(Full text of sermon) As a child I would spend my time always looking forward to the next “big event,” the next holiday, or the next trip. In January, I began looking forward to baseball season. In March, I looked forward to summer. During the late summer, I thought about football season or Halloween. And, yes, after Halloween my focus turned to Christmas. Yet, as the years passed I began to notice that my day-dreams were always better than the reality.

He was “cut to the heart” in discovering Christian captives

St. Peter Nolasco was shocked and moved in finding Christians held captive and in danger of losing their faith. Read more about his heroic life and what he did about it on the website of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy.

Visit the Mercedarians’ Facebook page.

This is an experience of many of us. When we are teenagers we want to be adults. When we are young adults we want to be married. Then, we look forward to moving up in society or getting that dream job or position. After years of hard work we long for the day when we can retire. Yet, the fact is that we are never truly satisfied with things in this life. This “restlessness” points to an eternal desire within us all for a fulfillment that cannot be experienced in this life of limitations. We are truly “restless” creatures, but God allows us to be “restless.” He places within us the desires that can only be fulfilled in the Divine life. These desires spur us on or they leave us in an endless futile search for fulfillment in created things.

Joy and fruit

Jesus, though, promises us eternal things in the Gospel today.  He tells us that those who remain in His love and keep the Commandments are promised “joy” that is complete and “fruit” that will remain. This joy is not meant to be fulfilled in this life, though it can begin here. The total fulfillment of our longing takes place only in Heaven. Many people would accept this notion, but we must admit that there are a lot of different concepts of Heaven out there. Some would say that it is a place of pleasure where we can do whatever we want. Others would say that everyone goes on to Heaven and we become angels.

Well, it is important as Catholics that we understand what two thousand years of Christian tradition tells us about Heaven. We are told that it is a “place and state of perfect and eternal happiness.” Here we share in the communion, love, and self-gift of the Trinity. This experience has commonly been called the Beatific Vision. The Beatific Vision is the sight of God “face to face.” The vision includes the spiritual possession of God and the love of Him. We can have this intense experience of communion with God, because we are finally free of the “lack of love,” or sin which has separated us from God who is Love.

No more desire to sin

Our sins and desire to commit sin or concupiscence will be no longer a part of our experience. By the time we enter Heaven, we are necessarily “purified” of all sin and the effects of sin. The experience of Heaven is a fulfillment of all the legitimate desires that we have had throughout our life. The restlessness finally comes to an end as we rest in God. Our happiness will be complete at our union with God.

We will experience many other joys in Heaven, which include the “sight of Christ’s humanity, the companionship with the angels and saints and an understanding of the wonders of creation.” At the Second Coming, we will experience great joy as we receive our glorified bodies similar to Christ’s Resurrected Body.

The Sacraments of the Church are intended solely to lead us to heaven. They enable us to come to conversion from sin and be reconciled with Christ and His Church. All seven Sacraments will be fulfilled in Heaven in the Beatific Vision.

Yearning for union

So, while we still are on Pilgrimage on this earth we must recognize that the desires we have for “more” or the “restlessness” is in fact a yearning for union with God who is Love. These legitimate desires are meant to find fulfillment in the next life. So let us strive not for the passing things of this earth, but for those things that endure. Communion with God and others begins now by following the Commandments and living rightly. That we may look forward to the completion and fulfillment of all things in the Eternal Happiness of the life to come.

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(Summary of sermon) I don’t particularly like to read the news columnists, but they are the bellweather of society’s propagandists — where the enemy brings the fight. The enemy is pummeling us in the media. They talk about how the Church is waging war against nuns, or women, or Obama, the poor, etc. To go after God, they go after us. They get us to disbelieve in the Church, and therefore disbelieve in God.

EWTN to Host Visitation Sister Wed., May 9

EWTN Live will feature the President of the Second Federation of the Visitation Sisters, Sister Susan Marie, on May 9, 2012 with Father Mitch Pacwa, SJ! We believe this is the FIRST time a Visitandine will appear on the show and we look forward to the opportunity and your viewership. Read more.

The best possible defense against this may be the argument of beauty. Beauty cannot explain itself without God. I’m talking about the beauty of people’s lives. For the last two thousand years we Catholics have been doing beautiful things. We take care of the poor, the sick. We are about raising good children, and doing good things in the world. This all proves the truth and goodness of God.

A spark of God in beauty

Beauty resides in the thing itself; it is not something of style or personal taste. Beauty is a reflection of God. God lives in that beauty. There is a spark of God that glistens in the beautiful thing.

(Full text of sermon) We see in the first reading a true conversion. St. Paul, who was one of the worst persecutors of the early Church, is changed 180 degrees. It was a true miracle. So much so that the other disciples of Christ could not believe that he had truly changed. St. Paul was a man of firm convictions whose life and beliefs turned totally around.

He was “cut to the heart” in discovering Christian captives

St. Peter Nolasco was shocked and moved in finding Christians held captive and in danger of losing their faith. Read more about his heroic life and what he did about it on the website of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy.

Visit the Mercedarians’ Facebook page.

Only an experience of the Risen Lord can do this to a person! St. Paul was knocked to the ground by the appearance of the Risen Lord. He tells us in the first reading that he “had seen the Lord” and “spoken to Him.” This was a real tangible powerful experience of God. This does happen in our times. People have deep conversions all the time.

Holiness face to face

Often times it happens from seeing holiness face to face. An example is Blessed Mother Teresa and Blessed John Paul II. Those who have had the privilege of spending time with these people or knowing them say that there was something radically different about them. Just being around holiness (those who are close to God) changes us. In the Risen Lord and to a lesser degree in the Saints, we have an experience of holiness. We see our faith in person or “face to face.” When we see holiness we see the power of God: 1) the truth of our Faith shown in a person who lives it, 2) the sign of God’s love for us, and 3) the hope we have to rise with Him for all eternity.

Conversion is something that we all should go through. It is for many people the first time they are taking ownership of their faith. For those of us who were raised Catholic, we go through the normal Sacramental rituals because “it is the thing to do.” We are baptized, go to first Confession, receive first Holy Communion, and are Confirmed. We do this in the Church because this is what are parents tell us to do. But, at some point we must take ownership of this faith. It must become not “my family’s faith,” but “my faith.” Until that point all the graces are not as effective. Holy Communion and the other Sacraments have their affect based in some part on the disposition of the person. The same is true of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit received in Confirmation. We all receive these Gifts at Confirmation, but they only grow and are active if we allow them to.

Take ownership of your faith

Basically, those who do not embrace their faith are a tree without fruit.  Some people go through all their lives like this without ever taking ownership of their faith. Often times, these people fall away from the practice of the faith, because they find it to be meaningless for them. Those who do finally have an experience of the Risen Lord and begin to bear great fruit. They bear the fruits of the Spirit: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity. When we meet them we say “wow” that person has really changed!!

The founder of my Religious Order (whose feast day is today) had this kind of conversion experience in the early thirteen century. St. Peter Nolasco was working as a merchant in Spain. He was born of Catholic parents and inherited the merchant business from his father. St. Peter would go throughout the surrounding regions and into Muslim occupied lands. In these lands, he was struck by the sufferings of the Christians. They were treated as second class citizens and not allowed to practice their faith. Many were held in captivity and in chains unless they would deny their Catholic faith. So many apostacized in order to live without persecution and have a better life for their family.

Jesus Christ suffering

St. Peter Nolasco saw this and was “cut to the heart.” He saw Jesus Christ suffering in the captive Christians. St. Peter had a conversion. He wanted to help Christians in danger of losing their faith. With a group of men, St. Peter began to collect alms in order to buy them back and take them to Christian lands. On August 1, 1218, the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Peter telling him that her Son wished him to found an Order dedicated to the great work of ransoming Christians in danger of losing their faith. The Order of the BVM of Mercy would take the traditional three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. However, they would also take a special fourth vow to be willing to offer themselves in ransom for those Christians in grave danger of renouncing the faith. Many friars would offer up their lives in exchange for the lives of those in most danger or the weakest.

We see in St. Peter Nolasco and in others what a true conversion is. Those who really live the Christian faith will bear fruit in their lives. Others will see this and admire the beauty of their lives. A faithful Christian is someone who takes the Risen Christ out into the world and doesn’t try to be noticed. But they are noticed, because that which is true, beautiful, and good attracts others. The fruits of the Holy Spirit in one’s life naturally lead others to take ownership for their own faith. So, let us remain in the Lord and allow Him to bear true fruit in our lives. This is why conversion is contagious; people change and lead others to change. We become Christian in name and in fact.