Our citizenship is in Heaven

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

March 16, 2025

Second Sunday of Lent

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031625.cfm

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18    Psalm 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14

Philippians 3:17—4:1    Luke 9:28b-36

St. Paul, in his first letter to those Roman folks living in northeastern Greece in the city of Philippi, says exactly what I want to get across today:

Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body.

Paul is emphasizing the second and final return of Christ that we today still wait patiently and prayerfully for when we will be joined to our glorified bodies that Christ portrays in today’s Gospel:

While Jesus was praying, his face changed in appearance, and his clothing became dazzling white.

So not only will our bodies be glorified but our clothes will be quite clean to boot!  Today’s Gospel really juxtaposes Jesus's physical and spiritual nature quite nicely.  Last week, we heard of Jesus out in the desert for forty days without food.  He then was tempted by Satan.  Jesus, in his humanity, was hungry, but he won that battle with Satan. As a sidenote, yes, you can live without food for forty days. I Google it:

In extreme cases, some people have survived for over 60 days without food

Now, on to us, how do we fare during temptations from Satan or hardships that our physical nature must endure? Which one calls us harder, the physical or spiritual?  It is truly an ongoing battle with Satan!  We must win!

The Transfiguration illustrates to us what we were designed to be; we are designed for glorified bodies in Heaven.  Unfortunately, for a brief span of time, we are stuck here on earth, and we are not designed to be of this earth. Earthly bodies have negative emotions and pain, both physical and mental.  Earthly bodies require maintenance, exercise, water, food, and diet.  When it comes to trying to diet or fast, a piece of pie always draws me in! I almost always respond more to the physical. 

When it comes to pain, I respond to its physical earthly nature very quickly.  Fr. David’s homily struck me last week when he talked about banging your head.  That very Saturday morning, I was working on the bottom of my garage door, so I had it mostly up but not all the way.   Three times, I turned quickly and banged my head against the door.  On the third time, I actually told God to send the garage door to the abode of Satan!  I quickly realized the garage door did nothing to me.  I’m the one who put it at that height; I’m the one who turned quickly to get something and hit my head against it.  I laughed a bit and said a quick Hail Mary, asking for more patience and forgiveness for my sin!  

We see the physical, we feel the physical, just ask my head!  Unfortunately, humans rarely see or feel the spiritual.  I came across an article that said that the boundaries of human vision are not exact and may vary between individuals.  The visible light range is a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, making up only about 0.0035% of it.  We only see 0.0035% of what’s out there!  Imagine if we could see more of it, even 2% of it!  Abram experienced the spiritual, which is visually represented in the first reading.  Cutting up animals and walking between them was a way to ratify contracts in those days and was common.  What God did with Abram was ratify a covenant.  God was the smoking fire pot and flaming torch that passed between the animal halves ratifying his covenant with Abram.

Now imagine what we would see if we could when Heaven and Earth meet during the Eucharistic Prayer and consecration!  Imagine how strong our spiritual life would become then!  It might even beat the physical life!

Most of us have probably experienced some physical hunger on Ash Wednesday a few weeks ago. What about spiritual hunger?  That should be stronger. Imagine if you couldn't get to church to receive the Eucharist for a period of time. It was almost five years ago that we had just such an experience during the COVID lockdown. Please, God, may we never experience that again!  During that time, did you feel a spiritual hunger?  Did you hunger for Mass and the Eucharist? 

As this Lent progresses on, ask the Holy Spirit to give you a hunger for Mass, a hunger for the Eucharist, a hunger for the sacrament of Confession, and a hunger to spend time with our Lord and Savior in Adoration.  Ask the Holy Spirit to give you that desire so that your soul may be nourished as we approach Holy Week.  Pray to Saint Michael, asking him to defend us in battle.  Remember that our bodies are only here on earth for a short span of time and that “our citizenship is in Heaven” and that time is eternity!

Saint Augustine reminds us to:

Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.

Trust in Jesus Loving Forgiveness in the Sacrament of Confession

 Deacon Kevin Gingras

February 9th, 2025

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020925.cfm

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8     Psalm 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8

1 Corinthians 15:1-11    Luke 5:1-11

Peter fell to his knees as he exclaimed: 

"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."   

Isaiah says:

"Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

Paul tells the Corinthians:

Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

It’s this kind of unworthiness thinking that almost kept me from the call to the Diaconate. To take today’s readings out of context like I just did is to be cheated of the truth.  That’s what Satan does to us. He lies to us. He points out only our failings, sins, and faults to make us feel unworthy. Satan knows our names but calls us by our sins.  God knows our sins but calls us by our names.

So instead, let’s finish those lines from today and see what God did for them.  First Isaiah:

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it, and said, "See, now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged." Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send?  Who will go for us?" "Here I am," I said; "send me!"

Now Paul to the Corinthians:

But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me.

Finally, Jesus says to Peter:

"Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him. 

Being passionate about fishing that last one really gets to me!  Anyway, Isaiah, Paul, and Peter’s lament haunted me when I began the diaconate. They reminded me of my past sins and my unworthiness for the call. At times, they almost made me give up! I sometimes needed that reminder that Jesus doesn't call only the qualified or the perfect; he calls each of us in our ordinary lives, with our flaws and imperfections. He invites us to follow him, leave our comfort zones, and embark on a journey of faith and mission.

Have any of you ever played video games and been doing well on your mission when suddenly, out of nowhere, somebody walks in (for me, it was usually one of my kids) and terminates your character?  It’s okay, you’ve got extra lives, so you can respawn and continue playing!  

Sometimes I wish life had a reset or respawn button when your quest is going well.  Well, it does, as Catholics, we call it confession.

Here are a few thoughts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on confession - first is why we need confession after Baptism since Baptism removes original sin:

CCC 1426 Nevertheless, the new life received in Christian initiation has not abolished the frailty and weakness of human nature, nor the inclination to sin that tradition calls concupiscence... This is the struggle of conversion directed toward holiness and eternal life to which the Lord never ceases to call us.

Concupiscence is the big Catholic word of the week.  Our tendency, even after baptism, is to find sin still attractive at times, and even alluring.

Next from the Catechism is how often should we go to confession:

CCC 1457 each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year." Anyone who is aware of having committed a mortal sin must not receive Holy Communion, even if he experiences deep contrition, without having first received sacramental absolution 

As we reflect on this Gospel, let us ask for the grace to hear Jesus' call to repentance in our lives, trust in his loving forgiveness in the sacrament of confession and respond with open hearts and willing spirits. May we, like Simon Peter and the apostles, become fishers of men, bringing others closer to God's love and mercy.

Remember these words from St. John Paul II:

Confession is an act of honesty and courage – an act of entrusting ourselves, beyond sin, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God.

Jesus Was Baptized For Our Merits

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

January 12, 2025

The Baptism of the Lord

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011225.cfm

Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7     Psalm 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10

Acts 10:34-38    Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

Okay, after Mass today, we can all go home and take down our Christmas decorations. Today is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which concludes the Christmas season, and starting Monday we move back into Ordinary Time.

John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, knew his place in the family, John famously quipped: “He must increase; I must decrease”.  He knew that he was not the son of God but his cousin was. Today he tells the people gathered around that:

one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.

Then Jesus Himself walks up to the Jordan river and insists that John baptize Him with all the other people there.  Why?  If Baptism removes original sin then the Catholic Church tells us there are only two people who did not need baptism - Mary, the Immaculate Conception, conceived without original sin, and Jesus the Son of God who was like us in everything but sin, including original sin.  Yet here is Jesus doing just that - getting Baptized!  Now I’m a big fan of logic and reason and Jesus getting baptized goes against reason and logic as far as I am concerned!  I had to figure out why!

The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks on why Jesus was baptized:

Jesus' public life begins with his baptism by John in the Jordan. … Then the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, comes upon Jesus and a voice from heaven proclaims, "This is my beloved Son."This is the manifestation ("Epiphany") of Jesus as Messiah of Israel and Son of God. The baptism of Jesus is on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God's suffering Servant. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world".  Already he is anticipating the "baptism" of his bloody death.

Jesus is revealed in his baptism as a new type of Moses. As Moses went through the waters of the Red Sea, he created an escape route for God’s people. Christ now goes through the waters to give us an escape route from the rule of sin and death.  Combine our baptism with frequent Confession and we can’t lose!

Pope Benedict explained in his book “Jesus of Nazareth”:

 Jesus inaugurated his public activity by stepping into the place of sinners. By accepting baptism, Jesus accepted his coming death for the sins of all mankind. He anticipated his submission to his Father's will during the agony in the garden, and he pointed us toward his suffering and death on the cross. Just as he would in those more painful moments, Jesus began his ministry by saying yes to his mission as the Savior of the world. 

At His baptism, Jesus’ divinity was confirmed and after his baptism, the three persons of the Trinity were revealed for the first time.  God the Father’s voice proclaims:

“You are my beloved Son; with you, I am well pleased.”

Jesus the Son is the one being baptized, and the Holy Spirit descends on him like a dove. To summarize, Jesus was baptized not for His own merits but our merits!

 

Reflecting on today’s readings brought me back to May 1, 1966. That was the day of my baptism, my second birth—my birth into the Catholic Church! As baptized Catholics we don’t simply follow Jesus or imitate Jesus - we should do those things of course - but as baptized Catholics, we are grafted onto Christ and we become members of his Mystical Body.

Back to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Through Baptism, the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own baptism anticipates his death and resurrection. The Christian must enter into this mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become the Father's beloved son in the Son and "walk in newness of life":

We must become the new creation we were meant to be when we were baptized. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus instructs us what to do as folks who are baptized with Christ:

Christ is bathed in light; let us also be bathed in light. Christ is baptized; let us also go down with him, and rise with him. John is baptizing when Jesus draws near. Perhaps he comes to sanctify his baptizer; certainly, he comes to bury sinful humanity in the waters. He comes to sanctify the Jordan for our sake and in readiness for us; he who is spirit and flesh comes to begin a new creation through the Spirit and water

This Advent we need to become vulnerable for Jesus

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

December 15th

Third Sunday of Advent

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121524.cfm

Zep 3:14-18a      Is 12:2-3, 4, 5-6.

Phil 4:4-7     Lk 3:10-18

Today is Gaudete Sunday, and we are almost there, less than two weeks away from remembering the day the Word became Flesh!  

John the Baptist is telling his followers:

one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 

Gaudete is Latin for rejoice as our entrance antiphon reminds us:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.  Indeed, the Lord is near.

The prophet Zephaniah speaks of rejoicing and being filled with joy - why?  

the LORD is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear … he will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love, he will sing joyfully because of you, as one sings at festivals.

We are in the season of Advent that should take us spiritually back over two thousand years, before Jesus was born - back to a time of waiting, waiting for our salvation, our Messiah, however, we also know the rest of the story and that is what should bring us joy.

We decorated the inside of our houses, and put up our trees, the manger, and lights on the outside and all over the yard.  We are cleaning in preparation for our guests (if you are anything like me that involves multiple days of work) so all of our exterior work is moving along nicely, at least at my house.  What about the interior work that needs to be done to prepare the way of the Lord, how is that going?

We must prepare our hearts, and our souls as well right?  Remember Jesus was born but also remember he died for us and our sins.  Let me explain visually what I want to say using what I like to call: “The theology of the Holy Family Sanctuary”.  This is where we can visually see Jesus in his three most vulnerable places.  (See picture above for what our Sanctuary looks like)

First - the stained glass window above it all, Jesus as a child with Holy Mary and St. Joseph.  He is the King of the Universe yet came to us as a small baby, vulnerable and reliant on parents who were not wealthy but poor.  Mary conceived through the Holy Spirit and became the Ark of the New Covenant.  Her husband Joseph a righteous man but not the biological father had to be told in a dream that all was well, there was no need to divorce Mary:

Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home, for it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.

The Gospel of Matthew tells us Joseph did as the Lord had commanded.  He took in Mary and became the protector of the Blessed Mother and Jesus, the son of God.  

Second - Just below we see Jesus on the cross.  He could have stopped the torture he endured at any time if He wanted as we see in the Gospel of John:

Jesus answered [to Pilate], “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants [would] be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”

Jesus’ kingdom is not here on Earth, His kingdom is a Heavenly kingdom yet he took on our humanity and took on our sins head-on, with the sacrifice of his own life.  The sins of Adam and Eve which brought death and suffering into the world were atoned for by Jesus suffering and death on the cross.  A death he tolerated by making himself completely vulnerable to his accusers.  In the end, Jesus even won the battle over death itself.

Third - Lastly we have the altar here.  The altar itself is not how Jesus becomes vulnerable but it is where he becomes vulnerable in the Eucharist.  The King of kings allows himself to be kept in this earthly host, this simple and humble bread.  Due to the ontological change of all priests during their ordination and the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the priest now has a supernatural power, he becomes Christ Himself, or “in persona Christi”, during the consecration and changes the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Once this happens we need to treat the Eucharist with the care and respect Jesus deserves and do everything in our power to avoid sacrilege or the mistreatment of Jesus in the Eucharist because in this simple host that was once bread Jesus is again very vulnerable.

So this Advent we need to become vulnerable for Jesus. I tend to organize my life into boxes.  I have a dad box, a husband box, a deacon box, and an employee box, and within those boxes, I have many other boxes as well.  This advent, to prepare the way of the Lord we need to open up all those boxes and find out what ones we haven’t let Jesus into.  Perhaps it’s certain boxes we have family in?  Most certainly for me, it’s a lot of my work boxes where I don’t let Jesus in.  Spend some time in adoration, before Jesus, and ask him to shine a light into the boxes of our life where we have left him out. Pray about how we can open ourselves, and make ourselves vulnerable by allowing Him, the King of the Universe and the King of our hearts, into those spaces by making our entire lives open to Jesus this year.  Get ready when you do this, things will change, and they will change for the better!

When feeling vulnerable as we open our minds, hearts, and souls for Christ, as we reflect on all the good and the bad, remember the words of Saint John Paul II:

We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures.  We are the sum of the Father’s love for us. 

Pray boldly yet humbly.

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

October 27th, 2024

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102724.cfm

Jer 31:7-9   Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6

Heb 5:1-6  Mk 10:46-52

Today I wonder if we can pray both boldly and humbly.   We see that in today’s Gospel when Bartimaeus boldly and humbly brings his petition to Jesus:

"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me." And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.  But he kept calling out all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me." Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." …  Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?"  The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see." Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."

He was humble in calling to Jesus using his messianic title “Son of David”  He was bold in continuing to call out even when others told him to be silent.

Last week we heard from James and John the sons of Zebedee who boldly petitioned Jesus but with very little humility.  They were praying for earthly things.  Jesus could not grant that one sits at His left and the other at His right when he enters into His glory.  He did however tell them they would drink the same cup - they would also die as martyrs.

James and John never read the Catechism, especially paragraph 2559 which reads:

"Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God” ... But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or "out of the depths" of a humble and contrite heart? He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer, Only when we humbly acknowledge that "we do not know how to pray as we ought," are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. "Man is a beggar before God."

To be fair to James and John, the Catechism of the Catholic Church hadn’t been written out yet.  However, it appears Blind Bartimaeus got it right with his prayer - Jesus, son of David, have pity on me, as the Catechism, paragraph 2631 reads:

The first movement of the prayer of petition is asking forgiveness, like the tax collector in the parable: "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" It is a prerequisite for righteous and pure prayer. A trusting humility brings us back into the light of communion between the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and with one another, so that "we receive from him whatever we ask." Asking forgiveness is the prerequisite for both the Eucharistic liturgy and personal prayer.

One of the prayers I pray a lot in the Morning Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours is an antiphon that reads:

"I lift up my heart to you, O Lord, and you will hear my morning prayer."

I always feel odd telling God that He will hear morning prayer!  It just doesn’t seem right, it makes me uncomfortable, like I’m demanding that God will hear me.  Of course he hears me!  We need to be ok with praying like Bartimaeus, boldly yet humbly.

This was the case when it came to praying for my daughter Faith and her scoliosis.  The initial prognosis was to get her fitted with a brace that would only stop the curvature from getting worse and then when she finished growing she would have surgery.  My wife Allison and I began to pray.

I won’t bore you with all the details but after two different braces, a lot of anxiety, and some tears it struck me that I needed divine help.  I looked up the patron saint of back problems.  I found St. Gemma Galgani and a novena to St. Gemma asking for her intercession.  This novena consisted of praying special prayers for nine consecutive days.  Allison and I began to pray this prior to our next appointment.  We also began to discover how perfect St. Gemma was for Faith’s cause.  At a young age, St. Gemma was orphaned, just like Faith, and had spinal tuberculosis that caused her to not only need an iron back brace but also caused her to become deaf as the disease progressed, just like Faith.  This was a good Saint to ask for intercession on Faith’s behalf!

We finished the novena a few days prior to the visit to Boston Children’s in Waltham.  We went in for a brace check and an X-ray.  At the end of the appointment, the doctor came in amazed at the result of the X-ray, her scoliosis not only stopped progressing but her curvature had been reduced!  This wasn’t supposed to happen but it did!  We prayed humbly but I wish we prayed more boldly during the nine-day novena.  I wish our prayer was that Faith would be completely cured!  St. Gemma presented our prayer to God just as we had prayed it and, praise God, surgery is off the books for Faith now!

St. Alphonsus Maria de Ligouri tells us 

The prayer of a humble soul at once penetrates the heavens and presents itself before the throne of God, and will not depart thence till God regards it and listens to it.