Reflection on Father Moreno’s Homily: January 30, 2011
Jesus calls us to be blessed, to be holy.
Father Moreno told us about his grand niece who is in the 2nd grade. He saw her just hammering away and he was just waiting for her to let out a loud scream and for her thumb to swell up, but it never happened. She was building a birdhouse with boards and nails.
She told him that the birds were coming and she was going to take care of the birds of the air.
He said it didn’t look much like a birdhouse, with nails and boards all over the place. We likewise all keep nailing boards to try to make something in our life.
We are attached to our addictions; we are nailed to our addictions. Jesus calls us to be detached, not nailed to our addictions, not nailed to the destruction of our addictions.
The twelve (12) step program is for drug addiction, alcoholic addiction, sex addiction, and all addictions.
In order to break our addictions we need to have a deep relationship with the Father, only He can restore us, only He can heal us.
Blessed: means to be holy. We must claim our blessedness.
Who is Jesus? He is our Teacher. Disciple: means to be taught. Jesus teaches us about our relationship with the Father:
1) He tell us that the Kingdom of God is at hand and we must repent
2) He reveals the face of the Father
Beatitude: means joy and happiness. We are all looking for happiness, for joy in our life, the constant and eternal joy which only God can give.
We must detach from the things of this world, which does not mean to reject or despise the things of the world; but rather to have poverty of spirit which means not to get so attached to things that we lose sight of God. We are not to have our prejudices and our preconceived ideas of how God is; we must allow God to reveal Himself to us.
Those that mourn will be comforted means that we let go of the things that we think bring us comfort, when in reality they bring us destruction. Pornography is adultery, it is a false relationship and we make a thing out of a human being.
The meek will inherit the earth means that we speak the truth in love, that we say “No”, that we do have choices. Meek does not mean that we are taken advantage of, that we get pushed around, or that we allow others to walk all over us. Jesus does not want us to be idiots.
Father Moreno told us that this past week he said no to his drug addicted nephew, everyone was feeling sorry for his nephew and making excuses for him. Father Moreno could have given his nephew twenty ($20) dollars; he could have given his nephew one hundred ($100) dollars, well maybe not right away because he would have to go to the ATM machine to get it. But Father Moreno did not give him anything.
The people in our families with addictions use us, drain us, and then leave us to manipulate someone else. We are not to say the truth in a violent and cynical way, but we are to say the truth with love and compassion.
We are to embrace the holiness of God and our own holiness. We are to pray for God to teach us how to be holy, how to be happy.
We are to be detached from the four (4) powers:
1) Money
2) Pleasures
3) Power
4) Self Glory
Father Moreno asked us to pray for the repose of the soul of his brother Juan Moreno. He thanked all those who left voice messages and text messages of consolation but this was a time to be with family and he did not return calls or messages. And he could just imagine everyone texting about Father Moreno, “que se cree mucho” “that he thinks he’s all that”, because he was not making contact.
Father Moreno asked for a volunteer to head the ushers for the 10:30 a.m. Mass so that things would be more organized and the Mass could run smoother. Juan Maldonado volunteered.
Father Moreno mentioned that his grand niece in 2nd grade was telling him about the kids at school who were bullying. Father Moreno asked the children to come forward and receive a blessing and he prayed for them to be protected from bullies and the courage to tell an adult if they were being bullied.
Father Moreno told us that a child asked him why he was so slow climbing down the steps from the chair to the altar and he responded, “Wait until you get new bifocals and you try walking down marble steps.”
He said it didn’t look much like a birdhouse, with nails and boards all over the place. We likewise all keep nailing boards to try to make something in our life.
The twelve (12) step program is for drug addiction, alcoholic addiction, sex addiction, and all addictions.
In order to break our addictions we need to have a deep relationship with the Father, only He can restore us, only He can heal us.
Blessed: means to be holy. We must claim our blessedness.
Who is Jesus? He is our Teacher. Disciple: means to be taught. Jesus teaches us about our relationship with the Father:
1) He tell us that the Kingdom of God is at hand and we must repent
2) He reveals the face of the Father
Beatitude: means joy and happiness. We are all looking for happiness, for joy in our life, the constant and eternal joy which only God can give.
We must detach from the things of this world, which does not mean to reject or despise the things of the world; but rather to have poverty of spirit which means not to get so attached to things that we lose sight of God. We are not to have our prejudices and our preconceived ideas of how God is; we must allow God to reveal Himself to us.
Those that mourn will be comforted means that we let go of the things that we think bring us comfort, when in reality they bring us destruction. Pornography is adultery, it is a false relationship and we make a thing out of a human being.
The meek will inherit the earth means that we speak the truth in love, that we say “No”, that we do have choices. Meek does not mean that we are taken advantage of, that we get pushed around, or that we allow others to walk all over us. Jesus does not want us to be idiots.
The people in our families with addictions use us, drain us, and then leave us to manipulate someone else. We are not to say the truth in a violent and cynical way, but we are to say the truth with love and compassion.
We are to embrace the holiness of God and our own holiness. We are to pray for God to teach us how to be holy, how to be happy.
We are to be detached from the four (4) powers:
1) Money
2) Pleasures
3) Power
4) Self Glory
Father Moreno asked us to pray for the repose of the soul of his brother Juan Moreno. He thanked all those who left voice messages and text messages of consolation but this was a time to be with family and he did not return calls or messages. And he could just imagine everyone texting about Father Moreno, “que se cree mucho” “that he thinks he’s all that”, because he was not making contact.
Father Moreno asked for a volunteer to head the ushers for the 10:30 a.m. Mass so that things would be more organized and the Mass could run smoother. Juan Maldonado volunteered.
Father Moreno told us that a child asked him why he was so slow climbing down the steps from the chair to the altar and he responded, “Wait until you get new bifocals and you try walking down marble steps.”