Saint + Elizabeth + Ann + Seton + Parish

On  many  of  the  graves  in  Roman  catacombs  is  an  unmistakable  paw  print.  On  the concrete  that  seals  tight  the  graves,  there  are  words  and  symbols.  One  of  the  most common is a paw print. The message was about the deceased Believer: as a dog is loyal to  its  master  and  dependent  for  every  good  thing,  so  this  servant  of  God  was  loyal, depending on God and waiting for his or her Heavenly Master’s return.Download Transcript

Sometimes we can get so caught up in our doctrinal differences, we can get so caught up in our political differences—who is liberal, who is conservative, who is this, who is not that—that sometimes we forget that have one Lord, one Savior in Christ Jesus. That is the heart of our feast today: that, when all is said and done, regardless of the differences in our society, regardless of the differences in our community, it’s all about one Love, one Faith, one Baptism. And that’s why I think the gospel tonight is so instructional. 

We ought to live now, even now, as though we were citizens of heaven, because truly we are. The woes and worries of this Earth will always be with us. But as Saint Paul reminds us, the Lord is trustworthy. May we turn our lives over to the Lord. And in the midst of a world that does not support the Gospel, may we find that the Lord does support us and give us dreams beyond this world. 

 The saints in heaven can intercede for us, the Pilgrim Church. And all of us can also intercede for the Suffering Church, those who have passed on but are not yet in heaven… When we celebrate sainthood, it simply reminds us that there is a future.

God is always faithful. Look around you—there are signs of His faithfulness. In the breath we breathe, we see His faithfulness. In family, in the gifts of your children and your children’s children, we see His faithfulness. In the gift of our church community, we see God’s faithfulness. So there is no doubt, and it’s not a secret, that God is always faithful. But, truth be told, sometimes in life we deal with issues, we deal with we deal with events, we deal with situations that may want to make us ask, "But God, where are you in all this?"

If you are aware of things in your life that are not right, let those things show you your need of God’s mercy. If you sincerely pray, "God be merciful to me, a sinner," God will give you mercy and mercy truly received will change your life 

God wants to put a melody to the hymns of each of our lives. And God wants us all to bolster each other as we sing together those hymns. Every single person in this church today has a hymn to sing from the text of your life. Every person here has a story to tell of where you are at this moment in your faith. God’s grace wants to enter that story and sing it as a hymn. And God wants us all to join in singing that hymn together, so we can bolster each other in faith.

One glorified God in a loud voice and fell in gratitude at the feet of Jesus. Nine were never heard from again. Every commentary on the Bible, and every homily or sermon on this passage (Luke 17:11-19) I could find, condemns the nine and exalts the one. Why? What was the sin of the nine? Their sin was silence when the situation clearly called for action that glorified God and gave public witness to the work of God in their lives.Download transcript

The readings today remind us of the need to reaffirm the “gratitude attitude”… for us to have a thankful heart … for us to bring thankfulness to our relationship to God. 

If you want faith, learn to trust God in small things and big alike; learn to trust that God has a plan and it is being worked out in our midst, even if you or I don’t see it or understand it.  You and I — and our anxieties — are not the center of the universe (as disappointing as that truth may be): God is.  Learn to believe that truth and your faith will be increased!Download Transcript

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Why would anyone “choose” hell? It is one’s own choice. Of course most people do not make the choice of hell explicitly; people choose hell passively by choosing other things above God. What kinds of choices lead people into hell? There is a stereotypical list of mortal sins, but nothing is said about the rich man in this story being sexually immoral or running an abortion clinic. This is a story of a man who chooses hell when he chooses to do nothing.Download Transcript

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Discipleship always takes place within a given socio-political climate, and Christian discipleship is not primarily a temporal political endeavor. Discipleship will always be subversive when it is properly understood and practiced. This is because no earthly socio-political structure is ever conformed totally to the Kingdom of God. When a nation-state is relatively “good” it is still not worthy of ultimate allegiance. When a nation-state is oppressive (and many Christians have suffered under such in the Church’s history), God’s people still obey the government to the extent they can––but all the more give ultimate allegiance to the King whose Kingdom goes beyond anything we can yet fully imagine.Download Transcript

Humility is the route to true happiness. Humble heart, contrite heart— that is the route to greatness. That’s the point of the parable. So the lesson we learn from the gospel (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/082816.cfm) today is about humility—how you and I and all of us need some humility in our lives.

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time When Jesus said he had not come to bring peace but to bring division, he was talking about the effect of his coming, not that this was the purpose of his coming. Later in his Gospel Luke reports Jesus clearly saying, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). God desires our salvation; that was the purpose for Jesus coming. Yet God gives everyone free will–the freedom and responsibility to choose, and there are some who will not submit to God.Download Transcript

“The first parishioner I met from Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was Seminarian Rick Mowery, about two years ago. At that time, I didn’t know his father, but I could tell, then, he must be a good Dad, because I met his son. Throughout the summer, as I have gotten to know more of the parishioners here at Elizabeth Ann Seton, I realize that Father Mowery not only reflects the faith of his family, but also of everyone here at his church.”Download transcript

So what is prayer? Rather than a desperate last resort, prayer is the natural breath of a human spirit that was created to know God. Prayer is a way of always being in touch with our Father in heaven.Download transcript

Brothers and sisters, recognize who we are—the Body of Christ—and that we are truly brothers and sisters with those around the world who suffer pain and violence, whose hearts are breaking, and whose eyes day and night stream with tears. Ours is an invitation to weep with Jesus at the pain of this world, and to pray with Jesus that the grace and mercy of God, a loving Father, will change the hearts of those who plot violence and refuse mercy.

 Christian Faith is a gift from God that is meant to open our eyes to an entirely new and different way of seeing. We are immersed in love and goodness. We are given every reason for hope.Download Transcript

Enjoyment is an action; it’s not an attitude. Enjoyment is not in the actor, but it is in the action. And therefore it comes to an end when the action is complete….In the words of Saint Francis de Sales, let us bloom where we are planted, in the awareness of God’s presence among us. And this alone fills our hearts with joy that cannot be snatched away by any despair, loss, pain, or suffering of this world. 

We light an Advent candle—one, two, three, four candles—to remind us of light that is ever increasing in our world, the grace of the Lord ever growing in our hearts, the mercy and joy of God Himself ever growing stronger in the midst of this world. Why don’t we pay more attention to that than we do to the voices of darkness and of evil and of threat? We can tune our ears to hear one or the other.