Know - Grow - Go
Weekend homilies from Holy Trinity Parish, a vibrant, diverse community located in Beaverton, Oregon. Our mission is to KNOW Jesus more personally, GROW in that relationship, and GO forth into the world and make a positive difference.
Episodes
Church isn't a refuge; it's a raid on the kingdom of the enemy, designed to undermine his power. Every time we meet adversity, misfortune, misunderstanding, and hostility with patience, trust, forgiveness, and the strength that comes from God, Jesus' victory on the Cross spreads a little further.
God is love, and He loves us far more than we will ever comprehend, far more even than we can love each other or our own children (and that's a lot).
Fr. Dave reminds us that every time we receive Holy Communion, no matter what age we are, Jesus is saying directly to each of us: "Everything's okay, because I am with you."
More than a few of us are likely often tempted to ask the Lord if He's really there. While He isn't likely to appear to us as He did with the apostles, you can be assured that He is calling out to each and every one of us. Take your doubt to Jesus and begin a conversation with Him. Just as He did with Thomas, He'll meet us where we are at any given time - even (and perhaps especially) in our doubt and unbelief.
To be Eastered means that we accept and expect that our lives will have frustrations, setbacks, difficulties, and loss - along with many rich blessings - and that we accept and expect that we won't be exempted from any of that, any more than Jesus Himself wasn't exempted from that. That means that we must learn to live with the unknown and what we don't understand, trusting in God that He is actively present in the mids...
Think about some aspect of your life, or that of someone you are close to, that you would like Jesus - who intimately understands pain and suffering - to bring His light love to. It was His suffering and dying on the cross, and, ultimately, His resurrection, that transforms our experiences from being meaningless to being redemptive. And that's why, every year, we celebrate this particular Friday as "Good."
We all have parts of our life, of our personality, maybe even of our physical body, that reek, that we don’t like, that embarrass us, shame us, that we shield with anger or pride or defensiveness or other strategies. What the Lord shows to Peter - and to each of us, too - is that we don’t have to hide these things from Him. He didn’t come for the perfect; He works with who we are. And if we accept His mercy, His humble tending of o...
As part of our daily prayer this Holy Week (and beyond!), let's pray that we can imitate Jesus and be the kind of filter that filters out the negativity and brings only kindness, thoughtfulness, compassion, graciousness, and forgiveness. Let's pray that the Holy Spirit will do that work within us, so that we, the whole community of us, can go out and change this world one encounter at a time - the same way Jesus did.
What do we do with our loved ones whose lives are out of step with the Church? We love them; listen to them; accompany them. Share with them our own struggles and convictions. We keep them connected to Jesus through our love and prayers so that His grace can work in their lives. We can support those we love without celebrating every choice they make.
As difficult and uncomfortable as it might be, our call is to receive and to trust...
Fr. Dave reads a contemporary version of the Prodigal Son parable and has the choir lead a response with the song "Hosea." The Prayers of the Faithful provide the application of Fr. Dave's core point: that God never gives up on us.
"Hosea". Text and music, Gregory Norbet, OSB, © 1972, The Benedictine Foundation of the State of Vermont, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Permission to stream the mu...
Just as the gardener encourages patience and careful cultivation for the unproductive fig tree, God is patient and always willing to meet us where we're at - warts, defects, imperfections, and all. He needs only for us to open our hearts to His tender care.
The ultimate truth of our faith is this: when we die, Jesus alone will remain. Lent is about keeping that perspective front and center. Think about the Lenten practices you're committing to and use those as a way of remembering that He will be with you as you walk through every day of your life and into eternity, because Jesus alone remains.
Jesus gave us the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation because he knew that we would need help at times to correct our course and regain our closeness with Him. When we've moved away from God, we need to go back - and Reconciliation is the way to do it.
Lent reminds us that we cannot build our lives on our own; we need God in our lives and are absolutely dependent on Him. On our own, we are powerless; with God, we have everything that we need.
The way we speak to others is so important - our words can either bless others or curse others. Fr. Dave challenges us to be mindful and intentional with our words this Lent, speaking words that encourage and build apart instead of words that accuse and tear down.
Fr. Dave quotes the following passage from Pope Francis' encyclical Fratelli tutti (On fraternity and social friendship):
Approaching, speaking, listening, lookin...
We celebrated our Confirmation Mass this weekend, with 72 youth and adults receiving the sacrament on Saturday morning. Fr. Dave invited Chris Storm, our Director of Religious Education, to talk about confirmation and what it means for each of us.
Chris answers the question he poses - if you had to choose, Christ or Chicken Wings? - with the point that it isn't either/or; we don't have to make a choice. This is not where w...
Our world is beset with serious problems, as are our personal lives at one time or another. But those problems don't have the last word. Every once in a while, turn off the screeching - the cable and talk radio and social media - and find a way to laugh, to play, to be delighted. This is still God's world, we are still His beloved children, and our Father's plan hasn't been derailed.
We are all called to be like Peter and rely exclusively on the Lord; to go out of our comfort zones and into deep, unfamiliar waters with the Lord commanding our boat. Think about a time when God showed up in your boat unannounced, and think of how you responded. Jesus has a plan for each of us, and the more we respond with trust in Him the deeper Jesus can take us into himself. Jesus told Peter, "Do not be afraid" - that m...
Words and actions without love are only clanging cymbals. We live in a time where there are a lot of strong opinions and convictions that are often expressed in a very noisy way that's more like cymbals than it is like love. St. Paul defines that "love" as patient, kind, not jealous, not rude, not quick-tempered. It's relatively easy to have those qualities in our conversations with those who agree with us. It's...
God has given each one of us gifts to be used for each other and in service to Him (and the rest of His family). No matter how old or young you are, there are times when you may feel you don't have any value or use. The truth is, God loves, values, and treasures each of us. Even if you do not know what your gifts are right now, that does not mean God wants to get along without you or that you're not important to him.
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