Homily Sunday December 17,2017 - Everyday good habits lead people to Christ

Homily - Sunday 

December 17, 2017

Everyday good habits lead people to Christ

John 1:6-8, 19-28  (Readings) John testifying to the light

Deacon David Lewis

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

            The excitement is building, Christmas is almost here, Jesus is almost here. The joy is in our heart in anticipation. Just one more week. I can only  Imagine what it was like for Mary and Joseph, anticipating the arrival of their son, as they traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census with Mary so far along in her pregnancy.

            The events of Christmas, the nativity, the birth of Jesus take place long before today’s Gospel of John preparing the way for the Lord, baptizing with water, leading the way for the Lord that would baptize in the Holy Spirit.  Today’s Gospel of John preparing people, leading them toward Jesus, wouldn’t occur until over thirty years after the birth of Jesus.

            But today’s readings join together the joy of anticipation of the new born Jesus with the joy they would have had in anticipation of meeting the adult Jesus as he lives out his ministry, to learn his teaching, to meet the Messiah face to face, and possibly be healed of life long burdens. And it joins together the joy we should have from our own newness of life after being led to Jesus.

We have all been led to here, to church, to Jesus, by someone, whether it was a grandparent, parent, sibling, friend, or even a stranger, or perhaps it may have even been the Holy Spirit by himself. We may not be able to point out exactly who it was or who they were that led us to Christ, but coupled with the desire we have written on our heart to love God, we were drawn into the church through the invitation of someone else.

            Earlier this week, one of our parishioners who is off studying at college, posted a video on Facebook, it is what drove my homily this week to be about leading others to Christ. The presenter in the video was a motivational speaker named Simon Sinek. In the video he asked the gentleman sitting next to him, “Do you love your wife? … prove it, what is the metric? Give me the number that lets me know?    … because when you met her you didn’t love her right? Now you love her? Tell me the day that love happened? It’s an impossible question, right?”

            He went on to explain what he meant, and I will do my best to summarize without taking out any key points.

            He went on to say: While its impossible to answer, it doesn’t mean that it does not exist. It is like exercise, you go that first day, come home stand in the mirror, and … nothing, no measurable change, next day, same thing, so you stop going because you didn’t see results. You must maintain going to the gym, and over the long term you will get in shape. It’s like going to the dentist. If the only time your teeth get cleaned is your two visits to the dentist each year, your teeth will fall out, you must brush three times a day or eventually your teeth will rot away. But what measurable difference does brushing make by itself?  

He continues: Whether the gym or brushing your teeth, or any other good habit, you can miss a day, a chocolate or two, or if you miss a brushing here and there, you will still be ok, it is about committing to the long term. You can’t go see a high powered Tony Robbins seminar on leadership and expect to magically become a good leader, these types of seminars are more like the dentist visit, they give us an opportunity to refocus, to re-examine what we are doing on the day to day basis. To realign ourselves with our good habits, and perhaps take away a new tool or two to be more effective. It’s not about intensity, it is about consistency.  It’s about doing things every day, over and over no matter how tedious, so that we may reap the long term benefits.

Mr. Sinek goes on to say: Your wife didn’t fall in love with you because it was her birthday and you bought her flowers and a card. She loves you because

when you woke up in the morning you said “good morning” before you checked your phone,

she fell in love because when you went to the fridge to get a drink you got her one without even asking,

she fell in love because when you had an amazing day, and she gets home and had a bad day and begins to tell you about it, you listened, you didn’t say but wait, listen to how my amazing day was. You sat and listened to her awful day and didn’t say a thing about you amazing day.

This is why she fell in love, no specific event, no specific day, it was the accumulation of all the good habits, the small individual acts of kindness.

Simon Sinek’s video made me think beyond leadership to about how our Catholic lives, in fact anything we do, if we do it day after day, it becomes who we are,

if we brush everyday, we have good teeth,

if we go to the gym and eat well everyday we become in shape and healthier,

if we perform small acts of kindness – we become kind,

if we perform acts of love we become loveable.

If we pray everyday, we build a relationship with God,

if we fulfill our promises we become trustworthy,

if we listen to others, we become friendly.

And if day by day we learn about the saints and adopt their habits, like Saint John the Baptist from today’s Gospel, leading others toward Christ, Like our parish’s namesake Saint Charles Borromeo who from age 12 dedicated himself to service the church and the poor and fought corruption within the church, we will not only lead others toward Christ, but likely will become saints ourselves.

And from today’s second reading If we Rejoice always, and pray without ceasing, and in all circumstances give thanks we will through daily acts find ourselves reaping the rewards in the long term. And while looking back we may not be able to identify what day we fell in love with Jesus,  or specify when exactly it happened, we will without a doubt be able to say that your mutual love of Jesus does exist. And by living a life following the steps of Jesus, we will lead those in our footsteps towards him as well.

Homily - Sunday October 15, 2017 - The tattoo of our soul

Homily - Sunday 

October 15, 2017

Tattoo of our soul

Matthew 22:1-14 (Readings) Parable of the King's Wedding Feast

Deacon David Lewis

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

I felt God was trying to tell me something when a couple of times this week the theme of tattoos kept coming into my life. The first, was a post on one of the navy Facebook pages I follow, It was a picture of an old faded slightly blurry tattoo on the arm of what I could only imagine was old sailor, it was of a pretty young lady wearing a sailor cap, the young man that posted it was wondering if any one might know where to find the original artwork to match this World War II era tattoo. He wanted to honor his grandfather by getting the identical tattoo on his own arm.

Then later in the week, while listening to “The Catholic Guy” show on Sirius satellite Radio’s Catholic Channel, the host, Lino Rulli, “The Catholic Guy” shared that the tattoo he had gotten while on pilgrimage recently to the Holy Land as a sign of his faith was going to take a lot more care, and was causing him more discomfort than he expected. He thought it would just be a quick get the tattoo, cover it for a few hours, put on some ointment and maybe a bandage for a few days and he’d be all healed up.

As it turns out, and little did I know, (as I had somehow made it into and out of the navy without a tattoo), that tattoos require more care than both Lino and I would have guessed… but when he went to the internet seeking advice for the treatment of his new tattoo, there was a lot of contradictory information… do you use a lotion, or no lotion, if a lotion, what lotion… antibacterial? Do you apply it with or without a wash cloth… pick the scab, don’t pick the scab, peel the skin do peel the skin, all these questions had no definitive, uniform answer, but a bunch of disagreeing, contradictory answers.

The next day I was receiving a delivery at work and my tattooed co-worker and the delivery driver struck up a conversation about his tattoos, and it turns out the driver’s co-worker just had a big tattoo done to the tune of $450 bucks. I thought to myself I would rather have a new big screen or a new iPad than a tattoo.

            There was more about tattoos, as I came back into my office, I came across a story of “Why are woman getting tattoos of a semi colon?”. The reason turns out to be pretty profound. You see the semi-colon, that punctuation that looks like a dot over a comma, indicates that the sentence goes on. The author could have stopped the sentence there with a period, but choose to place a semi-colon instead and continue the sentence. Much in the same way as many of the people choosing semi-colon tattoos, this punctuation mark indicates that at some point in their life, instead of ending… they continued, that instead of giving up, or letting something get the better of them, they kept going. Perhaps they beat depression, beat an addiction, or have healed from a bad relationship, THEY are now living the rest of their life, the part after the semi colon.

            I began to realize how important and related these stories of tattoos were; that each of these tattoos was meaningful to the person getting them. Each was a permanent sign of heritage, character, belief, or unity. That each was a sacrifice, whether financial or physical.

            But I also realized that each person’s tattoo is personal, meaningful to them in a way that we may not understand. That if we were to see a young man with a sailor tattoo, we would presume he was in the navy, but we would likely not realize the underlining, deeper meaning linking that tattoo to his grandfather, and the influence his grandfather’s service played in him choosing the Navy for a career. We may have seen a semi-colon tattoo and thought to ourselves, “Well that sure is odd, I wonder if she is an author?”  Never knowing the underlining story of heartbreak, healing, and courage that prompted that semi-colon.

            Today’s Gospel message is about God inviting us to heaven as illustrated by Jesus’ parable of a king inviting guests to a wedding feast.

            Our first step in accepting that invitation is Baptism. Our baptism is the beginning of our life as Christians, as followers of Christ, as Catholics. Baptism is often described as leaving an indelible mark on our soul, a tattoo if you will, that forever, and permanently marks us as Christians.

In many ways we get to choose what our tattoo ultimately looks like by the many choices we make in our lives. Each action more ink on the canvas that is our soul.

            Like that first sailor’s tattoo, we may choose to follow in the footsteps of others and mimic what they did, following in line with our ancestors, or if they are not worthy of molding ourselves after, we might choose to follow the Saints as examples.

            Like that second tattoo of Lino’s, our Christian lives will require great sacrifice and care. To truly live our lives as Christians, to live like Christ lived, means that we will need do more for others than we expect, to spend more time building a relationship with God than we expected, but also like Lino I encourage you to use caution when going to the internet looking for answers for how to care for your faith, it is full of mis-information and contradictory information.

And like the third tattoo that cost $450, our faith can be expensive. No this is not a pep talk about the capital campaign, I am talking about personal sacrifice…  it will cost us more in personal sacrifice the bigger we live our Christian lives, it may cost us friends, it may costs us our job, it may put us on the outside of groups we desired to be a part of, it may even lead to Martyrdom -- dying for our faith.

But the ultimate message of our faith is like that of the semi-colon tattoo. That at the moment we don’t feel we can go on, at that moment that we feel we have reached the end of what we can handle, God gives us the strength, and the hope to insert a semi-colon. That even death holds no strength on us as Christians, that our lives end with a semi-colon, that we have the invitation to join God at the wedding banquet in heaven.

Unlike most tattoos, our faith offers us the ability to make changes to that tattoo, so that when we make choices that blemishes the beauty of the artwork on our soul, we need only confess our sins, and wipe away those blemishes, so that the tattoo we bring to heaven on our soul is worthy of being our wedding garment.

I encourage you to invite others to enjoy the heavenly wedding feast, whether through baptism, or if already baptized encourage them to bring beauty to their tattoo, whether in your family, or among your friends or coworkers, invite them to come to enjoy an earthly life that ends with a semi-colon, so that they too may join with God for all eternity, in a joyful celebration of their unblemished soul brought to heaven.

Homily - Sunday June 18, 2017 - Travelling in the Desert

Homily - Sunday 

June 18, 2017

Travelling in the Desert

John 6:51-58 (Readings) God Provided Manna / Christ Present

Deacon David Lewis

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

            Anytime I drive to Las Vegas, I can’t help but to look a couple of hundred yards beyond the side of the road, off the road far enough that it is pretty much the natural surface of the ground full of rocks, and cacti, and I imagine what it was like for those first settlers that came across the desert. How difficult it must have been, not knowing where they were going, not knowing how far until they got “there”, wherever “there” was, having no idea as to what obstacles lie in front of them, what cliff, what giant canyon, or what waterway was waiting to block their path, and on top of that, they were completely on their own to provide their own food, water, and perform any repairs necessary to their equipment while they traveled. They also had to be concerned about medical, for childbirth, animal attacks, and general illness from unpreserved and untreated, unrefrigerated food and water, coupled with infections to wounds that had no antibiotic treatments at the time, all while having no communication to the outside world to call for help, no 911, no calls to that helpful brother-in-law of yours that knows how to fix wagon wheels really well, and no webmd or doctors to rely on for medical advice. It must have been a real test of fortitude and endurance for those journeying through the desert.

            Today’s readings also call to mind a journey through the desert, the journey of the Israelites after escaping Egypt and its slavery. They too were in the desert, but not for hours, days, or weeks, but for forty years. Forty years they spent in the desert! Imagine that, wandering around between here and Las Vegas for forty years, without the McDonald’s in Barstow Station, no rest stop at the world’s biggest thermometer in Baker, no food or water…. That is except what God provided: water, quail, and manna: water, meat, and bread.

 Imagine you were given the opportunity to have any meal prepared for you, what would it be? what meal is your favorite meal? Steak and lobster with crème brûlée for dessert maybe? Now, imagine having THAT meal every meal for forty years… I think I would be done with steak and lobster after about the third day. But forty years they had manna, quail and water, which, while it met their needs, is no steak and lobster.

            But they survived. They survived on what God provided for them, they were nourished by that manna and quail for forty years. It may not have been the tastiest meal, it certainly didn’t offer much variety, it may not have been worthy of posting pictures to Instagram, and I doubt the yelp reviews would have been very high either, but the manna that came down from heaven and the quail, gave life to the Israelites for forty years. Our loving God provided for them.

            Today, God provides for us not through manna, but through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. As he said in today’s Gospel, Jesus is the living bread that came down from heaven. It is our belief as Catholics that Jesus is present in the Body of Christ in the host, and in the Blood of Christ in the Chalice. It is a key belief of our faith, and rooted in the scripture of today’s Gospel, and the Gospel of the last supper, when Jesus spoke the words of institution we hear at each Mass: when he says “Take this all of you and eat of it, for this is my body”, and “Take this, all of you, and drink from it: for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.” It is through Jesus present in the Eucharist that we get to unite with God, that we consume Him and he becomes present in us.

            So when we participate in communion and are dismissed at the end of Mass, how do we make the Jesus that is present in us, present to those around us. As we walk out of Church, and we drive down the road, as we make our way to our homes, work, or marketplaces, how does our behavior make Christ present to others?

            Our lives are full of opportunities to be Christ-like to others. But what does it mean? To be Christ like? We only need to look at what God has revealed to us. We can look at the commandments, we can look at the beatitudes, we can look at Jesus’ own actions, and we can look at the lessons he would teach through parables, and sermons.

            The message we see over and over in its simplest form, is love God, and love your neighbor. How we are to live that out is defined throughout the Scriptures. We see it when we look at Matthew 25 where Jesus talks about what we have done to the least we have done to Jesus. We see it in the old testament, when we see to treat others fairly, and to charge fair amounts for goods, and to not fix the scales in our favor, and leave crops in the field for the hungry. We see it in the story of the Israelites as God continues to encourage us to remember the time when his chosen people were wandering in the foreign lands of the desert. And we see how God provided for His people when they couldn’t provide for themselves.

            If we participate in communion at Sunday Mass, we get a weekly reminder that we are called to be Christ to others, and as we recognize Christ in the Eucharist, it also gives us a weekly reminder to recognize Christ in others. To see God in all his creation: From the simplest of things, like the blossoming flower that fights it way up through a crack in the sidewalk, to seeing God in our struggles. With this spiritual nourishment, we can go out to the world and often without even thinking about our actions be Christ-like, Godly people. So when we see someone in need, it can be a reflex to help them without even consciously thinking about what is the right thing to do. When we run into the obstacles that lie ahead in our lives, we are reminded by are participation in Mass, and communion that we are not alone, that God is with us, and will provide our needs. That with Christ within us we can go forth glorifying God by our life knowing that we are bringing Christ into the world, and that Christ is with us during our times in deserts.

Homily - Sunday May 21, 2017 Live like a Saint

Homily - Sunday 

May 21, 2017

Living like a Saint

John 14:15-21 (Readings) The Spirit of Truth

Deacon David Lewis

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

        We have a lot of people here on earth that we can look to for guidance, as mentors, and role models.

          One of the people I like to look at is Pope Francis, he has done some things that I really think emulate Christ. Pope Francis is sometimes controversial, he does some things that make some people uncomfortable, and he does some things that make me uncomfortable. But most of the time, when I dig deeper, and get beyond what was reported on the news, I find that what he has done or said is usually more Christ-like than I gave him credit for at first glance. Exercising humility, and love for the marginalized are often at the center of his message.

          I also like to look to my parents and in-laws; my father turns 79 years old today with my mother is just a few months behind. I am blessed that three of the four of them are still with us, and I can look at the lives they lived and are still living, and look for ways to mimic them, such as humility, volunteerism, and a nearly reflexive desire to serve the needs of others.

          But I think the best to emulate, to follow, are the Saints, they have died living a life that was pleasing to God. And they also lived lives mimicking Christ, loving others, healing others, exercising humility, and in some cases even dying for their faith. What I love most about the Saints are that their backgrounds are as varied as ours, and we can often find one with similarities to our own life.

          In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us he is going to send an advocate. Someone to journey with us, to give us counsel, the Holy Spirit. And the help is going to be needed. if we are going to live our lives emulating the Saints, if we are going to be Christians in the truest since of the word and follow Christ’s example, we are going to need all the help we can get.

We are going to need to use all seven of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to make right judgements with our wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, to have fortitude to stand up for what is right in order to give reverence to God, for whom we have wonder and awe. By using these gifts of the Holy spirit, we can stand apart from those tempting us toward sin, and be the example of what is right, to live like a Saint.

Living like a Saint may sound unobtainable. In fact I bet if you were able to turn back time, and approach of each of the Saints themselves, they would each tell you “I am no Saint” But being a Saint is obtainable, or we wouldn’t have Saints. Each of you has the opportunity, the ability, and the gifts to make the decision to be a Saint.

It starts with the simplest things: What words do we choose, are our words sweet, or sour? How do I choose to look at the world, with an attitude of gratitude, or do we let pessimism and doubt rule us?  It works to bigger things, what are the things we allow into our bodies, do we listen to music that lifts us, do we listen to talk radio that unites us, or do we allow vulgarity, and music that is far from the message of Christ to enter into our bodies, and messages of hate and distrust of others? The television we watch, does it make us a better version of yourself, or is it something we wouldn’t want our children emulating? And ultimately our choices to live like a Saint, mean that we have to make some tough decisions, such as the places, and people we work for and with, do we surround ourselves with people seeking holiness? Do we try to surround our children with people seeking holiness, with a Catholic education for them?  The easiest way to live a holy life, is to have people making holy decision next to you. Especially in our own homes, with our family, it is our goal that our spouse, and our children become holy too, that they are encouraged to strive to become Saints.

The world we live in may not recognize the holy spirit that is guiding and leading you to make holy decisions, but it will see that your decisions may be a bit different, saintly even, and THAT, they will recognize. Some people in our world will see those differences as the solution towards  the lasting happiness that they are seeking, others will feel threatened as they desire to live for the flesh, for pleasures, and the false temporary happiness that such a life delivers.

So I encourage you to seek the Holy Spirit when making decisions, but also seek a Saint to emulate, even if partially as we grow toward holiness. Seek to find how the Saints lived lives in the world that did not accept the Spirit of Truth, but somehow, they persevered in holiness. And lastly I encourage to make your homes domestic Churches, with the radios, iPads, smartphones, and TVs within your homes tuned to opportunities to grow in holiness for you and your families. Every step toward holiness is a in the right direction.

Homily - May 20 2017 - Silleah Panis Funeral - Silleah Strong

Gospel Reading - Mark 10:13-16

People were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.  When Jesus saw this, he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”  

Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.

Silleah Strong…

Chances are, if you are here you have heard or saw these two words.

For those of you that may not be familiar with the saying, “Silleah Strong”, it was one of the ways that family and friends showed their support for Silleah while she was sick, whether it was in a hashtag on social media, on a wristband, or even one of the t-shirts you may have seen being worn over the past few days, it meant that somehow some way you were touched by Silleah.

I don’t know who chose these two simple words, but they have some profound meaning. First, that it wasn’t Silleah be Strong, or be Strong for Silleah, or even Silleah is Strong, but the all-encompassing “Silleah Strong”.

It encouraged US, not just Silleah, but all of us to be strong during the fight against the cancer. A fight that she so strongly fought, but ultimately lost.

It encouraged us to be strong as an example to Silleah, who at four years old had limited worldly experience, and outside of a few super-heroes could only look to her mom and dad, and family and those gathered around her, as examples of strength.

Silleah strong, told us to be strong in our faith and trust in God that no matter the outcome, -

win or lose to the cancer, death does not win, that we have eternal life offered to us in heaven.

But now on this side of Lele’s passing we can look at Silleah Strong as an adjective… as in Our prayers are Silleah Strong… now with our little saint in heaven, we have someone new to pray to, who undoubtedly would have the attention of God for any petitions we bring to her in prayer for her intercession.

You see, as A Baptized Catholic, any original sin born unto Silleah was washed away during that Baptism, and since she has not yet reached, what the Church calls the age of reason, she cannot be responsible for her sin. So let’s say she threw that bowl full of corned beef and rice in the trash can, while it would upset any parent, God doesn’t hold it against her.

But Silleah Strong also describes Sill and Eunice: They shared with me that, and allowed me to share with you that just moments after Silleah’s passing, they felt Silleah’s spirit give them the strength to endure the challenge of their loss, they became Silleah Strong, strengthened by Silleah’s spirit.

As I believe all of us are, strengthened by - Silleah having touched our lives. I know I am a stronger deacon, stronger in my faith, stronger for having seen the way Sill and Eunice, are journeying through the loss of their daughter. Stronger for having seen how their family and friends have come together to support each other. Silleah Strong for having seen how this one child’s life has affected so many.

                But as we gather here remembering Silleah, reflecting on the many facets of Silleah strong, and realizing the strength we gain joined together in her memory supporting each other,  let us not forget the source of all strength. The source of the reason we hold on to the hope of heaven, and that, is Jesus Christ. The Son of God, who died to give us all the hope of eternal life. Especially children, as we heard in the Gospel reading just a few minutes ago.

                Let us remember how he gives us strength, how through the hardest points in our lives, he is there to carry us when we become weak, how he gives us strength to get back on our feet when we fall, and how he gathers us in his loving embrace when we are sorrowful or weary.

                With, Jesus there is a strength and peace that only he can offer. With Jesus, there is hope for life ever after. With Jesus there is a peace in knowing that our loved ones who experienced discomfort,  no longer are enduring that pain.

                I shared last night at the vigil that it is as if at the conception of a child that the parents are given all the love they need to raise that child and it pours out of them to that child through out their life, and when we lose a child it is as if that compartment of love no longer has its outlet and it aches as it seems to want to burst. But I believe that lifetime of love is just a small taste of what is in store for us in heaven, when we sit in the presence of God. I believe that Silleah is enjoying that infinite love now.

                So if we are to be Silleah strong, we will endure her passing as painful as it is. But don’t get me wrong, being Silleah Strong doesn’t mean we are heartless and stoic, quite the opposite. It means that when we are down, when we are sad, when we are finding ourselves still mourning,

that we can find strength from Silleah, but most of all from God. 

Homily Sunday April 23, 2017 - Experiencing Mercy

Homily - Sunday 

April 23, 2017

Experiencing Mercy

John 20:19-31 (Readings) Doubting Thomas

Deacon David Lewis

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

We are celebrating two things today, first, we are still celebrating Easter, living through the “happily ever after” part of the story of the Passion of Christ and Easter Resurrection. We were in Lent for forty days leading up to the death of Jesus, and then last Sunday we celebrated his glorious resurrection! The readings over the last week, have all been about life after the Resurrection: The spreading of the news of the empty tomb, and the readings of the resurrected Jesus appearing at multiple times to the disciples: as He appeared to Mary Magdalene outside the tomb, also to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and to today’s Gospel of the apostles gathered at table in the locked room.

The second thing we are celebrating was instituted by Saint Pope John Paul II as he canonized the first Saint of the new millennium in 2000, a young nun, named Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, Saint Faustina had an apparition of Jesus in 1931, where Jesus himself appeared to this simple nun and shared a message of mercy with her, a message of His Divine Mercy, which is what we celebrate today as we do every second Sunday Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday.

If you have ever experienced mercy, you understand the gift that it is. How you were deserving and expecting one outcome, and somehow, whether divinely of through the kindness of others, receive a much less challenging outcome. It is greatly relieving and usually accompanied by great comfort that the full brunt of the situation has been relieved.

I remember the relief I felt just one of the times I received the Divine Mercy of God. I was helping with a fundraiser at my previous parish, and had the responsibility of collecting the pledges for a putt-a-thon. Ahead of the event we had collected several hundred dollars in checks and cash which I had tallied in an excel sheet so that we could collect on the remaining pledges, and during the event had collected quite a bit more. At the end of the evening, I sat down at a table and tallied the results and was pleased to have over $750. When I went back home and finished entering the new transactions into the Excel sheet, a horror sank in as I realized that all of the checks that I had previously entered were missing, and that this could mean only one thing: I had misplaced all of the original pledges, not just the checks, but hundreds in cash included. As I relived the evening over and over in my mind, I could only hope that the envelope with all that money and checks was picked up and thrown away with the table cloths at the end of the night.

I would have to wait until the next day to go searching for the missing envelope. As I woke the next morning and went to Sunday Mass, I got the keys to the property where the event was the night before. While listening to the weather reports of record high temperatures, the thought of digging through a dumpster-full of rotting food, and left-over drinks haunted my imagination. I drove over after Mass, backed my pickup to the dumpster with the intent unloading bags of trash into my truck and sorting through them one by one searching for that elusive envelope.

I jumped in to the back of my truck, reached over into the dumpster, grabbed that first bag full of trash, dreadfully reached in and pulled out the first tablecloth, and unrolled it, and onto the bed of my truck falls an envelope. THANKS BE TO GOD! The first bag, the first tablecloth. As relief surged through me, I said a prayer of thanks to God, and realized just how blessed I was.

Now, I realize that you may have a story of Mercy that may be much more significant than this, perhaps a miraculous healing, the forgiveness and healing from of a substantial sin, the walking away from a major accident without injury, or even something as simple as a misplaced item that was found.

But often in life, people experience Divine Mercy, especially those without faith and don’t credit that merciful act to God, they write it off as coincidence or luck. They have trouble recognizing the presence of God and His act of mercy.

We as Catholics, as Christians, should be the first to recognize Christ, and his works of mercy, both to others, and through others. But we only need to look as far the apostles, that walked with Jesus, to realize that even they had trouble recognizing the post-resurrection Jesus. It was during the breaking of bread, during the sharing of meals that Jesus was recognized. As it here at Mass, as we gather around the meal table that we are most likely to recognize Jesus.

But Jesus is with us, always and everywhere, not just here at church. We may not see him in the day to day happenings, yet that doesn’t mean he is not there. There are many small acts that have Jesus’ fingerprints all over them. They might even be acts of mercy that YOU carry out to others. From letting people pull in front of us on the road, to opening doors for others as we enter the store, each of these undeserved acts are small ways of bringing mercy into other people’s lives.

We can also experience God’s Mercy in the confessional, as we approach Jesus and ask for his forgiveness. And through the priest in-persona-Christi, speaking as the person of Christ, your sins will mercifully be forgiven. God’s mercy doesn’t stop there, and we just need to remain vigilant to see it playing a role in our lives.

So as we celebrate the Second Sunday of Easter, celebrating both the resurrection of Jesus, and God’s Divine Mercy, let us remember the eternal life mercifully offered to us by Jesus through his death on the cross, and his defeat of death shown by the resurrection. Let us not demand evidence of Christ’s presence in our lives, but let us seek to recognize Jesus, and his acts of Divine Mercy through others, and seek opportunities to offer mercy to those we encounter. And in living out a life of mercy let experience the Peace of Christ that only he can offer.

Homily - Sunday 3/19/17 - Woman at the well - Leaving the world a better place

Homily - Sunday 

March 19, 2017

Leaving a the world a better place

John 4:5-32 (Readings) The woman at the well

Deacon David Lewis

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

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in my chair and as I looked out, I noticed a few longtime parishioners who, at one time were coming to Church with their families. An awareness came over me that they were now sitting alone. Some of them were alone, perhaps  because of schedule issues the rest of the family was going to come to a different Mass, while others had children that had grown older and were now away on their own, and others yet, have experienced the loss of a spouse, and are now widows, or widowers, whatever the reason, they were now alone as they attended Mass. And I wondered why God brought my attention to them, why this clear awareness of these particular people?

            Then about a week later I again had one of these moments, It was Ash Wednesday, and just after the distribution of ashes I looked across the church with its full pews, I saw a sea of heads… pew, after pew, after pew, each visible forehead with a blackened cross of ash on it, and suddenly I had a vision of  the national cemetery in Arlington, VA with its slow rolling hills of headstone after headstone each row going on all the way until it disappeared over the horizon, each tombstone marking a life given in service to the military and the resting place of the deceased, but these ashen crosses on the foreheads, instead of marking the dead these crosses marked the living, each remembering they are offered eternal life through Jesus, beyond the life of our bodies that will return to dust.

            These two events of clear thought, highlighted to me that we are only here on earth for a such a short time. That, in one moment we are children going to Mass with our parents, the next we have found a spouse, and are having children of our own, the next they are in school, and so quickly they are grown and as we become grandparents and about that time we often find ourselves burying our own parents. But when we bury a loved one, their story doesn’t end there, they have leave behind their legacy. They often have spent a lifetime spreading seeds, building a family, providing for that family, passing on traditions, and morals to those around them. Teaching others the values that are dear to them.

As I reflected on these two moments of clarity that I had, and, also the reading today, I thought about Jacob, and the legacy he left behind in that well. I thought about the faith Jacob must have had to come to this spot and begin to dig, and dig, and dig. Likely tired, dirty, certainly thirsty, seeking the water that would eventually be found.

But before you envision a nice soft dirt getting dug out by the shovel full, you must realize that Jacob’s well, the well of Sychar, was hewn from stone. This may sound eerily familiar to the first reading when Moses also drew water from stone. But, unlike Moses instantly getting water from the rock just by striking it with his staff, Jacob’s working at the stone was likely a very slow process. The determination, to keep digging, fighting against the despair that water had not yet been found, and having to continue to hammer, dig and hammer and dig. And for what? So that he could have water, of course, but not just for him, but for his family, his neighbors, his livestock, and his fields, this was life-giving water. But it was not just for Jacob and his contemporaries (those that lived during the same time as him) but this well went on to exist long after Jacob.

It still existed in Jesus’s time, setting the scene for today’s Gospel reading. Jacob’s hard work had a lasting impact not only on those around him, but for generations yet to come. In fact, the well still exists today, a holy place, and over the years the site of churches honoring Jesus’ visit there, and His act of forgiveness upon the Samaritan woman.

Going back to those moments in Mass, the connection to the readings became visible when I realized that our lives go on. That we have an impact on those around us, that our actions may be the planting of seeds in others to go forth, giving them the confidence to blossom into greatness. That while we are here on earth our acts of kindness, love, and forgiveness that we live out, may provide the hope those we encounter, to release them from whatever demons chain them down. And that our hard work, may bear fruit in the lives of those around us, to make their lives richer, happier, or even easier, like Jacob’s well.

You may be thinking, I’m too young or that it’s too late to make an impact, to that I agree with Matthew Kelly, a well know Catholic speaker and author, from his book the Rhythm of Life, he said that it you are never too old or too young when he pointed out :

Mozart was only eight when he wrote his first symphony.

Anne Frank was thirteen when she began her diary.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was fourteen when he enrolled at Harvard.

Bill Gates was nineteen when he cofounded Microsoft and only thirty-one when he became a billionaire.

Thomas Jefferson was thirty-three when he wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Saint Teresa of Culcutta, was forty when she founded the Missionaries of Charity.

Henry Ford was fifty when he started his first manufacturing assembly line.

Ray Kroc was fifty-two when he started McDonalds.

Dom Perignon was sixty when he produced his first champagne.

Winston Churchill was sixty-five when he became Britain's prime minister.

Nelson Mandela was seventy-one when he was released from a South African prison, and seventy-five when he was elected president.

Michelangelo was seventy-two when he designed the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Dimitrion Yordanidis was ninety-eight years old when he ran a marathon in seven hours and thirty-three minutes, in Athens, Greece.

Ichijirou Araya was one hundred when he climbed Mount Fuji.

Whatever your age, the rest of your life is ahead of you.  You can’t go back and change anything about your past, but you can change your future, and possibly the future of others.  Now is your time to take the steps, to live a life worth writing about, to live a life worthy of people putting your name forward for Sainthood, to live a life that leaves the world a better place for those to come, to live a life utilizing your time, talents, and treasure through acts of love toward God and your neighbors. So just as we say at the end of Mass, go in peace glorifying the Lord by your life.