 Our Lady of Good Homilies. I could use all the help I can get. My dear brothers, my dear sisters, have you ever had the experience of drinking a good glass of wine and you're just sipping on it and you reach over and you go to, as you're reading your fine book, I won't say by which author, and then you realize it's gone. Who's had that experience? There we go. The men don't want to raise their hands because they don't drink wine, they drink beer. Okay. How many men have had the experience of drinking a glass? There we go, there we go, okay. Thank you. It's not a good feeling, is it? You're unsatisfied. You thought, your whole body thought you had one more sip in that thing and it's gone. But it is such a surprise though when you thought you were done and you reach over and you realize it's only half gone and you got half a bottle more to go or half a glass more to go. That's a great experience. That, my brothers and my sisters, is an example of how everything in this world passes. Everything is fleeting. Everything is vanity, as we are told in the first reading from Koheleff or from Ecclesiastes and I learned this cool thing that I want to teach you too. And the Bible scholars can correct me if I am wrong, but I did learn it from another Bible scholar so they can argue amongst themselves. So Ecclesiastes, a wonderful book, the speaker, it's like a monologue. Someone comes onto the scene, the narrator speaks and the main character comes on and speaks about the different things of this life and Koheleff apparently comes from the Hebrew, Kahal, which is the root word where we get the Greek Ecclesia, which is church or assembly. And so that's why the Greeks and the Latins translated it literally to Ecclesiastes. I bet you never know where the heck that title came from. I didn't either until I read the commentaries. So Ecclesiastes does have to do with Koheleff, it's the same thing. It's to the church or to the preacher of the congregation. And so Koheleff comes and speaks something wonderful to us. It's placed in the canon typically between proverbs and song of songs and some of the fathers saw it as the placement being significant as in the states of life or the states of perfection for the Christian. The illuminative proverbs, the prerogative way, Koheleff or Ecclesiastes, and the unitive way, the song of songs. And the prerogative way, this is the time in the state, in the life of the Christian and in his walk to perfection where he detaches from things of this world. Detachment is not very easy, but it is so necessary and the result is so sweet even though the journey is so strenuous. The detachment that we're called to my brothers and sisters first is from sin. It's from those pesky things that keep us away from God. Mortal sin, then venial sin. Detachment from even good and neutral things in this world. We need to be detached from mortal sins because, well, we'll die if we don't. We've talked about death a lot this weekend. If you don't detach from mortal sin, you will die the death, the real death, the spiritual death, the one that Adam and Eve died when God had promised them that they would die even though they were walking, looking all pretty and everything, but they were dead. Mortal sin is the absolute worst evil that could ever happen to somebody. The worst evil is mortal sin and that is why the worst thing that could wish upon somebody is to help them into mortal sin. We're called that scandal in theology. So run and flee from such evil from such death. We're called to be detached from that. And St. Paul resonates that call in the second reading from Colossians where he tells us to not go back to the sins from which we were saved in the first place. But mortal sin is not the only evil. Venial sin to my brothers and sisters. Now, I would not say this perhaps to every crowd, but I think you can handle this, but a saint once said that if... that a venial sin, the evil of a venial sin, right, is even more grave than the destruction of the entire universe. Because you see, a natural destruction of the entire universe does not offend the holiness of the all good and all merciful God. But one venial sin offends him, he who loves us. I know, right? Venial, even as it is, venial or light sin, I don't want to scare you because there is a remedy for that. I will tell you in a moment. But venial sin is nothing good. There's nothing that you want to dance with in your life. You need to get rid of it. You need to be detached from it. In fact, it's one of the conditions to receive a plenary indulgence anyway. So you should probably do it. And even though it is light, but if you keep piling them on, even though they do not turn into mortal sin, but they become very weighty. You keep taking sand, right? One little bit of sand. If you keep piling that up into a bag, you yourself might not be able to lift it. And then it affects your spiritual life. You become dull in the spiritual life. You no longer wish to pray. You no longer wish to love God. And you simply keep desiring to sin more and more. And perhaps eventually you might fall into a mortal sin. So detach yourselves from mortal sin. Detach yourselves from continual sins. But not only that, my brothers and sisters. Detach yourselves from everything of this world. Good or bad. Detach yourselves even from people. Detach yourselves from wealth. Detach yourselves from knowledge. As good as they are. To be detached from them is not to hate them necessarily, but it is to consider a rightful place in your life as a Christian. It is to consider that they are contingent beings, contingent things. They do not exist in and of themselves, but they depend on another. On the necessary being, which is God himself. The only thing necessary that Mary chose, though Martha was worried about many other things. The one thing that is necessary is Jesus. It is God. Now, why detach from these things? Because they can hold us back. Because sometimes we can use them as replacements of God. We can turn them into idols. And that's the sin of idolatry. We need to slaughter them. Those gods in our lives that can take the place of God. That is why one of the main reasons whether Israel, Israelites were called to slaughter animals. It is because those were the very gods that the Egyptians used to serve. And they too would serve when they meddled with the culture of the Egyptians. So instead of themselves transforming the Egyptians from inside, instead of the gospel, the good news of God, the one God penetrating into the culture of Egypt and transcending and transforming it, rather they themselves were transformed. They were not strengthened enough. But the gospel of Jesus will come and He will transform you and me. They had to slaughter these animals because they became their idols. So too there are certain things in our lives that we need to slaughter because they can be our idols. Specifically, they can be categorized into three. Money, sex, and power. Those three things are wonderful. Not that I would know with all of them. But they're good things I've heard. And and yet those are the things that the world has turned into idols. Those are the golden cowards of our day. Money, sex, and power. Because they are the ones that we are told will make us happy. And I do not know one person who has ever been satisfied by having a lot of money, a lot of sex and a lot of power. But I do know a lot of people who have been satisfied, unsatisfied, hurt, damaged, and thrown into depression because of seeking money, sex, and power. I also know many, many people who are very happy, very joyful precisely for having given up for having been detached from money, sex, and power. Exhibit A. I am very happy my brothers and sisters. Yet I am poor. I don't have sex. But I don't have sex. And I don't have any power. I couldn't even come to this conference without asking for the permission of my bishop. I, who am an adult, chose to become a child in obedience to the church in obedience to another sinful human being like myself. And I could not be happier in my life to be a celibate poor, obedient human being. I remember, I was, I've told this to a couple of different people, maybe to youth conferences, but that I did go to a restaurant one day in Haiti and I ordered some pizza out of all things. And the server came by with a very seductive smile. And I was a bit worried. Now, I was by myself but I had my collar on. It's very good to have your collar on, to have your habit on. Much of it is for our own protection, you know. And as she comes over and says good afternoon, sir. I looked at her and Haiti, I could do that. I was like, sir. She goes, what? You know the sir? I was like, no. And I pointed to my collar and she goes, are you a priest? I said, yes. I am a priest. She goes, no. I'm not a Catholic priest. You know what she means, right? She had maybe a Episcopalian or something. She said, nope. I'm a proud Catholic priest. And she goes, you don't love women. You don't want to have children? How can you do it? There is no way that you can resist a young, good-looking priest like you. Well, maybe she didn't say that much. But, you know, I'm getting older. I forget things. I forget some details. And I said to her, yes, she said, you can't do this. And again, with this seduction. And I remember I was, thankfully I received the Holy Spirit at the moment whom I needed. And I said, well, you're right. I alone in my own power could not ever do this. I could not do this. But you see, I know someone by the name of Jesus of Nazareth who gave up everything. Who gave up his life for me. And I just figured there is nothing that was too valuable to sacrifice for him. And so my life also I sacrificed unto him. And it is only in him and by his power that I can do this. And, you know, she looked at me. She who had a seductive smile suddenly got serious and said, Father, I used to know Jesus like that, too. And she said, I want to know him like you do. She said, I'm living with this guy and since I've done that, I don't go to church and I I just don't do what I used to do. And I invited her. Well, today is the day that the Lord has made. Today is the day of salvation. Today you should come back to Jesus. You said, I want to but I should probably speak to him first. I said, I don't think you ask Jesus permission when you were divorcing him. I don't think you need this guy's permission when you want to get back with Jesus. Now, I'm not perfect at all. I'm far from it, my brothers and sisters. But I have tasted of the goodness of the Lord. I have tasted of His bountifulness, of His grace and it is good. It is very good. Now, this detachment, my brothers and sisters, we can have some aid from Holy Mother Church as He teaches us. During the length we often hear about prayer and fasting and oncegiving. But just so you know, that's not locked into let alone, you know. It's okay. It's not sinful to do those things outside of let. In fact, every day you should probably be practicing those things. Why? Because they are the remedies to those three idols. They are the things that help you slaughter the idols in our lives of sex, money and love. You see, when you pray, you recognize yourself as humble, as little as needing another. You need God. So you get on your knees and you obey. And so that is the antidote to the idol of power. When you fast, my brothers and sisters, you fast because you want to conquer the flesh, which is another big enemy, in this world, and you slaughter the idol of pleasure or sex. And when you give alms, you slaughter the God of money, the great God of money. You may have noticed that in the gospel the rich man was not punished because he was rich. He could be rich, but it's because he wanted to indulge in himself and for himself to hold it for himself. But Proverbs tells us that with Proverbs 31, we give it to the needy. And so the value of our wealth is not in how much we have, but it is in how much we give what we do with it, how we help the poor, the needy, and how we allow others to be blessed by the blessings that we ourselves have received. So please, even though I am poor, but please be rich because it is through your wealth that I do and hate it. Somebody needs to make the money. And some of you have that vocation, but when you do make sure you spread it to those who are in need. It's not easy to detach yourselves. But when you come to encounter Jesus, you will be able to say with St. Paul and allow me to quote from Philippians chapter 3. Paul says verse 7 to 11, but whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them to so much rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found not having any righteousness of my own based on the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ. The righteousness from God depending on faith to know him in the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death. If somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. So yes, my brothers and sisters, everything is vanity when you come to know Jesus. Everything is vanity. Now Jesus, however, is the only thing that can give any worth to anything and to you. So you're suffering that is vanity, that is vain, but it can come to be worthy when it is united to the sufferings of Christ. And your wealth, which is vain, can come to be worthy when you're united to Christ, when you do the will of Christ with it. When you become a disciple of Jesus, you'll meet him. You have found everything. And that's what I told that young lady. I said, though I have nothing, but in Jesus, I've got everything. In him, I choose the loss of everything for him. And you see, that's why I would like to recognize in a special way the religious amongst us that have chosen to lose everything for the one portion so that God can be their portion. So dear brothers, dear sisters who have chosen that life, you have chosen the better part and God loves you for it. And what Jesus is calling us to my brothers and sisters in discipleship in losing everything is nothing short of marriage. And that's the unitive way. He's calling us to a natural relationship. Not just a personal relationship with Jesus where you walk with him as a friend. That's nice. Jesus wants to be more than a friend. And so as you have that DTF with them, you know, define the relationship, he wants to tell you, no, I don't want to just be friends, but I want to marry you. I want to be one with you. And that marriage is the Eucharist. We are indeed a people of the Eucharist. That marriage is when you become one body with God and you forget everything else. Become what you eat, though. Become Jesus and your blood may run through your veins. And when that blood runs through your veins you come to partake of divinity. That is more than just a nice walk with Jesus in the park. Than just a nice singing for him is that you need to be consumed by his love. Like charcoal, that is so different from the flames of fire. But when thrown into the flames it becomes indistinguishable. It is distinct from the fire of the flame. And that's precisely what happens when we dive into the grace of Jesus Christ internal life with him is that we almost are not recognized. We still hold on to our humanity as the charcoal remains charcoal but we are so consumed by his love by his grace that we become like him and we taste divinity. We partake of divinity as St. Peter tells us. My brothers and sisters I challenge you today to give up something. Think of what is that thing to you that is most invaluable in your life? What could it be perhaps? Some possession that you have that is most invaluable. Well that's not the one I'm going to ask you to give up. Forget that one. You can deal with that one later. But pick something valuable today. Something that's valuable, has some value. And today make the choice to give it away to someone else. Give it. You won't die, I promise. In fact you know that the first Christian community was so powerful precisely because of that. When they were touched by Jesus the rich gave up everything they had they sold their houses, sold their land and they give it to the disciples, to the apostles. Freely they did so. But that witness of love and no one was in need because of that, they were detached. And because of that the gospel was working miracles amongst people and thousands upon thousands were converted daily. Even though as Bishop Bern was saying they didn't have social media they didn't have TV radio they didn't have a building they didn't have parish councils they didn't have any of the stuff that we have today. And yet thousands were coming to the faith daily. Why could they do it and we cannot? Because they were converted in the gospel of Jesus Christ as his true disciples by giving up everything for the one thing that was important the one thing that is necessary. So stop by giving up one thing but you know let's not stop there. Give up everything. Some of you today in your religious life stop stalling some of you are being called to the mission fields go be radical some of you are being called to be very generous go and do so give up everything and even the things that you have act as if you don't have them they are not your God Jesus is your God Jesus is your savior and my brothers and sisters we are weak we cannot always hold on to that life of perfection but we are given the grace of God and nowhere is it stronger and more full than in the Eucharist you see life with Jesus is life in heaven heaven already on earth life with Jesus is like reaching for that glass of wine and have it never ever run out in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit