Merry Christmas to all!

My brothers and sisters, it is so very good to be here with you this evening to celebrate once again the reason for this most glorious and beautiful season of the year, Christ our savior is born to us!

On this very special occasion, I believe it is my duty as a priest to speak of that which is so difficult to put into words, and yet is something that God so desperately wants us to experience, that which the angels proclaimed to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem some 2000 years ago,  “I proclaim to you good news of great joy!” Salvation has come upon you.

This is indeed good news that we gather here to celebrate this evening! Our hopelessness need not be, for Christ has come to bring us hope, joy, and everlasting peace.

In order to really grasp what it is that God has done for us, we’d almost have to be in Heaven. In a world where there are Christmas villains all around us, experiences, people, notions, addictions, struggles, which constantly try to strip away our peace and joy, it can be and often times is very difficult to grasp, to comprehend, to be enlightened as to the consequences of what Christmas means to us.

In order to understand the Incarnation and it’s implications, We really need to understand something about the nature of God and his creation.

Before there ever was a universe there was God, God who exists in a Trinity of perfect love, perfectly complete, perfectly happy, perfectly content and just perfect. Then, for a reason, which was unknown to us, but perfect because he willed it, God chose to create the universe. The only reason in which someone who is perfect would choose to create is for himself. So for his glory, he chose to create a universe through his word, through the second person of the Trinity. A universe we are discovering has the characteristics that tell us something about our creator. It is almost infinitely vast, incomprehensible, millions upon millions of galaxies, and God created it and it was good. However, it was not simply in God’s mind to create a vast universe alone, but also he desired to share this vast creation with you and I. And so on a small, insignificant planet, amongst billions of others, God raised up men and women in his own image and likeness, and to our knowledge, according to what we have discovered and what has been revealed to us through God’s divine revelation, we are the only creatures of our type. And yet even this wasn’t enough for God’s perfect plan. It wasn’t simply God’s desire to create a universe and share it with creatures that were like Him in Image and Likeness, no, he wanted to go a step further and not only create us, but also deify us, make us like him, and so before God every set out ot create anything, in his mind, he knew that He Himself would become one of us so that we could become as He is. For why share anything less than himself, his nature, with us? He didn’t create us for our glory but for His.

All of this took place, not as a consequence to the fact that we rejected his plan for us, but before we ever were created he had already planned the Incarnation, that the same word which he used to create the heavens and the earth, would also take on human flesh to save us from ourselves, to show us the way to Heaven, and ultimately to make us sons and daughters of God.

And even this good news, is not enough for us to understand and grasp what it is that God has done, is doing and continues to do in our midst. We will only comprehend this fully in Heaven, for as now we experience through faith, and do not see, in Heaven, we will experience perfect charity, perfect love, and see perfectly, and understand clearly, what the implications of the incarnation of Jesus Christ means.

So what of this incarnation? God’s greatest work, destined to enlighen and save the whole world, what of this? It easier to appreciate the implications of a savior, if we recognize first and foremost, we need to be saved. We cannot begin to grasp what Jesus Christ born in a manger means, if we don’t understand we need Him. This is why the simple shepherds marveled, and why Herod was fearful, and why the scribes and Pharisees missed out, because the simple understood that salvation had come while the prideful, and self-righteous went out their business and missed out on what it was God was offering. A pattern that continues to repeat itself even to today.

It is only in humility that we are able to experience a taste of the implications of the Incarnation of God become Man. Why because of the humble origins of Jesus Christ Himself. God deserved to be born in a palace of which human minds and hands have not the capacity to conceive of, and yet instead of this, God chooses a place in total obscurity and silence, and under the most humble and most human conditions.

Cesar’s edict obliges Mary and Joseph to leave their little home in Nazareth and undertake a journey. They travel on foot like the poor, in spite of the discomfort of Mary’s condition. They do not think of objecting to the trip; they make no complaint, but obey with promptness and simplicity. He who commands is a man, but their profound spirit of faith discovers God’s will in the command of the pagan emperor. And they go, trusting in God’s providence; God knows, God will provide.

In Bethlehem there is no room for them; they are obliged to take shelter in a hillside cave. The poverty of this refuge for animals does not dismay or scandalize them. They know that the Child who is about to be born is the Son of God; but they also know that God’s works are very different from the work’s of men. And if God wishes His greatest work to be accomplished here, in this wretched stable, in utter poverty, Mary and Joseph embrace His will! The least bit of human reasoning would be enough to confuse and disturb them, and arouse doubts. Mary and Joseph are extremely humble; hence, they are docile and filled with faith in God. And God, as is His custom, made use of what is humble and despicable in the eyes of the world to accomplish the greatest of His works: the Incarnation of the Word.

And so it is with us my brothers and sisters, if we desire to truly experience Christmas Joy as the reality which saves us from all of our problems, and becomes our one and only Hope, we must become like children. We must allow this joy to happen to us, not to go out and grasp it, but like Joseph and Mary, be open to receive it. In this humility, we begin to grasp and experience what exactly the implications of Jesus Christ means for us. And once we do, nothing can take that Joy away!

May God Bless each of you on this Christmas Eve/Day, and may you experience the same Joy the shepherds did in fields when the good news was proclaimed that night! I proclaim to you good news of great joy

that will be for all the people.

For today in the city of David

a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.

Lec # 142- 28^th Sun of OT- Oct 12, 2014- Fr. Bresowar

My brothers and sisters,

I was fortunate enough this past week to take a trip to Orange Beach to be with many brother priests to attend a conference for further education. The conference was on the topic of Internet pornography. It’s not an easy topic to address, but it is certainly one that needs to be talked about because of what it is doing to society and to families in particular.

Many of you I’m sure know someone who struggles with this, or someone who has given into this and believed the lie that it’s not something that needs to be struggled with.

 I don’t want to spend too much time talking about this subject, but one of the interesting points they made at the conference was they have reliable data that the earliest age children are typically exposed to pornography is 11 years old! That’s the average age!

A few points need to be made from the pulpit concerning pornography: one, it’s destroying families everywhere and that’s truth, and two, parents need very much to monitor what their children are doing on the internet, and that especially concerns teenagers. We all know a search for something on the Internet can be innocent, and the next thing you know something pornographic pops up. I would go as far as putting filters on everything, and making sure I know exactly what is happening on the devices in my family if I was a parent. Trust me when I tell you that children are good at hiding what they are doing.

Now its not always easy to monitor what is happening on the internet at home, and it certainly won’t make you popular, but it’s worth the effort because of how dangerous the internet can be, and it is vital that parents try to protect their children from those dangers. Eventually, bad things will be found, it’s impossible to avoid (unless you just turn off the tv and never get on the internet), but you can teach the dangers of it at home so that they are prepared.

Lastly,  maybe you know someone who is struggling with pornography in your home, a spouse, or a relative, this happens, and the quicker they get help, the better. Therapy, accountability, prayer, fasting, mortification, the sacraments, these things are all necessary in overcoming addictions. It can be a very hurtful reality, many know that.  It’s the same with alcohol or drug addiction.

If we continue to act as if this isn’t a problem, or we don’t address it in our families, then like alcohol or drugs, or abuse, or a varying other things that often times occur, it will run its course and cause destruction in it’s path. The good news is that it doesn’t have to; it just needs to be addressed. 

Worse though then destroying our families, or skewing our sense of sexuality, abuse of pornography, or abuse of other substances like alcohol or drugs, or even video game addiction or addiction to the internet in general, puts us in a place where we often times become like the guests invited to the wedding feast in the Gospel, but we refused to accept the invitation.

God says if you love me, keep my commands. There is no gray on judgment day. Sin is black and white, it’s serious. His commands are too.

We need to live our lives taking seriously his command to avoid sin. It’s not easy, especially if you are addicted to a sin, but our Lord is merciful when we seek his forgiveness, but if we aren’t battling against the things we struggle with, we can’t except that we are going to sit at the banquet in the Kingdom of God. Even the person who tried to sneak in, believing that he was good enough to go, was tossed out because he wasn’t wearing his wedding garment. Meaning he wasn’t like the others there, he wasn’t prepared. Sin is destructive, and we should feel bad about it. That’s why we go to confession. It should give us a hopeless feeling, because living is sin is hopeless. We need to try to live in a state of Grace. Mortal sin kills the soul.

We live in a society that doesn’t want to feel bad about the things they struggle with, the don’t really want to believe in sin, and really, they don’t want to feel bad at all about anything. But that’s not reality. We aren’t getting into Heaven without the cross, and we can’t come to know God or have really any resemblance to him at all, if we don’t accept his invitation, his grace in our lives, or if we continue to persist in our sinfulness.

God is inviting us to spend eternity with him, he is inviting us to know and to love him in a very real and intimate way, but he is no fool and he is not calling us to a half-hearted effort. A half-hearted effort will find us thrown out of the banquet. We know we can do better, all of us know this. So let’s try. The grace is there, he will make us saints, and in the process destroy our addictions and make us happier people, more charitable people, if we begin to accept the invitation to do so.

May God Bless each us as we continue on this journey towards our final judgement and hopefully we will find ourselves sitting at the banquet in paradise. Everything else is unacceptable.

Lec # 100- 14^th Sun of OT- July 6, 2014- Fr. Bresowar

My brothers and sisters in Christ, last Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States of America ruled against the Government in a decision which involved a for-profit corporation named Hobby Lobby. Many of you, I’m sure are familiar with Hobby Lobby. It is an arts and crafts chain-store which focuses primarily on decorations, arts and crafts, and picture framing. At least that’s my perception of it.

It use to be one of my least favorite stores simply because my mother would take us there from time to time whenever she needed something, and as there is nothing to entertain boys, it was exceedingly boring. Especially when you have the attention span of a goldfish.

However, even if the store is boring for boys who have no interest in their products, what happened last Monday, was significant in a number of ways.

If you hadn’t heard, the owners of the company Hobby Lobby had sued the Executive Branch of the Government because the Human Health and Services department under that Executive Branch, had tried to mandate that Hobby Lobby be compelled to cover health insurance for their employees that provided for certain types of contraception which could cause Abortions. Contraception types like the Morning After Pill for example.

In doing so, the owner of Hobby Lobby had complained that paying for contraception which caused abortions in the insurance policies they would have to provide, was a violation of their religious freedom.

The Government argued that it was better health care for women, and would give them more options concerning reproduction rights.

What the case of Hobby Lobby vs. the Health and Human Services Department did was basically pit religious liberty against the mandates of the federal government.

Is it ever okay for the United States Government, or any worldly government, to compel its citizens to violate their religious conscience?

In this case, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Hobby Lobby had a constitutional right to not violate their religious freedoms protected by the Constitution of the United States. They did not have to provide insurance, which covered contraception, which could cause abortions.

It remains to be seen what religious liberties will or will not be protected in the future in this country, but we can certainly look in other countries throughout the world and see that often times religious liberties are trampled upon by the governing authority. There are many examples of this, especially in foreign countries, and often times this even includes the right to practice a religion other than the one or more sponsored by the state. 

Much has been said about this and will continue to be said as to what authority does a Government have to compel citizens to violate religious freedoms, and when, if ever, that is appropriate.

Politics aside, and there are plenty of pundits on both sides of the political spectrum who will spin the decision of the Supreme Court to gain political advantage, the question I sought to address in this homily on the weekend we celebrate our 238^th birthday as a country, is not rather the Government has that right, but more so, what is the duty of a Catholic Christian to his or her government?

All people, rather Christian or not, will stand before the court of God’s Judgment one day. This is a much different, obviously, than any civil court, rather it be local or federal.

Our obligation to God is always first, and rightly so, as the moral law and natural law comes from God not from men, and based on this law, the consequences of following it or not are eternal, not simply temporal.

So for example, contraception is a violation of God’s natural law and plan for reproduction and the good of the spouses in marriage. It doesn’t matter what the US government mandates about contraception, we have an obligation to follow God’s law, and trust his plan in our lives, and no manmade law can change that.    

So what obligation do we as Catholics, have to follow the temporal laws of our United States Government, especially if the laws mandated go against the natural or moral law given by God?

What is true Patriotism? Where do we draw the line? What are we to do? Do we just reject the Government out right? Certainly not.

Our mother, the Church, has much to say about what is the civil allegiance of the individual to respect its government, and the leaders it chooses to govern them.

By civil allegiance is meant the duty of loyalty and obedience which a person owes to the State of which he or she is a citizen.

That duty, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, rests on nature itself and the sanctions of religion. As nature and religion prescribe to children dutiful conduct towards the parents who brought them into the world, so nature and religion impose on citizens certain obligations towards their country and its rulers. These obligations may be reduced to those of patriotism and obedience. Patriotism requires that the citizen should have a reasonable esteem and love for his or her country. He or she should take an interest in his or hers country's history, he or she should know how to value her institutions, and he or she should be prepared to sacrifice him or herself for her welfare. In his or hers country's need it is not only a noble thing, but it is a sacred duty to lay down one's life for the safety of the commonwealth. Love for his or her country will lead the citizen to show honor and respect to its rulers. They represent the State, and are entrusted by God with power to rule it for the common good. The citizen's chief duty is to obey the just laws of his country.

However, what happens when the laws are unjust, as was the case with the contraception mandate?

This is where Catholics commonly get accused of having a divided allegiance, to Rome in one instance, and to country in another. This accusation is nothing new, it has been going on since the time of Jesus Christ. It states that Catholics cannot be good citizen and Catholics at the same time. And it is asserted that the duties of the citizen are sure to be sacrificed by devout Catholics to the interests of his or her Church.

But my brothers and sisters, this is simply not the case. In fact it is quite the opposite, there is no Patriotism in following unjust laws. The separation of Church and State does not mean the removal of God from society in the recognition of what is good and true.

If God is the author of life, and creator of the moral and natural law, then we have an obligation, as good citizens of this country, who love their country, to respect their leaders, to follow the just laws which have been written for the common good, and to adamantly reject those laws which unfortunately have been written which do not respect the natural or moral law laid down in our nature and in the person of Jesus Christ.

When we do so, even if it causes friction amongst the populace who may disagree, even if it means persecution, we can say with certainty that we are practicing with virtue true patriotism. This country is great, it’s traditions are great, the men and women who have sacrificed so much to make our country what it is are great, however the country itself is not invincible. It is susceptible to fall as many countries before it have fallen.

In order for this not to happen, we need to respect first and foremost God, and to do so unapologetically. Our allegiance is to God and Country, and in that order. God should never be pit against country, and the country would be foolish to pit itself against God.

I hope and pray that God gives us the grace we need to love our country appropriately, which is born first out of a love of Jesus Christ our savior. I also pray for each of us that we might have the strength and courage to be true patriots to this great country, to respect its rulers and be willing, if need be, to defend her at all cost, even if it means standing up in unison against unjust laws.

May God Bless each of us, and May God truly continue to bless these United States of America.

Lec #591. Solemnities of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Apostles.  June 25, 2014.  Fr. Bresowar.

  Hermanos y hermanas en Cristo, hoy celebramos las Fiestas de dos de los más grandes santos en la historia de la Iglesia: San Pedro y San Pablo.

  Hoy, deberíamos tener  entre nosotros un amor más grande por la Iglesia y por nuestro Santo Padre, el Papa.

  En el Evangelio oiremos a Jesús decirle a Pedro: “Tú eres Pedro y sobre esta piedra  edificaré mi Iglesia.”

  Simplemente, la Iglesia es los miembros que por fe, escogen seguir a Jesucristo hasta el verdadero final.

Jesús le dice a Pedro que él es la piedra fundamental.  En esto Jesús establece el pontificado y la realidad de que su Iglesia tendrá a alguien que lo represente hasta que El regrese:  el Papa, que es nuestro líder.  Estas palabras de Jesús han tenido una repercusión asombrosa a través de los siglos, y que todavía en nuestros días, son testimonio de la primacía de Pedro y sus sucesores (como el Papa Francisco) sobre toda la cristiandad – no sobre un número de pequeñas iglesias, sino sobre una gran Iglesia, la Unica, Santa Católica, Apostólica Iglesia Romana.

  Hay una sola Iglesia.  Cuando vemos otras Iglesias fuera de la única Iglesia Católica, tecnicamente hablando hay que decir que  ellos se separaron de la Iglesia Católica hace algún tiempo.  Ese no fué el plan de Dios.  Dios no desea división y múltiples Iglesias.  A veces alguna gente tratará de hacer que ustedes dejen la Iglesia Católica y vayan a su iglesia.  Cuando esto sucede, es importante que ustedes sepan por qué ustedes son Católicos, para poder responderles: “No, yo soy Católico”.  “Jesucristo fundó una Iglesia en la roca, los cimientos sólidos de Pe- dro, el primer Papa.” Y entonces sean ustedes capaces de invitarlos a que comprendan los dos mil años de bellas enseñanzas e historia de la Iglesia Católica.

  Es importante conocer la historia y la teología, porque desdichada-mente, después de dos mil años, la gente ha decidido por si mismos cómo ellos quieren adorar a Dios, no de acuerdo con Jesús.

  Una sola Iglesia, cuyo Fundador y Cabeza es Jesucristo, que escogió a Pedro para que lo representara a El.

  “Donde está Pedro, allí está la Iglesia.”  Estas son las palabras del famoso Obispo San Ambrosio, que comprendió que la unidad de la Iglesia estaba protegida bajo el Papa.

  Quizás en el año dos mil catorce (2014)  tomamos todas estas cosas por sentado.  Pero nosotros no tendríamos una Iglesia, no tendríamos nuestras devociones, no tendríamos nada parecido al Cristianismo que Jesús fundó, si no tuviéramos la unidad que viene  de vernos unidos bajo Pedro y bajo todos los Papas que hemos tenido por dos mil años.  San Pedro fué el primer Papa y desde entonces, aun con los Papas que no han sido tan buenos, el Espíritu Santo ha estado con la Iglesia Católica.

  Hay una sola Iglesia.  Está hecha de hombres y mujeres, como ustedes y yo, que  somos  imperfectos, que somos  pecadores, sin embargo,

Jesucristo nunca nos ha abandonado. Nosotros no debemos abandonar a Jesús yendo a otras Iglesias.

Estamos bendecidos de ser miembros de la Iglesia Católica bajo  nues-tro visible líder terrenal el Papa Francisco.  Nosotros pertenecemos a una institución asombrosa que no es solamente física sino también espiritual.

  En el momento de su muerte, Santa Teresa de Jesús repetía:  “Yo soy  hija de la Iglesia”  Después de haber  trabajado tanto por Dios y por las almas, este era el único título que le daba seguridad de la misericordia divina.  ¡Ser hija de la Iglesia!  Este es nuestro derecho a la salvación, nuestra gloria, después de tener el título de hijos de Dios. O quizás, no después sino al mismo tiempo, porque como los Padres de la Iglesia  dicen:  “El que no tiene a Dios como Padre no puede tener a la Iglesia como Madre”.

  Satanás siempre tratará de causar división entre nosotros para conseguir alejarnos  de la Iglesia.  No es fácil ser Católico, como lo sabe satanás.  Nosotros tenemos que continuar rechazándolo.  Tenemos que rezar por nuestros líderes, por nosotros y por el Papa Francisco.  Que el Señor  bendiga a cada uno de ustedes y Dios quiera que nunca nos alejemos de la Iglesia Santa, Católica y Apostólica.

          

Lec # 167- Corpus Christi- June 22, 2014- Fr. Bresowar

One of the most awesome things about being Catholic, my brothers and sisters, besides the fact that we have Jesus Christ, present to us, in the Blessed Sacrament, is the reality of the Eucharistic liturgy.

The Holy Mass, that we gather at weekly, which Christians have been doing since Holy Thursday night some 2000 years ago, is still the central mystery our Faith today as it was then.

And that we can go almost anywhere in the world where there are people, and if there is a Catholic Church, even though the language may be different, the Mass is the same.

Even if you don’t speak French, you go to Mass in France, and you know it is the mass. Why? Because the Mass looks the same everywhere. It’s beautiful being Catholic. It’s glorious, it’s divine even. The Church is human, but it is also divine because it’s founder is Jesus Christ who is divine and human.

There is a unity in the Mass that you will not find in the worship of any other religion or denomination of Christianity and it is because of the great sacrament of Unity, the Eucharist, that we come here every week to be fed by Jesus Christ, truly present, the bread and wine, become his body and blood.

This is called Transubstantiation, the bread and wine become his flesh and blood. In this, the reality that Jesus Christ has not left us as orphans but remains just as present as he was when he walked the earth, hidden through the veil of the Eucharistic species of his very body and blood.

What does this mean? It means that in this consecrated Host we find the same Jesus whom Mary brought into the world, whom the shepherds found wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger; whom Mary and Joseph nurtured and watched over as He grew before their eyes; the Jesus who called the Apostles to follow Him, who captivated and taught the multitudes, who performed the most startling miracles; who said He was the “light” and “life” of the world, who forgave Magdalen and raised Lazarus from the dead; who for love of us sweat blood, received the kiss of a traitor, was made one enormous wound, and died on the Cross; that same Jesus who rose again and appeared to the Apostles and in whose wounds Thomas put his finger; who ascended into heaven, who now is seated in glory at the right hand of His Father, and who, in union with the Father, sends us the Holy Spirit. Always the same in eternity, always the same in time, by the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

That reality, the central mystery, and source and summit of our faith is what the Church emphasizes in today’s Solemenity called Corpus Christi, or the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

This great sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus is present with all His divinity and all His humanity, here to be adored and to feed us with food that gives us true life.

It is great to be Catholic. This does not exist outside of the Catholic Church. In fact, where there is division, there is no Eucharist.

There is no division in Jesus Christ and his Church. Such a suggestion is heresy and borders on blasphemy. In fact, the primary objections of Martin Luther and the protestant revolt, was not against indulgences, but against the Mass. Luther himself suggested that to root out Catholicism, it was necessary to suppress the Mass. He tried to convince the nobility of Germany, and even the Monarchy of England to ban the sacred liturgy. The word Protestant is born out of a protest of the Mass. The nobility protested against the Holy Roman Emperor’s decision to allow Catholics to continue to have Mass. Thus they were termed Protestants.

This is not for us to hold over the heads of our protestant brothers and sisters as if to say, we are better than you. The inherent dignity of everyone is the same by the fact we are all are made in the image and likeness of God. No, but it is a historical fact that Protestantism is born out of protest of the Holy Eucharist. And where there is no Eucharist there is division which breeds more division.

And so, we must work with our separated brothers and sisters toward unity which can only fully be found in the Eucharist. So we need to invite them to Mass to understand the history and beauty of the Church and the Sacraments which Christ himself founded.

But before we can begin to heal the divisions from outside the Church, we must heal the divisions within the Church. Who is the Church? We are! Not simply the Pope and Bishops and Priests and beautiful buildings, but you and I together, we are the body of Christ, the Holy Church.

The divisions that lie within each of one of us must be healed. Worldliness, sin, lust for money, power, possessions, lack of faith, lack of trust, the idolatry of worshiping sports, activities like hunting or shopping. All of this is not the Eucharist. Gossiping, it’s the most popular past time. It’s killing us. Pornography, the contraceptive mentality, is doing the same to families. These wounds must be healed within us before we can ever heal outside of us.

And what heals more than any other medicine or solution put forth by man? The Blessed Sacrament. I’ve seen more lives transformed, my own including, by devotion to Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

He is the answer to the division that lies within each of us. He is the fulfillment of our deepest desires. Nothing outside of him will fulfill us ultimately. He is the bridegroom, and we are the bride. He is Heaven and we are restless until we are with Him.

There is no other answer. There is no other suitable solution. And we are missing out big time, if we don’t run to him and adore him in the Blessed Sacrament.

The answer is right in front of us; it’s perpetually present in Adoration chapel at our Church twenty-four hours a day! He is always with us, and would we spend a little time with him, our eyes would be open to a reality which most of us have yet to see.

It’s a hard thing to do here in Huntsville, Alabama where we have to fight against a culture which is self-absorbed.

Nevertheless, we always have a need of contact with Jesus, the Word made Flesh, the God made Man, our Mediator, our Savior, our Brother, and we find Him present in the Eucharist.

My brothers and sisters, here on earth, we are never closer to Him than when we are in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament of the altar.

As we approach to eat his very presence into our own bodies, may we firmly resolve once again to adore Him and seek reconciliation from the division that lies within each of us so that we may go out with undivided hearts and seek to draw people to the Eucharist, which is the only food which has the power to overcome sin and division, the only food which will give any one of us, including our protestant brothers and sisters, eternal life. Yes, we must eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus Christ. Consider yourselves blessed beyond comprehension that you are Catholic and able to do that today, but don’t take it for granted.

Having received Jesus into our very bodies, let us go out and share the good news with everyone. Christ is present with us everywhere and at all times, and physically, substantially so, in the most blessed sacrament of the altar.

May God Bless you and may we adore Jesus in the Eucharist now and into eternity. Thank you Jesus, thank you for everything. Amen!

Lec # 46- 3^rd Sun of Easter- May 4^th, 2014- Fr. Bresowar

My brothers and sisters in Christ,

Going to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is a very good prayer habit. More people have reported how their relationship has grown with Jesus and their discovery of what it is that God wants for them, where to find peace and a way out of the darkness, have often time taken place in the time spent with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament

As it is, Adoration has been a very key component to my own vocation, my own understanding, as is the case with many priests. And when I get too far away from it, I notice. 

And even though life is busy, and it’s hard sometimes to find time to go in there, I try to make it to adoration at least once a day, even if I can only go in for a few minutes. I strongly recommend, as does the Church obviously, that you make it a part of you own spiritual journey. That said,

I was in the chapel the other night and I noticed a middle-aged man sitting in a chair, leaning over, with his face in his hands as you might do if you were stressed out or over burdened.

The image I saw struck me, because as I’m sitting there praying, I’m thinking, “I’ve got this to do, this is going on…  and I need to be better at this, and this person needs me to pray for them and all of these thing…” then I saw this man, as he set in front of Jesus, as one who was maybe asking the question, “How much longer Lord, must I persevere?”

Leaning over, frustrated. Wondering… that’s what I saw.

In actuality, I have no idea what was going through the thoughts of that man. I’m not even sure who it was, but I did pray for him. It kind of took me out of my own thoughts for a minute, and brought me to what was going on in his life. He may have just been tired for all I know. But what I saw, in my own insight, was yet another person who was on a journey, A long journey, fraught with difficulties and disillusionments, rewards and ever changing expectations.

The image of the man leaning over in prayer, with his face buried in his hands reminded me that life wears on each of us, and there must have been some sort of surrender going on to sit there in front of Jesus once again. How many times do we have to surrender to Jesus? It seems like an every day event for many.

One of the realities of being a priest in a parish of this size is that Fr. Mike are able to witness so many different stages of life. Not simply our own, but also many others.

The wisdom we often see, of an elderly person who has been through life and at the same time, the eagerness, yet naïve excitement of a young person who has their whole life in front of them. The challenges yet unknown and the beginning of a life which will ultimately lead to surrender to Jesus, as perhaps it had done once again for that man sitting in front of the Blessed Sacrament the other night.  

We see this youngness in today’s gospel, at least in terms of faith, of the disciples who had left Jerusalem and were on their way back to Emmaus. A pattern that often repeats itself so many times in our own lives, took place on that 7-mile journey the two of them made.

It started with blown expectations. When we are young, we have amazing expectations of how life is suppose to work out. It was no different for the two on the road to Emmaus. They had left home, caught up in this Jesus guy, and were totally distraught that everything they thought was suppose to happen, had ended because of what had happened on Good Friday. Scripture said, they had hoped that Jesus was going to be the one who redeemed Israel, but alas, it was already the third day since he had been crucified. So they were giving up, and heading back to Emmaus. 

Their hopes were dashed. They left discouraged.

How many times are we quick to give up hope when things don’t work out the way we think they are suppose to work out? How many times has life worn us down by our unfulfilled expectations? How many times have we not trusted Jesus and walked away? We all have been guilty of this, and we each know many people who have walked away and have yet to come back.

But Jesus, just like he does for us, doesn’t just allow them to walk away.

He instead, shows them how their expectations were flawed, and how what happened, had to happen so that God’s plan could be complete. He redeemed Israel and the whole world; they just didn’t understand how it was suppose to happen.

So he comes to them, and restores what they had lost, their hope, and emboldens them to go back to the disciples and share the good news. Far from giving up, they are refreshed and ready to carry on.

So it is with us, that often times we need Jesus to come to us, and most especially in the breaking of the bread, where he feeds us with his body and blood, to help us realize that just because our expectations of how we thought things were suppose to work out were not met, doesn’t mean that we need to lose hope or give up.

There is something much greater that God is doing, even if we don’t understand it all the time.

In Eucharist Adoration we see Jesus as the disciples saw him, they recognized our Lord finally in the Eucharist.

“Were not our hearts burning within us?” they asked each other. Lots of different emotions were manifested on that 7-mile journey.  Despair and wanting to give up turned to joy and amazement as their eyes were open at the breaking of the bread, and they set out at once to Jerusalem to continue the journey that God had set out before them.

Disillusionment is a part of this journey, each of us has a vocation to be disciples of Jesus Christ, and each of us will go through the pattern, multiple times, that the disciples on the road to Emmaus went through.

The answer is always the same, come back to the Eucharist, kneel down before our Lord, sometimes place our face in our hands, and in humility ask the Lord to set our hearts on fire once again. His plan is perfect, and he wants us to understand it and fulfill it. That’s where we find our peace.

May God Bless us all, and give us the grace in this Eucharist to persevere, despite the times of disillusionment, trusting that Jesus will lead us exactly to where we need to be. May that become the same and only place where we actually want to be. Amen.  

Lec # 42- Easter Sunday- April 20, 2013- Fr. Bresowar

My brothers and sisters in Christ, it is a great joy and privilege to gather once again with you to celebrate the greatest feast of the Christian calendar, The Resurrection of our Lord, at this Mass of Easter Sunday.

Some 2000 years ago the world was changed forever, when an obscure carpenter from an area some 90 miles north of Jerusalem, from the small nothing town called Nazareth, a blip on the map, unnoticed in the day, was crucified by the Romans, a practice which was very common at that time, held only for those who were not born Roman citizens, and would have never been known to any of us at all, especially just one of many who had undergone such torture, changed the whole entire world forever by doing something no one else had ever done and has ever done since then. Instead of fading away into history as just another good person who was unjustly condemned, he went a step further, and gave us not only a great example to follow, but even greater than this, he took it upon himself to destroy the thing that we most fear, he destroyed death and made it possible for us that we might never die, but live forever in eternity.

Unlike so many before and after him, Jesus did something incredibly unique. No other follower of any other religious figure, or political leader can claim what we as followers of Jesus Christ can claim. Our founder, unlike every other religious founder, is not dead, but is alive.

As alive as you and I are right here, only better, he is glorified; he now possesses what we hope to possess very soon, our glorified bodies.

In the kingdom of God, the very flesh and blood that each of us possess, will be glorified. It was never God’s plan for death to be permanent. In fact, death was never part of God’s plan at all. It is an effect of original sin, an unfortunate consequence of rejecting the plan that God laid out for us. But death, a powerful force indeed, would not overcome life.

Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life has won for us our redemption, and the suffering we endure now, ultimately because sin entered the world, is overcome.

This is the foundation of our faith; this is our victory! Suffering, which was at once a great source of discouragement and hopelessness, and for many is still a sign and reality of great confusion, has been turned upside down, and defeated by those of us who put our faith in Jesus Christ. For the one who has faith, suffering loses its sting, and death has no more power.

Happy Resurrection Sunday everyone! God is alive! Life prevails, and death is coming to an end.

The 40 days of Lent we endured were never meant to be a permanent fixture in our lives; they were a preparation for our own Resurrection. The time to fast and do penance is over for now! Today we celebrate the glory of existence, because existing in Christ is worth the battle of this life. For we were dead in our sins with no hope, but now we are alive because God has chosen to save us from our wretchedness and fulfilled his promise to make all things new.

By his Resurrection, creation has been made anew. The new Adam has restored what the old Adam lost.  Everything now has meaning in Jesus Christ. And what God created at first, is now better. A new birth, a new creation, a share in divine life. Glory and Praise and all Honor to Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. It is very appropriate today that we sing Alleluia!

We celebrate our baptism into the life of Jesus Christ. We will very shortly renew our baptismal promises we made, or our parents made on our behalf many years ago, and by doing so once again, we will proclaim our faith in Christ, and our rejection of Satan and evil, and our resolve to follow the Christ into eternity, because now, unlike before, there is no end for us. We will transition into eternal life, and although it may seem like a long time away, the reality is, the short span of years that this life is, is nothing compared to the incomprehensible joy that awaits those of us who persevere by the Grace won for us on the cross of victory, the cross of Christ.

Our purpose now, as Easter people, is one. We are called as disciples of Jesus Christ to go out and spread our joy to the world. For we are not in Heaven yet for one reason, because God wants more than these. HE wants everyone! We must be his arms and his feet, his voice crying out in a desert, we must be his instruments. This is our task! To be used by Jesus to draw the world to Himself.

We do this by making a firm commitment to follow Him! It’s not easy, many people will walk away, some will lose faith, and others will be too overcome by worldly possessions, and ideas that happiness can be made here apart from God. It is a lie that many fall victim too, even I did for some time. The undisciplined are many. But the story is not over for them, nor was it over for me, there is still time, and that is because God is Mercy and he wants everyone to know and experience the Truth. Words cannot express what faith manifest in those who love Jesus.

So let us go out of our way then, my brothers and sisters, to serve others with the good news, feed the hungry to lead them to Jesus, shelter the homeless to lead them to Jesus, give of our means to the poor, to lead them to Jesus. Reject sin in our own lives, seeks God’s mercy, reject the culture that says God is dead, deny ourselves for love of God’s will, and then rejoice forever, because we are victorious and nothing will take this away from us.

God Bless each of you! And may we all be emboldened in our faith and win for Jesus Christ countless souls as we make our way to Sainthood where his glory will at last be made fully manifest in us. Christ is Alive! Alleluia, Alleluia!

Lec # 28- 3^rd Sun of Lent- March 23, 2014- Fr. Bresowar

My brothers and sisters in Christ,

Recently I saw a video on Youtube, on the internet,  in which I posted to Facebook, the video was entitled FWP.

FWP stands for “first-world-problems.” And in the video it starts off by saying that every day in the world, thousands of people fall victim to FWP, or first world problems.

Then it proceeds to have actors act out some of these problems.

The first was a woman who was acting like she was freezing to death because someone had moved the thermostat from 73 degrees all the way down to 72 degrees and she needed it to be 73 degrees.

The next was a man who was lying on the floor next to the refrigerator starving to death because all that was in the fridge was leftovers.

Then a young man was acting depressed on his computer because no one liked his status update on Facebook.

Next a man said, “I have too much chips for my dip, but if I open my dip, I’ll have too much dip for my chips.”

And finally, last but not least, a young man was shown kneeling down in the parking lot of his apartment complex in utter despair because he brought too many groceries and now he is going to have to make two trips instead of one.

The video was obviously poking fun at people complaining over problems that aren’t really problems and yet were acting like these issues were the end of the world.

It was funny to watch and yet at the same time it was thought provoking.

Living here in this country, where we have most of our needs easily met, we often too, fall victim to first-world-problems.

Little inconveniences, which if we were in a third-world-country, we would be embarrassed to even bring up, often times are at the forefront of our complaints.

Complaining is something that is easy to do, and yet it can also become a very serious problem.

Not that complaining is all the time a bad thing. Sometimes we have real issues, and we need to have someone listen to our complaints. This can be a healthy outlet. Sometimes!

But if complaining becomes our mode of operation, if we become complainers, over every little thing, and aren’t able to put our complaints into proper context, then we run the risk of becoming cynical or jaded people.

People who can’t seem to see the bigger picture or, are worse, not thankful for what they have.

In the first reading, we hear the story of the Israelites complaining in the desert because Moses, through God’s hand, had liberated them from slavery, but had brought them into the desert where the conditions were harsh.

They had wanted to be liberated, remember they were complaining about being enslaved, and once they were freed, they started complaining again.

How easy it was for them to forget what God had done for them!

In a lot of ways, people haven’t changed much since then. It’s easy to complain. That’s a human condition. We want what we want, when we want it. 

Of course Moses heard their complaints and asks the Lord, “What am I going to do with these people?”

“They are complaining, they are angry, and I’m afraid they might kill me.”

It’s never easy to be a leader, that’s for sure.

I’ve learned rather quickly as a priest that you can not make everyone happy, and trying to do so is exhaustive effort and rarely effective.

Luckily, unlike Moses, no one has plotted or threatened to kill me. Yet!

Of course leaders can’t remove themselves either from the list of complainers, I’ve certainly done my share of that too.

In seminary, our class got called out because we complained too much. We were told to suck it up and be thankful for what we had. We made a decision as a class to quit complaining because it was starting to effect us in a negative way. Not only was the faculty starting to notice, but also we didn’t like who we were becoming.

Constant complaining can turn people very negative, or pessimistic.

So Moses goes back to God and asks him what he is suppose to do, and God provides for them in a miraculous way, water from a rock.

Jesus, in the gospel, is exhausted and goes to the well in the middle of the day. He doesn’t even go with his own bucket, but finds the Samaritan woman there all alone. Oddly, she was by herself, which would not have been the norm, except that she had likely been rejected by the other women.

Jesus asks for water, which astounds her because Jesus is a Jew and she is a Samaritan.

However, Jesus doesn’t respond to her admission but instead offers her something better.

“If you knew the gift of God

and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘

you would have asked him

and he would have given you living water.”

But she didn’t understand, she wanted to never have to have earthly thirst again. She didn’t want to have to keep coming back to the well, so she asks him to give her some of this living water.

She didn’t understand what it was God was trying to give her.

In a way, she represents each of us. How often are we looking only to have our earthly needs met, like the people with FWP, or the Israelites in the desert, of the woman at the well?

How often are we blind to what it is Jesus is truly offering us?

Like the Israelites in the desert, we need to learn to be more thankful for what we have, and also to learn to desire the gifts that give eternal life.

We need to recognize finally, like the Samaritan woman did, who it is that is speaking to us and calling us to Himself, and what it is He is offering to give us.

Much more than fulfilling our earthly desires, which are constantly changing, Jesus is going to give us fulfillment which never ends. All we need to do is seek it out above earthly desires.  

Once we are able to do this, once we are able to move beyond our simple complaints and rejoice because we recognize what God is truly offering us, then we become different people. We become bold, triumphant, happy, fulfilled, not because things worked out the way we thought they should here, but because we realize finally, that the only place we ever could be fulfilled in the first place was Jesus Christ.

May God Bless you as you continue your Lenten journey and may we all learn in the desert of Suffering to be thankful and depend only on the living Water, grace, which comes forth from the Rock who is Jesus Christ.

Lec # 76- 6^th Sun of OT- Feb 16, 2014- Fr. Bresowar

My brothers and sisters in Christ, it is always good to be here to celebrate this Eucharistic feast with you each weak.

There is nothing better that we can do with our free choice, then to choose to come here and worship the Lord together as one family. It’s the most important thing that we do and it is where Heaven and Earth meet and we order ourselves most especially to God. God is King, and we are his subjects and he promises that if we choose him, he will never abandon us. Yet he gives us a choice.

Maybe the greatest gift God gave man, besides Himself, was the ability to make a choice for ourselves as to if we want to follow Him or not.

It tells us something about God that he gives us a choice. It tell us that we, who are made in the image of likeness of God, must be, as He is, free to love.

God is Love, and in order for us to become as He is, then we must have the capacity to order our free will to Him.

The first line of the first reading of today’s scripture says this,

If you choose, you can keep the commandments, and in doing so you will be saved. Blessed are they who follow the law, the responsorial psalm reminds us.  

God gives us choice. He doesn’t force us to obey him, rather he asks us to. Why?

Does God want everyone to be miserable? Quite the opposite, God knows what will make us happy better than we do, which is why he says that certain behaviors simply cannot lead us to happiness, and that certain attitudes can impede us from being fulfilled.

Yet even so, many people choose not to trust God, and rather, trust themselves and their own judgment. The wonderful thing about this is that they have a choice to do so; the sad thing about this is that these choices do have consequences.

 Jesus, in the Gospel today is reminding his disciples of the wisdom of doing it God’s way verses the way of the world.

He didn’t come to do away with the law. Some people believe because Jesus is love, then therefore all we need to do is accept him as a decision that we make in our conscience and therefore our actions don’t matter anymore.

Jesus says, “I haven’t come to do away with God’s law, but rather, I have come to fulfill it.”

He is reminding us that he is the new law, and in a way, this takes it up a notch.

“If you look at a woman with lust, you’ve already committed adultery in your heart.”

“Do no swear at all,” he says. “not by heaven,;

nor by the earth,  nor by Jerusalem,  Do not swear by your head.”

Just don’t do it.

Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

So, it’s not that Jesus has come to take away the commandments, but rather, to call us to perfection.

He knows we have the capacity to be better. He knows we can do it, and he going to help us. He does help us, by feeding us with his very life in the Eucharist. By pardoning our sins in the sacrament of confession and by giving us the grace necessary to persevere and to keep going amidst our earthly trials and sufferings.

God knows what is best for us, and he knows what makes us happy.

The world and the spirit of the evil one wants us to decide for ourselves what makes us happy. But it’s a lie. The father of lies has been lying since the beginning trying to convince men and women that they know better than God.

And since the beginning, men and women, have been learning the hard way that they do not.

Life happens, things happen, circumstances happen, and we cannot control the past. We cannot control the future either. We cannot control other people and how they will or will not choose to follow the new fulfillment of the law, Jesus Christ. But we CAN control our own choices.

Happiness is contingent on choosing to trust Jesus Christ and to follow him though the teaching ministry of his Apostles and their successors, our bishops.

This is nothing new in terms of news, and yet we constantly must be reminded of it because Satan is always trying to get us to forget it.

It’s okay to be Catholic. It’s okay to not bend to every societal pressure to accept certain behaviors as normal. It’s okay to follow God over society. We shouldn’t be ashamed to do so.

After all, in the end, there is a standard by which all generations will give an account of their lives, and it won’t be the standard of today’s culture. It will be the standard of the cross of Jesus Christ.

“No greater love is this, then to lay down your life for your friends.” “If you would be worthy of me,” our Lord says, “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.”

And remember if you are hated by the world for doing so, remember, it hated me first. Blessed are you who are not ashamed of me.

If the world had known of the wisdom of Jesus Christ, they would never had killed him. St. Paul reminds us of this in his letter to the Corinthians.

He says, What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,

and what has not entered the human heart,

what God has prepared for those who love him,

This is what the Spirit teaches us when we actively choose to follow Jesus against the pressure of our culture. No one needs me to explain this to them, it becomes evident more and more as the Spirit of God makes it clearer to us the more we choose to follow Him.

Despite what has happened or will happen, we always have a choice.

Love is worth it. Jesus is Love. Let us follow him, and never be ashamed.