My Thanksgiving Mass Homily

My Homily for Mass of Thanksgiving
Today in the first reading, we hear Isaiah saying, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me; He has sent me to bring the Glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted”
And in an alternate reading for today St. Paul says “I firmly trust and anticipate that I shall never be put to shame for my hopes; I have full confidence that Christ will be exalted”
What wonderful confirmation to hear on this day when I celebrate the triple celebration. The feasts of The Sacred Stigmata of St. Francis, the founder of our order, The feast of my patron Saint, Robert Bellarane, and the one month anniversary of my ordination called the Mass of Thanksgiving.
Today’s Psalm proclaims “Sing to the Lord a new Song, Sing to the Lord all the earth, Bless His name; announce His salvation day after day”
The Gospel proclaims, the words of Jesus “Love one another as I have loved you”
Coupling these with another of Christ’s words, found in Luke 9:23, “If any man come after me, let him take up His cross and follow in my footsteps” We are challenged to live in a way that is contradictory to current life styles.
How daunting and frightening is that? How can any mere mortal man follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ?
How can any mortal man love us as Christ loves us?
But the Psalm tells us: Sing a new song unto the Lord.
My belief is that one can only follow Christ, by “Singing a new song” singing a new song by living a life different than today’s standards. Living our life by putting our life entirely in God’s hands. By setting aside time from our hectic daily schedules and taking time to pray daily and often, by the frequent reception of the Bread of Life, the Eucharist, by considering God our best friend in whom we confide in with confidence for guidance in our daily lives.
We also hear in Luke 9:25, the words, “What profit a man who gains the whole world and loses himself in the process?”
The journey that has brought me here today has taken many years, many turns of events and during it, all too often I strayed from God‘s path, I felt all too often, that my desires were more important than thinking to ask God what He wanted from me.
Yes, there were events that made me unhappy or sad and I would get angry over. But now I know, full well, they were His choice for His reasons. When I was not ordained in 1957 as a Josephite, it was a great disappointment to me and members of my family. However, If I had been ordained then I would not have the blessing of my three children and my grandchildren. They surely are a part of God’s plan.
We forget that we humans will never fully understand God‘s reasons for doing what He does. Yet all too often we question His actions.
The life experiences that I have experienced during my journey to this place and time, have, I believe, possibly better prepared me to understand the needs of those I have been chosen to pastor to.
I pray, I will be more thoughtful and accepting and loving to all those I meet on the remainder of my life’s journey than the ways I have sometimes acted in the past when I only was focusing on myself. God Has been generous to me, he allowed me to pursue a great love of mine, fame and fortune in the theater, but every time I was within inches of achieving that fame something happened to bring things crashing down. I would become angry and ask god “Why, you gave me a gift why not let me use it?”
God has been very good to me, He gave me many gifts and allowed me to use each of them as I traveled my life adventure.
I haven’t always used them for the greater Glory of God, and I am sorry for that.
I realize now His purpose for giving the multitude of gifts He gave me was not for my self edification and glory but to use them to bring greater honor and Glory to Him.
Each time along the journey when my plans came to a crashing end, I would become so depressed and angry with God. I once even considered ending it all.
Did I ever think to turn to Him in those times to ask Him “What is it you want from me?” NO!
It was not until one of the lowest points in my life that I began asking him what it was He wanted, What He wanted not what I wanted, that I began to find some peace.
Every time something happened that was a set back for me, I would repeat the question “Why God? What do you want from me? It was only after I began turning to Him and trusting in His Love for me I began to realize that I was still alive, here on this earth for a reason, I would talk to God, telling Him that I did not Understand His subtle hints, that He would need to push me where He wanted me. And here I am, At 70, beginning a life that many younger men and woman are afraid to embrace, with a mission I know he has called me to do, that seems impossible, but, If I am to “Follow in Christ’s footsteps” and I am to Love one another as He love us. I have to believe that He will give me the strength, guidance and tools necessary to accomplish it. Sadly, far too many religious leaders, and shepherds have forgotten Christ’s basic teachings in recent years, they have done many things that have turned people away from their faith communities and, even sadder, have turned people away from even bothering to pray to God at all. These people saw their religious leaders talking the talk, but not walking the walk. I consider my mission is no more impossible than St. Francis must have seen His call to, “Rebuild My Church” and history can attest to the success he had. I pray that I may only be one thousandth as successful.
By putting my faith and trust in Jesus Christ, by constantly asking the Holy Spirit to guide me in all my actions as I travel this road, I know, God has chosen for me. I know this because of all the many obstacles that have been overcome, and the many phenomenon’s that have occurred for me to actually be here today before you giving this homily.
In conclusion, I ask each of you here today, to pray for me, to pray that God will inspire me to always act and say what He desires. Part of St. Patrick’s prayer that I say each morning goes “ may the strength of God pilot me, the might of God uphold me, the wisdom of God guide me, May God's ear hear me, His words speak for me, hands guard me. May the way of God lie before me, God's shield protect me. May Christ be with me, on my left and on my right. May Christ be in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, and the ear of everyone who hears me. I acknowledge that my Salvation is in the hands of Almighty God.” Let us each go forth from here today, putting our lives totally in God’s hands, Letting go of our problems and desires and putting them in God‘s hands. We need to always ask ourselves, in every situation, that quotation that was so popular a few years back. “What would Jesus Do?” or the acronym WWJD If we truly “Love one another as Jesus loved us” we will stop judging people because of their class, color or sexual
orientation. If we love one another and treat one another with mutual affection and respect. If we persevere in prayer and exercise hospitality and generosity toward all we meet. If we begin to Sing to the Lord a new song, a song of thanksgiving for all the things and gifts God has given us and use them for His greater honor and glory. If we do that, we will certainly make a difference in our lives and the lives of all we come in contact with. We will then be walking in Jesus footsteps.
Amen