fatherjohndecelles' podcast

John witnessed what Jesus said about the "Bread of Life" and this homily expresses the theology.  

Imagine yourself in front of the crucifix.  Look up and see our loving Jesus.  How can we not be moved by the pain and deep love of the seeing our gentle Jesus.  Faith, Hope and Charity.  Pray for true contrition of our sins.  Look up at Jesus and see the nails in His hands and feet.  How can we not be moved.  Let our crucified Lord Jesus draw you into the depths of His love on the cross.  Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.  Amen.

One of the best ways is to pray includes the Stations of the Cross which helps us understand the amount of love God has for each of us.  All the while we go through the stations we can meditate on each and "compassionate" for your savior.  So as we walk through the stations with Him we suffer with Him.  We should feel our suffering for our sins and our saying no to Him.  Our faith is not built on our feelings... but emotions can be a good thing if directed by faith and true love.  

The Annunciation is a celebration.  Listen to this episode to hear how Jesus picked up His cross on this day and carried it all the way to Calvary.  He was brought into the world to die on the cross for our sins. He suffered on this earth but continued to carry His cross. Pick up your cross and carry it even with all the suffering. 

It is very easy to be a slave to sin.  Penance can help us develop virtues which will help us in self discipline.  The first step is choosing to be free. It is so hard to choose to give up sin.  If the Son frees you then you will truly be free.  We must choose to accept the grace He pours out to us.  If we can open our will even the slightest bit, the grace pours out.  Walk away from temptation and be truly free in Christ.  Listen to this episode to hear more about true freedom from sin.

Jesus stated, "If you do not believe that "I am", then you will die in your sins".  All throughout the gospel we hear over and over again that people are trying to figure out who He is.  Jesus does not come out and say that He is God until His hour as the people would have killed Him.  Listen to this episode to understand directly identifying His divinity and why.  

In today's gospel, the people thought they could trick Jesus.  They were not successful.  God has so much mercy.  Listen to this episode to learn what Jesus says to the woman after the people leave and reflect on something you may not have considered when you have heard or read this gospel in the past.  Penance in lent is not the same as the sacrament of penance.  The sacrament is first about penitence: realizing the sin, rejecting and ammending it.  Jesus' mercy is boundless and so is His justice.

Passiontide, the last two weeks of lent where we walk back in time with Jesus as He walks to His passion.  We cover the statues and the crucifix.  At this point in history, there are no saints yet as Jesus has not opened Heaven and no crucifix as Jesus has not yet been crucified.  Listen to this episode to understand the true meaning of what Passiontide is and how we can benefit this lent by understanding the actual events that are occurring at this very time 2000 years ago. 

There is a lot of talk today about unity.  In the last supper, Jesus talked about being perfectly united.  Another time Jesus stated, "Those who are are not with me are against me" and that applied then and today.  Lent is a time for siding with Jesus.  We do not side with Him when we sin.  We must value Jesus above all.  Lent is a time to repent and love God by keeping His commandments.  Pick up your cross and follow Jesus.  Let's get rid of any divisions between us and Jesus.  

Saint Joseph protected and provided for Mary and Jesus as husband and father. In the self gift of marriage, Mary and Joseph totally gave themselves to each other.  They cooperated with God for the specific and unique way Jesus was received in their family.  Joseph as father to Jesus was a "just man" meaning he fully gave of himself what was due to Jesus. Saint Joseph comes right after Mary in holiness. Listen to this episode to learn more about Saint Joseph. 

God gives Moses the covenant. Moses saves God's people as an intercessor and mediator in the exodus. Moses is a foreshadowing of Jesus. Jesus completely and perfectly communicates the covenant.  He mediates grace to us and sacrifices himself on the cross. There the word made flesh intercedes for the world and reveals Gods love made perfectly.  On the cross Jesus saves all mankind as foreshadowed in the old testament and fulfilling all the promises of the old covenant leading us all back to the sacraments.

Through his faith and the grace of God, he converted Ireland to a Catholic nation.  This feast day has evolved into a celebration of Irish culture with parades, special foods, music, dancing and drinking. This is all a moot point when you discover life of this amazing saint. Listen to this episode to learn how we can emulate the same holiness of this great and holy saint. He dealt with very violent and angry challenges which is similar to our own lives and we should all strive to be like him. 

Why do we not believe even after seeing a miracle of Jesus? For example in today's reading when a miracle occurred during the Sabbath and people became angry.  We are supposed to respond by belief.  Consider how you respond to the signs and miracles in your own life : by faith or by persecution, disbelief and rejection? Jesus intervenes in your life for our greater good.  When we sin or in anyway deny Jesus, we are persecuting Him. We must respond with faith.

John's gospel today uses two signs: the Miracle of Cana and the Miracle of the Royal Official to explain Jesus' acts of mercy. Miracles in your life should not just be used as signs but also to increase our faith.  Listen to this episode to learn how we can respond and reflect on them in order to benefit.  All of us have miracles and signs in our lives but whether large or small we should be thankful, in awe and in some cases in fear.  Allow them to continue to respond in your life and increase your faith.

Today's introit "Rejoice Jeresalem" as Laetare Sunday.  We have joy and we also have darkness.  This homily explains today's readings and how to understand the meaning of them to better understand the joy and the darkness. Recognize Christ crucified as a sign of all sins.  Look up at the crucifix and remember and understand.

Don't pray with pride and hypocrisy but with true humility. Avoid looking at the sins of others or making yourself the object of worship.  Pray humbly to God.  Look up to heaven and know that you are a sinner and be humble.  We begin each Mass at Saint Raymond's praying "I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned..." Approach both prayer and Mass humbly and bow down to His glory so that He may lift you up with His mercy and grace.

Jesus said, "I did not come to change the law but to fulfill it".  When He spoke of the commandments and love, He is not giving us anything new, he is quoting Deuteronomy and Leviticus.  Our understanding of love should not be about attraction and desire but more importantly for the good and betterment of the other individual.  If you really love someone you would do anything that would keep them from their own good.  Do not lead the one you love into sin.  Listen to this episode to learn more.

Understanding what the Church teaches is important.  Expressing opinions that are against Church teaching is sinful.  Opinions can be confusing to Catholics when they do not know what the Church teachings are.  Learn the authentic doctrine and increase your knowledge of the truth.  Church leadership that fails to teach the truth will have to answer to God. Follow the truth and authentic teachings that Jesus passed down to us.  This episode talks about resources available through our parish.

How well do you know the commandments?  Listen to this episode to help you understand how well you truly know them.  In order to examine your conscious you need to know the commandments.  Knowing, keeping and reflecting on the commandments explain the most basic rules of loving God.  Each is a beginning of the law but continue to even more than the words of the commandments.  Knowing them will help you grow in the love of Christ.

One of the most common sins is the sin of the unforgiving.  Why can't we forgive?  There is a debt, someone hurts us and they need to pay you some restoration or truth.  Rather than pity, we want payment in the form of a humble apology, punishment or pain.  If you want to forgive others, ask yourself how do you expect to be forgiven.   We will need to let go of the hurt or debt. In lent, look at the cross and the ransom He paid for us - accept Jesus' forgiveness of our sins so that we may forgive others.