Vocations (10/21/2012)

Hebrews 4:14-16
Brothers and sisters:
Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God,
let us hold fast to our confession.
For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who has similarly been tested in every way,
yet without sin.
So let us confidently approach the throne of grace
to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.

Know the plans that I have for you.

Jesus knows.  He was there.  He will be here and He is always in your heart.

Brothers and Sisters, you have been called by name, and before He made you in your mother's womb, he knew you.

Your God loves you.  He has a plan for you.  It's written in your very being.  In your DNA and in your personality.  In every inch that you are and every thought in your mind and on your heart.

Jesus is about to join us.  Here, on His Altar.  He is going to listen to you.  He is going to hear you.

The Father has created you to answer a call.  To respond.  To listen to His almighty and all knowing voice.  You may have a plan in mind for how you want to live your life.  It may be what you are called to do. Then again it may be not.  The key is to listen.

In Hebrews today, we learned more of Jesus, our high priest and redeemer. 

He has suffered what you have suffered.  He has faced what you have faced.  He is both human like you and me and listening and loving His father.  But, unlike you and I, He is without sin.  He has faced and defeated it.  He has overcome.

The Scripture tells us to draw close to His almighty throne with confidence.  It's because he is YOUR savior.  He won't leave you hanging.  He WILL respond.

Every joy, every pain, every triumph and every temptation.  Offer it to Him.  He will make your paths straight.  He has overcome.  He will fill you with His Grace if you would just let Him.

With that Grace, you will have His confidence. You will answer your Father's call.

You are all at a critical point of your lives where you have a choice to answer your Father's Call or try to do it all on your own.

As we officially kick off our semester on Vocations, ask yourself: Am I ready to listen? Am I ready to allow Jesus to overcome the obstacles that I have in my heart?

Know the plans I have for you.

Are you listening?  He is going to tell you.

Kickoff Proclaim (10/7/2012)

Hebrews 2:9-11

Brothers and sisters:
He "for a little while" was made "lower than the angels, "
that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

For it was fitting that he,
for whom and through whom all things exist,
in bringing many children to glory,
should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering.
He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated
all have one origin.
Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them 'brothers.'

God never wanted us to be alone.

As we begin the school year and our time together, He wants you to know.

You were never meant to be alone.

God created women to be companions to men.  To draw them closer to following God.  We know that a lot of times (or more like all the time) we let each other down.  We forget appointments, to call, to check on people.  We put other things as more important in our hearts.  School, sports, drama, hanging out with other friends.

He set an expectation.  He trusted us to follow Him above all else.  To obey his commandments. To surrender anything and everything to serve Him because He is your Papa God. 

And like the same way we let down our friends and our family, and like they can let us down.  We fail.  Time after time.

But He wants you to know that despite all that you do that divides you between Him and you THAT YOU ARE NEVER ALONE.

He came down.  God the Son, below the Angels to suffer with you.  To die for you.

He makes all that you do, New.  He KNOWS how you feel.  He felt what you are feeling on the Cross.

He will never leave you or forsake you.  His bond with you is Permanent.  Through your Baptism, He has made a home in your heart.

Like the author said in Hebrews, He came down from Heaven to be with you.  You get to see Him at Mass, and you will see Him again tonight.

My Brothers and Sisters, He will be on His Altar, there for you.  To be with you and you alone.

Your bond with Him cannot and will not be undone.  It is forever.

Offer up your problems, your joys, your sorrows to Him.

And just let Him love you.  

Complacency Kills (10/28/2012)

Hebrews 5:1-6
Brothers and sisters:
Every high priest is taken from among men
and made their representative before God,
to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring,
for he himself is beset by weakness
and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself
as well as for the people.
No one takes this honor upon himself
but only when called by God,
just as Aaron was.
In the same way,
it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest,
but rather the one who said to him:
You are my son:
this day I have begotten you;
just as he says in another place:
You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.

When I was a young Marine in training, I learned a lot of skills.  We were told that “Every Marine is a Rifleman”.   No matter where we were headed in terms of jobs, assignments or whatever we were doing we learned martial arts, how to operate weapons systems and how to employ tactics to defeat the enemy; another person who was going to harm us or someone that we cared about. We constantly trained.  Constantly worked with each other.  Exercised regularly.  Constantly worked to become better.  One simple, two-word motto drove all that we did.

“Complacency Kills”

From our standpoint, it was really easy to understand.  Those skills were perishable.  If you didn’t practice your reloading drills on your rifle, it would be impossible to work it when you needed it: When you or your friends were in danger. 

My reloading drills were entirely for the purpose of “getting back into the fight”.  If I ran dry on a magazine of ammunition, I would need to take cover and work through it to get “sights on target”.  Discipline and rehearsal ensured that I was ready and I was looking back over the horizon.  Ready for whatever the enemy was going to try on us next.

As we got older and started to go to other jobs that were not as intense in combat operations, we still needed to remember that little phrase.  We were supporting Marines who had a mission to go to the front lines to encounter dangers.  If we failed in our jobs, we would leave them hanging. Sure, if I slacked off in doing my job, it may not kill me.  But it might prevent a resupply of food, medicine or ammunition that could save someone’s life.  As a leader, I had to train my Marines to constantly get better.  To be better.  To not rest in that they had “figured everything out”.  Our enemy too, studied us and tried to figure out how to get better at defeating us.  It was dynamic.  It never rested.

Many of you play sports, play an instrument, sing or act, study difficult subjects in school or have jobs that require a really finite skill set that requires you to keep practicing your skills.  To become more proficient.  As soon as you stop practicing, training or rehearsing, you develop atrophy. Someone will come along and beat you.  They will beat you on the track, on the scoreboard; they will get the part or get the promotion.   Complacency will not get you where you want to be.  If you want something, it only makes sense that you keep working to get it. 

Brothers and Sisters, you cannot become complacent in your relationship with your Savior.  You do have an Enemy.  He is constantly training and working to wedge himself between you and your God, and His Church.  He sneaks his way in your disappointments, your fears, your fatigue, your desire to put what makes you feel good over what you know is right, the messages from the shows you watch and the music you hear.  Each day the enemy looks for a new way in.  He is trying to keep you from eternal life with your God.  You cannot let him win.

Complacency Kills.  Conversion SAVES.  Conversion is a process where you change YOURSELF to become more like HIM.  The one who Saves you.  You can never Finish your Conversion.  It’s constant.  It’s fluid.  It grows with you. 

The great thing about Conversion?  It’s REAL and it’s in you.  It was founded in your Baptism, wiped clean and made anew in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Nourished in the Eucharist and Strengthened in your Confirmation.  As Catholics, we have so many tools at our disposal to keep refining ourselves.  To keep making us new.  Jesus has done the hard part of defeating Sin and winning your Soul.  It’s on you to keep training for the next battle.

True Conversion is never finished.  True Peace does not come from being satisfied with being “done” or “making it”.  You will find it be striving for Heaven and Loving Jesus on Earth. 

Brothers and Sisters.  Make no mistake.  You are at War.  This war was not declared by you or wanted for you.  It’s for your Soul.

In Hebrews Chapter 5, you hear that we have all been called.  As imperfect as you are, you are a perfect instrument for salvation.  You are here to lead other souls to Heaven.  You must train.  You must be ready.

Train for Battle.  Ask Him to help you train to fight.  To help you focus.  Get your sights on your target:  Heaven.  Jesus Saves.

Complacency Kills.  Conversion Saves. 

Never stop Converting. 

You are not done.  But He will take you the rest of the way.  Let Him mold you, shape you and love you into what He intended you to be.  Don’t rest on

your understanding.  This is way too big for us to try to figure out on our own.

Rest in Him.  Let him Change you.