True Freedom: Independence Day (Genesis 23:1-4, 19; 24:1-8, 62-67; Psalm 106:1b-2, 3-4a, 4b-5; Matthew 9:9-13)

We often hear the claim that the United States was built on the foundation of Judeo-Christian principles and that we have always been a Christian country.  From a certain perspective, that is certainly true.  Though I have to admit, it is a concept that I personally struggle to completely buy into.

The American Revolution was heavily influenced by the Enlightenment movement that was taking place in Europe, which, among other things, represented a seismic paradigm shift to a more secular way to interpret the world, an interpretation that focused on personal liberty and rejection of authority…including the Catholic Church.

At least some of our founding fathers were not Christian at all, but rather Deists, at best, and many of them were actually Freemasons, which are extremely anti-Christian in their philosophical views.

In fact, there is a line in our Declaration of Independence that is specifically targeted against Catholicism.  

Fun fact for you, if this line had not been in the Declaration of Independence, there is a chance that Quebec (a very Catholic Quebec at the time) would have joined the American Revolution.  

As much as it has become a joke on the internet recently, without this line in the Declaration of Independence, it is quite possible that Canada really could be part of the United States.

The line from the Declaration of Independence I am referring to goes like this, “Abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies.”  

Just hearing the words, perhaps it doesn't sound so bad, but in fact, the cousin of the one and only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence was excommunicated for this one line.

The backstory of this line is that in 1774, the First Continental Congress of the American revolution condemned Quebec for “establishing the Roman Catholic religion and erecting a tyranny there”.  Circumstantial evidence that the founding philosophies of our country, at the very least, included a belief that Catholicism equates to ’tyranny’.

We see the unfortunate fruits of the Enlightenment philosophy and secular worldview, not only in statements like this one from the Declaration of Independence, but in many aspects of our lives today.   Our governments are broken.  Our society and culture are broken.  Perhaps even some of our families are broken.

We conflate liberty and freedom to the point that we are no longer free.  We must remember that liberty is the right to do what you want to do.  Meanwhile, true freedom is so much more powerful.  Freedom is the power to do what is morally right.  Freedom is the power to do the will of God.

When we choose to exercise liberty over freedom, we are not really free at all.  We become slaves to something.  At the highest level, we risk becoming slaves to…this country is slave to…human secularism.  

Human secularism is the fruit of the Enlightenment taken to its extremes.  This fruit of the Enlightenment has been promulgated by Freemasonry and sadly even many non-Catholic ecclesial communities.

But there is hope.  If we look back through the short history of the United States, we can see the fingerprints of Mary.  We see Mary forming a Catholic Culture within the one sole Catholic colony that bears her holy name still today as a state.  Maryland.  Mary’s land, a land where Catholic Culture was established, nurtured, and expanded into the new republic.

It was Catholics in the Maryland colony that initially fought for the Maryland Toleration Act, which allowed specific groups to practice their faith without the risk of retribution.

Components of the Maryland Toleration Act would later serve as inspiration for the first Amendment to the Constitution.

There is a pious legend of an apparition of our Lady at Valley Forge, encouraging the troops to continue on during some of the darkest days of the Revolutionary War.  

If the legend is true, then it most likely is not because the United States has some special role in salvation history.  After all, we are not Millennialists, nor are we Christian Nationalists.  It seems to me that it would be so we, each and everyone of us, could have the privilege of being Catholic today.   

In 1790, President George Washington would formally recognize the “important assistance” of Catholics in the Revolution.  In fact, there is wide-spread belief that George Washington, perhaps influenced by the events at Valley Forge, would die a Catholic and that the Mount Vernon estate contained a pastel painting of the Blessed Virgin.

Fast forward to the War of 1812, the United States was perilously close to defeat when the Battle of New Orleans started.  

Had England won this battle, the war would have most certainly been over and the existence of the United States extremely short.  

In a way, this was like the Battle of Lepanto for America, where Our Lady of Prompt Succor delivered a decisive victory over a hopelessly overwhelming force.

In 1815, General Andrew Jackson (far from being a Catholic), would state, “The divine providence of God through the intercession of Our Lady of Prompt Succor has shielded us and granted this stupendous miracle.”

While our country, our society, and our culture is currently captive to the real tyranny of human secularism, we must always remember where our true hope lies.  We must always remember where our true strength lies.  We must always remember where our true freedom lies.  We must always remember that reality is grounded in the sacramental life of the Catholic Church and through living out the beatitudes by the grace of God.  In short, to be like Matthew, to follow Him.

As we celebrate our independence today, let us truly be grateful that we live in a land where we have license to practice the faith of the Apostles to the fullest extent possible. 

Therefore, let us never, ever take the Eucharist, and the sacramental life of the Catholic Church for granted.

At the same time, let us always remember the ultimate source of our true independence:  the absolute Truth of Jesus Christ as He continues to communicate His Truth to us through His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.  Through the sacramental life, He speaks his peace to us.

As we enter now into the fullest expression of Thanksgiving possible through the Liturgy of the Eucharist, let us truly give thanks to the Lord for He is good to those who live in His freedom, His peace, and His Truth.  

Thanks be to God!

Foundation Stones: Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (Acts 3:1-10, 12:1-11; Psalm 19:2-3, 4-5, 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9; Galatians 1:11-20; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18; Matthew 16:13-19; John 21:15-19;

Today, we celebrate the great feast day of two of the major foundation stones of the Church…the great Catholic Church that we have the extreme privilege to be a part of today.

It would be difficult to find two other actors in the New Testament Scripture that simultaneously display both the incredible differences we sometimes see within the Church and at the same time the overarching unity that can only be achieved by the Holy Spirit.

Peter was a lowly fisherman from a nearly forgotten village named Capernaum on the northern end of the Sea of Galilee.  He was among the first of the chosen Apostles, called at a time when he was faced with his sinful nature.  When he came to realize Jesus is Lord, he had an epiphany that included an amazing change of heart.  He immediately abandoned his former life to follow Him.

Meanwhile, Paul, the last of the chosen Apostles, was a great scholar and rabbi in the Temple. He had a solid social standing with dual citizenship in Judea and Rome.  Shortly after the crucifixion, he took it upon himself to persecute the Church in a zealous effort to protect what he thought was the tradition.

On the road to continue the persecutions in Damascus, he was faced with his sinful nature.  He came to realize Jesus is Lord during an epiphany that’s included an amazing change of heart.   He immediately abandoned his former life to follow Him.

Both Peter and Paul received special assignments from the Lord.  

Peter, as some of you have heard me discuss in previous homilies, was the Lord’s chosen Al Habayit of the Messianic Kingdom of the New Covenant.  “Al Habayit” (אשר על הבית) is the Hebrew phrase for "over the house" or "the one over the house".   This role is essentially a prime minister for the Kingdom, as we can read more about in the second book of Kings.  

The Lord chose him for this role when He gave Simon the keys to heaven and gave Simon the title of Peter, which of course means rock.  

Peter’s role as the Al Habayit (or the first pope, as we might think of it) was later confirmed by Jesus Christ with the three-fold instruction to tend to and feed His sheep until He comes again at His second coming.

Paul’s assignment was much different.  He was the Lord’s chosen instrument to carry His holy name to the Gentiles.  It was the Lord’s intention that through Paul’s efforts, we too, could become sheep….sheep to be fed through the sacramental life of His Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

Despite their diverse background and many differences, both Peter and Paul shared many commonalities.  Both men shared an immense love of the Lord.  

We see they shared a special fraternity such as when Paul stayed with Peter (or Cephas as he is also referred to in Scripture) for 15 days.  Cephas, but the way, is the Greek version of the word Peter, also meaning rock.  That would have been a solid 15 days of episcopal formation from Peter to Paul.

Beyond the special fraternity, we see the communion they shared through, with, and in the Eucharist.  

In his first letter, Peter reminds us that we actually taste the goodness of the Lord through the precious Blood of Christ as a spotless unblemished lamb (the Eucharist) and that it is through this spiritual sacrifice (the Mass) that we are built into a spiritual house.

Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, reminds us that it is the Body and Blood of Christ (the Eucharist) that is truly the New Covenant.  He reminds us of how to come together (at Mass) to eat the bread and drink the cup, teaching us exactly how to live in communion, how to live in the household of God.  Or, as he refers to in the first letter to Timothy, how to behave in the Church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of Truth.

Both Peter and Paul are great pillars of the faith from the early Catholic Church, and both were martyred for that faith in Rome.

Both Peter and Paul are extraordinary examples of strength and boldness in evangelization, but both men also had their weaknesses. 

Peter could be impulsive and rash.  He had moments of doubt, denial, and fear.  He was often tempted by pride and ambition.

Paul also experienced fear.  He seems to have struggled at times with his temper and could certainly hold a grudge.  He was often extremely zealous.

In spite of their weaknesses, Both men found ways to surrender those weaknesses to the Lord in that the Lord could be the strength they needed to fulfill their roles.

Through this, both Peter and Paul show us how God’s providence can work in our lives, no matter how improbable it may seem.  Both men give us extraordinary examples of how to trust in the Lord, allowing the Lord to be our strength in the midst of our weaknesses.

What Peter does for the Jews in the first half of the Acts of the Apostles, Paul does the same for the gentiles in the second half.  Together, they did the work of Jesus Christ, laying the foundation of and building the framework for the Catholic Church that we, each and everyone, of us have an important part of today.

Just as Jesus sent Peter and Paul out to extend the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart of Jesus into the world around them, He also sends us to do the same.

At Confirmation, like Peter and Paul, you received your assignment from the Lord to be missionary disciples.  Of course, that doesn’t mean we will be pope like Peter was, or like Leo the XIV is today.  Nor does it mean that we have to travel thousands of miles to foreign countries, often putting our lives in danger, like Paul.

We simply need to be open to those in our lives that need to hear the gospel message and make God’s love visible to them.  

That starts with building a relationship, allowing them to develop a sense of trust with us.  Through that trust, an openness will develop where they will listen to the Gospel message and it will resonate.  Ultimately, they will see the Joy of the Gospel in your life, and they will want the same.

We come here, to Mass, to be nourished and strengthened for this mission by the Bread of Life and the precious Blood of Jesus Christ.  

At the end of Mass, you will hear me pronounce, “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.”  To which you will respond “Thanks be to God.”

This is your moment to rejoin Peter and Paul in the glory of missionary discipleship extending the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ into the world around you, one heart at a time.

Thanks be to God!

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The Reign of the Sacred Heart: Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Ezekiel 34:11-16; Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6; Romans 5:5b-11; Luke 15:3-7)

On December 27th, 1673, in the wake of the Thirty Years War and the continued divergence of the Protestant movement away from the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and the Liturgy, Saint Mary Margeret Alacoque was given a vision of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ while praying before the Blessed Sacrament.

This is what she wrote in her diary:

“Our Lord made me rest for several hours on His sacred breast ... After that I saw this divine Heart as on a throne of flames, more brilliant than the sun and transparent as crystal. It had Its adorable wound and was encircled with a crown of thorns, which signified the pricks our sins caused Him. It was surmounted by a cross which signified that, from the first moment of His Incarnation, that is, from the time this Sacred Heart was formed, the cross was planted in It; that It was filled, from the very first moment, with all the bitterness, humiliations, poverty, sorrow, and contempt His sacred humanity would have to suffer during the whole course of His life and during His holy Passion. He made me understand that the ardent desire He had of being loved by men and of drawing them from the path of perdition into which Satan was hurrying them in great numbers, had caused Him to fix upon this plan of manifesting His Heart to men, together with all Its treasures of love, mercy, grace, sanctification and salvation ... . This devotion was a last resort of His love .… [He] wished to favour men in these last centuries with his loving redemption, in order to withdraw them from the empire of Satan, which He intended to destroy, and in order to put us under the sweet liberty of the empire of His love.”

There would be a total of three such visions.  In these visions, Jesus expressed His yearning for His love to be returned with love.  Jesus requested that we make reparation to His Heart for the ingratitude of mankind.  Jesus asked us to honor Him and put all our trust in Him alone.  He implored that we honor and love God the Father more.

He wants to reign over families and nations everywhere.  He wants to saturate all of humanity with the grace that flows from His Heart.  

Through a devotion to His Sacred Heart, Jesus made the following promises:

1. I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
2. I will establish peace in their homes.
3. I will comfort them in all their afflictions.
4. I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death.
5. I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.
6. Sinners will find in my Heart the source of an infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
9. I will bless every place in which an image of my Heart is exposed and honored.
10. I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
11. Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in my Heart.
12. I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.

There are many ways we can increase a devotion to the Sacred Heart in our lives.  I share a few now:

1. Make a morning offering prayer consecrating your day to the Sacred Heart.
2. Prominently display an image of the Sacred Heart in your home.
3. Carry or wear a Sacred Heart Badge.
4. Commit to Eucharistic Adoration on a regular basis.
5. Practice the First Friday devotion.
6. Enthrone your home to the Sacred Heart.
7. Consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart.
8. Pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
9. Pray the Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
10. Pray, fast, and give alms in reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Ultimately, Jesus wants to pour out His entire self to us through the Eucharist, through the Sacred Heart.  But for us to receive the gift of divine love, we must allow ourselves to pour out our entire self to Him in our acts of worship in the Mass as well as our acts to love our neighbor.  This pouring out of self in self-deferential love is ultimately what communion is all about.  

Over time, a devotion to the Sacred Heart can help us increase in our humility to be able to pour out ourself into Him and, in turn, open ourselves up to allow Him to pour Himself into us…filling us with the Flame of Love.  

When we are truly set ablaze by the Flame of Love, there is nothing we shall want.

Thanks be to God!

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