Homily by Fr. Marc Lenneman.

Homily by Fr. Marc

Homily by Fr. Marc Lenneman.

Full transcript: https://cathedralpod.ntsm.io/index.php?name=2023-08-15_2023-08-15.mp3

Please remember, this is a transcript of a homily that was intended to be heard, not read. Thank you for your understanding.

What a gift to see you all here today, right? The great solemnity of the assumption of our Blessed Mother, thanks for coming. It's not so easy for some of you to probably break away from work or to gather the family up and say, "We're going to Mass." And they're like, "It's Tuesday." You're like, "Yeah, we're going to Mass, right?" So thank you for coming. And if you have to go back to work and they're like, "Where were you?" I went to Mass because it's the solemnity of the assumption. And then they'll look at you like, "What is that?" And what is that, right? So it's good, Mary assumed body and soul into heaven. And so it's a great day for her, but this is really basic and really clear. Everything about her is about him. And everything about him is for us.

So if you remember that, everything about Mary is about Jesus. And everything about Jesus is for us, for our sake and for our salvation. So Mary is assumed body and soul into heaven. Everything about her is about him because Jesus, when he rose from the dead, didn't rise just spiritually. He rose bodily. And when he ascended to heaven, the great solemnity of the ascension, he ascends body and soul, not just spirit, not just soul, but body and soul. That's how God treats us, our humanity, our bodies are important, they're crucial. Jesus saves us through his humanity. He loves to work in our humanity. And in the Blessed Mother, he had full sway to work completely freely.

So one of my favorite titles for Mary is that she is the first and the best disciple. She's the first and the best disciple. Disciple, the Greek word means follower. So she follows Jesus perfectly. She did it first, she did it best. And she did it perfectly because she didn't have any sin that clings to her soul that wounded her at the moment of her conception. She was preserved from original sin and she never contracted an actual sin by choosing something that is not God. So she followed him perfectly, the first and the best disciple. That means that she follows him all the way home. And our true home is in heaven, body and soul. We're not there yet, we're on pilgrimage. We follow Jesus as best as we can in this life, in imitation of her, we follow him so that we can get to our true home in heaven.

The solemnity of the assumption shows that God is faithful to his promises, that when he came among us, when he took on human flesh, he didn't leave that aside as he ascended to heaven. But rather, he takes our humanity with him into the divine Godhead. It's actually pretty incredible to think about the theological move there, but that our humanity is represented in the Trinity. That Jesus creates a home for us in heaven. He creates a home for us in the love that exists from father to son in the Holy Spirit from all eternity, that his humanity becomes the entry point for all humanity, Mary first and best. And then all of us who seek to follow her example and say yes to her son, that's what this solemnity is all about.

And so it speaks of radical hope, hope, and people need hope in this generation for sure. Saw just recently, suicides in the US are at the highest that they've ever been in our recorded history, as soon as you started keeping track. Last year was the highest it's ever been. Well, that speaks to a culture that is losing hope. We don't lose hope, because our hope isn't in ourselves. It's not in our own ability to figure things out. It's certainly not in our capacity to save ourselves. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. That's what Mary would speak to each one of us today. Hope in him. Put your faith in him. Follow him. Or to use her last words in scripture. Do whatever he tells you. Do whatever he tells you.

Well, what does the Lord tell us today? Make your home in heaven. You're on pilgrimage. We're all on pilgrimage. Our home is not here. Our home is with him in heaven. So he would tell us that. He'd also say, give your heart to me today, as you are, as you can today. That's what the Blessed Mother did. It was easier for her because she didn't have sin to muddle the desires of her heart. But she did it every day. She had to give herself every day, say yes every day. People probably think that her life was easy, but in fact, being sinless would have made her life harder, because she would have noticed, seen, and even felt all the disorder of sin in the same way that a really good musician hears and even sometimes feels viscerally like mistakes made in music. Mary would have felt all those things, and she knew what was coming. She knew that there would be resistance to her son. She knew that part of her following her son would lead her right to the cross, because that's where Jesus saves the world from. She knew that she had to be there. But she also knew that somehow, some way, the cross could not and would not be the end of the story. And so she persevered in her trust of God, in her trust of her son. She persevered in hope. And that's a great message for us today, to persevere in hope.

So the Lord would tell us, give your heart to me today, as you can, as you are. And then watch what grace can do, because grace, victory, life, that knows no defeat, love, that knows no limit, that has the final say. And that's what this solemnity is all about. Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us.

Homily by Deacon Bob Fishman.

Full transcript: https://cathedralpod.ntsm.io/index.php?name=2023-08-13_2023-08-13.mp3

Please remember, this is a transcript of a homily that was intended to be heard, not read. Thank you for your understanding.

The date was October 22, 1978. It was a cold and cloudy day in Rome. Not long before, white smoke could be seen issuing forth from the Vatican, indicating that the church had selected a new pope. As thousands waited in the courtyard and millions more watched on TV, a small figure appeared on the balcony. His first words were, "Do not be afraid." The man, of course, Pope St. John Paul the second. Later in the same address, he would tell the world, "Do not be afraid to be holy."

I tell you this because in today's readings, we are given three stories about great men who conquered their fears. So let us break open these gems of Scripture and see what jewels we can find there together. Are you ready? Here we go.

In our first reading, we have a great story of Elijah. Now if you have never read the stories of Elijah, oh baby, you got to read these. They're great. They're from 1 Kings. So if you can remember the word kings, you go home, you crack open your Bible. Great stuff. This passage opens up after Elijah has battled 450 priests of Baal. It was 450 against one and he defeated them soundly by calling down fire from heaven. It is definitely exciting and well worth the read, you won't be disappointed.

Here the great prophet is taking refuge in a cave on Mount Sinai. This is the same mountain that Moses received the 10 Commandments on. Jezebel, who is an evil queen, is seeking to kill Elijah for defeating her priests. All right. I'm going to take a brief break in the action here because I want to share with you a word that I learned and I want to share it with you. The word is Theophany. Theophany. Say it with me. Theophany. Good. It means that God manifests his glory or his radiance in some way to interact with man.

And Elijah is told that the Lord will be passing by and this is the Theophany. So as God is revealing himself to Elijah in a physical way, Elijah waits. And first there's a strong wind. Then an earthquake. Then there's a fire. And in all these great calamities, God is not in them. Then Elijah hears a still small whispering voice and knows that this is the voice of God. So he takes his cloak and covers his head because no one can look upon God and live according to the scriptures at that time. And it is here that he receives instruction from God. Again, read these stories for yourself. They are really, really good.

So what can we learn from all of this? Well, often in our own lives, there are all kinds of loud distractions, anxieties, fears that can try to separate us from God. There is turbulence all around us in the media, in society, even in our own souls. Do not look for God in all the noise. Instead, quiet your spirit, spend time in the presence of our Lord and listen to that still small whispering voice of God. It's not easy yet the very God who created the cosmos, who created the universe wants to have discourse with you, with you. The question is, do you want to talk to him? Are you listening? Or is there just too much noise in your life?

Do not be afraid. Do you know that phrase appears in scripture three hundred and sixty five times? Once for every day of the year. And man, do we need to hear it! At least I do. So God opens up this pathway and gives us instruction not to be afraid of him. The one who knew you in the womb has a plan for your life. Are you listening?

In our second reading, St. Paul is fearful that the very people he longs to save, his Jewish family and friends have rejected Christ and could potentially be lost. They were given the law, the promises, the patriarchs, the prophets, and yet they refuse to see. I have experienced this personally. As many of you know, I'm a Jewish convert to the faith and the rest of my family and relatives are all still Jewish and I always pray for them. Many of you have family members who no longer go to church, even have after receiving the Eucharist, even after the sacraments, the graces of Mass, they walked away. What do we do? Be not afraid.

Turn to the Lord. Our job as our Lord has been reminding us is to scatter the seed of Christ by how we live, offering ourselves and our families to Jesus, asking him to tear down the walls and soften the hearts of those we love, allow them to hear his voice and return to the faith. It's not easy, and it may not even happen in our lifetime, but we persevere. We continue to pray. We continue to fast. We continue to uplift our family and friends and always, always, always. Be a source of hope, a source of hope for them. When the time is right, God will work in their lives. So stay strong and be not afraid. Amen? [congregation: "Amen!"] Yeah, I almost caught you sleeping there.

In our gospel passage, we are given the story of Jesus and Peter walking on the water. In our first reading, we learned about the word theophany. Here we have a theophany as well. Whenever we encounter Christ or he allows his divinity to shine through, it is called a Christophany, Christophany. And this is one of those times. A few points here. First, notice that the ship that the apostles are in is being battered by storms and waves. It is the fourth watch of the night. What does that mean? Well, according to Roman time, the fourth watch was roughly about 4 a.m. in the morning. Jesus has prayed all night and is now seen walking on the water.

The disciples think it's a ghost and on top of everything else, on top of their ship being battered and blown around and they're afraid of sinking. Now they see a figure walking on the water. And man, are they scared! Jesus tells them to take courage and be not afraid. Peter, seeing that it's the Lord, asks if he can come to him on the water. And Jesus says, "Come," and Peter steps out of the boat. This is an incredibly brave thing. I think this is even better than the miracle of walking on the water. Why? Because it takes guts, fortitude to stick your foot over the side of the boat into a stormy sea and take a step. Keeping his eyes on Jesus, he too begins to walk on the water. However, as soon as he takes his eyes off of Jesus and starts to look at the waves and the storm, he begins to sink. And Jesus rescues him and leads him back to the boat.

This is a great lesson for us. God wants all of us to come to him, especially when the storms in our lives are really going at it. He reaches out his hand and he grabs us and leads us back into the boat. This can be a reference to the church as well. The bark or the boat of Peter, we must not take our eyes off of Jesus, remain faithful to his teachings and those of his church. If we do this, then we will be saved and the storms will die down and we too will recognize that Jesus truly is the Son of God. With Jesus in our boat, we'll reach the other side safely.

How wonderful it is to be Catholic, to have all the graces and the beauty and the richness of our faith. Don't get caught up in the storms. Don't get caught up in the wind and in the earthquake and in the fire. But stay focused on Christ. And with him at the center of all that we do, we will make it home safe and sound. You were born for this time. Do not be afraid.

So this week, let us spend time listening to that still, small, whispering voice of our Lord. Let us pray and fast for our family and friends who may not know the Lord or have wandered away from Him. And finally, let us trust in Jesus. And as the great Pope himself said, "Be not afraid to be holy."

Homily by Fr. Marc Lenneman.

Full transcript: https://cathedralpod.ntsm.io/index.php?name=2023-08-06_2023-08-06.mp3

Please remember, this is a transcript of a homily that was intended to be heard, not read. Thank you for your understanding.

It's good to pray with you this morning. It's good that we are here. We hear Peter say that to Jesus. It's good we're here. I don't know if we always believe that.

It's good that you're here. You know, yesterday there was a gentleman, I met him after Mass. He hadn't been to church in 40 years. How good is it that he was here yesterday? How good is it that you're here? Each one of you with your own hopes and dreams, your own struggles, maybe your own burdens and sins, but also your own unique way of loving God, it's good we're here, so let's congratulate ourselves. Yay, we made it. All right, we're all here. Now, what are we doing here? That's more to the point.

What we're doing here is worshiping. We're here to worship, which means we're here to give our hearts to the one true living God. But the beautiful thing is that Christian worship is always, always, always a response to God's initiative. It's not so much something that we do. It's something that God is doing, that he draws us into. And if we worship him rightly, we'll know him. And if we know who God is, then we'll know who we are. Right worship leads to right knowledge, both of God and of ourselves.

So the question is, did we listen to today's gospel? We have the beautiful event of the transfiguration. Today is the feast of the transfiguration. Jesus who's transformed, transfigured. Really he pulls back the veil and shows who he really is as the divine son of God. Did we listen to that gospel? Sure we heard it, but did we listen?

In that gospel, there are two commandments, two commands, one from the father and one from the son. The father, as Jesus has transfigured, thunders from heaven. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And then the command, listen to him. And then the son who brings Peter, James, and John up the mountain with him. He gives a command to them, rise and do not be afraid. Rise and do not be afraid. And if you and I pondered those two commands and truly let them transform our lives, we'd become saints. If we listen to the voice of the father who tells us to listen to his son, and if we listen to the voice of the son who tells us to rise and do not be afraid, we would become saints.

So then there's the rub. How come we're not saints? Well because it's hard to listen, isn't it? There's a big difference between listening and hearing, right? So okay, kids, when your parents tell you to do your chores, you hear them. But do you listen? That's the question. Right? Oh, I know, I hear, but do I listen? Okay, parents, you're not off the hook. You are masters at hearing each other spouse to spouse and not listening to each other. All right, that's how it works. We're no better as priests. I hear Bishop Vetter. Do I always listen? So it's part of our human nature because we know that listening demands that we change. The Latin verb for to listen is obedire. That's where we get the English word, obey, obedience. If I listen, I act differently.

So do we listen to Jesus or do we just hear him? Do we listen to the church and her teachings or do we just hear them? That's the question. But why listen to Jesus? Because of who he is. He's not just a nice religious figure. He's not a good moral exemplar. He's not a good person. He's way more than that. Did you listen to the first reading from the prophet Daniel? This is who Jesus is. One like a son of man received dominion, glory and kingship. All peoples, all nations, all languages serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away and his kingship shall not be destroyed. Friends, that's who Jesus is. He is all powerful. When we listen to him, that power, that strength, that grace comes flooding into our lives and has power to change us, to transform us, even to transfigure us so that we begin to shine with the light, not of ourselves, but of God himself.

Now in this episode, when God pulls back the veil, when the father thunders his love for his son, when Jesus shines with that love, it's not a neutral encounter. Peter, James, and John, at the voice of the father, fall down on the ground and are terrified. Because God is big and we're really small and we should never forget that. The God we serve is almighty and he has absolute authority over us. Fear is an okay response, actually. It's the right response. But then this, the one who shines with that love of the father, who's ablaze with the light of heaven, also takes on human flesh. And if you paid attention to the gospel, Jesus does something. Peter, James, and John fall down, prostrate and afraid. And then Jesus reaches out and touches them. It's Jesus' sacred humanity that gives James and Peter and John the courage to stand up and be with him. And the same is true for us. We worship well because Jesus took on our flesh. See, he's not just speaking the words of God that have power into our lives. He is the word of God and he comes to us in a simple human way to bring that power. His humanity is the bridge between heaven and earth. And when he reaches out and touches them and then he speaks that command, rise and do not be afraid, that is for us as well. Because in this event of the transfiguration, identities are revealed, who God is, but also who we are in God, Jesus, the divine son, the beloved son, in whom the father is well pleased, God himself, but then us, who through Jesus' humanity are called to be with him. His voice speaks to us who we are. Beloved sons, beloved daughters in Jesus, beloved sons of the father, beloved daughters of the father, and it's the voice of Jesus and his touch that confirms in us that deepest identity.

And that's why we need to listen to him, not just hear him, but listen, because if we don't listen to that voice, we'll listen to some other voice that tells us something else about who God is, but also something else about who we are. And we'll follow that voice and we'll lose the best part of what it means, not only to be human, but especially to be Christian. We don't have to make our own identities up. We don't have to create ourselves. We're loved and known by God. And Jesus wants to speak that love and speak that knowledge to us today, every single one of us. And so it is crucial that we listen, we have to ask for a grace to listen. It's not so easy to listen. Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Mother Teresa, she knew that. She knew that if we were going to learn how to listen, we would have to do one very critical and crucial thing. We would have to cultivate silence, cultivate silence, create space for God, for his voice to rise above all the other voices that are in our lives, all the other noise that is in this world. She knew if we didn't begin with silence, we would never get to that place where we could discern the voice of Jesus and listen to that voice so he could speak to us who we are.

So she had a very simple game plan. She said this, the fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace. Don't we all want more peace in our hearts? Wouldn't we all want more love and more faith? Perfect. Mother Teresa knew that to begin on that path, you have to start with the step of silence. So very concretely, we turn off the phones, we turn off the TVs, turn off the radios as we drive to work, and we create very intentionally a space of silence so that God can fill it with His voice He will. And when He fills it with His voice, He'll speak the truth of who we are, and we won't fall into the trap of defining ourselves by our sins or mistakes or our woundedness or the standards of the world that pass away will be defined by His love. And then we'll know not only who we are, but what we ought to be about. Because if we know ourselves, we'll also know our mission. And that's why Jesus tells Peter, James, and John to rise and not be afraid. To be with Him, to go with Him, to be about His work.

Well friends, that wasn't just for them a long time ago. That's for you and me today. We come to this Mass. We come to worship. We come to listen to the voice of Jesus who knows what each one of our hearts needs to hear. It's good we're here because He's here. May we listen to His voice and be transformed and changed by Him.