January 2025 - Father Greg

Mission & Vision

A homily for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel, Jesus gives us his mission statement. It’s what he’s going to do. It’s the beginning of Luke’s gospel. He comes in the synagogue, they hand him the scroll, and he announces this passage, and it’s his mission statement, what he is going to do. He says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim your a favor from the Lord.

This is what he’s going to do. He announces this is his action. That’s what a mission statement is. A mission statement is what you’re doing. This comes from perplexity.ai a great search engine and I asked it, what is the difference between a mission statement and a vision statement? A mission statement articulates, for current purposes of an organization, what is the organization doing? Who does it serve and how does it create value? Don’t you see these things in Jesus’s proclamation? This is his vision. Now, in the next passage, which we will not hear because they cut it a little early he gives us his vision statement. What is a vision statement? A vision statement outlines the aspirational future of the organization. What does it hope to accomplish in the long term?

Where is it going? He gives us his vision statement, which is very interesting. He says were there no widows in the time of Elijah that Elijah went to a widow of Sarah? Were there no lepers in Israel at the time of Elisha the prophet that Syrian, they were in the Syrian went to Elija He’s telling us his vision is this is for the whole world, not just for a small group, for the tribe.

His mission is for the whole world. That’s his vision to make religion worldwide, to make this favor oppressed go free. Sight to the blind for the entire world. What’s interesting is they didn’t like his vision. And so when they heard that, they took him to the edge of the hill to throw him off because they didn’t like the vision, they like the vision.

They liked the mission, as long as its for me, they didn’t like the vision. But it’s for everyone. What about us? What’s your mission? We all have a mission. Get through the day or eat, drink and be merry. Tomorrow you will die. Or, one of our guys, he always has to have the last word, even complete your own sentences. He’s going to be the smartest guy in the room.

Is that your mission? And what’s your vision? Do you have a vision? I think that’s the call of today’s gospel. To look. How are you living? What are you doing today? That’s your mission. And what do you hope to get do with this? That’s your vision. Let’s look at your look at your own life. Let me look at my own life.

Let’s put together our mission, our vision, and see how close this is to Jesus. His beautiful mission.

Now, meanwhile, you’ll notice that we’ve had some damage in the garden. We had a vandal, I think a mentally ill person who broke, Teresa of Avila off her base and, did a little bit of damage. Mentally ill wasn’t malicious, but if you can help out, you can go to our website and help put this garden back in order after its vandalism.

For that and for everything, just thank you.

Your God-given Superpower

A homily for the second Sunday of Ordinary Time

When I was newly ordained, I lived with the pastor, Father Peter Byrth, great guy. I’ve talked about him before in these videos. He was an alcoholic, and he would tell you that I’m betraying his confidence and it was just tearing him apart and killing him. So eventually he started the 12 steps and walked those steps so successfully he became a speaker in great demand.

It was kind of cool because sometimes at dinner table he would bring like Hollywood people and Broadway people. I’m not going to mention their names. Keep their confidence. And it was always the coolest. He was a huge, popular and powerful speaker. And the thing that was eating him up the most. The thing that was killing him now has become his superpower.

And I think that’s what’s going on in today’s gospel. We have the wedding feast at Cana. Jesus’ first miracle. And they’ve run out of wine. So he tells them the jugs by the door for ceremonial washing. Take those. What were those used for? Those were used for foot washing. That’s the water they’re using. It’s like going to the water in your toilet tank. Take that or use that water. It’s water that they would never use. Surely there were springs. Surely there was well water. Why would he use that water? To show that that’s what he does. He transforms even the things we’re running from to glory. And we see that again and again in Saint Paul. That in your weakness is my strength, or in your weakness is my glory.

Jesus’s first miracle. Turning water into wine. Turning like toilet water into wine. Now we jump to the end of John’s gospel. Jesus’s last miracle. The gift of his body and blood. The last supper. And it begins with back at those jokes he knows. Washing the disciples feet. Using that same water. And they’re trying to stop him. And so there’s some tie that that’s what our life should be.

Stop running from our weaknesses. Stop running from our sinfulness. Stop running. Period. And face yourself and embrace yourself. And God will use these things to become our superpower. He takes bread and wine, simple things, and transforms them now into this super gift. His body and blood. This is the call of John’s Gospel is to take our weakness, take our problems, take the things we don’t want to admit to ourselves, and let God turn those into our superpower to heal the world.

A homily for the Baptism of the Lord

When I do baptisms for parents of babies to be baptized, they say, I’m going to ask four questions. And so I say, question number one. What is baptism? After all, you’re requesting it. And if they’ve been to R.E. or to Catholic school, one of them will say it’s washing away sin, washing away original sin. So very good.

We get that from Paul’s letter to the Romans. And he Paul says, you know, when you wash up in the morning, you’re washing away dirt. So he looks at that and says, you know, baptism is probably like that is washing away dirt. So it’s going to be a washing away sin. Second question what is baptism? I say, don’t give me the same answer.

And it’s more. And so I give him the hint. What was the first time anyone saw you? Like naked and all wet. In his day they baptized naked. And so the. Well, that was when I was born. Exactly. Paul looks at baptism, says, you know, it must be like a rebirth, a second birth. The first time was into human family.

Second time into God’s family. Very good answer. Then third question. What is baptism? And then they’re looking at me. Now I say, in church we always have these little holy water fonts by the door, because in the ancient world you always had to wash up a bit before you entered. And so it’s the entrance into a building, because you always had a wash in the ancient world.

So Paul looks at that, says, you know, it must be like entering a building. It’s entering the church. And so this is the fourth question. What is baptism? This one really gets some. But again, it’s Paul to the Romans. And he he looked at that and said, you to when they’re plunged into the water and in his day they baptized by submersion, it’s like being put into the grave, and the water represents the dirt going over your head.

But then you come back out. It’s like resurrection. And so he said, baptism is death and resurrection. So what is it? Is it washing away sin? Is it being born into God’s family? Is it entering a building? Entering the church? Is it death and resurrection? It’s all of them. And probably a lot more. And so when we’re celebrating the baptism of Jesus, or, you know, even in his day, they’re saying, why is he being baptized?

Because it is so rich and so wonderful and so deep and so profound. I think our call is to live all this. We enter the church to make the church, you know, our home. We are dead to sin, alive for Christ. We are washed. Sin is washed away. Let’s try to stay sinless. And, it is a new birth.

We’re born again. Every day is a new day. So I think that’s what we celebrate when we celebrate baptism. And when we celebrate the baptism of Jesus.

Make Your Own Holy Door

Pope Francis opened the Holy Year by opening the ‘Holy Door’ at Saint Peter’s. And you can open your own ‘Holy Door.’

You’ve probably seen on the news how Pope Francis has opened the Holy Year by opening the Holy Door. Those are the center doors at Saint Peter’s in Rome. And I’m thinking that we can do the same. We can designate – and that’s my suggestion to you – that each of us designates some door: an office door or your house door or a classroom door; some door you go through. And each time you go through it, bring holiness with you – through that door. Make that door a holy door. And one way to remind yourself is to mark it. Write “HD” on the door; maybe on an index card or a piece of paper, and tape it to the door, to remind you that every time you go through that door you going to bring holiness with you. Put it on your office, or your classroom, or your house, or any door. “HD” also stands for High Definition. And so I think if we do this: we make a holy door and are intent that every time we go through it we bring holiness with us, we will become more and more High Definition Christians. So, yes, “HD” can stand for ‘Holy Door’ but it can also stand for ‘High Definition.’ Let’s makel this year a holy year and make it a High Definition year. This could be a great New Year’s resolution.