Altar for our community
Altar in the Center of town dedicated to a musician
Altar dedicated to the deceased museum curator
Feast
of All Saints
Good Evening Church! If you want to be holy, say Amen!
If you want to be close to Jesus, say Amen! If you want to live your life
worthy of your calling, say Amen! Today we celebrate the great feast of All
Saints. Today we are united with all the
holy men and women who have gone before us in faith. These men and women were not perfect, they
made mistakes, sometimes they were angry, sometimes they were jealous,
sometimes they were mad at God, sometimes they treated other people poorly. Our saints were also sinners, Amen? For me, that is the good news of this
feast. The saints were human, just like
you and me. What they offer us today is
a way to stay firm on our path to God.
The Saints were dedicated, they believed in their causes, they were open
to God, they were open to change in their lives and they knew that God loved
them. We can all be saints, Amen?
The Word of God today gives us some ways in which we
can all be saints. The Book of
Revelation talks about being counted among the multitude and giving glory to
God. A saint is not afraid to share his
or her faith. A saint is not afraid to
celebrate God publicly. A saint is one
who can withstand times of distress and with honor and gratitude wear the white
robes of baptism and be proud of their faith even when others want to persecute
them. Will you be counted among the
multitude? Are you proud of your faith?
Will you stand firm even in persecution?
If you can answer yes to these questions, then you too can be counted
among the saints! In the first letter of
Saint John, the author reminds us that we are children of God. We all come from some family. We share a last name with our parents, but we
are first children of God and then children of our parents. Do you act like a child of God, or do you act
like a child? If we act like children of God then the potential and
possibilities that are in front of us are limitless. Acting like a child of God helps us to become
saints. And finally in the Gospel today,
Saint Matthew gives us a map of how to live our Christian life. The map is the Beatitudes. If we hold firm to these sayings and live
poor in spirit, aware of the sadness of the world, meek, seeking justice,
mercifully, pure of heart, seeking peace, and proud of our faith, then we too
can be saints. The saints lived the
Beatitudes in many different ways. There
is no one way in order to live this life, the saints show us that in the
example of their lives, Amen?
So today as we remember people like, St. Benedict, St.
Francis, St. Dominic, St. Ignatius, St. John, St. Damien, St. Martin de Porres,
St. John Baptist de la Salle, St. Champangnat, Blessed William Joseph
Chaminade, St. Scholastica, St. Teresa of the Cross, St. Rose of Lima, St.
Angela Merici, St. Terese of the Little Flower, St. Catherine of Sienna, Mother
Adela and St. Teresa of Calcutta, we also remember people in our own lives who
have been living saints for us. Friends,
family members, members of this community who were strong in faith, lived as
children of God and lived the Beatitudes to the best of their abilities. Today I rejoice in the saints in my own
family, my mother, my grandparents, my uncle, my cousins who through the everyday
actions of being part of a family showed the love of God in their lives. I rejoice in members of my Marianist Family
who have shown me how to be a good Brother and how to live Marianist life to
its fullest, among whom I mention Br. George Dury, Br. Charles Roggemann, Br.
Herman Lambers, Br. Charles Wanda, Fr. Richard Knuge, Fr. John McEnhill, Fr.
John Mulligan, Fr. Jack McGrath and Fr. Mike Lisbeth. All of these brothers
were very different from one another, but they all showed me how to live this
life in an authentic way and so modeled for me sainthood. I rejoice in the lay members of the Marianist
Family who have been holy men and women, pointing the way towards God and the
kingdom in their lives. For the members
of the Marianist Lay Community in Hollywood, Florida where I was president of
the school, to the members of Marianist Life, a program for teenagers in San
Antonio, Texas, and the members of the Towel and Basin community in Honolulu,
Hawaii who came together to grow deeper in their faith. I am so privileged in my life to know members
of my family, the Society of Mary, and the Lay Marianist Family who have shown
me what it means to be a saint. Who are
the people in your lives that are saints for you? Are you a saint for someone else? Turn to the
person next to you and say, “I want to be a saint”
Yes, Church, today is a great day indeed, Amen? Today
we celebrate those people in our lives who show us the way to God. Some of these people are formally recognized
by the Church as saints, but perhaps, many more will never be formally recognized
by the Church, but they are recognized by each of us as people for whom we can
model our lives. The Church is filled
with many saints, Amen? Today let us be the saints that God has called each of
us to be, Amen?
Homily Feast of All Souls
And I will raise you up
And I will raise you up
And I will raise you up on the last day
Good evening Church! If you believe in the resurrection, say Amen! If you believe that Jesus is the Bread of
Life, say Amen! If you believe in everlasting life, say Amen! Yes Church, today we celebrate the great
mystery of our faith. We honor our dead
brothers and sisters today, but we do not necessarily mourn for them because if
we believe in the resurrection then we know that we will see them again in the
next life, Amen? Our faith tells us that even if we mourn, it will not be
forever. Our faith is a faith of hope
and joy. In death, life is changed and
not ended. The dead share in our lives
in a different way. The dead have joined
the communion of saints and pray for us while we are still here on earth. We honor our loved one’s today, members of our
family, friends, colleagues, Church community, who have gone before us in faith
and are experiencing the everlasting joy of seeing the face of God. In our homes perhaps we have created an altar
for our beloved deceased, this evening we come before the altar of the Lord to
pray for, and to remember our deceased in the great prayer of the Church, the
celebration of the Eucharist. And so
celebrate, we will, Amen?
The Word of God reminds us that God will watch over us and wipe away
our tears as we heard in the prophet Isaiah.
God will provide for all of us, and all nations will come before the
mountain of the Lord and God will wipe away tears from all faces and delete the
insult from his people. God will provide
a place for us and we will not be left alone.
The God of compassion is with us in death and in life that is good news,
Amen? Paul reminds us that if Jesus died
and rose from the dead, then we too as believers will share in the resurrection
of Jesus on the last day. While we may
be sad for a while, there is no need to be in despair because the promise of
the resurrection is ours. The Gospel of
John provides us with the beautiful imagery of Jesus being the Resurrection and
the Life, and the Bread of Life. Both of
these images are very important for us this day. As we celebrate this day, we pray and hope
for the resurrection for ourselves and our loved ones, and we also are reminded
that every time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist we proclaim that Jesus is
the Bread of Life when we eat the bread and drink the cup. The Bread that we share in the Eucharist is
bread for the life of the world, and we partake of the bread in faith that we
too share in the mystery of the resurrection and that we are connected to Jesus
and our ancestors in a very real way.
Each time we receive the Eucharist we honor our loved ones who also
received the Eucharist while on earth.
This ritual binds and unites us to them.
When we celebrate our faith, we honor our beloved deceased brothers and
sister who also lived their faith in their lives. We hope and pray that we all will share in
the resurrection, Amen?
And I will raise you up
And I will raise you up
And I will raise you up on the last day
And so tonight, let us think about the qualities that our deceased
shared with us. What made these people
so special to us? How do we reflect
their qualities now in our own lives? And so I am going to name people from our
families and lived experiences and I want you to think about the people in your
life that fit this category. Bring them
to mind, and think about the gift they were to you and maybe how you take after
them in some way. So, close your eyes
and reflect upon the following questions:
And so, if your mother passed away, how was she a gift to you?
If your father passed away, how was he a gift to you?
If an aunt or uncle passed away, how was she or he a gift to you?
If a cousin passed away, how was he or she a gift to you?
If your brother or sister passed away, how was he or she a gift to you?
If your son or daughter passed away, how was he or she a gift to you?
If your friend passed away, how was he or she a gift to you?
If your neighbor passed away, how was he or she a gift to you?
If your coworker passed away, how was he or she a gift to you?
If a member of this Church community passed away, how was he or she a
gift to you?
Okay, open your eyes. If the
dead I mentioned have been a gift to you say Amen! Tonight we remember and
honor our loved ones. We pray that they
are with God and that they are watching over us and praying for us. Tonight we are united with them in this
Eucharist. As we share the Bread of
Life, we proclaim that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life and that we will
be raised on the last day. That is Good
News, Amen? And so with great joy and
confidence we sing together:
And I will raise you up
And I will raise you up
And I will raise you up on the last day
And let the Church say, Amen!
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