The Secret Blueprint to Heaven Hidden in the Assumption

 

You Did Not Have to Be Here

Good morning everyone. You all know why you’re here today because it is a solemnity. It is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which this year is not a day of obligation. Hopefully you all know that, and that makes it even more special because you don’t have to be here.

But the reality is we need a day like this. Imagine if the best you could get out of life was just enough to get by. Imagine you suffer, you go through tough times, and then at the end of your life you say, “Well, at least my children are going to be well off.” Or imagine you take a bullet for someone you love and you think, “At least this person will continue living.”

Today is a reminder that you don’t have to settle for anything less than the minimum.

Maybe because I’m Italian, I think of this day as going to a restaurant. When you go to a restaurant, what do you expect? Good food, sure, but if that’s all you expect it’s not a great restaurant. You expect a great waiter or waitress. You expect a comfortable place where you can relax. You expect a fair bill. You expect everything to be clean. Imagine if the only thing you expected was good food while there were roaches on the wall, which I have seen.

Today reminds us that the full package is our destiny.

First Lesson: Mary Always Leads the Way

Mary, for many of us, could have been our first real interaction with Jesus. Just as she gave the world her son, Jesus came into the world through her.

When I was learning about my faith, it was actually the arguments that Protestants were making against Mary that made me study her first in order to get to Jesus. And Mary continues to lead the way, allowing us to go through her to get to him, as if to say, follow me, I’m heading to my son.

Mary always leads the way, and with her assumption she shows us that the grave is not the final destination.

Second Lesson: What Humility Actually Gets You

People often think of humility as simply being quiet and kind to others. And what does that get you? Everybody’s at peace, everybody’s happy. But the reality about humility is something much bigger than that.

People love people who are humble. You can get so much done with an open heart, an open mind, and open hands with very few strings attached. The fact that Mary is humble is a good indicator for all of us that being humble isn’t just about being nice. It’s about being able to get things done and make a big difference in the world.

Third Lesson: The Body Is Not Left Behind

Mary’s assumption into heaven is body and soul. It is not as if the body does all the work and then gets discarded at the end. The body, along with all its sacrifices, all its scars, all its wounds, gets healed.

There is a beauty in suffering. The crucifix is ugly, but it is beautiful at the same time, because it means something. It means we are loved, and loved a lot. God does not leave anything behind. God is able to beautify the whole person, everything.

Fourth Lesson: Decisions Define Your Life

One of the most dangerous and thrilling things in life is making a decision. The decisions you make can be scary, but that is also what brings excitement to life.

The fact that Mary said yes, that is where it all began. That one yes brought her to this moment. And so for the decisions we make, especially the really big ones, it is always worth taking time to pray and reflect. Because at least then you can say, I didn’t do it alone. I did it with the help of God.

Fifth Lesson: God Has the Last Word

Death, suffering, the grave, hurt, and wounds are not the last word. God is.

There are so many lessons we can learn from the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and yet it keeps coming back to a restaurant. You want the whole package. You want everything. And you want a great deal. Life gives us a great deal.

Amen.

Stop Doubting God: How to Find His Love in Your Life Again

 

Good morning everyone.

Well, my dear brothers and sisters, these readings this Sunday are inspirational.

They're beautiful.

They're exactly what I think we all need to hear.

And maybe this is the right time.

Of course, it's the right time.

It's God's time.

So let's take a look at the first reading from the book of Kings.

So Elijah was sent up to the mountain by the Lord.

And while he's up there, you see the wind.

A strong and heavy wind was rendering the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord.

I mean, crushing rocks.

I don't know if you've ever been caught hiking when a storm comes over.

It's a scary thing.

Crushing rocks, the heavy wind.

But the Lord was not there.

And then there was an earthquake.

And the Lord was not there.

And then there was a fire.

And the Lord was not there.

But the Lord was in a whispering sound.

What is that whispering sound?

What is that whispering sound?

And then in the second reading, letter to the Romans, Saint Paul is suffering.

I am in great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart.

Why?

Because my people are not accepting the Lord.

The Jewish people are not accepting Jesus for the sake of my own people.

For I could wish that I myself were accursed, cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people.

I would do anything for my people to accept Jesus.

And so Saint Paul suffers.

And is in anguish.

Does it mean that he has not found God?

Where is that whisper?

What is that whisper?

And then, of course, you see the gospel.

Same thing.

Wind, heavy wind, storm, everything is happening, almost like in the first reading.

And then the apostles see this small figure in the water walking.

And Saint Peter looks and says, is that you, Lord?

Take courage.

It is I. Don't be afraid.

Lord, if it's you, command me to walk on the water.

And Jesus says, come.

And then Peter comes out.

And, you know, Lord, maybe I'm saying the wrong thing here.

But, you know, when when Jesus says, oh, you of little faith, oh, you of little faith.

Well, there were 12 guys in the boat.

And only one of them stepped out.

So I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't.

I mean, like, that's pretty courageous that that's that's faith.

Right.

You know, like you stepped out, you stepped out.

And he walked for a few seconds, maybe.

So what is this little whisper?

What is it?

Well, my dear brothers and sisters, in the first reading.

In the old times, if you saw the movie The Odyssey, you know exactly what I mean.

God was always in the storm, in the earthquake.

Lord, what have we done?

What have we done?

Why are you doing this?

Like for mythology, Greek mythology, for Egyptian mythology, for all the ancient religions, God was in the earthquake, God was in the storm, God was in the fire.

Like you are upset with us.

And isn't it remarkable for the Jewish people that God was not in any of those things?

But God is there.

He's in the whisper.

And what is the whisper?

I care about you.

That's the whisper.

Right.

Sometimes all it takes is when someone holds your hand.

And then, you know, you're cared about.

It's not someone that says, hey, let's go over the house, let's go in, let's go party, let's get together, let's go out.

Sometimes all it takes is a little hug and you feel loved.

Or you hold the person's hand and you feel loved.

Or when you see someone, they make you smile.

They make you smile.

See, that is the whisper.

That's the beauty of God.

It's not in the loud, it's not in the obnoxious, it's not in any of these things.

And for Saint Paul, even though he's in anguish, you know, how many times do people get you so upset and people get you so angry and so sad?

Your children, when they don't pay attention to what you have to say and the sacrifices that you make and still, what do you do?

You still do it.

You still do it.

Why?

Because that's the only way for you to be able to say, I care about you.

I love you.

You're mine.

And for that reason, Saint Paul is willing to continue preaching.

Instead of saying, you know what?

You're on your own.

See you, you're on your own.

Goodbye.

I'm done.

I'm done.

That's when you realize those people that say I'm done, they don't get the mission.

They don't get the mission.

It's hard.

But there is one thing I do want to ask all of you.

On page nine of the bulletin, it is our campaign that we're trying to raise 150,000 towards the parish hall renovation, which is they're working on it now.

They're about 80% complete, but we're kind of short.

So I don't ask often, but on page nine, there's a QR code.

If you can scan that code, if you can make a donation, I truly appreciate it.

I'm yours and you are mine.

And when St.

Peter gets out of the boat and starts walking, what happened?

What went wrong?

Well, OK, what is the storm?

What's the earthquake?

What's the fire?

All those ugly voices in your head.

You're not good enough.

You're a loser.

You're a failure.

What are people going to say about me?

The storm, the earthquake, the fire is another way of saying all those ugly voices in your head.

And all those ugly voices outside your head.

All those people that say, you can't do this.

Who do you think you are?

You're nothing.

And that's what happens.

Because what happened with Peter was that as long as he stayed focused on Jesus, as long as he stayed stayed focused on what is good, right and holy, beautiful, then you're going to be OK. You're going to suffer.

But you're going to hear the voice, I care about you, don't you?

But if you start listening to those voices in your head or outside your head, then you're going to start failing and you're going to start sinking.

And there are people like that.

In this world, there are very few people that really care about you.

I'm going to give you an example.

Just a couple of days ago, I went to CVS to pick up a prescription.

And on the top of the jar or the bottle that had the pills was this thing.

You see this?

On top of the jar, like when you open it, this is right on top.

What is this?

This is all the things that could go wrong if you take this medicine.

This has to be a hundred pages in Times Roman font 12.

Look at this thing.

Look at this.

It's got chemical bombs.

Look at this.

Look at this.

This is a hundred pages of what could go wrong.

And this is for acid reflux medicine.

Look at this.

Look at this.

Nobody reads this.

Nobody.

And everybody knows it.

Even the person that made this.

Even the person who made this knows that you will not read this.

But we're covering ourselves.

We're covering ourselves.

Imagine having a job that everything that you do, nobody will ever read.

I didn't even open up the whole thing.

Look at this.

Front and back.

What does this tell you?

We put our...

And what am I supposed to do?

I'm supposed to read this and then decide I'm not going to take the medicine.

Even though my doctor says, don't worry about it.

It's okay.

Did you read this, doctor?

No.

And then we say...

And then people say to you, oh, you believe in faith?

You have faith in God?

Yeah.

Because you know why?

At least I know he whispers to me.

And he really cares about me.

He's not trying to cover himself.

He's not trying to legal jumble, mumble, jumble.

No.

He cares about us.

How do we know he cares about us?

Because if you get anything out of this homily...

I'm not even sure if this made a good connection, but anyways.

Peter's prayer says it all.

Three words, Lord, save me.

And what do they say?

What did St.

Matthew write in the gospel?

Immediately, the Lord stretched out his hand and grabbed him.

Immediately.

What is the whisper that you have to be very attentive to?

Otherwise, you'll miss it, that the Lord cares about us.

Amen.

Now, I have to fold this for the next homily.