Queens Church Mass Companion

Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord

Feast of the Transfiguration of the LordReading 1 - Dn 7:9-10, 13-14Reading 2 - 2 Pt 1:16-19Gospel - Mt 17:1-9
 
The transfiguration is a historical place in a historical event. If you go to the Holy Land to cross it off your bucket list, they'll take you to Mount Tabor and show you the very spot where today's gospel occurred. But more importantly, it is attested to by Matthew, today's gospel writer, but also Mark and Luke. And in all three of those accounts of the transfiguration, each of them places that on a very important day in Jesus life.
Why? Because of something very critical that he told us Apostles just before this occurred in Matthew Mark in Luke. The Transfiguration follows immediately after the first prediction of the passion. The first prediction of the passion. I remind you, when Jesus called the Apostles, they left their nets and they followed him, but they asked nothing. They didn't ask, How does this pay?
They didn't ask, Where are you taking us? It was on Transfiguration Day that Jesus informed them what was going to happen to him. He told them about his destiny and his destination. The first prediction. The passion, means that Jesus informed those men that he was going to die for them and it wasn't going to be a death of illness or natural causes or old age, and he wasn't going to get run over by a camel.
Jesus informed them that he was going to experience betrayal, trial, scourging, a sentence to death, and he was going to be murdered in the most worst way on a cross, which to them was a curse. The Hebrew scriptures said, cursed is the man that dies on a tree. Cursed is the man that is crucified. Well, this was met with despair, distress and devastation.
Those men had left everything to follow Jesus. And no, they didn't ask any questions. But that doesn't mean that they didn't have some hidden assumptions and they were assuming that if he is God, if he is the Messiah, if he is a king of kings, that he won't lead them to hardship. He's going to lead them to glory, to greatness.
A great things for him then to tell them that he is going to be murdered. Now they're beginning to guess, was this the right decision to get out of that boat and follow this man? And even though the news of Jesus death was the cause of despair, distress and devastation, what followed after that was even worse for them.
He said, Whoever wishes to follow me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. That was Jesus telling them He wasn't the only one that was going to suffer, that if they continued to be his disciples, if they continued to preach and teach and heal in his name and for God's glory, it would come at a great cost and it was going to cost some of their life.
Ten of the 12, to be precise, would one day wear the martyr's crown. Understanding all of that, then all this doom and gloom and talk of death and betrayal that sets the stage for what happens next. The 12th, they disperse. Only Peter, James and John go with Jesus up on top of Mount Tabor. And even though they have just heard some really bad news, they can't stay awake.
They just fall asleep and it's in the dark of night where they're awakened by a blindingly bright light. It's not an early sunrise and it's not an eclipse. It's Jesus. Jesus like they've never seen him before.
The transfiguration of Jesus on top of Mount Tabor. And it wasn't a spotlight coming down on him from heaven. He is the light. That's why we call our school blooming crusty. The light of Christ. Jesus is the light. And it was coming for him forth from him like a lighthouse to show people the way to the father's house lighthouse is to help us to avoid all the dangers on the sea.
Jesus helping us to avoid the dangers of sin. Satan and death. And this was a miraculous sight. They could barely see it because they had to squint and hide their eyes. But his clothing, his hair, his skin so white. But what's even more miraculous, he wasn't standing on top of the mountain. He was floating above it. And he was not alone.
He was surrounded on the one side by Moses, on the other by Elijah Moses, to show that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law of the Hebrew Scriptures, Elijah to show that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophets who foretold his coming. And Peter thinks this is something special. He said, This is great. People are going to want to come here to see this.
Let's make a shrine, let's have pilgrimages, let's build some tents. But quickly, his joy turns to terror. Not only is Jesus, they're surrounded by ghosts floating on top of a mountain, but then all of a sudden the heavens open and the booming voice of God comes down and said, This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.
Listen to him. Then Peter's joy. He turns to terror. But God's voice also serves a purpose, just as we have Moses there to show that Jesus is the fulfillment of all Elijah, to show that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies that foretold His coming. God is speaking at the moment of the transfiguration to remind those apostles who just learned that Jesus would experience betrayal, trial and death, that it was not a conspiracy or some sort of plot.
It was God's plan. That's why God must speak at that moment from that mountain, to let them know that Jesus death was part of God's ultimate answer to our prayers, that He might take on and defeat our greatest enemies, sin Satan and death, breaking their chains forever and for everyone. And that clinches it. Then that explains what the transfiguration is for those who had just learned that Jesus is going to die, now they're seeing a snapshot of the resurrection, or they're seeing a glimpse of the risen Christ before He even goes out to the cross to fulfill the father's plan and to meet his destiny.
And it would be a sign to them that would strengthen their faith. Whether that faith was going to be shaken just like the earth would shake, and darkness covered it when the curtain was torn in the middle and the Son of God died on that cross for our sins. This story reminds us that out of the darkness, a great light shines.
And even though it's darkest just before the dawn, the darkness will always be conquered by the light. And that is why God sent His son to seek and save the last in the first place. A world still darkened by sin and death. We have that light shining bright that can show us the way out of here and the way home to the father's house.
But we then, like Peter, James, John and the others, must still meet and fulfill the definition of discipleship as Jesus defines it. Those who wish to come after me must deny themselves. Take up your crosses and follow me. We have to be willing to suffer. Jesus was willing to suffer to accomplish the Father's plan. Jesus was willing to suffer in order to open Heaven's Gate.
Stories like this remind us that it will be with blood, sweat, tears, fear and trembling, carrying those crosses across the finish line of the race of faith so that we can see the face of God in those crosses are many, and at times those crosses are heavy. In the times.
Waiting for us. And if we can carry this crosses with the Lord and we can carry those crosses for the Lord that we know we can carry this process along during this process forever. We do not carry them, may never carry Jesus or help with that darkness. So my friends keep coming, urged to be fed, to.
Be nourished, to be inspired, and to be strengthened so that we can continue to deny ourselves our say, our selfishness, our pride, and to live for him who died for us.

Understanding the Parable of the Sower

Reading 1 - Is 55:10-11Reading 2 - Rom 8:18-23Gospel - Mt 13:1-23
Then and now, Jesus has His disciples, those who believe in the Word made flesh. Then there are those who follow Jesus because they are looking for handouts from Him. An extra fish or loaf of bread here and there, but not true belief or faith or discipleship. There are those who manipulate and weaponize Gods word in order to have power and control over others. Some of us are thrown off course, where it looked like the seed of Gods word was going to bear fruit, but something went wrong along the way. And then those who stopped believing and those who will never believe, no matter the case. Jesus wasn't just referring to the people of his time. He's talking to the people in the church of today and in the world in which we live.
There are still those who believe and who will never doubt and who always trust, willing to suffer and sacrifice for God's will just as Jesus did. There are those who are more casual. We may be. We are faith. Some faith, but it's a fair-weather faith. If something bad happens, we blame God. We turn against God. It's his fault. Why are you doing this to me? If you are God, why are you not good? 
And then there are those who simply have become the modern day Sanhedrin majesties and Pharisees, detractors and objectors who persecute and ridicule the Church. God's Word and those who believe in it in a world that is ever increasingly hostile to the gospel. Where this touches us the most and no family is immune to this, mine included are the children and the grandchildren who no longer practice the faith.
And so many parents shed many a tear and have many a gray hair over the worry, the stress, the distress and the anxiety that they have. Blaming themselves for the choices children and grandchildren have made about whether to walk the path or to just let the seed rot on the ground to be burned up by the sun. And I always challenge parents or grandparents to this situation.
Don't blame yourself for the choices your children make. Some parents are really scratching their heads and saying, "maybe we should have prayed the rosary every day" And then there are those that are saying, "maybe we shouldn't have prayed the rosary every day" and everything in between, but blaming ourselves for the choices that others are making. But if the parent is always to be blamed for the choices of the children, thank God you have a lot to answer for because he is the father of us all.
And if he's to be blamed for our sins, he's in trouble. And so are we. It's not his fault that we sin. We know what we're doing. That's what makes it wrong. That's what makes it a sin. We choose to do it anyway. And we're going to do it again and again and again. But he, who is a fool for love that loves us with reckless abandonment, he who loves us even to death.
He's going to continue to love us always. And anyways. And in all ways, no matter what we do, no matter what choices we make, he made us to be free. And God understood when he created us with that radical freedom that it meant that some would accept him and some would reject him and some would do one and then the other, and maybe others are on a shifting spectrum going back and forth, depending on whether good things are happening in their lives, whether their prayers have been answered.
But the important thing for us, for you parents and grandparents out there, is just continue to love your kids. They'll break your heart, but it's because you love them that hurt so much. God loves all his children, whether they believe in him or not. And even when his people stop believing in God, God never stops believing in his people.
It's the blessing and burden of free will. He offers his hand in friendship. He let his son hand be nailed to the cross to make that same friendship last, to give us the chance to be reconciled with him and with each other. We just have to continue to keep the faith. Even with the last person standing, even with the last person in the pew or the last person that believes the bread and wine becomes Jesus body.
But so in divinity, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His word is unchanging. His truths are everlasting. The Church, Jesus and God don't need to change one thing to bring one person back to the faith. We just have to change hearts. And it will be. Our prayers are suffering, our sacrifice, our kindness, our invitation, our acceptance and our willingness that we will bring the last sheep back to the fold.
So we have to keep the faith on others. Don't we have to allow that same seed that was given to all to continue to give? That is the very fiber of our being nurtured by the body and blood of Jesus.
The most precious sacrament, so that we will continue to run our race and hope that others get back on the course.

Accept His Invitation - Be Transformed and Set Free

Reading 1:  Zec 9:9-10
Reading 2:  Rom 8:9, 11-13
Gospel:  Mt 11:25-30
It was Zachariah preparing people to look to God, not only to bring them back to the promised land of Israel that they just came back to after their slavery, but also to look to God to provide for them an opening to the promised land of Heaven and how they would get there. His son, who had laid down his life for us in Zachariah, was forecasting not just a king for Israel, but a king of kings, a king of all creation.
For he said his reign will be without end and he will rule from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth. Zachariah One of these people to have great expectations for the greater God and the Messiah. He was sent to save them. Those expectations got bigger and bigger over the centuries, to the point where Jesus, in the eyes of some, couldn't live up to them.
There are many people that by Jesus time we're looking for God to send some sort of mighty military general that wasn't going to rule with a shepherd. Staff, that was too weak, that was too meek. They needed him throw down the shepherd staff. They were looking for someone to take up the sword and start settling scores with their enemies, starting with the Roman Empire for the elite of Jesus time.
The Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the chief priest describes the elders, the scholars of the law, the wise and the learned who had studied the Hebrew scriptures front and back, who had the memorized. They read all those prophecies. They did not think Jesus was the fulfillment of those prophecies. They saw Him. They listened to His words. They watched His deeds.
They saw how many of their laws He was breaking. And they look to heaven and said, Is this the best you can do? Could you send someone else to save us? And that is why Jesus tells those same critics to send the Sadducees, the Pharisees today in Matthew Chapter 11. God is not revealing his son to the wise and the learned.
God is not revealing himself to the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the best and the brightest, the elite of Judaism at that time. Instead, Jesus said He is revealing himself to the little ones, to the child, like the last, the lowest and the least the very ones. This good Shepherd came to save those who most need Him.
That's something, of course, the Pharisees and Sadducees refused to believe that somehow God was going to keep something from them. They knew everything that there was to know. And yet, Jesus reminds us that we can get too smart for faith. We have to be childlike in order to believe in children. Yes, they believe in unicorns, but they also see mystery and miracle wherever they look.
And yet the older we get, we begin to become bitter, cynical, skeptical. We need things proven for us. God doesn't have to prove himself to us. He doesn't owe us any explanation. God doesn't owe us anything. He has given us everything. Everything that we need in order to know him and love him and serve him everything that we need in order to carry our crosses for his glory in this life.
 
So that one day we too can pass over to the promised life in heaven. Jesus concludes the Gospel today with three verses that might just become the last words you hear before you die. Because Matthew chapter 11, verse 27 through 30, are baked into the sacrament of the anointing of the sick and the last rites of the Church.
Countless times, priests are standing at the bedside of someone who is dying of illness, age or injury. And we say those same words that we heard Jesus say today. Come to me, all of you, who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will give you rest. The person who has suffered long, who has carried their cross fire faithfully and well, who's ready to lay it down in exchange over the crown of glory.
They're ready to accept that invitation. Come to me. All you who are weary and find life burdensome. But Jesus wasn't speaking in a hospice. He wasn't just talking to those who are dying. It's an invitation also to the living struggle and strife in distress and distress in our life. He invites us to meet. That's why we come here.
We're accepting that invitation to come be renewed and refreshed in grace that comes from God. That's why people stop by the open doors to soak up the feelings. That's why people have been going downstairs into that adoration chapel now for 30 years, and we've accepted an invitation for it.
Despite the desperation.  Come to me and I give you strength.
The Lord, He may not take that cross away. And those crosses are many and they may be heavy. But with by his grace, we do not carry them alone. We do not carry them in vain. And we do not carry them forever. We're carrying them for a purpose. And that is to be purged, prone to purified and prepared for the coming of the Lord or our coming to Him, whichever is going to come first.
My friends, Jesus still invites us in this world full of so much noise and distraction, this world that neither knows God or loves Him or honors his teaching, He invites us, come to me, all of you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest. And so, along with all the Israelites who come before us and all the centers who will come after, let's heed that simple advice that Moses and Zachariah gave to Israel.
If you want to have long life in the land, keep God's commands. And it is that truth that will set us free.

How Jesus Raised the Bar of Discipleship

Reading 1:  2 Kgs 4:8-11, 14-16a
Reading 2:  Rom 6:3-4, 8-11
Gospel:  Mt 10:37-42
For three weeks in a row, we've been listening to Matthew chapter ten. It started with Jesus choosing 12, just 12 out of thousands of people that were following him to be his apostles, which means one who is sent. Then he sent them out two by two and all throughout this chapter, he keeps raising the bar as he defines discipleship for them.
He told them they could take nothing with them. He told them that they were going to be hated by everyone because of him and that some of them were going to be put to death. But he told them the rewards would be greater than the risk. He promises them that if they're willing to deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow him wherever he leads them, they will share in his great victory that comes at the price of death.
But it is much as Jesus has told them. They have to be willing to suffer for the sake of the cause entrusted to them. Now he has told them, If you're not willing to love me more than you love your wife or your kids, you're not worthy of me. You cannot be my disciple. That makes some people a little bit uncomfortable.
Think. What do you mean? I'm not supposed to love my spouse or my kids. No, it just means we love God more. Because we love God more. We are capable and enabled of loving anybody else. Jesus defines the greatest commandment as You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, your mind, your soul, and your strength.
That is a challenge for all of us, and it's a struggle for each of us, myself included, to keep God at the center. And that's all that Jesus is talking about. He's not telling us that we shouldn't love our family, but that we should love our family because we love God and God loves us because we love God and God loves our family.
And He's given us to each other to work out our salvation together. But then he speaks about the rewards, the rewards of a profit and the rewards of a righteous man. Whoever receives a profit because he is a prophet receives a profits reward.
Our story does not end the death. We will receive something far greater than the Prophet's reward. We have the opportunity to become saints and to live forever. If that's all the inspiration and motivation we need to love God more, to deny ourselves and take up our crosses and follow him. It's no small price to pay for the great victory that awaits us all.

Do not be afraid - Take up your cross and follow me

Reading 1 - Jer 20:10-13
Reading 2 - Rom 5:12-15
Gospel - Mt 10:26-33
 
Jesus came to call people to repentance, to reconcile them and to make them reconciled. But those same stiff, neck, hardened of heart Hebrews were still more intent on worshiping false gods than the Son of God. It was right there in their presence in the flesh. Jeremiah was cruelly treated. Jesus certainly was. And as we recall last week, when Jesus chose the 12 and sent them out two by two, he let them know the persecution was waiting for them as well.
He said, You'll be hated by all because of my name. And that's where this reading picks up today. Matthew Chapter ten, verse 26. In these few verses, Jesus tells them three times, Do not be afraid. Yes, they'll make you. Yes, they might ridicule you, persecute you, even put you to death. But do not be afraid because God has not forgotten you.
God has not forsaken you. And God has something greater in store for all of you. He reminds them they are worth more than many sparrows. And if God can keep his eye on all the birds in the sky so much more, will he be able to keep track of all of us numbering all of our days and all the hairs on our head?
That should be a source of comfort for us. All too often we think that God has forsaken us, that God has forgotten us, that if He exists, is he listening to my prayers? Why doesn't he answer me? Why is there so much suffering in the world? Why is there so much suffering in my life? That doesn't mean that God doesn't answer our prayers or hear them.
Just means is the answer isn't always what we want. Jesus, He prayed intently. He had more faith than all of us put together. And yet, in order to fulfill God's plan for him, he had to suffer greatly. And as he defines discipleship, he said, whoever wishes to follow me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.
And when we do so, he tells us how. Do not be afraid. He said it three times to this gospel here today. But if we added up all the references between the Old and New Testament, where the Word of God tells us to live lives of faith, not fear, we find it 365 times one for every day of the year, for every day of our lives.
God's word continually reminding us. Do not be afraid. We like Jeremiah and those apostles may feel not up to the task. Unfit and capable, unworthy, unwilling. And yet ask for them. So for us, if it's God's Word, if it's God's work, if it's God's will, then He will bring us through. He will put the words in our mouth.
He will give us the courage that we lack, for he is indeed a mighty champion.

The Adventure of Your Life - Carrying Out the Call

We're living in a world when increasingly a number of people do not know him or his goodness or his mercy, and if they do not know him, they could care less about this or what's about to happen here. They don't live by his word. They don't follow his teaching unless or until someone like you is willing to witness to that and to share your faith with them.
And yet we find ourselves not even willing to get into the boat, let alone to get out of the boat, not willing to go into the deep water for a great catch. We find ourselves stuck in the shallows where we find it harder and harder to be a disciple. And if we're not convinced and convicted about the truth of God's Word in the church, we're never going to convince or convict anyone else.
And things will just continue to go further and further from what God intended this world to be a place to plant the seeds of his kingdom. So all of us will be with him one day in paradise. And so my friends don't expect everyone to like you or thank you for the witness of your faith. Jesus promised they wouldn't if they don't hate you because of it.
Maybe we're not doing it right, but we would rather be loved by God and hated by men than loved by people and not know God. And so it is time for us once again to accept the call of participation, to live on the call of our baptism, to be disciples. So we can make disciples, so we can get into the boat and then get out of the boat to share God's truth.

Mission Appeal - Flint, St. Luke New Life Center

First Reading: Deuteronomy 8: 2-3, 14b-16a
Second Reading: First Corinthians 10: 16-17
Gospel: John 6: 51-58
 
If I asked you, what is it that you can't live without? I might get some simple answers. Like the remote control, my phone, beer or ice cream. Perhaps in a more fundamental level, some might even argue I can't live without air or water or food. But Jesus is telling us that we cannot live without the Eucharist on this Feast of Corpus Christi at the end of John Chapter six.
He issues an ultimatum and then makes a promise. The ultimatum, verse 53. Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have life within you. Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood. That's the ultimatum. He tells us that our spiritual health here on Earth and our chance of eternal happiness depends our inability to see, believe and receive his body, blood, soul and divinity in the most the sacrament of the altar, the Holy Eucharist that we celebrate at every mass, but especially on Corpus Christi.
There's the ultimatum, and then there's the promise. He said, Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, I remain in him and he remains in me. That means we become one with God and each other. That's communion, that's community. And that's a miracle and a mystery. When at every mass heaven comes down to earth and the same body and blood that was offered up at the Last Supper and poured out on the cross the next day is present here for us not only to see, but to receive, and then to take them with us out into this world where we try to live our faith despite many obstacles and temptations.
We are meant to be fed and then to be feeders, to go out and feed other people, to be blessed and to be a blessing out in this world. And that is why on this feast of Corpus Christi, we are going to conduct our mission appeal, an opportunity the church gives us every year to support the spread of the gospel beyond the walls of this church, to the borders of our parish boundary.
But instead, to make sure we're putting our prayers and financial support where it can do the greatest good for the least among us. And so today, to talk about the Saint Luke New Life Center in my hometown of Flint, we'd like to welcome to the ambo Dominican sister Carol Webber. Welcome, sister. Welcome to Queens.

Truth of the Eucharist and Holy Trinity

Reading I: Exodus 34: 4b-6, 8-9 Reading II: Second Corinthians 13: 11-13 Gospel: John 3: 16-18 God revealed part of himself to Moses on top of Mount Sinai but never fully revealed himself until Jesus Christ was born and walked the earth. People now were seeing God up close and personal. They were not only seeing his face, they were able to receive healing and forgiveness and to listen to and hear his wonderful words of consolation and hope. And yet, we've taken it still a step further in the church where we are able to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. God chooses to be one with us. He allows us the opportunity to be one with him. And the real challenge for us is when we leave mass or we go outside this church, will we stay one with him? Each year after Pentecost, the Lord gives us this feast, God, the Holy Trinity. And according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, this is the most important doctrine of all the Church's teaching. Catechism, paragraph 234 says Belief in God, The Trinity is the most essential doctrine in the whole Christian faith. We have to believe that God is one and three Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that He didn't just become God. At some point He's always existed and he didn't just become the Trinity. This is how God understands Himself. This is who God is, and this is how He has chosen to reveal Himself to us. Jesus understood that He was part of something far greater than Himself. In John's gospel, he would say, "the father is greater than" I but then he would also say, "the father and I are one." How in the Trinity in John's gospel, began by reminding us that Jesus was there when the worlds were made. And the start of John's gospel. We don't hear the story of the birth of Jesus of Bethlehem. Instead, John starts with the same words as Genesis. Through Him, all things came to be, and without him, nothing came in to be. A statement of faith that Jesus was there when the words were made because a Trinitarian God was creating it. Everything out of nothing. Bringing order to chaos. Jesus. He understood that the He was there long before Moses and Abraham, that He had always been. The ascension, Jesus' Heavenly Homecoming. And as He was journeying home to have and He gave a great command to his apostles, the last verse of Matthew's Gospel, "Go make disciples. Go out to all the nations, baptizing them in the name, not the names in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." Jesus understood the Trinity. He wanted us to be baptized into the Trinity that we might share in its rewards the love of God in Christ Jesus, and the power of the Spirit that God goes all the way back to Genesis and shows us, even in the first chapter of the Bible, he understood who he was and wants us to know him. The same as the Trinity. In chapter one, verse 26 of Genesis, God said, Let us make man after our image and likeness. God is one. But He's referring himself in the plural because He knows that He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And the very next chapter we see the Adam has been created, but he's not animated. He's like a mannequin, a statue, lifeless on the ground until in verse seven, God breathes life into him. Adam didn't have life until God gave him his spirit, the life giving spirit he breathed in to help. This is how God wants us to know Him. And God isn't acting at times as Father, other times as Son, and sometimes as Spirit. It's always in perpetual motion because the Trinity is all about relationship and love. The love that God the Father has for His Son, the love that the son has for his father. That love generates, that spirit which gives rise to the church, to the Bible, and to our faith. And this is that same, immense and intense God that creates everything out of nothing. And yet, in the Trinity, we realize that that immensity and that intensity also has intimacy, that God is intimately connected with all of his creation. We should be intimately connected to him. And then to go and tell others about him and this world that does not know God in this world. When people don't know God, they don't know truth, they don't know life, they don't know beauty, they don't know goodness. And so that's up to us. That's up to us who know God and love God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to go out and touch others with that same truth, beauty and goodness that will lead them to happiness and fulfillment, not only here on Earth, but more importantly and especially and heaven above how we wish that our face would radiate like Moses when He saw God only from the far and only from a distance, and only for a moment, he was glowing. We're not only going to see God today, we're going to receive God today. And every time we need him, he will come to us. And one day He's going to ask all of us to come to him. And we will finally find out that he is just, as he said, a father to us. He has sent his son to save us and a spirit to be our strength.

Let there be a new Pentecost - A fire across the earth

The Catholic Church is Pentecost in America. It's Memorial Day, and we have all our American traditions. What was that commercial that used to be? Baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and Chevrolet? Well, we're happy to have baseball well-represented here on this Memorial Day weekend. We have the junior varsity and varsity titans from Lumen, Christi. They're having a great baseball season and their fight continues against Napoleon.
 
Gentlemen, stand up. And just in case there's anybody from Napoleon here, leave it all on the field. But we wish you well. Yes. Thanks for coming. Good luck. Go get them. Yes. I said in the email that I set out on Friday afternoon, if there wasn't the Holy Spirit, there would be no Catholic Church, there would be no Bible, and there would be no believers.
 
And all we need to prove that is to look at the Apostles before and after Pentecost. Up until Pentecost, the Apostles were afraid of their own shadow. They were not preaching or teaching or baptizing. They were afraid that those who killed Jesus were coming for them. And even though Jesus showed his risen body to them time and again in various places, they still weren't convinced or convicted that it was really him.
 
Maybe it was just a ghost. Maybe it was just a cruel trick. But unless or until they themselves were convinced, Victor, that this was the risen Christ, just as he promised, they weren't going to be able to convince anyone else. And therefore, between Jesus resurrection and the day of Pentecost, not a single soul was added to the faith.
 
And yet, with the rushing of wind and the tongues of fire, when the Holy Spirit of God came down on Jerusalem, 3000 people were baptized that very day. And the Catholic Church has been making disciples ever since to the ends of the earth and until the end of time. And let's put that to the test. I sometimes tell you that the Catholic Church exists in every continent and in every country.
 
Well, since you don't fact check me, I decided to fact check myself. And I've been lying to you for years. There is no Catholic Church in Antarctica. But it's also the case that the Catholic Church isn't active in every country. And that surprised me in the United Nations in 2023. They recognized the sovereignty of 197 countries on planet Earth.
 
And sadly, the Catholic Church is only active in 195 of those 197. What are the exceptions? Saudi Arabia, where they banned everything but Islam. In North Korea, where the Catholic Church was thrown out in the communist revolution of the 1950s. But everywhere else, we have a footprint and we're making a foothold for Christ. Even in Afghanistan, where there's only one little church and only 200 Catholics, we're still in it to win it.
 
And that's us keeping and carrying out Jesus. Great command as he was ascending last Sunday. What did he tell those disciples? Go out to all the world. Make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son or the Holy Spirit. And the Catholic Church has been doing that, teaching and preaching and loving and living the gospel message of Jesus Christ ever since.
 
For 20 centuries, for 2000 years, all over this world. But we're not only moving horizontally. The Catholic faith has also been spread vertically. It made some headlines on Easter Sunday, April the ninth this year, when for the first time ever the Catholic mass was celebrated on Mount Everest in the Himalayas in Nepal, 29,000 feet above the earth, five miles above sea level, as high as the jets, the fly over the Jackson sky.
 
The Catholic word of God was preached. The Catholic Eucharist was celebrated. But it's gone even higher than that. Twice in the last 25 years, the Blessed Sacrament, the Catholic Eucharist, has been taken into space once on the space shuttle and once on the International Space Station. And we continue to spread the word further and broader to new audiences.
 
That is why on that Pentecost day, everybody was speaking a different language, but everybody could understand the message in that same spirit. The Catholic Church leads the effort to translate the Bible into more and more languages. The Catholic Church is overseeing the translation of the Old and New Testament into 700 of the 7000 languages spoken on planet Earth.
 
The New Testament is now in 1500 of those languages, and parts of the Bible are now translated to 3300 different tongues, so that people all over the world can know the story of the God of Jesus Christ. But on the church's birth day, which is today, we want to hear some good news. That's what gospel means, the good news of Jesus Christ.
 
And yet, so often when we read or hear about the Catholic Church on the Internet and the newspaper on the television, it's all something bad or bother. It's a bankruptcy. It's a scandal. It's a closure. But we have a story to tell. And it is a compelling one. And we tell it well and we tell it to anyone who will listen.
 
So let's share some uplifting statistics about what the Catholic Church does on planet Earth every day in 2023. Right now, the Catholic Church operates 150,000 Catholic schools. We're proud the Jackson schools are four of those 150,000, but they're educating 54 million young people every year. And what about looking after the sick so near and dear to the heart of Jesus?
 
The healer. The divine physician? The Catholic Church on planet Earth is currently operating 5000 hospitals, 16,000 outpatient clinics, mostly in places where people don't have access to good or affordable health care. And yes, even 600 leper colonies. Strange to us in the developed world, but in developing countries, leprosy Hansen's disease is still very much a problem. And the Catholic Church is kissing lepers just as Jesus did so long ago.
 
But we look after the least among us. The Catholic Church operates 16,000 homes for the elderly, the chronically ill and the disabled. 10,000 orphanages. 10,500 nursery schools. 13,000 marriage counseling centers. 31,000 Catholic, not for profit charities. And the St Vincent de Paul Society that feeds so many people each week. Right of our pantry across the world. The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul helps 20 million people every year.
 
We don't force any of these people to know God or to love God or to know Jesus. So to love Jesus or even to become Catholic. We help them because we have been helped. We love them because we have been loved. We feed them because we have been fed. Yes. My friends in the churches birthday let the fire fall.
 
Let there be a new Pentecost in the Catholic Church. Because we still have a story to tell. We're loving it, and we're living it as the greatest story ever told. It's his story. And we will tell it till the end of time when he comes again. Let us stand and profess our faith and.

We cannot lead others until we learn to follow

Reading 1 - Acts 1:12-14
Reading 2 - 1 Pt 4:13-16
Gospel - Jn 17:1-11a
We're told by Matthew they worshiped, but they doubted. And that's probably why they weren't out teaching. Preaching or baptizing anybody because they were so sure what exactly was going on. And even after Jesus ascended, that confusion would remain until the day of Pentecost, the birthday of the church. What we will celebrate one week from today, when all of a sudden a holy wind came from heaven with tongues of fire and drove out the darkness, took their fears away, and replaced them with faith. So the apostles, yes, they need to be witnesses, but without the Holy Spirit, they will amount to nothing. They will achieve nothing for the glory of God. But today isn’t so much about them. It is really about Jesus. After His mission was accomplished here on Earth, taking to the cross our sins and their conquering our greatest fears and foes sin, Satan and death. Now he returns to heaven, a conquering hero. We don't really have ticker tape parade in America anymore, but if we remember the good old days, you can see these clips on YouTube and watch as the astronauts who went to the moon went down the streets of New York City with everybody in the streets and throwing confetti out the windows. So we think of Lindbergh after he crossed the Atlantic. Everybody united in celebration of a single cause. That's what the streets of heaven must have been like when Jesus finally came home to the father's house and he had pried Open Heaven's Gate, he used that cross as a key to unlock it not only for himself, but for all who believe it. So if we can follow his great command to be his witnesses in the world, then one day we who share in his cross at Calvary will share in his great victory. But it's the second command that Jesus gave on the Ascension Day that we want to focus on this morning, and especially with regard to the graduating seniors of the class of 2023 and the last verse of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus gives the command go out to all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the son and the Holy Spirit. And He wants us to go out to all the world to announce the good news. He wants us to make disciples, to make followers of the way, the truth and the life. Who is Jesus Christ risen from the dead. But as the apostles realized, as we come to realize in our own experience, we can't make a follower for Jesus unless or until we become a follower of Jesus. And that's where the Apostles kept tripping over themselves in that first Easter season, and why that season was a cause of confusion, not celebration. If they were convinced that Jesus was risen, then they weren't really convinced that he has a God who is capable of doing all things, and that's why they couldn't convince anyone else. Bless you. Those who want to be followers of Jesus must first learn to follow Him ourselves. If we're going to make anyone else do it, we have to lead by example. We have to be a follower. If we're going to make a follower, we cannot lead others until we learn to follow. And that's the great lesson not only for graduating seniors who have been taught by their parents, their teachers, their professors and their coaches and how to play by the rules and how to think outside the box. But we want to think, how can I love God? How can I be his witness in the world, in the life that I'm going to live? How can I make out a part of whatever witness I'm going to give by the choices I make, the places I go, and the things I do? That's a lesson for all of us. But it's Jesus last words that are a source of great comfort for us this morning. What did he say as he's disappearing into the clouds? He said, I will be with you always, even till the end of time, even to the end of the age. He was leaving, but he was staying. How does he do that? Further proof that he's God and he can do whatever he says and whatever he wants. But he's still in our midst today. Present in the souls of all the baptized, present in his word, present in the priesthood. But most particularly present when bread and wine still become his body and blood, that was Jesus lasting testament to continue to be among us. It's a vitamin that we need for our souls as a medicine, for the sickness of sin, to give us strength for the journey until he calls all of us to make that Ascension journey to pass through Heaven's Gate. And so the Easter season continues, and we pray that next Sunday we will gather here once again and that there will be a new Pentecost in the church that's perhaps not with tongues of fire, but with hearts full of faith. We too, might go forth to proclaim Christ risen from the dead and now we want to bless the class of 2023.