Sunday Homily

This is week 3 of our homily series More than Words.  Go to our website, https://saintmary.life/messagematters/ to follow along as we break open the word and answer some questions about how what we say reveals our hearts. With Fr. Doug and Amanda Martin Saint Mary Catholic Church - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

The Gospel of Matthew depicts the scene of Jesus’ ascension into Heaven. Before Jesus ascends he gathers the 11 remaining loyal apostles and gives them his final instructions. He gives them their mission and their focus. When the Church stays focused on these words, it succeeds but when it forgets them, it goes wrong. The same is true of our lives when we have a few words that clearly define our purpose and our mission. In this week, we will encourage members of the parish to find words or verses from Scripture that are their key verse for their lives that give direction to their lives.

This is week 2 of our homily series More than Words.  Go to our website, https://saintmary.life/messagematters/ to follow along as we break open the word and answer some questions about how what we say reveals our hearts. With Fr. Doug and Amanda Martin Saint Mary Catholic Church - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Jesus said that the words from our mouths come out of our hearts. If we watch our language and the words of our mouth we will see the impurities that need to be purified from our lives. Words help us evaluate the condition of our hearts. We will see the things in our heart that are negative and lead to death. We can also spot the positives that lead to life. 

This is the first of our Message Matters Monday, a discussion the weekly message.  This week we premiere our new homily series, More than Words. Words have power and God’s words have God’s power. To access the power of God in our lives and use our words for good, we should connect with God’s word. With Fr. Doug and Amanda Martin Saint Mary Catholic Church - Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Today we begin a new homily series but also celebrate Mother’s Day! We will introduce the power of words deriving from God’s Word. The early Church grew as the disciples devoted themselves to the Word of God and did not neglect it. To grow in life and use our words well we must not neglect our service to the Word. Words have power and God’s Words have God’s power. To access the power of God in our lives and use our words for good, we should connect with God’s Word.

The abundant life comes from listening to the voice of Jesus, becoming more and more familiar with his voice so we follow him and not the voice of strangers who do not have our good in mind.

The death of the Lord on the Cross brought a crisis of faith for his friends and followers. It was the end of the world as they had known it, as well as the death of all their hopes and dreams. Then something even more unbelievable happened. Something that seemed impossible. Easter celebrates the impossible things that God can do in the midst of a crisis.

Faith and hope go together. The deeper our faith in Jesus’ resurrection, the more hope we will have for the future. Faith is the foundation of hope. So over the course of this series we are looking at the early disciples and their accounts of how they came to believe in Jesus’ resurrection and the hope it gave them. We all need hope right now and the firm foundation for that is our faith in Jesus’ resurrection.

Over the next four weeks we are going to look at the evidence and experiences of the early Christians and the hope which that brought into their lives. Faith and hope are two things we desperately need right now. They are available. So I want you to make a few commitments to get the most out of this series. One, commit to join us here online, each Sunday. This is a series that you want to be a part of. It will help deepen your faith and give you hope for the future.

This Passion Sunday is, in one way, a very sad day: Walking with Jesus on this day can break your heart. But it's also the brightest of days, because it tells how very much we are loved, and because it reminds us, who view it from the vantage point of the resurrection, that despite all appearances, ALL WILL BE WELL! So let us rejoice, because, thanks be to our good God, ALL WILL BE WELL!

Over and over again, Jesus’ friends and followers were pressed into service. Consistently, Jesus would do what he could do only after his followers did what they could do. That’s why he tells them: “Roll away the stone.”

The Gospel readings this week point out the corruption and injustice of the pharisees. It also shows us that even in the midst of injustice and misuse of authority, God can do great works. Right now we are dealing with this virus and like injustice and misuse of authority, this virus is a bad thing! But if we are like the blind man and draw close to Jesus, even when things are tough, he will help us to see. He will transform our vision to see beyond injustice, or a health threat like the coronavirus, and grow in relationship with him.

There are times when it looks like God is just making our life difficult. It seems obvious that if God would just remove the immediate obstacles then life would be much easier, and much better.

God’s original design for the world was good and operated without suffering an injustice. When sin entered, so did suffering. This was not part of God’s original plan. The transfiguration occurred shortly after Peter fi rst confessed that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and that he would suffer and die. The close connection between the transfiguration and Peter’s confession is significant – the Messiah must suffer but glorification, not suffering, is his ultimate fate. This was reassurance for the disciples to see Jesus “changed” and “glorified” as they contemplated what was about to happen to Jesus and to them (a future of suffering for Christ). We are also expected to endure some suffering for Christ as Paul says in today’s second reading.