One of my brother priests, he used to be a chaplain for the Navy Seals, and he’s such a great dude. Let’s just say he is pretty large. He has biceps as big as my face. He was in a war torn country celebrating mass for his Navy Seals. As he’s celebrating mass, an explosion happens outside of the tent. The priest dives for cover. As he looks up, he notices all of the Navy Seals are still kneeling in the dirt praying to the Lord. One of the Navy Seals gently looks at the priest and he says, “Father, keep pressing on.”
Here’s the Gospel today where Jesus says, “Perseverance will secure your lives.” No matter what sufferings, no matter what trauma, no matter what we experience in this life, with Jesus Christ, we can persevere to the end. The Navy Seals of Catholicism are the saints. You look at any of the saints’ lives, they persevered in the midst of sorrow, suffering, trauma, addiction, sins. With Jesus Christ, they persevered, and so can you. Only with Jesus, only with his grace.
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Witness of the Saints
Top five most gruesome apostle martyrs. Coming in fifth, St. Thomas, stabbed to death with a spear. Coming in fourth St. James, the Lesser, clubbed to death. Coming in third St. Simon sawed in half. Coming in second, our very own first Pope St. Peter crucified upside down and coming in first St. Bartholomew skinned alive. Today, the feasts of St. John LA and you walk into this basilica and you see statues of the apostles holding the tools of their martyrdom. This is the witness of the saints. Death had no power over the witness of the apostles. Death has no power over Jesus Christ and as Catholic Christians, death has no power over you. Go be witnesses of Jesus. Just don’t get skinned alive.
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Hungry for Jesus
Okay, so let’s talk about sushi. It is a common experience that when people eat sushi, they feel more hungry afterward. There are so many factors to this. White rice is quickly digestible. There is very little protein within sushi. The salty soy sauce that we consume also makes us really, really thirsty and really, really hungry. All these factors combined do not satisfy us. In the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus…
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The Imprint on Your Hearts
Let’s talk about money. In ancient Rome, Caesar’s face was imprinted on coins so that people would know who the emperor was. In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus asks the Pharisees to take out a coin and tells them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s.” Jesus is telling the Pharisees to give him his coins, be good citizens, pay their taxes, and not jaywalk. But everyone…
