Third Sunday of Advent

 http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121414.cfm

This year, for the Sundays of Advent, I am focusing on a theme that connects the readings and the Sunday themes together. “Turn back to the Lord and prepare His way. Let us rejoice, for the Lord is coming among us.” We have already talked about turning back to God from sin and about preparing for His coming in the last two Sundays. Today's readings and the overall theme is about rejoicing!

The Third Sunday of Advent is traditionally called “Gaudete Sunday”. Gaudete is the Latin word for rejoice. We mark this particular Sunday by lighting the pink or rose colored candle on the Advent Wreath. The reason behind this change from violet to rose and from penance and preparation to rejoicing is because at this point we are already halfway through Advent. We are closer than ever to the birth of Christ at Christmas. The Church is basically asking us to take a break in the midst of all these preparations for Christmas and remind ourselves that we are to rejoice because Christmas is coming soon.

I think it is worth taking a moment to reflect on something here: what does it mean to “rejoice”? Also, what does it mean to be joyful? People typically consider “rejoicing” and “joy” and “joyfulness” as synonyms with “glad” and “happy” and “happiness”. When we consider the definitions of those words in the dictionary they are, of course, synonyms. But I would argue that words like “rejoice” and “joyful” have a much deeper and more meaningful definition than the other words, especially considering their use with in Sacred Scripture and in the prayers at Mass. There are many things in this world that we can say make us happy or joyful. Maybe it's a thing we enjoy or perhaps seeing family that we only see during Thanksgiving or Christmas. It might be a special event in our lives or even the simple pleasure of taking time to relax after a long day. We could use any of those words I've been talking about to describe our feelings associated with these events. In normal, everyday use they are all interchangeable. However, when we get into Scripture passages and liturgical prayers that talk about our relationship with Jesus and the Father and about entering into Heaven the feelings described are much deeper and more significant than being happy that our favorite television show is on tonight. When the Prophet Isaiah says that he rejoices “heartily in the Lord” he is talking about a greater joy than we can experience for any earthly thing. When prayers talk about the joys of Heaven and salvation, we are talking about a feeling of elation that we can only have with a close and personal relationship with God. This joy can only come from God and nowhere else.

The problem is, we have allowed our words to become watered down. Words that are meant to convey an intense meaning have been simplified by association with words that are much less intense. For example, the word “love” is used to describe many feelings and relationships, from the love of spouses and between parents and their children, to the “puppy-love” that a young couple might have, to the love of a favorite dessert. It can be hard to know sometimes what type of love a person is really talking about. Similarly, we have confused our happiness for material things with the joy of Heaven. This goes well beyond a simple confusion of words. Our society has gotten so fixated on a perpetual pursuit of happiness, of always trying to be happy with earthly and material things, that we have forgotten about the pursuit of a higher good and of a higher joy that can only be found with God and in Heaven. We are being called to find that higher joy.

When we look at the readings for today, we can see more clearly how we are being called to rejoice. The Prophet Isaiah talks about being anointed to fulfill a special task. “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.” This special task is to go out and announce a special blessing from God, particularly to those who need it most. You may recall that Jesus makes reference to this same passage later on in His ministry. He tells the people gathered in a synagogue in His hometown that the passage is being fulfilled, in their hearing. In other words, He is fulfilling it. He is announcing glad tidings by proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God; He heals the brokenhearted and brings liberty to captives. So when Isaiah says that He rejoices heartily in the Lord, it is because he knows that the Messiah is on His way. The Church puts this reading on this day to remind us to rejoice as well.

In St. Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, we hear more about the need to rejoice. “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” We are told to rejoice always: not just on this particular Sunday, not just during the Advent and Christmas Seasons, not just when good things are happening for us. In other words, we are not to despair or loose hope, but to hold on to what is good. We do this, the Apostle explains, “for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. We want to be ready for when Christ will come again. We also know that Christ, in His mercy, will preserve us from what is evil.

Finally, in our Gospel, the focus is not so much on rejoicing, as it is for the reason we should rejoice. St. John the Baptist takes over for Isaiah as the last of the prophets and announces the coming of one whom the prophets have foretold. The Baptist baptizes with water, this one promises to bring something even more important. John's words are announcing something wonderful about to happen.

Let us rejoice, my brothers and sisters. Christ will soon be here.

Second Sunday of Advent

 http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120714.cfm

Last week, as you may recall, I introduced the following theme for the four Sundays of Advent this year: “Turn back to the Lord and prepare His way. Let us rejoice, for the Lord is coming among us.” I then went on to talk about how we must turn away from our life of sin and put our whole focus on Jesus Christ as He comes to us in the upcoming Christmas Season. Today, I would like to talk about preparing for the coming of Christ. 

 

I'm sure we are all familiar with the idea of preparing for something big that is coming up. From all the preparations for the Thanksgiving feasts last week to the preparations that have already begun for many people for the Christmas celebrations that will take place in less than three weeks, we are in a time of the year in which many Americans spend a great deal of time preparing. But what are we really preparing for?

 

We live in a society that is both secular and consumerist. That is, the focus of so many in our society is not focused on God or religion, but on consuming and acquiring as many material objects as possible. This society would have us believe that we are already in the Christmas season and that all these preparations we are making at this time of year are meant to build up to one big celebration on Christmas Day. The Season of Christmas would seem to end at the stroke of Midnight on December 26^th. Some may pay lip service to our Christian beliefs by saying pious sounding words here and there like, “Jesus is the reason for the season”. However, it becomes obvious that their focus is not on the pure joy of the birth of the Savior, but rather on the vain pursuit of happiness through material goods. It's all about finding happiness on earth.

Our Catholic Christian faith gives us something much more meaningful to prepare for during this busy time of year. The Christmas Season doesn't begin until the 25^th and then goes on until the Baptism of the Lord on January 11^th. The Church, in her wisdom, gives us these four weeks of Advent to prepare our hearts and minds and souls for the coming joyful season. The idea is for us to spend four weeks preparing and then spend a little over two weeks celebrating. Now, that doesn't mean that we can't listen to Christmas music or do any Christmas decorating during Advent. I for one enjoy listing to some Christmas carols this time of year. However, if we spend our entire four weeks of Advent prematurely celebrating before our Lord's birthday, it's no wonder so many people promptly stop celebrating after Christmas Day: they're too tired and rundown to continue the celebration. The Church offers us a much more spiritually healthy way of entering this season. Let us prepare the way of the Lord, so that we may celebrate His birth properly.

God intended from early on to have a time of preparation and even sent a man before His Son to teach us to prepare properly. Even the prophets spoke of this time of preparation and the one who would go before our Lord. We see this played out in our first reading from the Prophet Isaiah. We hear the famous line, “A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!” Isaiah is speaking about the return of Israel to Jerusalem from exile. This will require preparation for a long journey through desert and wasteland. He is also foreshadowing the coming of the Messiah, the Anointed One, who will come to save us all. He will bring us closer to God and to His holy throne in Heaven. But first, the prophet explains, there will come one who will announce the Messiah's coming. In this instance, “preparing the way of the Lord” is not talking about a physical journey that we have to make, but a spiritual journey that will make us ready to meet the Messiah when He comes.

Fast forward to the Gospel. The beginning of the Gospel of Mark introduces us to a rather wild and somewhat unsavory character who is called John the Baptist. St. Mark the evangelist is making the very bold statement that St. John the Baptist is fulfilling what was written in the passage we just hear from Isaiah. “A voice of one crying out in the desert: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.'” John is described as being in the desert as well, proclaiming a baptism of repentance. He is also quoted as saying, “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” We have ourselves a very clear message to prepare and make ready for the coming of the long awaited Messiah.

 

We know that we must prepare, but the question remains, how do we make proper preparations? How do we, “Prepare the way of the Lord?” We covered a part of if last week in talking about turning back to the Lord, seeking forgiveness and leaving sin behind. That is certainly a part of preparing.

 

Part of our preparation is also looking at how we spend these 24-plus days before Christmas. As I mentioned before, this can be a very busy and very overwhelming time of year. But if we can take a few moments as individuals and as families to make this a time of preparation, I firmly believe it will make a world of difference for us all. Prayer can be a big part of this, whether you take an extra minute or two to say a few extra “Our Fathers” or “Hail Marys” each day or pray through one of the booklets that we have available in the vestibule or some other type of devotion. Families can purchase or make their own Advent wreaths and can pray together as we journey through Advent. I highly encourage all of us to make prayer a part of our Advent. Even if it is just a quiet moment, perhaps at the end or the beginning of the day, to just ask God to help us prepare and be truly ready for the coming of Christ, I think we will be well on our way in this Advent journey. Come, let us prepare for His coming!

First Sunday of Advent

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/113014.cfm 

I have found that it is very easy to get into the habit of looking only at the readings and prayers for each Mass only as they come up. So, for instance, we only pay attention to the 1^st Sunday of Advent this week and we don’t even consider the 2^nd Sunday until we get to that Sunday and so on. Obviously there is some wisdom in taking the readings just one Sunday at a time. If I tried to cover multiple Sundays in one homily, people would get confused or overwhelmed with so much information. However, I do believe that it is a good practice to once in awhile take a step back so we can see the big picture of where we are going over several Sundays in a liturgical season.

Today we start a new liturgical year as we begin the Season of Advent. As I was preparing for this homily, I took a look ahead at what the readings for rest of Advent would be. I found that I could summarize the readings for the four Sundays of Advent in just two sentences: “Turn back to the Lord and prepare His way. Let us rejoice, for the Lord is coming among us.” This Advent, I would like to make this summary the common theme for my homilies. My hope is that this will help all of us see how our journey though the season of Advent will lead us to the joyful celebration of Christmas.

I want to look at that first sentence of that summary again: “Turn back to the Lord and prepare His way.” What I am trying to say with this statement is that in order to truly prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas, we must turn our focus back to God. Our sins and various temptations have pulled us away from having our complete focus on God. I'm not saying that this all happened at once in the blink of an eye. It happens slowly and gradually as we commit various sins (mostly minor venial sins) and they build up in number. Each sin turns us farther away from the Lord and takes us farther away from Him.

I think I have mentioned in a previous homily, that it is very tempting to blame God as the one who has moved when we become aware that we have separated from God. We wonder why it is that God moved away. Was it something we said or did? The more likely scenario is that we were the ones who moved: much like a small child who lets go of his mother's hand in a department store to go check out a shiny new toy. When he turns back, he is scared to see that Mom is gone. It wasn't that she abandoned him; they just got separated for a bit. She is still close by and they will be reunited very soon.

Our readings today call each of us to admit that we have allowed ourselves to turn away from God. Now we must turn back towards Him and be ready for Him when He comes. Our first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah starts off this theme with crying out to God for help. The prophet says, “Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.” In a way it is kind of like the child, realizing that he is lost, beginning to call out loud for his mother to come and find him. In light of our relationship with Jesus Christ, this reading is really about the member of the Church, realizing that they are in sin, beginning to call out to our Father in Heaven to come and rescue us. “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you.” Lord God, come to us with all your might so that we may be freed from slavery to sin and come ever closer to you. We acknowledge that we need to turn back to God and we acknowledge we need His help as well.

For many centuries, Advent was known as the “Little Lent”. Advent was seen simply as a shorter version of Lent in which there was a focus on fasting and penance. Today, Advent has taken on more of a tone of a time for preparation and anticipation for the coming feast day. Yet, one can still find a penitential tone in this season. The Advent wreath, the altar decorations, and the vestments warn by priests and deacons all have the liturgical color of violet. Violet is considered a penitential color as it reminds us of the purple cloak that the Roman soldiers put on Jesus in order to mock Him during His Passion. We seek penance for our sins because Jesus suffered so much because of them. The season of Advent, therefore, is a wonderful opportunity to examine our life and our conscience and to seek reconciliation with God so that we may fully celebrate the joy of Christmas.

Our Gospel for today reminds us of why we must not delay in turning back towards God. “Be watchful! Be alert!” Jesus tells us all. Now is the time for us to prepare for the coming of the Lord. Now is not the time for us to be like that child who was so easily distracted by a shiny new toy in the store. Now is the time to be watchful and alert as we become aware of how our own sinful ways have separated us from our God.

Sin wounds our relationship with God and now we must heal those wounds. What better way than in the Sacrament of Reconciliation? I've said it before and I'll say it again, come to this Sacrament. Most of the time I'm just sitting in the confessional in the back of Church praying because there is no people coming to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I want people to come. I want all of you to make it so that I have to figure out some other time for me to do my prayers on Saturday evening and Sunday morning because I'm so busy offering God's mercy through the Sacrament.

We cannot be watching for the coming of the Lord unless we turn back towards Him. That means we need to do penance for what we have done and seek reconciliation with God. Then we will be ready.

November 23: Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

 http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/112314.cfm

We all know, I’m sure, those feelings that accompany being chosen for something that we are excited about. It all begins well before the actual moment of being chosen: the nervousness mixed with excitement when we try out or apply or interview for something; the anticipation of waiting to find out if we were picked or not; and then finally there is either the joy and jubilation of finding out that we have been chosen or the disappointment and frustration of not being picked. We experience this roller coaster of emotions when we are picking teams for a game at school or applying for a job or a new position at work. I remember most vividly times in high school and college when I tried out for plays and for solos in choir; my stomach practically tied up in knots as I waited to find out if I got the part.

 

We desire these things, and so we look with great anticipation to being chosen. We care so deeply about achieving these great temporary honors here on Earth; do we pay the same amount of attention to our spiritual growth and whether we have been found worthy of entry into the Heavenly Kingdom?

Today, the Church celebrates the last Sunday in Ordinary Time, called The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. The readings for this day often have the theme of referring to Jesus as a king or a good shepherd, always as a great and merciful ruler. Today's Gospel also has the added theme of looking ahead to what theologians often refer to as the “end times”. This is the time in which we believe that the Second Coming of Christ will happen when we will all enter into the Kingdom of God. Often, this whole scenario is thought of as the end of the world. Thanks to Hollywood, we have painted in our minds an image of great destruction, and suffering, and wailing and gnashing of teeth associated with “end times” and “end of the world”. But that is just one interpretation of what the end of the world will be like (and a very pessimistic one at that). When we say that this will be the end of the world, we are simply saying that it will be the end of our time here on this earth, and the beginning of our time in the Kingdom of God. My point is we don't have to fear.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus explains to His disciples and all of us that at the Second Coming there will be a Judgment Day. This image that Christ provides of a shepherd separating the sheep from the goats is meant to help us better understand that Christ Himself will also separate those who have followed the commandments and shown love and compassion to others, from those who did not. This is a little different than what I was talking about in my examples from before. We are not being picked for our talents or abilities like when we try out for a sport or apply for a job. This is the final judgment and God is going to be looking at how we lived our lives. The main focus of the examination of our lives, as Christ explains, will be on how we treated those who Christ calls, “the least”. The least are those who are in need, those who must go without, those who are marginalized in society. This Gospel reading gives pretty clear instructions about how we are to help those least brothers and sisters. We are to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit the imprisoned. Now, this is not to say that we have to do each of these things on a regular basis. We don’t have to ask each other, have you visited a prison this week or found someone naked and given them clothes. Nor does this mean that these are the only things that Christ expects us to do as Christians. Rather, this passage is simply a reiteration of the two greatest commandments that we heard at Mass about a month ago: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, [and] your neighbor as yourself.” Being a Christian, being a follower of Christ means to love those around us. By loving others, we also show love to God.

As I said before, we all get excited when we think we may be chosen for a special honor or a special opportunity to do something we want to be a part of. When we want something like that, we put a lot of time and effort into being able to achieve it. We should also put the same effort into being counted among the sheep at the right hand of Christ at the Last Judgment. That means paying attention to how we can serve God and how we can show compassion to the least of Christ’s brothers and sisters who are around us.

It is important for us to realize that Christ has already chosen us in a certain sense to something very special. Christ is our Good Shepherd, as the Prophet Ezekiel reminds us in the first reading, and we are the flock that He pastures. We know from the Scriptures that we do not choose Christ, but rather Christ chooses us. We have been chosen to be a part of Christ’s flock. That means, as Ezekiel explains, that He will take care us: feeding us, protecting us, and seeking out the lost. The prophet also mentions a judgment among the sheep and separation between the rams and the goats. Again, a reminder that there will be a judgment, but Christ is also looking after His flock and that means we will have His help. Christ will help us in our striving to love and serve each other.

As Christians, we believe that Christ will come again, to rule as king. Let us look forward to that glorious day, and prepare for our own entry into that kingdom.

November 16: Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

 http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111614.cfm

We have all been given gifts. As I have mentioned before in an earlier homily, gifts are freely given and we are free to do with them as we see fit. However, a very good question we can all ask ourselves and reflect on is, how do we spend or invest our own gifts? Do we hold on to our gifts and use them only for ourselves, or do we seek to share the gifts with others or use them in some way so that others can enjoy them and benefit from them as well? I think we can all agree that both choices are well within the rights of the one who received the gift, but the one is much more selfish while the other is more selfless. One of those choices glorifies ourselves, while the other has the great potential to glorify God.

As a seminarian I spent one summer at a spirituality program at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Part of my time there was learning about different way to minister to the people of God. One day we got to visit Boys Town outside of Omaha. Some of you may know that Boys Town was started in 1917 by a Roman Catholic priest named Father Edward Flanagan. Looking for a way to help homeless boys in the area, Fr. Flanagan started a boarding house. Eventually he was able to purchase some farm land outside the city, which became known as the Village of Boys Town. There, “Flanagan's boys” had a safe place to live and could receive an education. They were also taught and shown a great example of Christian faith. Fr. Flanagan is quoted as saying that “All boys need to learn how to pray, how they pray is up to them”. He died in 1948, but his ministry lives on today as children of every race and religion are helped to live normal, healthy, faith filled lives in modern society. During my visit to Boys Town, the priest who was in charge there at the time explained how each of the children are given a weekly allowance; I think it was just $10. They are free to spend their allowance however they please, but they are required to tithe each week at Sunday Church services. That is, they must give 10%, or $1, back to the Church. Father explained that this was to help teach the children that in whatever they have received, they must give back to God in thanksgiving for those gifts. Just as the children of Boys Town learn to use their gifts to help others and to give thanks to God; just as Fr. Flanagan used his gifts for leadership and education and working with youth to help homeless boys; so also we as Baptized Christians are called to use our gifts in the right way: for the benefit of others and for the greater Glory of God.

 

The readings give us several more examples of what it means to use our gifts with other people in mind. First we heard from the Book of Proverbs. This is a very beautiful reading, as I'm sure you noticed, describing the virtues of a praiseworthy wife and mother. I won't go through the whole list again, but there are some highlights that I think are good to reflect on. It starts out describing how she does good for her husband and her family. It describes how she goes about doing her work of providing clothes for her family. She doesn't just do it because she has to or because it is her job, but it says that she does it with love: with loving hands specifically. The reading goes on to explain how her love and her virtues do not end with her family, but reaching out to those in need in the community as well. “She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy.” She does all this, we are told, because she fears the Lord. While charm and beauty are wonderful traits to have, they are fleeting and last only for awhile, but fear of the Lord, that is to be praised! This woman fears the Lord because she loves Him, and it is that love that prompts her to use the gifts God has given her (including, but not limited to, being good at spinning wool, making clothing, and simply being kind). These gifts, again, are not used to benefit only herself, but to help her husband, her family, and those in need around her. Through all that, she also gives greater glory to God.

In the Gospel today, Jesus tells us the Parable of the Talents. Here, talents are a type of coin or currency used at the time, but the parable has long been used as symbolic of how we are to use our God given talents. I was talking with priest friend of mine not too long ago about this passage and he was telling me that whenever this parable comes up he always feels sorry for the last guy in the parable: the one who is given only one coin, which he buries in the ground. I had to agree that I felt sorry for him as well. Each of the men were given the coins according to their abilities, we are told. The fact that the man got only one talent tells us the master didn't think very highly of the man's financial abilities. He didn't expect very much from him and so entrusted very little to him. He seems to set the man up for failure by giving him so little to work with. So the man is quite aware, I'm sure, that his master doesn't think much of his abilities and very likely he is also aware that his financial abilities were lacking. Combine this with his knowledge that his master is a demanding person, as he explains, and it is really not that surprising that he buries his talent out of fear. He allowed his fear to get the best of him and it dictated to him what he was to do with his one talent. Instead of using it to benefit his master and the other servants, and perhaps even benefiting others in the community where he would have tried to invest his talent, he chooses to only hide it.

The lesson for all of us is to not let our own fears get the best of us. I don't know how often I've heard from people who tell me, “Father, I would love to teach religion, but I just don't know the faith well enough.” Or, “I would love to help with music but I'm not a good singer”. I often want to tell people they are being a bit hard on themselves. Don't let fear drive you to burying your talents in the ground or keeping them to yourself. Don't worry if you're virtuous enough or good enough like the woman in Proverbs. We are called to use our talents; we are not called to use them necessarily perfectly. Let us do what we can for the benefit of others and to glorify the Father.

November 9: Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/110914.cfm

 

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. This is a feast day that we don't get to celebrate very often on a Sunday: only once every six years or so. It can be a bit confusing as well: what exactly are we celebrating and why is it important enough to replace the usual pattern of Sundays in Ordinary Time? Well, I'm glad you asked!

On November 9 of the year 324 a church was dedicated on a hill in Rome, Italy called the Lateran Hill. The church was originally called the Church of the Most Holy Savior, but eventually it took on the name of St. John the Baptist. Today's feast day celebrates that dedication of what is now called the Lateran Basilica, or sometimes called the Basilica of St. John Lateran. If you're wondering what a Basilica is, it's an honorary title given to a church that holds an important or special place within the Universal Church.

The reason this church is important enough to be called a basilica and the reason this feast day is celebrated throughout the world today, is because the Lateran Basilica is called the Pope's own church. The Basilica is actually the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Rome. So the Pope's Cathedra or chair, is actually located in that Basilica. That makes it the pope's church just as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary in Duluth is Bishop Sirba's own church. Many people assume that St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is the Pope's church since it's in Vatican City where the Pope lives. However, the popes have not always lived at the Vatican. For almost a thousand years, the popes lived at the Lateran Palace, which was located next to the present day Basilica. Since the Lateran Basilica is the pope's church and since the pope is the leader of the Catholic Church around the world, the Lateran Basilica is also knows as the Mother Church of the entire world.

I know that a history lesson isn't everybody's favorite thing to listen to on a Sunday morning, but I hope it helps us all understand that this feast day isn't just some random celebration of a church most people have never been to or ever heard of. This particular church is a very important church, and so what we are really doing today is giving God thanks and praise for giving us the Church and allowing all of us to be a part of it.

Each of our readings today help teach us something about what we believe as Catholics about the Church. I would like to look first at our Second Reading for St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. The Apostle tells the Corinthians, “You are God’s building.” He later adds, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” This is a wonderful reminder to us that the Church is not simply a structure made of bricks and mortar or wood and nails. Yes, we have a place of worship that we can call a church, but when we talk about “The Church” we are really talking about all the people around the world who make up the Church. By saying that we are God's building, St. Paul is saying that it is God who has established this Church which was founded by Jesus Christ. It was through our Baptism that we say that we became a part of the Church. It was also through this Sacrament that we became a dwelling place for the Spirit of God. We can truly say that the Holy Spirit is with each and every one of us. We believe that God dwells in a very special way in every Catholic Church building in the Eucharist that is present in the Tabernacle. But we also believe that God dwells within each member of the Church throughout the world, thanks to the graces given to us in the Sacraments. So the Church is made up of the faithful.

The prophet Ezekiel teaches us that the Church is also life giving. We heard in the First Reading about a great vision that the prophet has. He talks about how an angel takes him to the entrance of the Temple in Jerusalem. For the Jewish people, the Temple was the dwelling place of God here on Earth. Christian scholars today see this reference to the Temple as being very symbolic of the Church for today. Ezekiel didn't realize it at the time he wrote it because there was no such thing as the Church at the time, but God wanted to use this symbolism to help explain His plans for the Church. The prophet sees a river flowing from the entrance of the Temple towards the East. If you look on a map of Israel, you'll see that to the east of Jerusalem is the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is so salty, nothing can live in the water. In fact, even the land surrounding the sea and in between the sea and Jerusalem is quite barren. There are a few plants here there, but nothing like we are used to seeing in the Midwest. In his vision, however, Ezekiel can see this water flowing from the Temple and bringing life to that aired region: sea waters are made fresh, fish are in abundance, and fruit trees of every kind grow along the banks. These waters from the Temple are symbolic of the baptismal waters that flow from the Church. It is through the Sacrament of Baptism that we are made pure and are washed clean of our sins. We are also given new life in Christ Jesus.

The readings also teach us that the Church is holy and is the dwelling place of God. We hear in the Gospel that well known reading about Jesus being filled with righteous anger over those who are making the House of God into a marketplace. The Temple is meant to be a house of prayer for all people: a special place. Going back to St. Paul's letter, the Apostle says “the temple of God, which you are, is holy”. Just as the Temple in Jerusalem is the dwelling of God and a holy place, so also this Church building we are in is holy, so also we as the Church are made holy by God dwelling within us.

Let us give all thanks and praise to God this day for giving us His Holy Church, for making us a part of the Church, and for giving us new life through her Sacraments. Just as God dwells here in this Church, may we dwell with Him in the Heavenly Jerusalem.