.
While God gives us so many people in our lives to love and form friendships with, He gives us one person to know inside and out and He gives us only one person to love, because a person is a mystery that takes an eternity to explore. Sex, which really should be called the marital act, is good within the rule of marriage because it is a way of coming to know and to love another person.
The Churches many “rules” about the marital act all point back to the rule of marriage.
Its interesting, our Catholic faith, like natural science, is concerned about truth. And its my belief, like Einstien, that science is always backing up the reasonableness of our faith
A few years ago the Royal British Academy of Medicine released a study that showed that those who engage in the marital act whether married or not—become addicted to their partner. The act of physically intimacy they found releases chemicals in the brain that are as addictive as cocaine, How good God is that he gives us this chemical and physical bonding tool to help us to love and allow ourselves to be loved. But the scientists also found that this bonding effect wears off in 5 to 7 years, after that it seems we are on our own to keep our marriages a live. They also found that when we abuse the marital act using it outside of marriage with more than one partner we weaken its natural power to bind us together.
God made us, and knows better than we do what will make us happy and He gives us the law of marriage because He knows that we want that amazing love that can only come from a lifetime spent loving one other person.
When asked about divorce in the Gospel, Jesus declares, it was not so in the beginning. the beginning that Jesus is referring to is that time, before the fall, when man still followed God's plan, and when the world was at peace. This original state of marital love is the model, that the church has always held up as an example of what intimate relations between men and women are supposed to look like,
In the beginning God saw that it was not good for man to be alone in the world and realizing that the wild beasts could not provide us with the interpersonal relationships we need to grow as persons learning to love, God created a helper for man: woman.
This partnership was meant to be mutual; men and women were created different to help each other learn about the miracle of their differences, which any married couple can tell you are more than just skin deep.
In marriage we choose to love another forever and in choosing to love them we give ourselves to another allowing ourself to be loved in return. The fruits of marital love, then, is unity as we read in the book of Genesis and as Jesus reminds us today: the two become one flesh.
Not one soul, or one person, but one flesh which means that their bodily wellbeing depends now not just on their own body but on another's. And since our soul depend on our body our spiritual health now depends on our beloved.
Marriage is meant to give us a safe trusting relationship in which we can share our most intimate selves with someone else and believe it or not the marital act, which we vulgarly call sex, is just the first and most superficial level of this sharing.
By learning to love another, by risking our happiness on someone outside ourself—we learn to trust and love not just our husband or wife but God and other people more deeply.
Marriage is a school of love, that teaches us how to love like God loves.
Marriage teach us patients and kindness it teaches us self-sacrifice it teaches us to risk our own vulnerability for the sake of love, it teaches us that love is forever, a lifelong exploration of another person who is ultimately a mystery.
Finally, marriage teaches us that love is creative creating from two distinct creatures one flesh, with the potential of creating a family.
Marital love opens up our heart to see the potentials of love it opens us to the miracle of children, and it opens us up to divine providence to trusting our happiness to God's plan for us. All the Churches rules about intimcy come back to this prophetic vision of what will truly make us happy!
Marriage is so important because since the beginning of creation marriage is the natural way that men and woman grow in holiness. The church, like Jesus in the Gospel today, knows that holiness & happiness depends on the correct use of our sexuality. And it's because of this natural importance of marriage that Jesus chose marriage to be one of His seven signs of God's love for us.
Jesus infused marriage with the grace of His life when he connected marriage to the Eucharist at the wedding feast at Cana and when he connected love to the cross on Calvary.
If marriage is meant to teach man and woman to love and the Cross the ultimate sign of Love then the cross becomes the ultimate sign of marital love and marriage the ultimate school of the Cross. When we reject the rule of marriage we reject the possibility of true love by breaking down the bonds of trust and commitment that love requires.
As a culture we have separated the marital act from marriage because we have seen so many failed marriages. And so its not surprising that today its fashionable to think that we can take relationships on and off like a pair of socks that are warms and soft when they are newly out of the dryer but after stepping in a few puddles become dank and smelly.
Thats why people contracept—because they haven't learned to love and to trust their lover enough to want to have their children.
What a horrible thing to say to your beloved—I don't want to have your baby—because I'm not sure I want to spend my life with you but that is exactly what we say when we use contraceptives! And its this same mentality that underlies why a woman would consider killing her own baby—worry that she will be abandoned to care for a baby alone.
Spouses promise love for better or for worse, because, intimate relationships between men and women, marriage, can't be a school of love, when we give our spouse 10, 30, or even 90% of ourselves. If we hedge our bets, and don't give our beloved 100% we break down the bonds of trust that allow us to love, and learn to love more profoundly.
When two married people even consider the possibility of breaking their word to their spouse, they open up the option in their mind, and this option becomes more likely every time they think about it. Because if this option is on the table in your mind, how do you trust your spouse with your deepest secrets how can you risk allowing someone who you are willing to abandon and so who presumably is willing to leave you, to play with the strings of your heart?
Jesus wants us to be happy, and so he wants us to follow God's plan the rule of marriage, so that men and women can find fulfillment in teaching each other to love,
Pray today that young people listen to God's plan for their happiness and give it a chance.
God knows what your heart wants and your heart needs he should, he gave them to you, take a chance on God's plan and help build up a true culture of life.
Homily given at St. Patrick's Parish
By Rev. Ronnie P. Floyd
People often give the Church a hard time because we have so many rules about relationships and about the way men and woman live together. But the fact of the matter is that the Church really only has one rule: The rule of marriage—that Jesus points to today. And as Jesus points out, this is God's rule, that follows God's plan—and is given for our happiness!
So what is the rule of marriage? Its what we all want in our heart its the desire to be loved and to love another person totally.
It's the desire to spend our life learning about the mystery of ourself by exploring the mystery of another physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
All of us want to be loved, and we are, by our God, our parents, our siblings and family but at some point we all begin to desire a mutuality and intimacy with someone who is at once our equal and yet so very different from us.
While God gives us so many people in our lives to love and form friendships with, He gives us one person to know inside and out and He gives us only one person to love, because a person is a mystery that takes an eternity to explore. Sex, which really should be called the marital act, is good within the rule of marriage because it is a way of coming to know and to love another person.
The Churches many “rules” about the marital act all point back to the rule of marriage.
Its interesting, our Catholic faith, like natural science, is concerned about truth. And its my belief, like Einstien, that science is always backing up the reasonableness of our faith
A few years ago the Royal British Academy of Medicine released a study that showed that those who engage in the marital act whether married or not—become addicted to their partner. The act of physically intimacy they found releases chemicals in the brain that are as addictive as cocaine, How good God is that he gives us this chemical and physical bonding tool to help us to love and allow ourselves to be loved. But the scientists also found that this bonding effect wears off in 5 to 7 years, after that it seems we are on our own to keep our marriages a live. They also found that when we abuse the marital act using it outside of marriage with more than one partner we weaken its natural power to bind us together.
God made us, and knows better than we do what will make us happy and He gives us the law of marriage because He knows that we want that amazing love that can only come from a lifetime spent loving one other person.
When asked about divorce in the Gospel, Jesus declares, it was not so in the beginning. the beginning that Jesus is referring to is that time, before the fall, when man still followed God's plan, and when the world was at peace. This original state of marital love is the model, that the church has always held up as an example of what intimate relations between men and women are supposed to look like,
In the beginning God saw that it was not good for man to be alone in the world and realizing that the wild beasts could not provide us with the interpersonal relationships we need to grow as persons learning to love, God created a helper for man: woman.
This partnership was meant to be mutual; men and women were created different to help each other learn about the miracle of their differences, which any married couple can tell you are more than just skin deep.
In marriage we choose to love another forever and in choosing to love them we give ourselves to another allowing ourself to be loved in return. The fruits of marital love, then, is unity as we read in the book of Genesis and as Jesus reminds us today: the two become one flesh.
Not one soul, or one person, but one flesh which means that their bodily wellbeing depends now not just on their own body but on another's. And since our soul depend on our body our spiritual health now depends on our beloved.
Marriage is meant to give us a safe trusting relationship in which we can share our most intimate selves with someone else and believe it or not the marital act, which we vulgarly call sex, is just the first and most superficial level of this sharing.
By learning to love another, by risking our happiness on someone outside ourself—we learn to trust and love not just our husband or wife but God and other people more deeply.
Marriage is a school of love, that teaches us how to love like God loves.
Marriage teach us patients and kindness it teaches us self-sacrifice it teaches us to risk our own vulnerability for the sake of love, it teaches us that love is forever, a lifelong exploration of another person who is ultimately a mystery.
Finally, marriage teaches us that love is creative creating from two distinct creatures one flesh, with the potential of creating a family.
Marital love opens up our heart to see the potentials of love it opens us to the miracle of children, and it opens us up to divine providence to trusting our happiness to God's plan for us. All the Churches rules about intimcy come back to this prophetic vision of what will truly make us happy!
Marriage is so important because since the beginning of creation marriage is the natural way that men and woman grow in holiness. The church, like Jesus in the Gospel today, knows that holiness & happiness depends on the correct use of our sexuality. And it's because of this natural importance of marriage that Jesus chose marriage to be one of His seven signs of God's love for us.
Jesus infused marriage with the grace of His life when he connected marriage to the Eucharist at the wedding feast at Cana and when he connected love to the cross on Calvary.
If marriage is meant to teach man and woman to love and the Cross the ultimate sign of Love then the cross becomes the ultimate sign of marital love and marriage the ultimate school of the Cross. When we reject the rule of marriage we reject the possibility of true love by breaking down the bonds of trust and commitment that love requires.
As a culture we have separated the marital act from marriage because we have seen so many failed marriages. And so its not surprising that today its fashionable to think that we can take relationships on and off like a pair of socks that are warms and soft when they are newly out of the dryer but after stepping in a few puddles become dank and smelly.
Thats why people contracept—because they haven't learned to love and to trust their lover enough to want to have their children.
What a horrible thing to say to your beloved—I don't want to have your baby—because I'm not sure I want to spend my life with you but that is exactly what we say when we use contraceptives! And its this same mentality that underlies why a woman would consider killing her own baby—worry that she will be abandoned to care for a baby alone.
Spouses promise love for better or for worse, because, intimate relationships between men and women, marriage, can't be a school of love, when we give our spouse 10, 30, or even 90% of ourselves. If we hedge our bets, and don't give our beloved 100% we break down the bonds of trust that allow us to love, and learn to love more profoundly.
When two married people even consider the possibility of breaking their word to their spouse, they open up the option in their mind, and this option becomes more likely every time they think about it. Because if this option is on the table in your mind, how do you trust your spouse with your deepest secrets how can you risk allowing someone who you are willing to abandon and so who presumably is willing to leave you, to play with the strings of your heart?
Jesus wants us to be happy, and so he wants us to follow God's plan the rule of marriage, so that men and women can find fulfillment in teaching each other to love,
Pray today that young people listen to God's plan for their happiness and give it a chance.
God knows what your heart wants and your heart needs he should, he gave them to you, take a chance on God's plan and help build up a true culture of life.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Jesus is the Way, the only Way
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
Homily given at St. Patrick's in Wareham
By: Fr. Ron Floyd
My friends today we get to the heart of our Christians Faith.
Today Jesus tells us the Christian difference. He tells us what makes our faith in Jesus Christ so different, and so much better than anything that came before it or has come since.
All religions set up a strict separation between God and Man and a system by which Man appeases God and thus wins favor All religions demand obedience and submission to God’s law All other religions fall short of showing us the true face of God Who made us, not because He needs, not because He desires our help, not because He is lonely, or even desires our worship—but because HE loves us
As we read: God so loved the world that He sent us His only begotten Son that we might not perish but have eternal life.
Finally today in John’s Gospel Jesus reveals himself as the bread of life
Today our Lord reveals Himself as the way, the truth, and the light as the only way to the Father.
And for this revelation the crowds reject Him. The world has always rejected Him, even when much of the world professed Christianity, as was once the case in our own state, because we have always rejected giving up the counterfeit Christ: Our way, our truth, and our light.
We reject giving up “religion,” because we really don’t want a relationship with our God. All we really want is a way to control God! Jesus tells us today there is no other way to the Father, it’s His way or the Highway to Hell. You see Catholicism is a journey on which God is both our destination and travel guide. We like the Prophet Elijah are making a pilgrimage to God through all the difficulties of Life and all the while being fed and kept alive by God.
Catholicism doesn’t promise you that if you follow the rules you will win God’s favor, and be rewarded in this life. It promises that God favors us already no matter what we do and that our eternal reward, awaiting us since the beginning of the World, is returning to the embrace of our Creator.
You see my friends, properly speaking, Catholicism is not a religion, it’s not a system for pleasing an aloof God rather it is a way, a road, to approach and eternally embrace a God who has always loved us who made us to share in His life.
Today in John’s Gospel we are told that Jesus is a map, a compass, and a pack of food. He is all we need to lead us to hidden treasure.
He gives us fuel for the long journey ahead, He shows us the way, is the way, and walks with us along the way. But we reject the way, because we don’t want to follow it!
We want to do a couple good deeds, or a couple of rituals, to satisfy God and then we want to be left alone to follow our own ends.
But our true end and purpose is God! And like any destination every deviation and every wrong turn away from our goal, must be corrected, if we ever hope to arrive at our destination.
Our heart and our soul needs God, but our mind and our will point us toward other things. And so today when Jesus attempts to set us straight He is rejected.
This is the revelation the world has always rejected, even after they saw Jesus’ miracles and heard His wisdom, even after it saw Him risen from the dead, even during the days of the Churches greatest power and influence when most everyone claimed to be a Catholic Christian.
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Light, He is the bread that will sustain us and lead us back to the Father. Will we eat this bread? His Body, and allow its saving power to change the course of our life or will we eat it, to fulfill a ritual obligation, and not give up our way, our truth, and our light?
Christianity is not about doing this or that but about being on the way to Heaven, and to God. Will we reject Jesus’ invitation to join Him on the Way?
Homily given at St. Patrick's in Wareham
By: Fr. Ron Floyd
My friends today we get to the heart of our Christians Faith.
Today Jesus tells us the Christian difference. He tells us what makes our faith in Jesus Christ so different, and so much better than anything that came before it or has come since.
All religions set up a strict separation between God and Man and a system by which Man appeases God and thus wins favor All religions demand obedience and submission to God’s law All other religions fall short of showing us the true face of God Who made us, not because He needs, not because He desires our help, not because He is lonely, or even desires our worship—but because HE loves us
As we read: God so loved the world that He sent us His only begotten Son that we might not perish but have eternal life.
Finally today in John’s Gospel Jesus reveals himself as the bread of life
Today our Lord reveals Himself as the way, the truth, and the light as the only way to the Father.
And for this revelation the crowds reject Him. The world has always rejected Him, even when much of the world professed Christianity, as was once the case in our own state, because we have always rejected giving up the counterfeit Christ: Our way, our truth, and our light.
We reject giving up “religion,” because we really don’t want a relationship with our God. All we really want is a way to control God! Jesus tells us today there is no other way to the Father, it’s His way or the Highway to Hell. You see Catholicism is a journey on which God is both our destination and travel guide. We like the Prophet Elijah are making a pilgrimage to God through all the difficulties of Life and all the while being fed and kept alive by God.
Catholicism doesn’t promise you that if you follow the rules you will win God’s favor, and be rewarded in this life. It promises that God favors us already no matter what we do and that our eternal reward, awaiting us since the beginning of the World, is returning to the embrace of our Creator.
You see my friends, properly speaking, Catholicism is not a religion, it’s not a system for pleasing an aloof God rather it is a way, a road, to approach and eternally embrace a God who has always loved us who made us to share in His life.
Today in John’s Gospel we are told that Jesus is a map, a compass, and a pack of food. He is all we need to lead us to hidden treasure.
He gives us fuel for the long journey ahead, He shows us the way, is the way, and walks with us along the way. But we reject the way, because we don’t want to follow it!
We want to do a couple good deeds, or a couple of rituals, to satisfy God and then we want to be left alone to follow our own ends.
But our true end and purpose is God! And like any destination every deviation and every wrong turn away from our goal, must be corrected, if we ever hope to arrive at our destination.
Our heart and our soul needs God, but our mind and our will point us toward other things. And so today when Jesus attempts to set us straight He is rejected.
This is the revelation the world has always rejected, even after they saw Jesus’ miracles and heard His wisdom, even after it saw Him risen from the dead, even during the days of the Churches greatest power and influence when most everyone claimed to be a Catholic Christian.
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Light, He is the bread that will sustain us and lead us back to the Father. Will we eat this bread? His Body, and allow its saving power to change the course of our life or will we eat it, to fulfill a ritual obligation, and not give up our way, our truth, and our light?
Christianity is not about doing this or that but about being on the way to Heaven, and to God. Will we reject Jesus’ invitation to join Him on the Way?
Saturday, August 1, 2009
What are you hungry for?
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
Homily given at St. Patrick's in Wareham
By: Fr. Ron Floyd, P.V.
What are you hungry for? I think it is important question to ask every now and then.
What is our goal and purpose in life? Where do we find our motivation and happiness? Where are we going and how do we get there?
When we forget to stop and ask these types of questions we end up attaining short term goals, but forgetting our long term goals. Forgetting our destination and trading in the pursuit of happiness
for the every day routine of life, mere contentment.
We end up going in circles, or as Jesus says in the Gospel today, working for the food that perishes
rather than the food that satisfies us forever.
Have you ever felt like you are spinning your wheels in life caught up in the mundane affairs of everyday life, never getting closer to your hopes and dreams?
Many of us forget to ask these questions and so like the Israelites we end up eating bread and quail
each day, rather than accomplishing what we really want.
So I will ask you again: what are you hungry for?
Its not a simple question, it is the question of the meaning of life and purpose of your life in particular!
Some years ago I taught conversational English to a group of 7th and 8th graders in Europe, asking them this very same question in different words. I asked them, “what is happiness?' which is essentially the same question since we all hunger for happiness, even if we don't know what it is! Their answers were probably quite similar to what we might answer off the cuff: money, fame, toys, relationships, etc. Over the four weeks that I was teaching these kids we talked about and by process of elimination
crossed off these answers one by one until at last we were left with just one answer.
True happiness—comes from loving! Because while food, money, fame, things, and even relationships
might give us pleasure, adding flavor to the main course of happiness, who would give up the steak for the seasoning salt?
And note: I said Loving, not being loved, because while it is good to be loved, and we always are loved by our God and Creator the reason for human if is God's Love for us but the purpose of human life is our love for others, most particularly God!
Happiness, unlike pleasure, is long-lasting and is not contingent on things outside ourselves, but is a personal attitude toward the gift of our life.
We are happy when we receive the world around us as what it is a totally undeserved gift of God
and in receiving this gift, we are thankful for it. True happiness comes out of a spirit of thanksgiving, which prompts us to love our creator, and also our neighbors. And true happiness is perfected when we see God face to face together with our brothers and sisters,
and are able to give Him thanks and praise!
In the first reading today the Israelites forgot this! They forgot that they were really hungry for God.
They forgot that Moses' original request of Pharaoh was not liberty from slavery in Egypt but permission to go and worship God freely.
They grumble to Moses because their stomachs are empty forgetting that they came into the desert to be with their God to share fellowship with their creator not to make love to their crock-pots.
Jesus warns us about this temptation in the Gospel, accusing the crowds of only following Him
because they were looking for a free lunch. Jesus didn't come to feed the poor or heal the sick, rather he makes these miracles an occasion to remind people of His real mission, to feed people with the presence of the living-God, for which they truly hungered.
Jesus gives the crowds earthly food, to prepare them to receive the heavenly food the bread of angels, and cup of salvation which he would win for them on the Cross. Jesus feeds us His own Body and Blood to remind man that he is truly hungry for LIFE, life with God!
What are you hungry for?
If you don't believe me that we all hunger for God you need only to search your heart
for your purpose in life to prove I am right!
As we prepare the gifts today, offering over to God bread and wine, the simple symbols of our entire human life I encourage you to ask yourself this question: What am I hungry for?
If you are prepared to receive Him today, in the Eucharist Jesus will dwell with you and give you the opportunity to be with your God and to love Him.
Homily given at St. Patrick's in Wareham
By: Fr. Ron Floyd, P.V.
What are you hungry for? I think it is important question to ask every now and then.
What is our goal and purpose in life? Where do we find our motivation and happiness? Where are we going and how do we get there?
When we forget to stop and ask these types of questions we end up attaining short term goals, but forgetting our long term goals. Forgetting our destination and trading in the pursuit of happiness
for the every day routine of life, mere contentment.
We end up going in circles, or as Jesus says in the Gospel today, working for the food that perishes
rather than the food that satisfies us forever.
Have you ever felt like you are spinning your wheels in life caught up in the mundane affairs of everyday life, never getting closer to your hopes and dreams?
Many of us forget to ask these questions and so like the Israelites we end up eating bread and quail
each day, rather than accomplishing what we really want.
So I will ask you again: what are you hungry for?
Its not a simple question, it is the question of the meaning of life and purpose of your life in particular!
Some years ago I taught conversational English to a group of 7th and 8th graders in Europe, asking them this very same question in different words. I asked them, “what is happiness?' which is essentially the same question since we all hunger for happiness, even if we don't know what it is! Their answers were probably quite similar to what we might answer off the cuff: money, fame, toys, relationships, etc. Over the four weeks that I was teaching these kids we talked about and by process of elimination
crossed off these answers one by one until at last we were left with just one answer.
True happiness—comes from loving! Because while food, money, fame, things, and even relationships
might give us pleasure, adding flavor to the main course of happiness, who would give up the steak for the seasoning salt?
And note: I said Loving, not being loved, because while it is good to be loved, and we always are loved by our God and Creator the reason for human if is God's Love for us but the purpose of human life is our love for others, most particularly God!
Happiness, unlike pleasure, is long-lasting and is not contingent on things outside ourselves, but is a personal attitude toward the gift of our life.
We are happy when we receive the world around us as what it is a totally undeserved gift of God
and in receiving this gift, we are thankful for it. True happiness comes out of a spirit of thanksgiving, which prompts us to love our creator, and also our neighbors. And true happiness is perfected when we see God face to face together with our brothers and sisters,
and are able to give Him thanks and praise!
In the first reading today the Israelites forgot this! They forgot that they were really hungry for God.
They forgot that Moses' original request of Pharaoh was not liberty from slavery in Egypt but permission to go and worship God freely.
They grumble to Moses because their stomachs are empty forgetting that they came into the desert to be with their God to share fellowship with their creator not to make love to their crock-pots.
Jesus warns us about this temptation in the Gospel, accusing the crowds of only following Him
because they were looking for a free lunch. Jesus didn't come to feed the poor or heal the sick, rather he makes these miracles an occasion to remind people of His real mission, to feed people with the presence of the living-God, for which they truly hungered.
Jesus gives the crowds earthly food, to prepare them to receive the heavenly food the bread of angels, and cup of salvation which he would win for them on the Cross. Jesus feeds us His own Body and Blood to remind man that he is truly hungry for LIFE, life with God!
What are you hungry for?
If you don't believe me that we all hunger for God you need only to search your heart
for your purpose in life to prove I am right!
As we prepare the gifts today, offering over to God bread and wine, the simple symbols of our entire human life I encourage you to ask yourself this question: What am I hungry for?
If you are prepared to receive Him today, in the Eucharist Jesus will dwell with you and give you the opportunity to be with your God and to love Him.
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