11/24/13 The Plan

Homily from the Solemnity of Christ the King.

"God doesn't want to crush Adam. God's heart has been crushed. Because the man and the woman that He loves are hiding themselves from Him. And His plan was that they would never hide, that they would never have feel like they needed to hide from Him. ... Here is Eve, and she doesn't trust in God's love, and so she turns in on herself. And so what does God say? God says, 'The problem is that you've turned in on yourself. The solution is that you need to die to yourself. And so what am I going to do? I am going to allow you to experience pain in bringing forth life so that you can know the cost of love.' ... The point of that pain in childbirth is not punishment. It's meant to be remedial training. ... Eve didn't know how to love, so I am going to teach you that love costs something. And then with Adam, it's the same thing ... His (God's) plan was that we know how to love. His plan was that we would love each other. And that we would love Him. But that plan was thwarted, and God says, 'Listen. I can still go in this. I can still redeem this. I can still make this better. I can enter into every situation and I can bring good out of it.'"

Mass Readings from November 24, 2013:
2 Samuel 5:1-3
Colossians 1:12-20
Luke 23:35-43

11/17/13 Hell is for Real

Homily from the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time.

"Sometimes people think that sin is just messing up, that sin is slipping up, that sin is an accident. Let's get away from that. Sin is never an accident. If you do an accident, that is just an accident. If you make a mistake, that is just a mistake. It's like spilling milk, it was just an accident. God gets that. He understands that. He is not quick to condemn. In fact, Scripture says this, that God is not fast, He is not quick to condemn. He is not looking to catch you in every little thing, every mistake or every accident. Sin is something different. Sin is like this: sin is when we say to God, 'God, I know what You want, but I don't care. I want what I want.' ... And with that kind of stuff, we actually get what we want. And what is it when I say, God I know what you want, but I don't care. I want what I want? And I choose that? What happens when I get that? Ultimately, that is called hell. ... God does not send anyone to hell. If any of us end up in hell, it is because we chose it. We said, 'I don't want You, I want this other thing.' As C.S. Lewis said, 'Hell is a door locked from the inside.'"

Mass Readings from November 17, 2013:
Malachi 3:19-20
2 Thessalonians 3:7-12
Luke 21:5-19

11/10/13 Game Changers: Heaven

Homily from the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time.

"The enemy has been defeated. The game changer of the whole show is Jesus. Because yes, the Greeks gave us reason, and the Jews gave us revelation, but Jesus is the One who actually encountered death, died, and then conquered death. This is what we believe as Christians, is that at death, Jesus faced down the mortal enemy of everything that is ever living, and He actually let it beat him. But when He let it beat Him, He beat it. And He changed it. And so we realize that the Christian view of Heaven is not just a myth. I mean think about this, all of the other myths make Heaven into what we want it to be: it's all about us. We get everything we wanted. But for a Christian, Heaven is this: it is not about self-actualization, not where you become the person you always wanted to be. Heaven is a place of selflessness. Heaven is not a place where you get everything you ever wanted, where you get your puppy back, and you get your family back, and you get to play golf non-stop. Heaven is the place where it is not about you at all. It is about worshiping God for all eternity. In fact, the Christian view of Heaven does not conform to just the myth. But it's revealed by the only Person who ever entered into death and then beat it."

Mass Readings from November 10, 2013:
2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14
2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5
Luke 20:27-38

To visit the appeal page that Father Mike mentions after the homily, visit this website:

http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Newman-Catholic-Campus-Ministries-At-Umd

10/31/13 For Theirs is the Kingdom

Homily from the Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of All Saints.

"Our brothers and sisters around this world are experiencing great, great trial. But they also, around this world and in Heaven, are experiencing incredibly glory. And that's what this Mass is about right now. It's about the reality that those who have lived in Christ and died in Christ now experience the glory of Christ. And this is your destiny. And this is my destiny. And that's the thing, is that we not only lift up the Saints, but we also ask for their prayers, we ask for their help because the thing is, no one comes to Jesus alone. None of us come to Jesus alone. It's never part of "I want Him so it will be Jesus and me," it's actually always going to be He wants me so He brings me into His family. ...And if you're a Christian, you are in His family. If you've been baptized, you are in His family, and you have absolutely nothing, nothing in Heaven, on earth or under the earth to be afraid of. Especially if at this moment you are feeling discouraged."

Mass Readings from October 31, 2013:
Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12

11/03/13 Game Changers: Contrition

Homily from the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time.

"I have to let go of that past, or else I will just stay exactly the same. Because the thing is, so many people are willing to come to Jesus to be forgiven, but so few people are willing to come to Jesus to let Him change them. A lot of us want Jesus to forgive us. Very, very few of us want Jesus to change us."

Mass Readings from November 03, 2013:
Wisdom 11:22-12:2
2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2
Luke 19:1-10