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.