We are Called to be Witnesses

Sermon by Rev. John Paul Shea

The Ascension of The Lord, May 8, 2016

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Tucson, AZ

Today we celebrate the wonderful feast of 

Christ’s journey into heaven, also known as the Ascension. 

We are called to reflect on our journey as Christians. The feast reminds us that our lives here on earth are temporary. We are only passing through, and our destiny is to live eternally with God in heaven. 

We hear in today’s Gospel (Mark 16:15-20) that -- before Our Lord is about to be taken up into heaven -- He tells His disciples to go out into the world and preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins. “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24: 46-49)

My brothers and sisters, the Ascension of our Lord calls us to keep our minds and hearts focused on the goal of our Christian faith. Our Lord Jesus ascended into heaven so that we too can ascend to heaven at the end of this age. 

Our Lord Jesus has come into our world so that we can live with Him in eternal life! 

In today’s first reading (Acts 1:1-11), His disciples watched Jesus taken into heaven, and while they were watching, two angels appear and say,

“Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.” 

In other words, the angels were saying to the disciples, "Get busy. Don’t just stand here and stare at the sky. Jesus is coming again. What you need is to focus on proclaiming the message of salvation!" 

It has been over two thousand years since Our Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, and now is the time for us to get busy more than ever! 

This present world is ending. This is why we see today so much violence and war, so much rampant immorality, and so much lack of desire for truth amongst world leaders and our societies. 

When Our Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven the world consisted of only 300 million people. Now our population is more than seven billion. The Gospel has been proclaimed to all corners of the earth. Yet, we continue down the path of self-destruction because we do not adhere to Jesus' call to repent and change our ways. 

In fact, we live in a critical time in all aspects! We are rapidly advancing in technology, but at the same time we are rapidly losing sight of

11-day-old human embryo grown in a lab at the University of Cambridge

what is true and eternal. Our world continues to try to solve its problems, but it is having little success because it does not call upon the help of God nor follow His path of life.

Fr John Paul Shea

My brothers and sisters, today’s celebration is about preparing our hearts and souls for eternal life. Our Lord Jesus “who has been taken up into heaven will return in the same way” as He ascended into heaven, and He is coming soon!

Therefore, as our world continues to focus on its politics, fights its wars, and indulge in its material pleasures; as our world continues to celebrate its so called “new innovations” such as gay marriage and transgender bathrooms,  let us keep our hearts focused on the Ascension. Let us not focus our attention on all that is passing away, the world's garbage. But let us strive to live in purity and holiness so that our hearts and souls will be lifted toward the greater meaning of life, that is eternal salvation.

Love One Another As I Have Loved You

Sermon by Rev. John Paul Shea

5th Sunday of Easter, April 24, 2016

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Tucson, AZ

“Love one another as I have loved you."

In today’s Gospel (John 13:31-35), Our Lord is preparing for His passion, and as He prepares, He gives His disciples a new commandment. 

What is this new commandment? It is love.  “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This is a commandment that every person must live if he or she wants to attain to eternal life.

Although Our Lord Jesus speaks of love as a new commandment, it is technically not new. For example, the commandment to love one another is found in the Old Testament in the Book of Leviticus Chapter 19 where God says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Yet, there is something new about this commandment: Our Lord introduces Himself as the standard for love. We must learn to love one another as Jesus has loved us.

My brothers and sisters, Our Lord Jesus has shown us the most perfect example of love. Even though He is God, He humbled Himself and came into the world as a slave. He suffered the most extreme torture on the cross so that we can come to know God’s love for us and share in His love for all eternity!

The love that Christ gives us is a love that renews our entire person. It is a love that divests us of our former selves and clothes us with a new self. Therefore, when we love as Jesus loves, we become a new man or a new woman. We clothe ourselves in the white of purity so that we can share in the very life of God at the end of time.

We get an image of our new life with God at the end of time in today’s second reading (Revelation 21:1-5). Saint John sees a vision of a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth -- the world we live in today -- passed away. John sees the holy city, a new Jerusalem, come down from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband.

John hears a voice saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God… for the old order has passed away.”

Our world is passing away. Our Lord is coming again soon to establish His Kingdom of pure love. Whatever is not of Christ's love will be purified or destroyed.

Therefore, if we want to share in eternal life,  we must strive to follow Our Lord’s commandment of love.

Such a commandment is not a superficial love. Our Lord’s love on earth was faithful, sacrificial, and truthful. His love was selfless and whole. Our Lord’s love was a commitment to His Father. He calls His disciples to follow His example of faithfulness and commitment, loving God and one another. 

Love means we want the best for the other person. We want to help all who God places in our lives to go to heaven. But love always requires truth. It requires that we don't live the lies that society teaches us but the divine truths Christ handed down to us.

To live love in truth is not easy. It requires sacrifice. Yet, sacrifice and difficulty are essential if we want to attain eternal life. We are reminded of this in today’s first reading (Acts 14:21-27). Saints Paul and Barnabas remind the disciples to persevere in faith, saying, "It is necessary that we undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”

If we want to enter into the Kingdom of God, it is necessary that we undergo many hardships. We must make many sacrifices.
In our time and culture today, people don’t want to sacrifice. We want things easy. Yet, faith is not meant to be easy. Faith requires a change of direction, and this means that we must be stretched to the limits of our endurance.

Our Lord has said that if we want to be His disciples, then we must deny ourselves and pick up our cross. As Christians we are called to deny whatever in our world is contrary to God’s plan of eternal life.

The cross is a contradiction today. Many  seek to indulge in the pleasures of the world, to live as they want.  Our society teaches  there is no sanctity in marriage, nor is life sacred. The world's message is just use one another, and your own body as you want. Your bodies do not belong to God, but to yourself. 

Yet, Jesus teaches this is not so. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. God created our sexuality as a means to share in His love. In fact, the gift of sexual union between a man and woman in marriage is the most perfect and sacred way that humanity can share in  God’s love. But the world has trampled on this most sacred gift, turning it into an act of selfishness, perversion, and self-gratification.

Fr John Paul Shea 

My brothers and sisters, in today’s Gospel our Lord gives us a new commandment. He teaches us that we must love one another as He has loved us. Our Lord’s commandment is not easy, but it is a commandment each one of us must embrace if we want to be His disciple and attain to eternal life. May God bless us and help us.

Did you enjoy this sermon? There are many more. You might like I Am the Good Shepherd    

Please Lord

A Heartfelt Prayer

By Christopher Ziegler

Please, Lord Jesus, have pity on me, 

For I am weak.

My will is broken and weary.

I cannot love you as you love me.

Your love for me is mighty and binding.

My love for you is real but frail.

Yet I know that by your mercy and by your grace,

I can become what you want me to become.

I believe it and know it to be true.

You are powerful. 

You made me. 

You can heal me.

Please, Lord, I want to be healed!

Cure me and make me holy,

For the glory of your name.

Amen.

Christopher Ziegler can be found @CZWriting on Twitter