Homily - Sunday 11/15/2015 - What God wants for Christmas

Homily - Sunday 

November 15, 2015

What God wants for Christmas

Mark 13:24-32 (Readings)

Deacon David Lewis

Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA

           So this morning I woke up on the sunny side of the ground… thank you God … breathing … thank you God … and I went into the shower and it had hot water… thank you God … as I began shaving I cut my lip … thank you God … you see we have to thank God for all things in our lives, because even out of what appears negative, good things can happen.

            That said, one of the things I saw as a negative earlier this week was that the internet was all abuzz about a decision by Starbucks to make their winter cups plain red, no icons of snowflakes, no snowmen, nothing just a plain red cup with their logo. It upset some people, as they saw it as another way to take what is an already diluted Christmas message and de-emphasize it even more.

 While some took this as a sign that they were pulling away from Christmas, and found it offensive, others online pointed out how ironic it is that some Christians were complaining about the absence of snowflakes on our coffee cup while many places in the world still struggled to have clean water.

            As I browsed through the posts, many accusing Christians of lacking focus on Christ’s message, I came across what at first seemed to be an unrelated music video for Darius Rucker’s song “What Gods Wants for Christmas”  (View video here) Having never seen the video or even hearing the song before I played it. It talked about “more sister, more brother, more loving one another, dusting of our bibles, and filling the seats at church”… and it hit me… our advent preparation starts in two weeks. We will be preparing ourselves for the celebration of the FIRST coming of Jesus, the celebration of Christmas, when we remember God’s word, coming to life in human form at the nativity of Jesus, when God became flesh from the virgin womb of Mary, in the manager, at the inn. A day most of us celebrate by exchanging gifts. Our Christmas gift from God was that he gave us Jesus, and through what appeared to be a great negative, the death of Jesus, we are given the opportunity to be with God for eternity in heaven.

            But the song isn’t “What God gave US for Christmas” it is “What does God want for Christmas?” I don’t think God wants us talking about red cups, the absence of Christmas on a five-dollar coffee. And I am certain, I think it goes without saying, that he doesn’t want us shooting up restaurants and concert halls, and bombing sports arenas.   Maybe, what God wants from us, is for us to be thankful for his gift, thankful for Jesus CHRIST, after all we are Christians or CHRISTians celebrating CHRISTmas.

So what does it mean to celebrate Christmas? And more importantly, what does it mean to be a FOLLOWER of CHRIST? WELL… FIRST and FOREMOST, we have to FOLLOW Christ and lead others towards him. Certainly it will mean living through the end times when Jesus comes the second time and we face our judgement. And those that died, in a state of choosing to be apart from God, will go to be with the devil in the fiery pits of hell for all eternity, and those that chose to reconcile with God for their sins, reunited with God, will follow Jesus to be in heaven forever. You see, God doesn’t send anyone to Hell, it is the free will choice of each of us, to choose to be united with God, or to be apart from him.

            So if we could give God something for Christmas, that would truly please him, it would be to love him, to choose him, to choose to be united with him. Which is really the vision I have of heaven, not clouds, angels, and harps, but to be united in God’s pure undiluted love for all eternity. But as we wait to go through Jesus’ second coming, the end times, WE can thank God by showing God our love for him by following the example of HIS gift, his only son, the example of Jesus Christ: the example of loving our neighbor, the example of being kind, having empathy and love for others, and doing what we can to help others, and ultimately inviting others to know God, to love him and to love others as well.

            If we were to sit down and set aside our wish list of things we want for Christmas, and put aside all the anxiety of how we are going to get the things that other people are asking of us for Christmas. If we just take a moment to be thankful for what we have and that we have any excess at all to give to others, in that moment we may realize that God not only gave us Jesus, but as we heard last week, he gave us all we have: our life, our health, our wisdom, our talents, and our treasures.  

            So as the Church calendar comes to an end next week, the end times if you will for the 2015 church year, and as we begin a new year in the church, let our preparations for Christ’s coming, the Advent season, be about thanking God for the good, and the bad. The ability to breath, and the cuts on our lip, and yes even plain red cups. Let it be a time of reconnection with God, reconciling ourselves with God so that we may be counted among those in heaven after he comes again. Let it be a time of love, a time of helping others, and a time of prayerful relationship with God giving him the gift of our love… full of thanks and praise.

           

            

Homily - Sunday 10/25/2015 - Bringing light in darkness - The healing Sacrament of Confession

Homily - Saturday Vigil/Sunday Mass 

October 24/25, 2015

Bringing light to darkness - The Healing Sacrament of Confession

Mark 10:46-52 Readings

Deacon David Lewis

Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA

          I remember in kindergarten, we had to pick a science project. I remember it quite well amazingly, since I can’t remember a name to save me, or a date or time of an event unless I have it written somewhere, but for some reason I remember 40 years ago and I remember I had planted some seeds, each planted a day apart for a week, so that on the day of my presentation you could see the different stages of the seed sprouting. But the girl I was partnered up with picked something that opened my eyes… literally. Cathy’s experiment was to close your eyes for a minute, long enough for your eyes to adjust to the darkness, and then we would open our eyes and our science partner would look into our eyes, and you could see our eyes constrict as they adjusted to the brighter light. It was quite fascinating to my five year old mind just how amazing the human body is in all the details God included.

            But imagine if you were to close your eyes, and when you finally opened them again, your eyes didn’t adjust, imagine if from that point on you could never see again. Imaging living in a world of darkness… forever. Without hope of ever seeing again. No way to bring light into your world again, no more colorful sunsets, no more marveling at the color of your loved one’s eyes. NO more taking pictures of your food to post on Instagram, no more looking at pictures of your friends on Facebook or reminiscing through old photo albums, marveling at how young they were in the picture. Imagine living without sight.

            In today’s world it is still difficult but much friendlier to those without eyesight than in Jesus’ day put yourself in today’s Gospel, imagine yourself blind… there was no state disability to help you pay for things, there were no service dogs, no braille, no Americans with Disabilities act. You would be at the mercy of the kindness of strangers to help get you by. And you may have even had your blindness blamed on your sin or even the sins of your parents.

            You would be stuck in this darkness.

            But there is Good News! You hear a crowd approaching and as they pass by and you ask… hey what’s going on? … It’s Jesus of Nazareth! What luck, you think!  Jesus will be passing by the very spot you have come day after day to beg from others for their kindness and generosity to help you survive… and you have already heard how he can perform miracles of healing, healing not just little things, but he is able to heal big things, like the then incurable leprosy, and blindness … even from birth…

Knowing that he is your only hope you scream for him… Jesus! Jesus Son of David! Hoping to get his attention over the many others in the crowd... hoping he stops to heal YOU… of course the crowd tries to push you aside, you aren’t worthy, you are just a poor sinner, a beggar stuck in the darkness of being blind… and then… and then Jesus hears you, and calls for you to be brought before Him… What do you want of me he asks… and you say Lord, please let me see… and at the moment Jesus speaks the words “Have sight your faith has saved you” your eyesight is restored.

            Where there was only darkness there is now light, the damage from any sin you committed has been restored. You are able to see the colors of the rainbow, and all the beauty of God’s creations alive and vibrant with life. You are whole again…

            … What fascinates me about this story… is what doesn’t happen… Jesus doesn’t say “I will heal you, but it will cost you five thousand dollars.” Nor does Jesus say, get away you poor beggar, he also doesn’t say I am busy, can I get you on the way back, and nor does Jesus say, oh blind you say, sorry I can’t fix blind?

            No, Jesus heals him completely… right there on the spot, without cost to the blind man, without hesitation.

            You may already see where I am going with this…

We can experience one of the greatest gifts of our faith right back there in the confessional. We can go in there, living a life in darkness, brought on by our own sins, or own faults. We can call out to Jesus to heal us, and he will call out to us to come to him, and in the moment that Father, in persona Christi, as the person of Christ present in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, in the moment that you hear Jesus say through Father “God, the Father of mercies… through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself….  and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins… through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace…  and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” when He speaks the words similar to these, you will be healed of all the things that block you from the light of Christ.

            If you are a baptized Catholic, you can participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, there is no cost, it is absolutely worth all the angst and anxiety to just get it done. Don’t let other’s block you from Jesus, don’t let your doubts, fears, or worries hold you back from this beautiful healing Sacrament, you are worthy. Imagine if the blind man hesitated…

            I almost forgot, you know what else didn’t happen in today’s reading? They didn’t carry the blind man to Jesus, he got himself up and went.

            So if something is rebuking you to stay away from Jesus, if something is telling you that going to Jesus is a sign of weakness, or something is telling you that Jesus can’t heal your sin because it is just too big, if you are afraid Father will yell at you, which just won’t happen, toss that aside and make your way to Jesus in the confessional, and your faith will heal you.  When you walk out of the confessional it may take a moment of penance for you to adjust to the light again, but you will be out of the darkness through the miraculous healing mercy of Christ.

           

Homily - Sunday 9/20/2015 - Who is the greatest - Front seat

Homily - Sunday 

September 20, 2015

Who is the greatest - Front seat

Mark 9:30-37 Readings

Deacon David Lewis

Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA

There seemed to be a never-ending battle for the front seat among my brothers, sister and I. With the front seat there came honor, privilege, and more importantly a much better view from that front seat, not to mention comfort, especially if all six of us were in the non-air-conditioned van. If you had the front seat you would not have to put up with the sibling next to you or even worse get stuck in the back seat AND IN THE MIDDLE. UGHGHH and it always seemed like it took an hour to unload everyone from our van. So the privilege of sitting in front always went to mom or dad first and foremost, but if one of them wasn’t going with us in the car, the front seat was open for one of us kids, and the front seat could be won, one of three ways… you could be first, you could you use fists, or you could throw a fit…

So, the primary and most usual way to be the one to sit in the front seat, was to be the first to run to the car and grab the handle to the door and you better hold on tight.

Because if a bigger, older sibling “insisted” that they have the front sit, you might find your grip on that handle being pulled away as they tugged you away from the front door at which time there hand would take its place, which occasionally would lead blows, or fists.

This form of cheating would often lead to whining or crying or pitching a fit by the younger sibling after having the privilege of the front seat taken away from them, and upon hearing this fit of crying you might see Mom or Dad to exert their authority and name the front passenger of their choice, usually the one that was through the fit, the one that didn’t win the battle of fists.

But this battle for position didn’t just exist in the family, it seemed to go on as we got older, there were cliques in school striving to be the best, there were those within these groups that tried to be the leader of the group, or be the most successful, often seemingly willing to do whatever it took, even if it was outside of acceptable morality… people cheated on tests, cheated at sports, lied to teachers and even to their friends, all to get ahead…

Quietly there were those that were volunteering to tutor younger students, those offering to pick up your tray when you were done eating, those that stayed behind to help the teacher clean up the classroom after a particularly active class, those kids that would help you pick up your dropped books from the floor. Often these kids didn’t get the limelight, they didn’t get the letterman jacket, or have the large following of popular friends, or win the talent show, or star in the school play, and they usually  didn’t get the sports scholarships.

But while the popular kids were always in a battle to achieve and maintain that top-dog position, those with a servant heart found peace in helping others.

You can see this conflict played out in a very obvious way in today’s culture. There is the constant message from advertisers that you have to have the latest, largest, fastest, newest, most trendy color in order to please yourself, to have happiness. You see the message through ads, TV’s, movies, social media and the news that you are not free until you can do whatever you want to get power, pleasure, and wealth.

Then you come to Church and Deacon Dave gives another great homily on how you should have a servant heart, you hear how my Mom was always the last to sit down at the dinner table every day for my entire eighteen years of living at home… 365 days a year, and how that was how with my dad at her side she raised six wonderful children! You sit here and hear how my Dad was a Boy Scout Leader, a Scout Master at 19 years old, and started a new troop for my brothers and I after moving to their new home, and how he later went on to volunteer over 9500 hours with the local volunteer ambulance in his hometown. How both of them had a servant’s heart and served as an example of how I should serve others. How my wife rediscovered her faith in her adult years, sparked by my son’s desire to follow God while still a child, and together they drove me, a non-practicing Christian, to live a life of faith.

But more important than the example of my parents, wife, and son is Jesus’ example. How God, Lord of Lords, King of Kings, the Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth… that God humbled himself and came down to earth as a baby in a manager, so that he might serve us, to serve as an example, to show us how to love, to show us how to be humble, to show us that there is success in being the servant. That in our service to God, and in our service to others, in living out a life of loving our God and our neighbor that we will find happiness, not just in our earthly life, but in the life ever after in heaven if we choose to follow God’s example.

In the Mark’s Gospel today, Jesus had no sooner finished talking about the great suffering he would endure… how he would be handed over, killed, and then would rise from the dead, in the greatest of all miracles, conquering death. 

Homily - Sunday 9/6/2015 - Miracles - Love and be loved

Homily - Sunday 

September 6, 2015

Miracles - Love and be Loved

Mark 7:31-37 Readings
Deacon David Lewis

Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA

Some of you may have heard that I enjoy watching YouTube videos when I am preparing my homilies, or pretty much any time I am at the computer. Recently there was a couple of videos that really touched my heart. They were videos of what you might call Life Changing Events.

            The first video was of a young mom that had never heard her son’s voice, and the video was rolling as they turned on her Cochlear implants, and her son walks in the room and she began to cry after she heard her son speak to her for the first time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8VV7oxvQ_g

            The second video was of a young baby girl whose face lights up as her eyes adjusted after her parents put on her glasses for the first time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cv98v-LnSg

            The third video was of a father that, like me, is color blind. His wife had bought him some new glasses that corrected his vision so that whenever he wore these glasses he would see the rainbow of colors as God created them. He became overwhelmed with emotion as he put on the glasses and he looked at the colorful clothes his wife had dressed the kids in, the bouquet of flowers bursting with colors that they set out in the front yard, but he broke down as he looked at color of his child’s eyes in their true color for the first time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTpCTDwjHZQ

            Each of these videos represents someone that has struggled with a personal disability, and in that one moment, at that brief instant, suddenly that struggle..., that limitation…. That pain… that burden, was a thing of the past. No longer will the father wonder if his clothes match when getting dressed, no longer will the mother wonder if her son is calling for her, no longer will that little baby be hindered by what was hopelessly out of focus. A moment of change, a new beginning.

            Well as I was writing this homily it was Friday night and I was watching the 20/20 special featuring an audience with the Pope, where Pope Francis, in the lead-up to his visit to the United States later this month, was in a teleconference with three cities in the U.S., McAllen TX near the Mexican border, Los Angeles, where the streets hold more homeless than another city, and Chicago in the center of the US. In each location the Pope spoke with a few chosen members of the audience.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/fullpage/pope-francis-people-33178200

            What stood out most among those chosen to speak with Pope Francis was that… each had a story of a life of challenge, the first, a girl with a skin disease that made her stand out as different among the other kids, another was a girl who lost her father when she was five, and then there was  single mother and her two daughters who only recently got out of a shelter and into an apartment, and one of the others was a young man that has been elevated to the head of household being responsible for providing for his family, at the same time struggling with his illegal status while trying to get his college education in the same country he has grown up in since he was four.

            Each of them felt the compassionate love, hope, and encouragement offered by Pope Francis. But I am sure, if you were to ask Pope Francis, he would assure you that he is not the source of that hope and love, it is offered by Christ. Just like the moment of change, and new beginning experienced by those in the YouTube videos, and miraculous healing of the deaf man in today’s Gospel, Jesus offered them hope, healing, and strength.

            There are two sides to Christ’s love: Some of you, will go to Jesus seeking healing, hope, love, and encouragement. While others of you will be the conduit, the pathway that Jesus uses to deliver his answer to that request.

 We don’t have to have a life-long ailment or terminal illness to go to Jesus, it could be a bad habit that needs changing, or the strength to overcome an addiction, or simply his encouragement that you are doing the right thing. You may also seek Jesus’ forgiveness for the mistakes of your past through the Sacrament of confession. Or seek his counsel through prayer.

            And as you sit, praying to Jesus for His help, you are among many others: some, (many likely), are on the same journey as you, and still yet, many others surrounding you are able to offer you help, to offer that love, healing, hope, and encouragement. We may not be able to miraculously cure the deaf, heal the blind, or cure the lepers, but God may use us to invent the next cure, or to even help fund that cure, or pay for the expenses of someone’s hospital visit, or a wheelchair, or perhaps donate a kidney, or even give blood. If our hearts are unified to Jesus, we can be both receivers of His love and givers of that love. We must not be afraid of either.

            We often think that Jesus only does the miracles we can’t attribute to humans, when in fact, Jesus often will use you and I to perform his miracles. So I encourage you, just like Pope Francis encouraged his audience on Friday, to be courageous! If something seems impossible, seek the strength to conquer it, if something seems hopeless, search for opportunities to complete it, if it seems like no one cares, look around you at the many others that have shared in your same struggles. There are an abundance of opportunities to be Love to others, and many opportunities to be loved by others. There are many miracles being performed, don’t be afraid to be part of one. To be part of a moment of change, or a new beginning in a life.

Homily - Sunday 2015/07/19 - Be a Shepherd

Homily - Sunday 

July 19, 2015

Be a shepherd

Mark 6:30-34
Deacon David Lewis

Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA

Gospel Mk 6:30-34

The apostles gathered together with Jesus
and reported all they had done and taught.
He said to them,
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
People were coming and going in great numbers,
and they had no opportunity even to eat.
So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.
People saw them leaving and many came to know about it.
They hastened there on foot from all the towns
and arrived at the place before them.

When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things.

            In the many years that I have been in the workplace, I have had the opportunity to be guided by a variety of different types of leaders assigned with the task of supervising me. There have been some that left me to my own, leaving me wondering what to do. Others would spell it out step by step, often interrupting my progress with excessive supervision. But the best supervisors, would give me objectives to meet, and the tools to accomplish them, and would be available to answer any questions I might have along the along the way.

            In life we are not only led by our supervisors at work, but by our parents, our friends, and other mentors in our lives. As a deacon, and Father, as a priest, we often are put into the role of leading others. We are often asked to teach classes, lead reflections, participate in retreats, and even counsel people. It is part of the responsibility of being ordained: to guide others to live holy virtuous lives pleasing to God.

            But a lot of what we learn as we go along, isn’t taught to us in a class, in a book, in a video, or even in a homily, it is taught to us by example. We watch and learn from others by how they do it. Father Jim, Father Burt, Father Arnold, Father Bill, and my fellow deacons, they have all played a role in my faith life, each quietly, perhaps without even knowing, have served as an example of prayerfulness, humility, faithfulness, and integrity.

            They each have their strengths, and weaknesses like we all do. Each has their own unique gifts that God has given them that they put to use, glorifying God.

(said with Fr Arnold Mass) Father Arnold for example has the biggest, kindest heart I know. He loves to serve our Church with a humility I continue to strive for, while leading me to be my best, by his example and guidance.

(said with Fr Bill’s Mass) Father Bill for example has a much nicer singing voice than most. If you were fortunate enough to have attended the last Easter Vigil, you may remember how he recited the Ex,ul,tet prayer at the beginning of the Mass so beautifully. I appreciate the beauty that he brings to the Mass through his singing, and how that elevates my experience with Christ whenever we serve together. But Father and I are not here alone to give example... We are surrounded by the altar servers, sacristans, ushers, choir, and you the parishioners.

Now I don’t know what brought you through the doors of our Church today, but I hope that you, like the many disciples in today’s Gospel reading, came to experience Jesus. I hope that in your heart you had an urge, a calling, or even a mustard-seed sized desire in your heart to hear the Word of Christ proclaimed, to see Him in the Eucharist, or to see him in the others here in the Church, brought to life through their example of being Christ-like.

Many of us come to Church to get something… to receive communion… to take a message home with us… or even just to get our obligation of attending Mass checked off the list. But if we truly follow Christ’s example of giving of self, we may realize that when we come into Church it is about giving as much as it is about receiving. We can give God our worries, concerns, and anxieties. We can give God our love through our conversations in our prayers. We can give to those in need through Caritas. Some of us give of our time and talents as we serve in the liturgy.

When we give at Mass, it deepens the experience. Imagine for moment going to a concert, listening to your favorite artist sing your most beloved music…. Nice right? Now imagine you have the moment, just a few seconds as that same performer walks past you returning backstage as he or she stops to greet you, and you have the opportunity to say how much you enjoyed the concert, or how meaningful their songs are to your life. That moment of giving those words to that artist will be something you will treasure. It is that experience I hope you get to enjoy at Mass, a moment when you get to encounter Christ and tell him how much you love him.

If only that could happen outside of Mass too… well it can!

Today’s world is the same world Jesus lived in 2000 years ago. People are still hungry for that encounter with Christ, still willing to go out of their way to meet him, still desiring a shepherd. We all have a God designed, built in desire, to love Him and to know Him. And with so many people out there who have not found a solution to that desire yet, we have the opportunity to be a shepherd, to bring people to God, to bring people to encounter Jesus. To help them figure out how it is that they can find happiness in giving themselves to God, how it is they can find peace in handing over their anxieties and concerns to a most powerful and loving God.

We as Christians need to realize that we don’t necessarily have to teach classes, write books, or create movies about God, although those things can be good, We simply need to be shepherds, to shepherd those with the faintest desire in their hearts to know God, guiding them toward Jesus, providing an all-important example, an example of how we live our lives trying to please God.

After we give of ourselves in Church today, let us continue to give of ourselves as we live our lives out there. Let us be examples to our families, neighbors, coworkers and even our enemies, of how to live life Christ-like. Lead them, not by walking away from them and leaving them alone, wondering where to go like a sheep without a shepherd, and don’t lead them by doing it all for them, forcing them to go towards Christ, jamming it down their throats if you will but lead them by letting them know about the path to Christ, invite them into the Church, to Mass, lead them through your own example of how to love and be loved by Christ, lead them like a shepherd leads his sheep.

Homily - Friday 2015/07/10

Homily  - Friday 2015/07/10

Funeral Mass - Generoso Ritua (My Father-in-law) Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies

Gospel Reading:

The Holy Gospel according to John

Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life* loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me. 

            When Rowena and I were at home discussing the readings for today’s Mass, she chose this one about the grain of wheat dying… and to be quite honest, I didn’t really get it at first... if the wheat dies, then that’s the end right? But if we look closer at how a seed works, how a grain of wheat, an acorn, or even a mustard seed works, we see… how they reach maturity, they fall from the tree or bush, once in this stage, once they have gone from green and vibrant, to dead and dormant they can stay dormant for long periods of time, and then when conditions are right they come back to life. Once it has fallen to the ground, and the soil has enough moisture, and spring has come and the sun has warmed it sufficiently, it will begin to sprout into a whole new plant, again fully alive, vibrant … green with life.

            While I am sure it is never easy for the seed to die, to depart from the stalk or branches that held it up for so long, and for it to become reliant on the will of the sun for its warmth and the clouds for the rain, it is a necessity for the existence of the plant, since the change of seasons is unstoppable.

            “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”

            In our lives too, we have likely transitioned, where we have died of self, emptied ourselves, to refill ourselves anew in a new role. It may be a natural progression, like how we were a child in the womb to be born into our new role as an infant. We transitioned from toddler to student, child to adult. Perhaps even single to married or couple to family.

            Maybe you have even died to an old self and rose again in a new life by choice, just as in baptism, or some other moment of conversion where you have died of old bad habits, and rose again living a virtuous life.

            In Gene’s life, he has had to die to self and rise again anew multiple times, as he transitioned from his home in the Philippines into the navy, as he went from a single man to his married life, with his wife Nati, and then into the role of Father after having Becky, Randy, and Rowena. And he transitioned again to Grandfather with the birth of his first Grandson Grady, and once the grandsons were perfected with the fourth, Aaron, Gene was gifted with three granddaughters and he later became a great grandfather seven times over, and with the addition of Wilma to our family he gained two more grandchildren. Each role Gene did quietly, without great fan-fare, living out that role humbly, and well, retiring from the military as a chief, retiring from the post office quietly without even a retirement party. He was a man of few words, choosing instead to live an example rather than talk about it. In the twenty-five years of knowing him, I have heard no one speak ill of him, or him speak ill of another. Since his passing on Father’s day, I have come to realize how much of a positive role model Gene has been to me and many others.

Today as we celebrate the funeral Mass for Gene, who once again has died, to rise to new life. He has gone again quietly, after living his last roles as husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather, and G-G-pa, being a favorite brother-in-law to a family with only one sister, and a friend and role model to many. Following this Mass we will lay Gene to rest in the ground where we as Christians will hold on to the hope that a new life awaits, where once again he will enjoy vibrant life anew. It is in the hope of eternal rest in heaven that we can find peace that this is not the end, but a new beginning.

Homily - Thursday 2015/07/09

Homily  - Thursday 2015/07/09

Funeral Vigil - Generoso Ritua (My Father-in-law) To and From

Readings: 2 Corinthians (5:1, 6-10) Our body is a tent

                 John  (13: 33a, 34-35; 14: 1-6, 18-20) In my Father's house there are many dwelling places

      As I was writing my homily, I was watching Fr. Greg Boyle, who founded, a gang intervention ministry in Los Angeles called Home Boy Industries. He was giving a commencement speech to the graduates of Gonzaga University based on a quote he credited to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that says that “Church is not a place you go to, but a place you go from.” Much like college is not someplace you go TO but some place you go FROM.

          It made me think about the places I have been TO and FROM. When I left my childhood home, I said I was going TO boot camp. From there, I went TO Pensacola, then TO San Diego. But each of those places had a profound impact on my life, and each prepared me for the next as I went FROM them. My childhood prepared me for boot camp, boot camp prepared me for Crypto school, Crypto school prepared me for my ship that awaited me in here in San Diego. For every place we go TO there is some place we are going FROM.

Gene, Dad, Grandpa, G-G-Pa, Manong Gene…he lead his family through many similar transitions. Often times, he would go first, find a good neighborhood, get an apartment or a house to live in, and then when things were ready he would send for the family to come join him. Sometimes they left other family and friends behind. And on occasion he would prepare a place for them too, and send for them when things were ready. Some of you have stayed under Gene’s roof, in one of HIS many dwelling places that he prepared for us. Perhaps you stayed in the current Ritua home, in the green room, orange room, the blue room, perhaps you stayed at the Harwood house for a time. Some of you even stayed in the driveway and slept outside in your RV, Gene always seemed willing to have us.

Today’s readings both speak of God preparing dwelling places for us. In the first reading we see the reference to our earthly body being a tent, a transitional dwelling place, while our heavenly home is our permanent home. We hold hope that while Gene has transitioned FROM his tent, that he has transitioned TO his permanent home in heaven, to one of the many dwelling places that God has prepared for us. We hold on to the hope that God is loving, kind and merciful, and wants nothing more than to spend eternity with us, so much so that he sent his son to conquer death by dying on the cross for us, so that we may spend our life not in a tent, where we are FROM, but in our permanent dwelling place in heaven where we are going TO.

Homily - Sunday 2015/06/22 - Father's Day / Storms / hands

 

As some of you know, the day this homily was meant to be delivered, Father's Day 2015, my wife  Rowena's father, Generoso "Gene" Ritua, passed on from earthly life. Only a few short hours later, I served with Father Jim (whom I am so grateful to have in my life) at the 10 AM Mass and after he noticed me struggling with my grief, encouraged, well mandated, that I go home. So many thanks to Father Arnold for taking up the slack and giving his own homily at the 1:00 PM Mass where this homily was to have been given.  

 

 Homily - Sunday 

June 21, 2015

Stormy Seas, Father's Day, Hands

Mark 4:35-41 - The Readings
Deacon David Lewis

Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA

 

               I remember as a kid there would be times when I would be lying in bed convinced there was a boogie-man in my closet. My Mom and Dad were in their room across the hall, and I was so scared I couldn’t even muster the courage to call out to them, for fear the boogie-man would come, running out of my closet and get my little brother and I before my parents could even stop him.

                I remember one night, I mustered up the courage, jumped out of bed, and ran passed my closet and made it to Mom and Dad’s bedroom. I remember Dad getting up and taking me over to the closet, opening it up and making sure that I was satisfied that there was no boogie-man in my closet. He gave me a hug of reassurance that I was safe in his hands.

                As time went on I remembered that night, and how my dad was bigger than the boogie-man, and how he could protect me any time that I thought I might have an unwelcomed visitor lurking in my closet.

                Now, imagine how the Apostles felt, they weren’t facing some non-existent boogie-man in the closet, they were out, as the evening drew long, presumably in the dark, crossing the sea, likely far enough out that they were over their heads deep in water, in waves big enough to come over the sides of their boat, nearly capsizing it. Scared for their lives, and amazed that Jesus was sleeping through it all: sleeping through the rocking from side to side and up and down; sleeping through the noise of the waves crashing against the boat; the howling of the driving wind; the creaking of the boat as it twisted in the waves, as well as the shouting I imagine was going on from the boat’s occupants as they began to let panic set in.

                But what stopped them from waking Jesus sooner? Maybe as professional fishermen, having weathered other storms, they thought they could handle it on their own? or perhaps they feared that there would be nothing Jesus could do and all hope would be lost. But we know how the story ends, Jesus is awoken by the disciples, turns back the wind, and tells the sea to be quiet. They were safe in His hands.

                There is another story about hands I heard a couple of weeks ago, particularly our Dad’s hands, and since today is Father’s Day I want to share it with you, it went something like this…

                A mechanic’s son goes to a job interview at a large printing company, after satisfying the preliminary interviewer, he is brought to the director for a final interview, at which time he is asked by the director if he received any scholarships for his education, to which the young man said “No, my parents paid for my education.”,  ”What does your father do for a living?”, “He is a mechanic and has a garage” the young man replied. The director looked at the young man’s hands and noticed they were soft and smooth, and asked the young man, “Have you ever worked at Dad’s garage?” to which the young man said, “No, my parents always wanted me to study, and read more books, and focus on my education. Besides, my father is a very good mechanic, and I would only get in his way.”

                The director looked the young man in the eye and said, “I have one request for you: When you go home today, go and wash the hands of your father and come back and see me tomorrow.”

                When his father got home from work that night, he felt strange at the request of his son, but with mixed feelings he allowed his son to wash his hands. First he noticed his Dad’s hands were strong, rough, wrinkled, and callous from years of turning wrenches. As he scrubbed away the remaining grease from his father’s hard day of work, he uncovered scars, and bruises.

For the first time in the young man’s life, he began to realize what it meant for this pair of hands of his Father’s to work every day to be able to pay for his study. That the wounds those hands had suffered over the years were the price that his father paid for his education, his school activities, and his future.

After washing his father’s hands the young man stood silent and began to tidy up his father’s workshop. After the cleanup they sat and talked into the night.

The next day the young man went back to the director’s office. The director asked him what he had learned the night before.

He replied “I hadn’t realized until last night how hard my father labored so that I could get a good education and have a better life than he did. I realize now the pain, and suffering he endured, for me and my siblings, and how he instilled in us the value of helping each other. I also understand now that my father worked very hard with his hands while at the garage, but worked equally hard to push his children to be their best.”

 The director said, "This is what I look for in my people. I want to hire someone who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the hardship of others, and a person who does not put money as his only goal in life".  “You are hired.”

                And so it is with this story in mind that I encourage you to look to those you love that have made sacrifices for you, especially your Fathers as we celebrate Father’s day today and … if we still have the opportunity, perhaps even wash their hands, or allow your children to wash yours. You may find scars, or you may find that their hands are smooth. Don’t let that change your opinion of how hard they work. I am sure if we were to look at Father’s hands, we would find that they are smoother than those of a garage mechanic, but his hands still make great sacrifices for us, as they clasp together in prayers for us, as they are raised over us in forgiveness during confession, as they offer us blessings, and they are the same consecrated hands that offer the Mass.

                As we reflect on those that love us, and have put their hands to use for our benefit through sacrifice for us, let us also not forget the love of God the Father, who, as part of the trinity, was incarnate of the Virgin Mary as Jesus Christ. Let us take a moment to reflect on His hands. Imagine those hands, the pain endured as the nails were driven through them. How they were present at the crucifixion when Christ’s life was sacrificed so that we might have eternal life in heaven.

Those hands, the hands of Christ, that hold us up when we need strength, that are raised over the storms in our lives, and bring calm, the hands of Christ that embrace us with compassion when we need empathy, the hands that held up Jesus during his last breaths, the hands that are part of the body of Christ which is the Church. The hands of Christ which we have be called to emulate, through our sacrifices for others, with love, compassion, and undeserved sacrifice.

So when we have boogie-men in our closet or it feels like we are going to sink in the storms we call life, know that our God is more powerful than the things we fear, can calm the storms we think are unsurvivable, and can us bring eternal life by defeating death. We can feel safe in those hands.

               

Homily - Sunday 2015/05/17 - The Ascension / Saints

Homily - Sunday 

May 17, 2015

The Ascension - Saints

Mark 16:15-20- The readings
Deacon David Lewis

Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA

            A little over a week ago I saw a post on Facebook… it said “What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?” The kindness of strangers was inspiring… some took effort, one person told a story about the kindness of a stranger on the street that stopped in his tracks and came over and helped them lift a couch up through four stories of fire escapes to their new apartment, some were very simple acts like a hug in an ER waiting room, or the sharing of an umbrella at a bus stop, others took bearing discomfort: one stranger helped someone else shovel their car out of the snow… obviously,  this didn’t happen in San Diego… many did happen in foreign lands though, stories of strangers that were helped out with directions, rides to hotels and airports, and even temporary lodging while they were traveling. Still yet other people had amazing stories of shortcomings, all overcome by God’s grace of providing our needs through the kindness of a variety of unrelated strangers.

            You may remember just last week the Gospel reading was about God’s commandment to Love one another. A commandment, whether acknowledged or not, is being lived out by these kind strangers. These strangers, by living out this commandment to love one another, are conforming themselves more perfectly to God’s will.

            In this week’s readings, The Ascension, we see the perfect example, of living out God’s will. We see Jesus’ life, after living it out sinlessly in constant unison with His Father’s will, coming to its earthly end, as he ascends into heaven in body and soul to join God the Father for all eternity.

            But let’s face it, it’s not in our nature to be sinless like Christ was sinless, we have a characteristic known to the church as concupiscence, an effect of original sin, it is our unavoidable desire to sin that dwells within our broken spirit.

But while we may have a desire to sin, we also have a God given desire to please our creator, to love Him, who is love. And so it is, as we live our lives in a constant struggle, between our desire to sin and our desire to please God, a struggle that has been lived out by every person beginning with Adam and Eve, and on through the ages.

Many have failed to live out a life pleasing to God, so much so that we have seen God in a way hit the reset switch, to start over, as he did in Noah’s day, when all men were living evil corrupt lives except for Noah, who found favor with God. After guiding Noah to prepare for the flood, God flooded the earth, washing away all of his creation. It was from Noah and his family, and the animals on the Ark that God’s creations continued.

But the Church recognizes that there have been others, many others since Noah, that have found favor with God. In the Old Testament we can look at the prophet Elijah, taken up to heaven without dying, and Moses who certainly lived out his life trying to follow God’s will. Both appeared with Jesus at the Transfiguration.

But since the beginning of New Testament, since Jesus was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man and died for our sins, many have been recognized as holy, or Sanctus in Latin, the root of the word Saint. Saints come in many forms: there are Arch-Angels, like Saints Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael. There have also been many Popes that have been recognized as Saints, even as recently as Saint John Paul II. Other saints are Martyrs, those that have died in defense of our faith, like eleven of the Apostles, including Saint James, Stephen, Peter, Paul, all gave their life during the attempt to eliminate early Christianity, all gave their life because of their undeterred belief that Jesus was the Messiah, and there are other martyrs like the Franciscan Friar, Saint Maximillian Kolbe, who gave his life in place of a stranger that was about to be executed in the German death camp Auschwitz during the holocaust of WWII, all gave their life because of their belief in Jesus, and in doing so encouraged the faith of others, and Martyrdom continues throughout the world today with more than 100,000 giving their lives each year because of their faith in Jesus… And governments, and militia intolerant of that faith.  Another type of saint, are the Doctors of the Church, like Saints Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Leo-the-great. These Saints helped us understand better the Word of God, and how to live our life pleasing God.

            But I think the most important saints, are those that we can relate to, those saints that have similarities to our own lives, saints that lived the struggle with concupiscence in their everyday life just like you and I, saints that we can model ourselves after, to achieve holiness. It could be someone that lived a holy life from a very young age like Saint Therese of Lisieux, or someone that lived a less than holy life until a moment of conversion, having experienced a reset, if you will, in their adulthood, making a sudden change in their life toward God, like the Apostle Saint Paul, or the saint that is the namesake of our current Pope: Saint Francis of Assisi who after his conversion, established a religious order to serve the poor after living a life in pursuit of pleasures in his youth

No matter which Saint we look at, we can find some quality in their life that if we incorporated that quality into our life, it would make us holier. Would make us more pleasing to God. Would make use more saintly. I know it is hard to imagine ourselves as saints, but when we live our lives one saintly action at a time, when we live our lives - loving, fulfilling God’s commandment to love one another, we are indeed behaving saintly. When we lift a strangers couch four stories, when we share an umbrella with a stranger at the bus stop, if we, heaven forbid, ever have to give our life for another, we take a step closer to our own canonization.

When we look at the kindness of Jesus, living a sinless life, deserving of no punishment, but dying on the cross for OUR sins, ultimately, the nicest most loving thing someone has done for us, and we look at how he has been raised up to heaven, bridging that infinite gap between our earthly lives and God’s divinity, once again, offering mankind an opportunity to reset our relationship with God the father, we have the perfect example of giving of ourselves for others.

Perhaps if our life hasn’t been worthy of being a saintly example to others, that today might be a day of reset, today might be a day of restarting to a right relationship with God and each other. And my hope for you, is that when someone is asked “What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?” they will talk about a time that they were lovingly helped by you.

Homily - Sunday 2015/04/19 - Recognizing Christ - Four letter Words

Homily - Sunday

April 19, 2015

Recognizing Christ - Four letter Words

Luke 24:35-48 Readings - USCCB.ORG
Deacon David Lewis

Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA

 

            Often after Mass, I make my way to the West Patio and join the crowd between Masses to socialize, and maybe indulge in breakfast, lunch, or even a doughnut. And while I am out there I will occasionally hear someone slip and let out a four letter word. Its’ comical to me when among the people they are talking to, one of them will sometimes say “hey, the deacon is right there”. As an ex-sailor I must say I have been known to throw out a four letter word once in a while, thankfully it is a lot less frequent than it used to be. Sometimes when we throw around these four words we fail to recognize, that while Father or the deacon might not be sitting nearby, our omnipresent God, that is present-everywhere God is there. We, just like the two men in today’s Gospel traveling to Emmaus, we often have trouble recognizing Christ being present among us. And even more like the two men on the road to Emmaus, we may only recognize God when we are breaking bread, that is, we often only recognize God when we are here, in this Church, celebrating the Mass, participating in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. We are holy as we sit here, quietly worshipping our God, absorbing the beauty of our Church, breathing in the scents of the Church, listening to the sounds of the Church, the bells, the hymns, and the prayers, and equally important observing the absence of sounds in the prayerful silence between the noises.

            It’s easy to remember that Christ is present when we are in here, its easy to remember not to use four letter words in here. But how are we outside of Church, when God is not so easily recognized, what four letter words do you use then?

Do we choose to use the four letter words like FEAR or do we speak of HOPE, hope that through Christ’s death on the cross we are offered eternal life.

Do we look for the DEAD in things, or do we look for LIFE, do we dwell on the things that bring us down, like us anxiety, negativity, and hate. OR do we look at the positives in our life, the graces that God has given us, the opportunities we are given to grow from.

Do we HATE or LOVE, do we yell, chastise, and belittle those with opposing views to ours, or do we show them the benefits of following a loving God, and his son Jesus? The healing freedom gained from a good confession, the spiritual food we reap as we participate in the Sacraments, and the hope he offers us?

What four letter words dominate our lives out there?

Do we HURT, or HEAL? Do we FAST or FEED? Do we give MORE or LESS? Do we build GATEs or WALLs?

In the Gospel today they feared Jesus, because they thought they saw a ghost, But Jesus tried to first calm them, offering them peace, and then tried to reassure them that he is real, that he was in fact present to them, they were able to touch His hands and His feet, real flesh and bones. Since the ascension, since Jesus raised himself up to heaven, we no longer have Jesus here in the flesh dwelling among us as he did then, he makes himself present through others, and in His Church, of which he is the head. Perhaps that is why it is easy to recognize Christ present when we are here, we see the face of Christ in the head of the Church, but when looking at the rest of the body, which is us, the people,  is much harder to recognize as Christ. But if we go out living four letter words of virtue, Christ will be much more visible to us, and we will make Christ more visible to others.

When we JOIN instead of RUIN, when we seek to GAIN and not LOSE, When we are JUST and not EVIL when we seek to FEED instead of REEP we bring the kingdom of God to others.

When we live a life to GIFT to others and not to make them EARN our resources, when we focus on what is TRUE and not FAKE, it is then that we will see all that is HOLY, Jesus who conquered EVIL, who DIED to give us LIFE.

Let us remember as we go out those doors today the most important of the four letter words our faith offers us, His LOVE, and His HOPE