fatherjohndecelles' podcast: Recent Episodes
Reverend John De Celles
Reverend John C. De Celles is the Pastor at Saint Raymond of Penafort Catholic Church. He earned a Masters in Divinity and a Masters in Arts (Moral Theology) in 1996. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Arlington on May 18, 1996. In May, 2005, he earned a Sacred Theology Licentiate from the John Paul II Institute for Studies in Marriage and Family in Washington, DC.
John witnessed what Jesus said about the "Bread of Life" and this homily expresses the theology.
Imagine yourself in front of the crucifix. Look up and see our loving Jesus. How can we not be moved by the pain and deep love of the seeing our gentle Jesus. Faith, Hope and Charity. Pray for true contrition of our sins. Look up at Jesus and see the nails in His hands and feet. How can we not be moved. Let our crucified Lord Jesus draw you into the depths of His love on the cross. Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen.
One of the best ways is to pray includes the Stations of the Cross which helps us understand the amount of love God has for each of us. All the while we go through the stations we can meditate on each and "compassionate" for your savior. So as we walk through the stations with Him we suffer with Him. We should feel our suffering for our sins and our saying no to Him. Our faith is not built on our feelings... but emotions can be a good thing if directed by faith and true love.
The Annunciation is a celebration. Listen to this episode to hear how Jesus picked up His cross on this day and carried it all the way to Calvary. He was brought into the world to die on the cross for our sins. He suffered on this earth but continued to carry His cross. Pick up your cross and carry it even with all the suffering.
It is very easy to be a slave to sin. Penance can help us develop virtues which will help us in self discipline. The first step is choosing to be free. It is so hard to choose to give up sin. If the Son frees you then you will truly be free. We must choose to accept the grace He pours out to us. If we can open our will even the slightest bit, the grace pours out. Walk away from temptation and be truly free in Christ. Listen to this episode to hear more about true freedom from sin.
Jesus stated, "If you do not believe that "I am", then you will die in your sins". All throughout the gospel we hear over and over again that people are trying to figure out who He is. Jesus does not come out and say that He is God until His hour as the people would have killed Him. Listen to this episode to understand directly identifying His divinity and why.
In today's gospel, the people thought they could trick Jesus. They were not successful. God has so much mercy. Listen to this episode to learn what Jesus says to the woman after the people leave and reflect on something you may not have considered when you have heard or read this gospel in the past. Penance in lent is not the same as the sacrament of penance. The sacrament is first about penitence: realizing the sin, rejecting and ammending it. Jesus' mercy is boundless and so is His justice.
Passiontide, the last two weeks of lent where we walk back in time with Jesus as He walks to His passion. We cover the statues and the crucifix. At this point in history, there are no saints yet as Jesus has not opened Heaven and no crucifix as Jesus has not yet been crucified. Listen to this episode to understand the true meaning of what Passiontide is and how we can benefit this lent by understanding the actual events that are occurring at this very time 2000 years ago.
There is a lot of talk today about unity. In the last supper, Jesus talked about being perfectly united. Another time Jesus stated, "Those who are are not with me are against me" and that applied then and today. Lent is a time for siding with Jesus. We do not side with Him when we sin. We must value Jesus above all. Lent is a time to repent and love God by keeping His commandments. Pick up your cross and follow Jesus. Let's get rid of any divisions between us and Jesus.
Saint Joseph protected and provided for Mary and Jesus as husband and father. In the self gift of marriage, Mary and Joseph totally gave themselves to each other. They cooperated with God for the specific and unique way Jesus was received in their family. Joseph as father to Jesus was a "just man" meaning he fully gave of himself what was due to Jesus. Saint Joseph comes right after Mary in holiness. Listen to this episode to learn more about Saint Joseph.
God gives Moses the covenant. Moses saves God's people as an intercessor and mediator in the exodus. Moses is a foreshadowing of Jesus. Jesus completely and perfectly communicates the covenant. He mediates grace to us and sacrifices himself on the cross. There the word made flesh intercedes for the world and reveals Gods love made perfectly. On the cross Jesus saves all mankind as foreshadowed in the old testament and fulfilling all the promises of the old covenant leading us all back to the sacraments.
Through his faith and the grace of God, he converted Ireland to a Catholic nation. This feast day has evolved into a celebration of Irish culture with parades, special foods, music, dancing and drinking. This is all a moot point when you discover life of this amazing saint. Listen to this episode to learn how we can emulate the same holiness of this great and holy saint. He dealt with very violent and angry challenges which is similar to our own lives and we should all strive to be like him.
Why do we not believe even after seeing a miracle of Jesus? For example in today's reading when a miracle occurred during the Sabbath and people became angry. We are supposed to respond by belief. Consider how you respond to the signs and miracles in your own life : by faith or by persecution, disbelief and rejection? Jesus intervenes in your life for our greater good. When we sin or in anyway deny Jesus, we are persecuting Him. We must respond with faith.
John's gospel today uses two signs: the Miracle of Cana and the Miracle of the Royal Official to explain Jesus' acts of mercy. Miracles in your life should not just be used as signs but also to increase our faith. Listen to this episode to learn how we can respond and reflect on them in order to benefit. All of us have miracles and signs in our lives but whether large or small we should be thankful, in awe and in some cases in fear. Allow them to continue to respond in your life and increase your faith.
Today's introit "Rejoice Jeresalem" as Laetare Sunday. We have joy and we also have darkness. This homily explains today's readings and how to understand the meaning of them to better understand the joy and the darkness. Recognize Christ crucified as a sign of all sins. Look up at the crucifix and remember and understand.
Don't pray with pride and hypocrisy but with true humility. Avoid looking at the sins of others or making yourself the object of worship. Pray humbly to God. Look up to heaven and know that you are a sinner and be humble. We begin each Mass at Saint Raymond's praying "I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned..." Approach both prayer and Mass humbly and bow down to His glory so that He may lift you up with His mercy and grace.
Jesus said, "I did not come to change the law but to fulfill it". When He spoke of the commandments and love, He is not giving us anything new, he is quoting Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Our understanding of love should not be about attraction and desire but more importantly for the good and betterment of the other individual. If you really love someone you would do anything that would keep them from their own good. Do not lead the one you love into sin. Listen to this episode to learn more.
Understanding what the Church teaches is important. Expressing opinions that are against Church teaching is sinful. Opinions can be confusing to Catholics when they do not know what the Church teachings are. Learn the authentic doctrine and increase your knowledge of the truth. Church leadership that fails to teach the truth will have to answer to God. Follow the truth and authentic teachings that Jesus passed down to us. This episode talks about resources available through our parish.
How well do you know the commandments? Listen to this episode to help you understand how well you truly know them. In order to examine your conscious you need to know the commandments. Knowing, keeping and reflecting on the commandments explain the most basic rules of loving God. Each is a beginning of the law but continue to even more than the words of the commandments. Knowing them will help you grow in the love of Christ.
One of the most common sins is the sin of the unforgiving. Why can't we forgive? There is a debt, someone hurts us and they need to pay you some restoration or truth. Rather than pity, we want payment in the form of a humble apology, punishment or pain. If you want to forgive others, ask yourself how do you expect to be forgiven. We will need to let go of the hurt or debt. In lent, look at the cross and the ransom He paid for us - accept Jesus' forgiveness of our sins so that we may forgive others.
The people with Jesus would not believe that the prophecy was being fulfilled. They wanted to kill him and He got away. He left because His death was to be where the temple was and as a sacrifice. He left because He was to be condemned by the Chief Priests and the Roman Government. He would lay down His life on His terms. He has His own plan for us too. We need to pray and to ask Him to show us what that plan is that He has for us and we must cooperate with His plan.
Jesus is capable of being both gentle and angry. Anger itself is a passion, neither good nor bad. When anger is directed by pure reason and pure love, it can give us courage and zeal. We know Jesus never sinned. He created human nature so he understands how to approach each person who comes to Him - sometimes gentle and sometimes angry. Listen to this homily to learn more about how we can gain courage and zeal.
In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the father character represents God the Father. Just as the father goes out to meet his prodigal son when he returns home and brings him into the banquet, God the Father comes to us during confession and brings us to His banquet. Later in the parable the father goes out to the older son and brings him to the banquet. We all need what our Heavenly Father provides when we go to confession - freedom and the powerful grace of the sacrament. Come and feast at His banquet.
Our sins abuse God's gifts and His prophets and kill His son. Every time we sin, we drive the nails deeper within His hands. Whether large or small; venial or grave; past, present or future, all our sins contribute to the pain of Jesus in His passion. We have been given the fullness of God's teaching, His grace, and His land. Jesus suffered for us because He loves us. He wants us to have His land and He wants us to be the good tenant who returns ten fold what we have been given. Do not reject Him.
When we have abundance we must help the people that need help. Recognize what God has given us and provide to those in grave need. Almsgiving (acts of charity ) is part of Lent. Are we clinging to what we have or can we use it to help our neighbor? Keep your eyes open and give when you see others in need. This will help us grow in true love of Christ and in our neighbor.
Imagine yourself traveling with Jesus on his way to His passion. Would you listen to him and mourn for your sins or beg him not to go? Or would you beg Him to forgive you and tell Him you will change your life. Listen to this episode as Father De Celles discusses why we should reflect on this scene during Lent.
It is the same with all sins, we know better than God and we go ahead and commit sin. Pride is at the root of all sins. If we just believe God is right and we are wrong than sins can go away. This podcasts talks about doing something about our pride and aiming for true humility. Instead of acting out of pride, respond with self control and kindness.
In order to conclude that we are being judgmental we must judge ourselves. We have to make judgments just to make choices to get through the day. We also have to make judgments based on other's actions if they are right or wrong. Listen to this episode to understand the three quotes that best explain how to stop judging others where it can lead us into sin. Be merciful as God is and do not rush to judge. Judge not, lest ye be judged.
God loves us so much He gives us life so that we can love Him and He can love us. God holds the family up as a sign of His own love. Listen to this homily to understand the two readings today how He uses the sign of the love of marriage and family to explain the mystery of Gods love and the life that springs forth as the fruit of that love.
Jesus says to love our enemies. Christians are called to share in the life and love of Jesus. On the cross, Jesus looks down at the man who condemned Him and those that nailed Him there and says "Father, forgive them". We as sinners certainly don't love Jesus when we sin, and yet He loves us and died for us. This episode discusses how to love our enemies as Jesus did. Jesus also says to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. We must be patient with ourselves (as He is with us) as the sacraments help us to perfection.
Jesus warns us in His explanation of the ten commandments that each commandment is so much more demanding than the words describing the sin. In this episode we learn how Jesus explains we must look beyond the commandment. When we examine our conscience, we must not just look at the sins specifically prohibited by commandments but also the potential of sins that flow from them. Jesus is simply teaching us how to love our neighbor. Love is willing and striving for the good of the other.
God, like a good father, knows what is good for us. "Ask and everything you shall receive" can be very disappointing if your prayer request is not in accordance with God's plan. God will not in fact give us everything that we ask. We need to trust. God's will be done. Have confidence in His love and trust in His plan. Pray and persist in prayer but in humility and in trust.
All the prayers, penance or sacrifice are worthless if they do not contribute to or express the purity of our hearts. If the person offering a sacrifice doesn't live his life obeying Gods laws or commandments and instead lives his life in sin is useless. Rather, your prayers, penances and sacrifices that are in true obedience and offered with your entire self to the Father will help purify your heart to be contrite and humble allowing us to love God and neighbor better.
What better prayer than the exact words that God the Son prayed to God the Father? Jesus gives us a lesson on how to pray. This episode unpacks word for word the "Our Father" prayer. Pray the Our Father prayer daily but most especially in Mass and in your rosary and allow it to instruct you in all of your prayers.
Repent and believe in the gospel. Prayers and sacrifice are useless if we do not recognize our sins. Many have lost the senses of sin. Recognize and repent: it is only when you recognize sin that you can overcome it with the grace of Christ.