Homily Sunday May 19, 2019 "Love One Another" - Love Anyway

Homily - Sunday 

May 19, 2019 

Love Anyway

John 13:31-33A, 34-35 (Readings) "Love One Another"

Deacon David Lewis

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

This week I read a story online about people sharing their most intimate moment with a stranger. ( Link to story )

There was story of a Houston Kinkos employee that helped an elderly women scan and post a photo of her missing son online in the wake of Katrina. Two months later, that same woman came back into the store and introduced her son to the clerk, they had a good hug and cry.

Another man described being next to a middle aged woman on a flight who appeared quite scared, he reached over and held her hand during takeoff and landing, and during the slight turbulence that they experienced during the flight.

Another woman walked into a women’s restroom to find an elderly man apologizing for his presence as he helped his disabled wife into a stall, the man accepted the woman’s offer to help and being a mother,  things of this nature no longer phased her. She helped the woman, cleaned her up, and called the man back into the room. She mentioned how much the love of that couple was now a goal in her life.

The last one I will share was a young man that saw a girl at the bus stop being harassed by a man being less than a gentleman. The helpful young man approached the girl as if they were old friends, and she caught on right away and played along. They walked away from the hassling guy, but he lingered. They continued to share a wonderful conversation together as they kept moving away from the man, and once the bus arrived, they said good-bye as she got on, and the pestering man wondered off.

I mention these stories today, because they are all small acts of love. All, small acts of love, that most of us here could have done at some point in our lives, had we been put in the right place at the right time.

In today’s Gospel we hear Jesus give a new commandment… “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus had just demonstrated how to humble one’s self and serve others as he washed the disciple’s feet just moments before this new commandment was issued. He had also just made the others aware that there was one among them that did not have love on his heart and was about to betray Jesus.

So I imagine the point Jesus was making would be fairly clear: You can humble yourself and serve others like Jesus did when washing the Apostle’s feet, or fall victim to the lies of Satan, and turn your back on Jesus like Judas would do.

Jesus spoke about, and also DID many more acts of love that we can use as examples: The two men that carried the paralyzed man through the roof top, bringing him before Jesus to heal him, showing us that we can love by brining people to Jesus. The parable of the Good Samaritan, taught us to not only help others, but to go the extra mile. The woman at the well who had many husbands, felt the love of Christ. The wedding couple at Cana who were spared the embarrassment of running out of wine for their guest, got to not only see Jesus’ loving compassion, but his first miracle, and the parable of the prodigal son, taught us not only that God will welcome us back into his loving embrace, but that we can welcome those who have wandered away from us back into our lives.

Are we willing to live this commandment to its fullest, to love one another? Are we willing to offer love to strangers we don’t even know? Are we willing to go the extra mile, and clean the bottom of a disabled woman we’ve never met? Or simply comfort a stranger next to us by holding hands?

Offering Love is often sacrificial, we have to give of ourselves, our time, our treasure, or even utilize our talent, but often what stands in our way is pride, fear, doubt, and laziness. Too proud to humble ourselves in front of our friends, family, and co-workers, love anyway. Fearful that we will be made fun of, or that our offer to help will be rejected, love anyway. Doubt, that we can make a difference, love anyway. Laziness, sometimes love takes effort, love anyway.

We don’t need to be nailed on a cross, to love like Jesus loved, we don’t even have to be able to miraculously heal people, multiply loaves, or make water into wine. We simply need to make ourselves present to others. The stories I mentioned were all “The most intimate encounter they have had with a stranger.” And there were many more in that article. I encourage each of you to seek opportunities where someone might write a post about an encounter where you were a stranger that offered love, a moment when you dropped what you were in the middle of and acted on a perceived need. Not because it will pay well, not because it will make you feel good, but simply because Jesus tells us: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

Homily Sunday May 12, 2019 Mom's are Good Shepherds Too

Homily - Sunday 

May 12, 2019 

Mom's are Good Shepherds Too

John 10:27-30 (Readings) "My Sheep Hear My Voice.".

Deacon David Lewis

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

Today is good shepherd Sunday. The Good Shepherd is one of the earliest images of Christ, Jesus, there with the lamb over his shoulders and a shepherd’s hook in his hand.  It symbolizes the care that God has for us, that when things are difficult we have a God willing to help. That when we are unable to carry ourselves, we have a God willing to load us on to his shoulders and carry us. When we are down he lifts us up.

But also it paints a picture of us, that we are sheep, that we are part of a flock, a flock that is led by a shepherd. A shepherd that ultimately wants the best for us. A flock that if it follows the shepherd’s direction will come to realize its’ best life.

I grew up in a house of 6 kids, a small flock if you will, a very traditional household, where Mom stayed at home, and Dad went off and  worked a 9-5 Monday through Friday. Most of the day-to-day raising of us children was led by my Mom, what meals we ate, what clothes we wore, our schedule for the day, and the household rules, and of course the discipline, were all mandated by my mom. When we needed to go grocery shopping, Mom would often take us along. And as you could imagine with six of us, one or two of the flock would get distracted by the cereal aisle, or be drawn to the toy section, or one of us  inadvertently mistake a jacket similar to my mothers and followed after it thinking it was Mom. And When that happened Mom would often call out for us, and we knew right away it was her. We knew her voice apart all the other moms out there, you could say we know the voice of our shepherd. It was the same voice we heard when she called us for dinner each night, it was the same voice she guided us through our homework with, it was the same voice she scolded us with when we broke the rules. It was the same voice she comforted us with.

I would like to say that mom knew our voice equally well, but unfortunately I don’t know if she did; we were all taught that if we got lost, and called out “Mom” a couple times and got no response, the next call would be “Alice!” that always got my mom’s attention, because she knew it wasn’t the pestering  use of “Mom” asking her to get the box of sugary cereal she had already said no to ten times, or one of us fighting for her attention to ask for our favorite soda, calling by her first name meant we were in trouble.

 I imagine a shepherd, as he wanders through the countryside guiding his flock through the green pastures gets to know his sheep as well as his sheep get to know him. It is a relationship built by spending time together, a trust built as the shepherd continues to guide them from one meal to the next, as the shepherd protects them from predators, and as the sheep’s cries for help are heard and answered.

God is indeed a good shepherd. He knows us, but how are we doing on our end of things? Are we hearing his voice? Do we listen for God’s voice in prayer? Do we listen for His voice in scripture?

If it’s a been a while since you sat with the scripture outside of Mass, or if you have never done it at all, I challenge you to go home this week, find a Bible, dust it off, find a quiet corner in your home, turn off your cel phone, and then flip towards the back of the bible and find one of the Gospels: Mathew, Mark, Luke, or John, and pick a paragraph or two to read. Imagine yourself in that scripture, imagine you are one of the characters, imagine yourself there with Jesus. Then give your self a few moments to reflect, listening for the voice of God in that silence.

If your prayer life is weak I encourage you to come on Friday during adoration, or visit one of the parishes with perpetual 24 hour adoration, like the small chapel next to the parish office at Precious Blood, it’s just on Fourth Ave near Palomar in Chula Vista. Sit in front of Jesus and pray for him to speak to you… and listen.

But with today being Mother’s day, I also encourage you to go home, for those of you whose Mom’s are still with us, listen to her voice… visit her, call her, talk to her… if you have never asked her about her story I encourage you to get to know your Mom better today. For those of you who are mothers I encourage you to speak to your flock, share the stories of your childhood, what it was like for you, let you children, and grandchildren if you are so blessed, know how it was for you “back in the day” Share the lessons you’ve learned,  the friend’s you’ve made, and the love you’ve witnessed.

Let us all remember the many times that out Mother’s have lifted us, and carried us during our times of need. The ways the they led us to make our lives better, the ways they showed us their love. But let us remember also our God who is our Good Shepherd.