Fr. Brian Soliven Sermons

We fear many things, don’t we? We worry about our families, our health, politics, the list is endless. Each day can seem to bring us new challenges, to the point it is difficult to breathe. To all with heavy hearts, listen to the prediction he makes about his future: “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him. Jesus tells them about his coming suffering but they could not comprehend him. If God will undergo suffering, so must I. Jesus suffers with us. 

This is why the peace of God which goes beyond all understanding” is supernatural. It cannot be conjured up from thin air or acquired by simply thinking positive thoughts. Rather, the “peace” at offer to us comes directly from an encounter with the risen Jesus Christ. The entire Christian life is built upon this. The Christian is one who places all hope and trust in the hands of Our Lord. Nothing else. This peace can only come through a deep, daily prayer life. St. Therese of Lisieux, the famous 19th century French Carmelite nun summed up prayer this way: “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven; it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trail and joy.” She entrusts the core, the heart of her very being, towards heaven. She gives God everything, even her pain. As we begin to pray in this trusting way, our relationship with God is strengthened and solidified like concrete, rebarred with the Holy Spirit. 

The more we pray in this trust, the more we will see our love begin to grow. This must be a daily endeavor of the Christian. I must ask, do you pray every day from the heart? Remember, when I say the word “heart”, I am using a biblical notion of the word. In English, heart can simply mean fuzzy feelings. In Hebrew, “heart” is translated as “leb.” It means the innermost core of the human person. It’s much more intense. From this heart, the Christian prays. St. Teresa of Avila, another spiritual giant, put it this way, “prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us. The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love.” That is why, starting this weekend, we’re adding another opportunity to grow in love. From this point forward, I want to provide an opportunity to pray together with one of the most potent, and strongest spiritual weapons given to us – the holy rosary. Each Sunday at 9:30am in english and 11:30am in Spanish, we lift up our hearts to the Lord with a Family rosary. After all, our parish is named after the Blessed Mother. I want us to be known as a powerhouse of prayer. 

The most scientifically studied religious artifact in history sits in a locked vault in the cathedral of Turin, Italy since 1578. Before that, it had been in Chambery, France since the 1350s. Known as the Shroud of Turin, it purportedly shows a mysterious image of a crucified individual, bearing all the hallmarks of a man that was brutally tortured which match the description of Jesus' own crucifixion. It is believed by many to be the actual burial cloth that draped his body after he was taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb. It made a huge splash in the popular consciousness in 1898 when the first photographs of the photo negative were published. The image of a man’s face that looked like Jesus stood out dramatically. From that moment on, scientists have studied every aspect of this shroud. 

The dating of the shroud has been steeped in controversy since 1988, when a team of scientists took a sample from one corner of the cloth and using radiocarbon dating, placed its origin to the early Medieval period. People immediately labeled the shroud a hoax. However, that did not quell the controversy. Many other scientists, believers and unbelievers alike, questioned the methodology of the 1988 study. The debate has been reignited recently after a new study in its age, was published by William Meacham, an American archaeologist. Using a more accurate isotope test on the shroud, researchers confirmed that the age of cloth dates back to the time and region of where Jesus died. Meacham said, “With a probable near Eastern origin, new doubts must be raised about interpreting the shroud as simply a fake relic made in medieval Europe, and new questions arise about what the image of the cloth signifies. The possibility that this cloth is actually the burial shroud of Jesus is strengthened by this new evidence.”   

Whether this is truly the burial shroud of Jesus Christ or not can never be fully determined with 100% certainty. We simply do not have a secondary source of the DNA of Jesus to compare it too. One thing for certain is that the man whom the image shows on the ancient shroud , suffered horrifically. In another 2017 study by a team from the Hospital University in Padua, Italy, they determined that “the person who suffered and died in exactly the same manner that Christ did as recorded in the Gospels.” They went on to say that “They also saw signs of severe emotional stress and depression; severe hypovolemic-traumatic shock, acute respiratory failure at an early stage by crucifixion and causalgia [chronic pain in a limb]; blunt trauma following a fall, with paralysis of the entire right brachial plexus [shoulder nerves]; right shoulder dislocation, pulmonary contusion with hemothorax [lung injury], cardiac contusion [heart injury], probable left ulnar proximal paralysis and right foot dislocation from stretching during crucifixion.” He also had evidence of 30 wounds piercing his entire head and over 120 lacerations on his body. (https://catholicherald.co.uk/new-evidence-indicates-turin-shroud-not-a-european-forgery/)

As priests, there's always a real temptation to soften Church teaching, especially when it opposes the ethos of the age. Think of the traditional teaching on marriage, abortion, and human sexuality. If you want to get into an argument, defend Jesus Christ against these modern dogmas. 

One of Jesus' hardest teachings is found in today's Gospel. "Love your enemies," he commands us. It's not a suggestion. Can anything be more counterintuitive? Hardly. Yet our Lord demands this of his followers. Creator of the photo: Arturo Mari | Credit: CNS/Arturo Mari

What is the measure of true wealth? This is a fantastic question for us to reflect upon deeply. The way the world measures wealth and the way God sees wealth are completely different. The two are radically opposed. In the world, wealth, as we know, is measured in things. The more we have, the more we are. Our value is measured in who has the bigger house, the newer truck, the biggest gold chain, the name-brand purse, the list can go on and on. We all know this vision of life well. We are surrounded by it; it's in the very air we breathe. We can even feel the jealousy that erupts in our heart when we see someone else that seemingly has something “better” than us. They have the newer of whatever that thing is. They have the perfect family that I do not. They have the friends and the attention that I long for. To fall in love with this worldly vision of wealth turns us into slaves of other people’s opinions. It keeps us chained to praise. 

On the other hand, there’s another vision of life that we can choose. We do not have to keep walking down the worldly path of wealth that keeps us unhappy and wanting. Rather, there’s the higher path of which St. Paul points too in the Second Reading for this Sunday Mass. Listen again in its refreshing beauty: “My beloved brothers and sisters. Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?” (Cf. James 1:4-5). The only opinion that ultimately matters in life is how God sees us. He does not look upon our material wealth as the measure of our value. Rather, he looks at something far deeper. He looks at our love for Him. To have the love of God is to be rich in all the ways that last. 

Everything in this world is fading. Our houses will rot away. Our cars will break down.  The beauty of our bodies will be a distant memory. The people that we love the most will die. The one thing that lasts is our relationship with God. Work everyday to build that relationship with him. You will find true wealth: 

“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (Cf. 1 Corinthians 13:8-13) 

We're all in need of healing, deep spiritual healing that no medicine in this world can help. Only the architect of the human heart can heal it. That is why Jesus Christ comes to humanity. 

It's trendy to say today that there is no truth. There's simply your truth and my truth and no one can claim superiority over the other. To do so makes you a bigot or religious fanatic. In the Gospel passage that you will hear, St. John the Baptist is imprisoned for holding to the Truth. He paid the price. May we be so courageous in our modern day.  

Today’s celebration of Mary's bodily assumption into Heaven should give us great hope! For today, we remember that Our Blessed Mother’s body and soul is now in Heaven. This should give us tremendous hope, because as wel all know, our own body is a source of great anxiety for us all. Is it not? Every time we look into a mirror, we see new wrinkles and another gray hair. No matter how we battle against the aging of our bodies, through eating fruits and vegetables, and exercise, we know we shall lose the war eventually. Our bodies will all shrivel up like raisins.  “Thanks Father for the compliment!” But remember, Mary's body is in Heaven! 

We heard in the First Reading today that a woman, adorned with a crown of stars on her head,  does battle against the dragon. That’s the Blessed Mother, fighting against Lucifer. Lucifer was God’s highest Angel. Tradition said the reason he rebelled against God was because God showed him that he would take human flesh and unite it to the Holy Trinity. God, in Jesus Christ, would take our frail, broken human bodies, and unite to himself. When Lucifer was told of God’s plan, he said “NOOOOOOO!” How dare God take something below him as raise it above him. He could not imagine that human flesh, would be higher than Him. The Devil will now use this vector of attack against us. In chapter 3 of Genesis, Lucifer uses the flesh to tempt Adam and Eve, by showing them the Forbidden Fruit, which “was good for food, and a delight to the eyes.” The moment they ate, that's when death, sickness, disease, and aging enters into the world. Our bodies were not meant to grow old. From that moment on, this flesh that was meant to share in the life of the Trinity, becomes a source of pain. 

St. Padre Pio, famously said, it is the sins of the flesh that causes most people to go to hell. But my friends, that is why Christianity is Good News. Jesus is the answer. He preserves Mary from the stain of Original Sin, because from Mary, Jesus will receive his human body, his flesh. Since the devil uses flesh to attack us and cause us fear, Jesus will now take this frail and broken body of ours and raise it up on the cross. He sacrifices his own flesh, to destroy death, as heard from St. Paul in the Second Reading. The Good news does not stop there! At every single Mass, Jesus will give us a new powerful weapon to heal our broken bodies and spirits. Remember last sunday’s reading: I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

This year, the bishops of California are launching a new statewide initiative. Titled Radiant Love, it’s a call for Catholics to rediscover the beauty and goodness of marriage and the family. This focus is desperately needed today. Marriage rates are plummeting. Young people simply do not want to get married, like the previous generations of their parents and grandparents. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2021, 25% of 40 year olds have never been married. It’s all time high. That number was 16% percent in the early part of the 20th century. Among Catholics, the trend mirrors the wider society. In another study by Georgetown University, Catholics marriages dropped by a staggering 70% since 1969. This shocking collapse of marriage among our young people, who for various reasons, no longer see the value of marriage.. We need to do something about this as the Church. 

We all have family and friends in our lives that fall into this trend. I recall a heartfelt conversation with a young parishioner a few years ago. She confided in me that marriage scared her. She unfortunately came from a family where her earliest memories of her parents, aunts and uncles, was constantly fighting.  To be married in her impressionable young mind was one of pain and misery. She vowed to herself to never have “a marriage like that.” The only “healthy” marriage she remembered was her old grandmother in Mexico. Part of her hesitancy reflects the experience of many people listening to these words. If this congregation reflects an average American parish, many of us come from similar difficult situations that have left a bad taste in our mouths. 

How can we as a Church rediscover the wonder of marriage again? The answer lies in today’s Gospel passage. Jesus again is teaching us about the bodily reality of the “Bread that came down from Heaven.” He tells us, “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” The Eucharist as we now call it is the answer to rediscover the beauty of marriage. When we enter into a relationship with someone, we make ourselves vulnerable to the other person. We put our hearts in their hands and ask them not to hurt us. To love, in other words, requires me to trust the other person. This love always comes with risk. There is no other way if we want to enter into communion with another person. In the Eucharist, Jesus makes himself vulnerable, just as a husband and wife do to another.  Our precious Lord allows himself to be consumed and handled by us. He literally places himself, body, blood, soul and divinity into our hands. What will do with such an immense responsibility? We must respond in kind. We must love one another as Christ loved us. This, my friends, is the secret to reclaiming the beauty of marriage in our modern day. Treat your spouse like Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, who is, afterall, the divine source of love itself. But you don’t need to genuflect in front of them. That would be weird. 

Why are you Catholic? It’s a question that every single person hearing or reading these words needs a ready answer. Sooner or later this question will be thrust upon you . You will be challenged by someone in another faith to leave the Catholic Church; you will be scandalized by the bad behavior of someone in the Church (maybe even by a priest or bishop); you will despise something that was said (or not said in a Sunday homily); or maybe you will simply slowly fall away from the Church by our suffocating materialistic mad, hedonistic heavy, secular culture which tells us that questions of faith are mere silly sophistry and unimportant, like collecting Pokemon cards. Whatever the challenge, it returns back to the basic question, “Why am I Catholic?” When we have a confident answer we can withstand any storm. 

Back at my old parish, one of my devout parishioners, Sean, met a lovely young Protestant woman named Zoey at the famous Reno rodeo. They hit it off immediately. The only glaring problem was that he was Catholic. While Protestantism and Catholicism do share many similarities, there are also huge insurmountable differences. One such belief is our ancient 2,000 year teaching that what Jesus said in today’s Gospel passage in John 6 is literally true: “I am the living bread that comes down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is flesh for the life of the world.” What we now call the Eucharist is truly Jesus Christ; it’s not merely symbolic. Most Protestant maintain the latter. Who is right? Sean and Zoey passionately discussed these differences between them, each trying to convince the other. Neither would budge. Out of respect for the other, they would, however, visit each other’s churches on Sunday. That’s where I first met Zoey as she sat stone faced in the church pew at Mass. I could tell she was not a fan of Catholic liturgical worship. In fact, when we’d talk, I could sense a coldness from her during our interactions. She simply did not want anything to do with the Catholic Church. After a few months of this, I received surprising news. Zoey had announced her decision to become Catholic! Shocked, I immediately asked her what changed her mind? The following is our text conversion: 

“I was really just in this place of feeling like there had to be more to my faith. And the Eucharist was really that answer. You can have a real and true physical union with Christ in the Eucharist? One Sunday you gave a homily at Mass that got me. You used the metaphor of a husband and wife uniting themselves in marriage and the Eucharist. I realized that as Christ gives you his FULL SELF in the Eucharist just as he did on the cross. And thinking about how much love I have for Sean and how much more love Jesus has for us (infinite!) overwhelmed me. This was the big ‘aha! Moment.’ And then just the hunger to have that union really made me evaluate my faith.

At that Mass I sobbed the whole time. It was the first time my heart felt what my mind knew. I had done all the reading and research and “believed” practically but that was the first time I felt it in my soul. The true presence of Christ, right in front of me. Available to me. It was the “more” feeling I had been searching for for so long. The hole that I felt in my Protestant faith was finally filled. Once I realized Jesus was truly there, I cried tears of joy!!” 

If I asked Zoey, why is she Catholic? She would say, “Because I want to eat the living bread from Heaven.”