The Tale of Two Fruit Plants

 Deacon Kevin Gingras

April 28, 2024

Fifth Sunday of Easter

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042824.cfm

Acts 9:26-31      Ps 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32

1 Jn 3:18-24    Jn 15:1-8

This is the tale of two fruit plants.  In my yard I have an apple tree out back and a blueberry bush out front.  The apple trees I never prune and they are now a bit out of hand - they bear bad fruit or no fruit at this point.  The blueberry bush in the front, however, I prune the dead branches and the ones that bear no fruit each year.  Because I do this we get a good crop of blueberries from it yearly.  Faith and I will pick and eat them right from the bush, you can’t get fresher than that!

Now I know nothing about pruning grape vines but back in biblical times that must have been what people were familiar with as it is so deeply rooted in the Old and New Testaments.  We hear it in Isaiah 5, The Song of The Vineyard.  We hear it in today’s Gospel as well.  We also read of it in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In Chapter 1108:

In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form his Body. The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father's vine which bears fruit on its branches. 

I love that analogy.  God the Father sent his only Son into the world for our salvation.  God the Son ascended into Heaven and sent us God the Holy Spirit to give us the sap of the vine of Christ.  The nourishment we need to keep our souls alive!

Now sometimes pruning hurts.  We heard of our friend Paul, also known as Saul in today’s first reading.  He needed a lot of pruning.  Jesus spoke to him in a flash of light knocking him to the ground.  Saul was blind for three days, he didn’t eat or drink at all until Ananias healed him. Even years after his pruning and conversion the Apostles didn’t yet trust him.  Barnabas had to vouch for him.

I guess this brings the homily to us.  What do we need to prune from our lives?  What are the things that take away our sight of Jesus and how can we remove them?  Don’t worry, Jesus will help us to do this pruning, just reach out to Him. How? 

• Pray, and if you can, spend time in adoration with Jesus, and ask him to point out the dead branches in your life that need to be removed.  

• Receive the sacrament of Confession. Tell Him, in Confession, the sins you want to be pruned. Sure, sometimes some of the bad branches will grow back, and when they do go back to Confession again! 

• Receive the Eucharist in a state of grace.  When we receive the Eucharist, Christ turns us into tabernacle.  

If we do these things, along with proclaiming Christ to others Jesus will be more present to us!  In my morning prayer on Saturday  one of the intercessory prayers was:

You are present to all who preach your Gospel, and give power to their words - make us today preachers of your resurrection by our holiness in life.

Today, upon our dismissal from Mass, our prayer should be that we go forth announcing the Gospel to the world just like St. Paul who was one of the greatest missionaries the Church has ever seen.

Mother Angelica tells us:

The Lord God has no one else but you.  You’d better get off your lead bottoms and go out there and change this pagan world!

Redemptive Suffering

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

March 24, 2024

Palm Sunday

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032424.cfm

Is 50:4-7 Psalm 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24 

Phil 2:6-11   Mk 14:1—15:47

Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be troubled and distressed. Then he said to them, “My soul is sorrowful even to death.

Luke, the physician reports in his Gospel that:

Jesus was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground.

We must always remember that Jesus was both fully divine and fully human, it is called the hypostatic union, Jesus was both God and man at the same time.  His divinity let him know what he was about to endure, His humanity caused him great stress over this.  Christ’s example here teaches us that we should turn to prayer when we are in fear or pain and we should also submit ourselves fully to God’s will.  That can be the hard part.  This was hard for Jesus as well.

But Jesus' suffering was not in vain, no, it was for the salvation of each and every one of us.  An example for us.  Our suffering can also be offered up for others.

2 Corinthians 7:10

Godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.

Saint John Paul II - In Salvifici  Doloris (Redemptive Suffering)

Those who share in the sufferings of Christ preserve in their own sufferings a very special particle of the infinite treasure of the world's Redemption and can share this treasure with others. The more a person is threatened by sin, the heavier the structures of sin that today's world brings with it, the greater is the eloquence which human suffering possesses in itself. And the more the Church feels the need to have recourse to the value of human sufferings for the salvation of the world.

Our crosses in life can be difficult to carry, sometimes they can feel overwhelming or make us feel very alone.  Our world seems as though we are the only ones in it during those really dark struggles.  These are the times we need to ignore the dark thoughts Satan will place on us and instead unite ourselves with Christ.  It is only after the various sufferings I’ve encountered have passed that I have seen why God allowed me through them, I can see the silver lining and be thankful for them.

St. Faustina tells us:

Suffering is a great grace; through suffering the soul becomes like the Saviour; in suffering love becomes crystallized; the greater the suffering, the purer the love.

But deliver us from evil!

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

January 21, 2024

First Sunday of Lent

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021824.cfm

Gn 9:8-15     Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9.

1 Pt 3:18-22     Mk 1:12-15

Our Gospel today has an interesting line:

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan.

A simple line, but read it again. The Spirit who was with Jesus a moment ago at His Baptism drove Him into the desert to be tested. Then Satan tempted Jesus.  The Son of God.  Satan wanted to win Him over to the dark side.  Jesus would have none of it.  Think about that for a minute.  How much more will Satan go after us?  There are many ways he will try to win us over to the dark side.  

About a week ago, I saw an article about the top 20 myths about world religions that people believe.  It was in a secular paper, not a religious one.  Anyway, one of the top 20 myths was Yoga Is Just Physical Exercise. The article continued:

In the West, yoga is often seen merely as physical exercise. However, in its original context within Hinduism and Buddhism, yoga includes a range of practices aimed at spiritual enlightenment, not just physical fitness.

Catholics must be extremely cautious with Yoga.  We are both physical and spiritual beings and it cannot separate the two. Many of the poses in Yoga invoke pagan gods such as Virabhadra, a god created by Shiva to murder Shiva’s relative.  The pose has three parts and is called the Warrior pose and it imitates the sequence of that murder.

Reiki seems to be another form of Western “healing” that is catching on at an alarming rate.  Reiki is a Japanese form of supposed stress reduction and healing invented by Mikao Usui from Buddhism in the late 1800s.  An article quoting Beth Anderson, a Catholic who went to a Reiki practitioner in 2004 states the following:

“I was asked to sit in a chair and there was a little ceremony to ‘open me up’ to the Reiki energy,” she recalled. “There was clapping and ringing of bells over me. It felt a little like a sacrament.”

Further on it goes on to say:

“I was told by another Reiki master that I should do a ‘past life regression,’” she said. “I had always been dead-set against doing that, but then somehow I got to a place of temptation where I almost did it, and that scared me.”

This delves into reincarnation and is not something we as Catholics can believe or participate in.

There are many other things we sometimes look to as harmless fun.  Horoscopes, or astrological signs should not be used to guide our lives. Satan uses these to take our thoughts away from God and it is God alone who should be our guide through prayer and petition, not the stars.  This type of false guidance or protection also comes through things like wearing crystals. Crystals are indeed a deception from Satan, that something of God’s creation is magical or worse, can make us think that creation is greater than the Creator who is God.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say:

All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead, or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone. All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion…Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. 

I wish I could delve into each of these more but just being aware of the dangers I hope is enough.

Remember Solomon, who asked for, and was granted 

a heart so wise and discerning that there has never been anyone like him nor after him will there be anyone equal.

Even he was tempted by Satan and turned to false Gods as we see in 1 Kings 11:8-11 

Solomon did the same for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart turned away from the LORD… So the LORD said to Solomon: Since this is what you want, and you have not kept my covenant and the statutes which I enjoined on you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

We are in Lent, a time to fast from something, and maybe one of these things just discussed will be something we now fast from. We should fill that void with something holy instead.  Matthew 12:43-45 tells us

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a person it roams through arid regions searching for rest but finds none.  Then it says, ‘I will return to my home from which I came.’ But upon returning, it finds it empty, swept clean, and put in order. Then it goes and brings back with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first. 

There are alternatives to Yoga such as SoulCore, Catholic FIT or Pietra Fitness.  Sometimes it might even be good to offer up our suffering to join in the redemptive suffering of Jesus’ passion.  Of course, the best way to remain safe from the temptations of Satan is prayer and frequent reception of the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.  Find groups of like-minded people.  Come to our Thursday night Eucharistic Revival meetings.  Attend a Catholic retreat like the Emmaus at the beginning of March.  Find something to fill that void with good things that will help you resist the temptations of the Evil One.

Remember what Saint Anthony the Great said:

Expect temptation to your last breath!

**May St. Michael the Archangel defund us in battle**

Fishers of Men

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

January 21, 2024

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012124.cfm

Jon 3:1-5, 10    Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

1 Cor 7:29-31   Mk 1:14-20

Follow me and I will make you fishers of men - boy have I been waiting to preach on this Gospel for a long time so let’s get right into our first reading. Jonah was called to be fishers of the entire city of Nineveh.  We all know that story, he refused to fish for people so a large fish fished for him instead!  Ultimately he he did go to Nineveh, prophesied about the destruction of Nineveh and they all repented and lived happily ever after…well, they weren’t destroyed immediately, not yet, that happened in 612 B.C. by the Medes around 140 years after Jonah.

We now go to today’s Gospel, John has recently been arrested and Jesus is about to bring John’s preaching to the next level, it’s time to proclaim the gospel of the Son of God, the Evangelium, the words of the very Son of God.  Jesus sees Simon and Andrew and speaks to them one of my favorite lines in scripture:

"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."

They immediately do just that!  God bless them for that, I probably wouldn't have been so quick to drop what I was doing to follow Jesus to become fishers of men, especially if the bass were hitting that day.  I probably would have said, “Be right there Jesus, just one more cast”! 

Our first reading from Jonah foreshadows the eventual successful preaching and teaching of Jesus and his apostles to sinners and Gentiles.  This preaching is just beginning in today’s Gospel.  They were indeed to become fishers of many men, women, and children.

By our Baptism, we are reborn as members of Christ’s Church.  As members of this Church, the Catechism tells us (1267):

Its mission is to be the salt of the earth and light of the world. This people is “a sure seed of unity, hope, and salvation for the whole human race”.

Further along, when talking of Baptism the Catechism states (785):

 "The holy People of God shares also in Christ's prophetic office," above all in the supernatural sense of faith that belongs to the whole People, lay and clergy … when it deepens its understanding and becomes Christ's witness in the midst of this world.

It is a difficult world to do that in but think back to Jesus, Peter, and the Apostles, it was even tougher back then, all but one of them were put to death for preaching the Good News!

Now about that whole fishers of men/people thing.  How does one go about that and what does that have to do with today?  I want to talk a bit about a fly fishing phrase: “Matching the hatch” and a day I was fishing the Battenkill River in Vermont.  The phrase matching the hatch means the fake fly you tie to your line should look like whatever the trout are eating that day, whatever bug is hatching.  Most bugs spend their infancy living in the water, come to the top of the river, and “hatch” by sprouting their wings and flying about for a bit to mate and die within a day or two.  What a life!

Several years ago one of my employees was an avid and experienced fly fisher.  He taught me a lot about the sport (yes, fishing IS a sport, so therefore I’m an athlete).  He had booked a trip to Vermont to fish the Battenkill and invited me to go.  I got there a day earlier than everyone else to scout out the area.  My first stop was a local fly shop to get my license.  I also asked the man working there what the trout would be eating for the weekend.  He showed me two hand-tied flies that should do the trick.  I bought 10 of each and excitedly hit the river.  The first fly I tried seemed to do the trick and I was quickly getting hits (and lots of misses) and even managed to land a few.  Suddenly around three pm, I got to witness a massive hatch.  The fly I was using matched perfectly to what was suddenly buzzing all around me by the thousands!  The fish were going crazy!  Thanks to that guy at the shop I had a great night fly fishing and indeed matched the hatch!

Ok, back to God and Jesus and all that again (however I could talk about fishing all day)!  We too are all called to be fishers of men and women by our baptism.  We are grafted on to Christ and His Church and must participate in its mission.  From the Catechism 849:

The missionary mandate. "Having been divinely sent to the nations that she might be 'the universal sacrament of salvation,' the Church, in obedience to the command of her founder and because it is demanded by her own essential universality, strives to preach the Gospel to all men"

To catch men and women we must match the hatch!  What lures do we have to do this?  The first lure we should use must be our joy in the message and hope of Jesus Christ.  The joy and hope of our salvation.  This lure of joy, sadly, I tend to leave in my fly box far too much!  We should be so joyful that people want what it is we have, they want to have what Catholics have.  

The second fly in the box we must use is the truth.  We need to always teach and speak the truth to others, the truth of how Jesus Christ is our salvation.  The truth of what Jesus Christ taught in the Gospels. Put the lures of truth and joy together and it’s a winning combination for sure!

Don’t be afraid to talk about the truth and joy of our faith. Remember, none of us are all-knowing experts.  We are all walking the road to our salvation together, share that journey with as many people as you can and share it joyfully!

Mother Teresa of Calcutta tells us:

"Joy is prayer–Joy is strength–Joy is love–Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls…. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love. Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of the Christ risen.”

Three Tabernacles

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

December 24, 2023

4th Sunday of Advent

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122423.cfm

2 Sm 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16     Ps 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29

Rom 16:25-27    Lk 1:26-38

Today, I want to talk about three tabernacles. The word tabernacle means ‘place of dwelling.’  Tabernacle #1 is from 2 Samuel; King David wants to make God a home:

When King David was settled in his palace, and the LORD had given him rest from his enemies on every side, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God dwells in a tent!"

Before the Temple was built by King Solomon, the Tabernacle was the moveable tent that housed the Ark of the Covenant while the Israelites were nomads in the desert. The Tabernacle Tent was 45 feet long, and The Ark of the Covenant was placed in a fifteen-foot cube towards the back part of the Tabernacle, called the Holy of Holies.  

The Ark was the link between God and Earth, and it was in the Holy of Holies where the high priest could enter only once a year on the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, is the highest holy day of the Jewish calendar. The High Priest would make an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people.  This act of paying the penalty for sin brought reconciliation between God and His people. After the blood sacrifice was offered to the Lord, a goat was released into the wilderness to symbolically carry away the sins of the people. This "scapegoat" was never to return.

In a rarely-read passage in the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant is hidden by Jeremiah. We hear of this in the Second Book of Maccabees 2:4-7

The same document also tells how the prophet, …, ordered that the tent and the ark should accompany him, and how he went to the very mountain that Moses climbed to behold God’s inheritance. When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a chamber in a cave in which he put the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense; then he sealed the entrance. Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the path, but they could not find it. When Jeremiah heard of this, he reproved them: “The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy.”

No, Indiana Jones did not find the Ark of the Covenant, and no, it’s not stored deep in some government archival building. Remember the Prophet’s words:

The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy.

This brings us to Tabernacle #2, the Ark of the New Covenant, which is Mary, the Mother of God.  Through Jesus, God is about to gather all of His people, whether Jew or Gentile, when the word becomes flesh in Jesus through Mary as the angel Gabriel speaks these words to her in today’s Gospel.

"Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end."

We know that through Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, sin entered the world. Through Mary’s yes, her Fiat, and the birth of Jesus, a man and a woman, that first sin can finally truly be reversed. Now is the time for God to gather His people together again and show them mercy. Mary is not only today’s second Tabernacle; Mary is also a new Ark of a New covenant.  Through her yes, salvation entered, the Word was made Flesh, and Jesus Christ was born.

So what could be the Tabernacle #3? Our church today has a lot of similarities to the Old Testament Tabernacle tent. When you enter a church, you will see golden lampstands. Back then, there was, to the right, a table for the Bread of the Presence. Today, to the right of our altar is the Credence Table that holds the unconsecrated bread that will soon become the True Presence of Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Just before the giant curtain, there would also be an altar of incense. We have our altar here, and we also incense it at the beginning of most of our Masses. Finally, against the back wall, but no longer hidden, is the tabernacle that holds the remaining consecrated hosts after Mass. Jesus, the Son of God, is present in our tabernacle right now.  But that is not the third and final tabernacle I’d like to discuss. Tabernacle #3 is us. Once we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we become a tabernacle; we hold within us our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It is so important to remember that! After we receive Communion, we should return to our pews, kneel, and pray. Offering prayers of thanksgiving for finding us worthy to receive Him.  

A few weeks ago, a parishioner asked me why we have rules of not eating an hour before Holy Communion but no rules for after receiving. I didn’t know, so I looked it up, and here’s what I found from Catholic.com:

There is no present requirement for fasting after  Communion, but many books have recommended, as an act of reverence, not eating or drinking for 15 minutes after receiving –about as long as the sacred Species remains intact. If one remains at Mass until the closing blessing, one likely observes this recommendation even without realizing it.

Saint Alphonsus Liguori tells us:

“There is no prayer more agreeable to God, or more profitable to the soul than that which is made during the thanksgiving after Communion.”