1. Lec # 47- 3rd Sun of Easter- April 22, 2012-
    Fr. Bresowar

    My brothers and sisters in Christ. It is awesome to be back here at the old training grounds at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton/St. Henrys. It has been an amazing first year as a priest, a busy first year, I thought I was quite busy at seminary, and it turns out I was not busy at all. The priesthood is amazingly busy! But awesome…. I’ve been assigned up in Huntsville, at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, as the associate pastor, and in charge of Hispanic Ministry. Do I speak Spanish? No… but God is making it work some how. Also, I’m the chaplain at John Paul II Catholic High School, which I love, and I’m able to speak English, which I also love.

    So it’s been great, and if young men knew how amazing it was to be a priest, we wouldn’t have a shortage anymore. Not that this parish isn’t doing its part, it has 3 seminarians right now, which is awesome.

    By brothers and sisters, it appears to me that the Church is going through a period of cleansing and renewal. That orthodoxy is making a return, and once again, as it always has and always will, is winning the test of time. Orthodoxy, faithfulness to the Truth, to the timeless teachings of the Magisterium, the doctrines of Christianity, is on its way back!

    We have right now young men and women coming out of seminaries and religious orders, going to universities and studying, coming out on fire for the Truth of Jesus Christ. The same truth that is boldly proclaimed by St. Peter in the Acts of the Apostles in front of the religious authority of the day in Jerusalem.  That

    "The God of Abraham,
    the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
    the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus,

    And you put Him to death out of your ignorance. But this was allowed so that the scriptures might be completed/fulfilled, therefore repent of what you have done so that your sins might be wiped away.

    Bold, maybe even dangerous, but it is the Truth. Our world doesn’t like bold proclamations of the Truth, she wants to debate it and take a vote on it, and some places even deny it, but this is not orthodoxy. The truth speaks for itself.  Jesus Christ suffered that that our sins may be forgiven and it is time to return, as we now seem to be doing, to the core of this Christian truth. That, as the second reading says

    Jesus Christ the righteous one.
    He is expiation for our sins,
    and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.

    If you want to know him, if you want to receive him, follow his commands. Whoever does so is perfected by the love of God.

    Obedience to the commands of Christ is the perfection of the Christian soul.

    Obedience, Truth, words that for the past 40-50 years in the United States, and really in the western modern world, in our culture, have tried to be unsuccessfully redefined to mean something they are not. Progressives have tried to make the argument that the Church needs to change her teachings to get with the modern times, on things like celibacy, birth control, women’s ordinations, abortion, and even the sacraments and the Liturgy. And yet, the Church who is guided by the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit who is leading the great renewal once again, cannot and will not change her doctrines and/or her disciplines on the whim of a culture which rejects them. How has the Church survived for 2000 years? By changing her teachings every time they are unpopular or by proclaiming the Truth regardless if it is popular or not?

    In his Holy Thursday homily at St. Peter's Basilica on April 5, Pope Benedict XVI denounced calls from some Catholics for optional celibacy among priests and for women's ordination. The pope said that "true renewal" comes only through the "joy of faith" and "radicalism of obedience."
    And renewal is coming. After the 2002 scandal about sexual abuse by clergy, progressive Catholics were predicting the end of the celibate male priesthood in books like "Full Pews and Empty Altars" and "The Death of Priesthood." Yet today the number of priestly ordinations is steadily increasing.

    Some seminaries now, which were so rocked by progressive, liberal Catholicism as it invaded the Church, which saw their numbers drop to practically nothing, are now having to turn away men as there is now a real distinction between those things which are beautiful and true, which attract men and women to give up their lives for Jesus Christ and his Church, and that which exist in our culture today.

    And I say all this not to worry the flock, but bring excitement and strength to many who have seen our culture lose it’s moral fiber, it’s identity of a good wholesome people, and now recognize that goodness, beauty and truth will always have the last say. This is reflective of what is happening right now in the young people of the Catholic Church. Her numbers may be smaller, but she is getting holier, and Holiness breeds holiness, where dissent does not.

    Cardinal Francis George, the longtime leader of the Chicago archdiocese, once gave a homily that startled the faithful by pronouncing liberal Catholicism "an exhausted project . . . parasitical on a substance that no longer exists." Declaring that Catholics are at a "turning point" in the life of the church in this country, the cardinal concluded that the bishops must stand as a "reality check for the apostolic faith."
    Such forthright defense of the faith and doctrine stands in clear contrast to the emphasis of an earlier generation of Catholic theologians and historians. Many boomer priests and scholars were shaped by what they believed was an "unfulfilled promise" of Vatican II to embrace modernity. Claiming that the only salvation for the church would be to ordain women, remove the celibacy requirement and empower the laity, some theologians have demanded that much of the teaching authority of the bishops and priests be transferred to the laity.
    This aging generation of progressives continues to lobby church leaders to change Catholic teachings on reproductive rights, same-sex marriage and women's ordination. But it is being replaced by younger men and women who are attracted to the church because of the very timelessness of its teachings.
    They are attracted to the philosophy, the art, the literature and the theology that make Catholicism countercultural. They are drawn to the beauty of the liturgy and the church's commitment to the dignity of the individual. They want to be contributors to that commitment—alongside faithful and courageous bishops who ask them to make sacrifices.

    In short, they are attracted not to social issues, not to modernity, but to Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and forever. They are once again embracing this Truth, that I must decrease and He must increase as proclaimed by John the Baptist and lived by the faithful in every generation. It’s not about us, it’s always is and always will be about Jesus Christ! And it starts right here in this Eucharist. The most important thing that we do as humans in all of history is make present the sacrifice of Christ in this sacred liturgy. Save the Liturgy save the world. A popular battle cry for faithful Christians who recognize that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life! That after the resurrection the disciples recognized him in the most especially in the breaking of bread! So do we in the Holy Eucharist which we will now turn our attention to and receive Jesus into our very bodies giving us strength to be perfected by keeping his commands and persevering to the very end in a world which wants nothing to do with him. 
    ----Some of this homily was taken directly from an article found at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303772904577335290865863450.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#printMode  





    Posted by

  2. Lec # 40- Good Friday- April 6, 2012- Fr. Bresowar

    One of the most challenging things for us to comprehend, or to try to grasp our minds around as humans is the fact that all of us are destined, at some point in our lives, probably multiple times, to suffer and to suffer greatly.

    Not simply physical pain, but emotional, mental, spiritual pain. This we cannot avoid. It is a fact that human suffering comes to each and every person in various degrees.

    And for some, the suffering will be greater than others. That some of us suffer in greater degrees and for reasons that we cannot understand is a great mystery to many people.

    Often times, the question of human suffering becomes the greatest obstacle of faith for many. How could a good and loving God, allow so many people to suffer, and often times with no real reason or purpose? This question has lead many people to doubt the existence of God. It makes sense that someone would suffer, they say, if they deserved it, but how about the person who doesn’t deserve it? God must not be present, because that would be a cruel God to allow an innocent person to suffer.

    In searching for a reason as to why people suffer, many of our brothers and sisters from other faiths or denominations choose to try and explain human suffering in a way almost makes an excuse for God.

    So often times the health and wealth Gospel is preached. They say God is good of course, and therefore, if you suffer, it must be because you are not good enough in his eyes. You are still holding back something and he wants you to give more of yourself, which explains why you are suffering.

    And likewise if you are blessed, then you give more so as to be even more abundantly blessed. This is the prosperity Gospel, it’s popular amongst some evangelical and protestant denominations… but it’s not the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it’s not the gospel of suffering love.

    Any priest can tell you where they encounter the most suffering, and that almost always is in the hospital, particularly in the moments before death. Recently I heard a priest tell a story of how when he was a seminarian he brought communion to beloved parishioner, a dying women who was very well known in the parish. She was 80 years old he had mentioned. And when arrived at the hospital, as often times happens, he encountered a scene of despair and torment. The family and friends were all gathered around the bed, and everyone was very distraught. He said this was awkward for him, as you can imagine having to walk in and minister in such a difficult setting, especially as a seminarian with little experience.

    So he said he went over to the bed where the dying woman laid, and he saw she was stretched out like this (like you would see on the cross), and in each hand there was a pierce, multiple piercings actually where the staff had put in over time multiple IVs. And he looked down at her feet, and there too where multiple piercings where they had tried to finds veins as well for IVs.

    So here she is with her hands and feet stretched out he said, on the cross of her bed, and he said he looked into her eyes and he saw that she was full to the brim with fear. And then he paused, and said he looked deeper into the blacks of her eyes and he saw Jesus. It was Jesus who was suffering inside of her, and that gave him a lot of courage to say to her, “Margaret,” that was her name, “you look very much afraid?” She said, yes, I am terrified, I am going to die and I’m going to leave my children, and they will have no mother, and a lot of them do not have any faith and I’m worried about them. And the young seminarian, who would later be a priest, said to her, he said, “Jesus himself was afraid also. He suffered with you your fear. But he was never afraid of fear.”

    And she kind of looked at him oddly, with a inquisitive look, like what you mean? And he continued, “Do see where you are right now?” He asked her, “You are on Calvary with Jesus, you are suffering on this cross right now.” She said, “I’m offering all of this for my children.” She said, “I don’t know what more I can do, I’m at a loss.”  She said, “What more can I do for my children?” They’ve lost their faith, I don’t know what else I can do but offer my very life.” 

    And God heard that prayer, and she did offer her life. The priest goes on to tell that he remembers that he tried to alleviate her fears as much as possible, and she had been anointed, and he gave her communion and she did die about 45 minutes later after that visit.

    He says he remembers going home that night, and when he got in he passed by the table where the newspaper had been earlier, and he happen to see a picture in the health section of a tiny little premature baby, and his little body was stretched out just like this, like a little cross, and he could tell that this little premature baby was in so much pain, enduring so much suffering, and seminarian who would later become a priest said he was alone and he remembers asking out loud, “Why Jesus?” “Why do you continue to suffer in us?”

    You see a long time ago, right before the Garden of Eden, at the last supper, Jesus offered himself. He offered himself once and for all when he instituted the Eucharist, and he gave us the Eucharist, his body and blood in the last supper. And immediately after he gave us the Eucharist, he begin to suffer that offering. Immediately after he gave us his body and blood, and being betrayed the first moment after giving us the Eucharist, he begin to suffer the effects of that.

    A lot of Christians would say that the sufferings of Jesus were done for our sins, and he suffered that once and for all awhile back, way back when on the cross some 2000 years ago. And they will quote John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.” But they forget the other part of the offering, when he said in Capernaum in John 6, “I give my flesh for the life of the world.”  And he gave his flesh once and for all but that giving of that flesh is offered every day throughout the world; the Eucharist is given to us. And so that is the chief and principle means that we have to unite our sufferings with Christ. Because in a way, like John Chrysostom said, “Jesus, will be crucified until the end of time because his body the Church is still suffering.” You and me, and Christians all over the whole world, are still suffering, and you are the body of Christ. We are the living mystical body of Christ. And although Christ is risen and in Heaven, a reality we will celebrate in two days, although this is true, his body continues to cry out from the depths of human misery… for salvation. And this crying out for salvation is the mystery of our redemption.

    And that, my brothers and sisters, is the power of redemptive suffering. The fact of the matter is that love suffers for love. That the truest nature of love, is a suffering love. That Christ, who is love incarnate, would suffer shows us that we who are members of his body, are privileged to suffer love as well. The saints suffered love, in fact, Therese of Lisieux, was so united in her suffering with the loving redeemer, that she reached a point where she said she could no longer suffer, for all suffering had become sweet to her.

    The more we love, the more we become love, the more we will suffer. Because love and suffering are united, where, in the Eucharist, and the cross that necessarily followed.

    And how fitting it is now, that in this sacred service of the passion of our Lord, we move in a short while to venerate and honor the cross of Christ, where love meets suffering and unites itself to it, and where death is overcome, and purpose and meaning are given to our suffering because of our union with Jesus himself in his body. Then right after that, we will receive the suffering servant into our very bodies in the Eucharist. The Eucharist, the body and blood, soul and divinity of our redeemer, offered as a sacrifice for us, and with us in our own suffering, all over the world at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, where the very sacrifice of the Last Supper and Calvary are made present, apart from which our suffering would make no sense. Without the Eucharist, our suffering is meaningless, but because of the Eucharist we no longer need to look for a reason as to why humans suffer. Our sufferings are united to the suffering of Christ in the Eucharistic offering, for the great mystery of the salvation and redemption of the world.

    What a God we have, he gives meaning to every aspect of our life. All we have to do is look to his son, and see that love and suffering are united in the Eucharist, and that the more we suffer, the more we love. As Christ suffered for love… and then we will see the world in a totally different way, and say to the Lord, wow… you allow suffering to various degrees because you are redeeming the world through it. In fact, the more we suffer, the greater capacity we have for love. IF we suffer with him as he suffers with us, then we will love more and more, and that love, that suffering love, the truest nature of Love, will transform our bodies into glory, for that is end true love, Glory, where we will say with St. Therese of Lisieurx, and so many others, we can no longer suffer Lord, for all suffering has become sweet.
    Posted by


  3. Lec # 37- Palm Sunday- April 1, 2012- Fr. Bresowar

    My brothers and sisters in Christ,

    At the beginning of this holiest of weeks, where we in the mystical body of Christ, the holy Catholic Church, enter in to the paschal mystery, the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ;
    We listen to this beautiful story of our redemption. The greatest love story ever told.

    While we may hear this story and think of the sadness and brutality that our Lord endured, and it is true, it was very brutal, and very sad, and we may feel guilt too, for it is our sins that did this to Him.  Yet, we must not forget that this is a love story. This is why Jesus was sent from the father, this was his mission, to come and to die for us, for the sake of his love for us. Not only to die for us, but to show us the way to the Father. For each of us should understand, that we cannot be glorified with the son without the love story of the cross. Our lives make no sense without the cross.

    I find myself growing more and more in love with the cross, because it is through the cross that Jesus makes all things new. He gives meaning to human suffering. He invites us to suffer with him knowing that the resurrection is coming. Easter is on the way! But before we get there, we must suffer, take up our cross, unite it to the cross of Jesus, and follow after him.

    We have a great opportunity this week to really enter into this great mystery with Jesus himself. This is a holy week, a incredible week for us to take advantage of all the opportunities of grace that God seeks to give us.

    We can and we should journey with our Lord this week. Not only to observe and pay attention, but to enter into the very mystery with our own bodies, with your own souls. You may not have had the best Lent this year, but you certainly can have the best Holy Week! There is no week that is more Holy then this one.

    We start today, by listening to the Passion, and proclaiming Hosanna in the Highest, to Christ the King by waving our blessed palms. Hosanna in the Highest indeed, he has arrived in Jerusalem to complete his mission!

    And then, on Tuesday, the priests of the diocese will travel to Birmingham, to the cathedral at 11 AM, to renew our commitments to the priesthood of Jesus Christ, to be men, conformed to Christ himself, chosen by Christ to be servants, to be shepherds who seek to feed his flock. It is at this mass that the bishop will bless all the holy oils that we will use this year for baptisms, for confirmations, for anointing of the sick. Then on Tuesday evening at 7 pm, all of us here will have a great opportunity to come to the sacrament of forgiveness, of confession, in our parish Penance service. There is no better time for us during this holiest week of the year to receive the Lord’s mercy. We have an obligation to do so at least once a year as Catholics, but that’s for our own good, we actually have the opportunity to confess as often as we need to throughout the year.

    Coupled with this great sacrament, we have the institution of the greatest of all sacraments, the Holy Eucharist, at the Mass of the Last Supper on Thursday evening at 7 pm. It is here were Jesus gives himself completely, in anticipation of the sacrifice he will make on Calvary, in the bread and wine, which becomes his very body and blood. This is his kiss to us! His embrace! “And behold I am with you always,” he says to us, “even to the end of time”. He is most especially with us always in the Eucharist, body and blood, soul and divinity. Christ is present in the Tabernacle, in all the tabernacles of the world. After the Holy Thursday mass we will have a Eucharistic procession and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

    And then, we will strip the altar, and repose the Blessed Sacrament. The Church will be bare and empty, as we enter into the night before Jesus died. The night he was betrayed by Judas, and arrested by the Sanhedrin.  On Good Friday, we fast, and we mourn, we suffer with Jesus. We reflect on how he takes our own sins and nails them to the cross. In a sense our sins are the hammer that nails his hands and feet to the cross. We embrace our role we played in this, and we gaze upon our loving Lord, as he forgives us from the cross. “Forgive them Father, they do not know what they are doing.” At 3 pm, the hour of mercy, the hour that our Lord breathed his last breath, we will have Stations of the Cross here in the church and on the soccer field. And then at 7 pm, we will have the Passion service. Here we will have the opportunity to venerate the cross, the weapon by which Christ defeated the enemy and won for us citizenship in Heaven. It is a beautiful service!

    And then… after 3 days in the tomb, on the Holy Vigil, at 8 pm on Saturday night, we will celebrate the victory of the cross, the Resurrection, in anticipation of Easter Morning. The Easter Vigil is one of the most ancient liturgies of the Church, and it is the night that those who have been preparing to enter into the Church do so. It is absolutely wonderful; if you have not attended this Mass before, I highly encourage it. It’s a long liturgy, but it is full of beautiful imagery, and the sacraments, and all that makes being Catholic so incredibly wonderful.

    And then finally we begin the Easter season on Easter Sunday! We have journeyed with our Lord through these 40 days, up unto his betrayal, his death, and his Resurrection, and it all culminates in this most holy week.

    So let yourselves be moved by Grace this week, and join Fr. Mike and myself, the deacons, and all the faithful as we journey together in this greatest of mysteries, the mystery of our redemption and our salvation. Great conversion can occur for each and every one of us, and this may be the greatest gift of all for those of us who would dare to embrace this most sublime, this most holy of weeks. This is Holy Week, please do not miss the opportunity, let it be holy for you and for me, and experience the awesome power of God shining through the victory of the Cross.  
    Posted by
About Me
About Me
I am a Catholic Priest in the Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama. This blog is where I post my homilies from time to time. May God bless you always!
Blog Archive
Blog Archive
Traducir
Traducir
Loading
Dynamic Views theme. Powered by Blogger. Report Abuse.