BIG C CATHOLICS

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) A critic once challenged me by declaring that my homilies were preaching a message of failure to a bunch of losers. He was suggesting that the Good News of Jesus Christ is directed at losers, not at winners. Today’s Gospel account in which we find Jesus giving us the Beatitudes provides us with a good background to take a look at winners and losers. As in so many things, a lot depends upon your viewpoint, the angle from which you are looking at things. St. Paul puts that issue into sharp perspective in today’s second reading which was taken from his letter written to very cosmopolitan and sophisticated Greeks living in Corinth: "Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters,” writes St. Paul, “Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to sham...

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) When Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left His hometown of Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled: "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen. From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." In our times, what forms of darkness do we live in? The theme of light and darkness runs through the entirety of the Bible starting with the Book of Genesis all the way to the crucifixion and death of Jesus on His Cross. What is God’s word calling us to see in His light, not only in the history of our salvation that is presented to us in the ...

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) If you go out into the North African desert with its rolling and shifting hills of sand, you will likely come upon quicksand. You can also encounter quicksand in our North American swamps, in our Florida Everglades, and even in some of our own inland lakes. Nearer to us you’ll find it in the marshy, reed-filled edges of Michigan’s inland lakes. Sometimes these spots are called sinkholes. They are pockets of loosely packed sand that has collected in a hole with a really deep bottom. There’s nothing solid at the bottom of these sinkholes. When you step into one you immediately begin to sink down and the more you thrash around the more it sucks you down until you are under the sand and then die of suffocation. Many people find themselves in spiritual sinkholes. They are being sucked down into alcoholism, drugs, sex, mistreatment of others, and other sorts of addictions. They are caught in behavior patter...

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Whenever I stand here before you at this time during the Mass I have a dual responsibility — the responsibility to teach and to preach. That is particularly true today as we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. Let’s begin now with the teaching aspect. We might ask ourselves why Jesus Christ submitted to the baptism of St. John the Baptist. After all, if Christ is the incarnate Son of God, the sinless Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, why would it be necessary for Him to be baptized? That’s a good question calling for an insightful answer. The answer begins with a clear understanding that Jesus Christ did not need to be baptized. He, the Holy One of God, sanctified the waters of baptism, He wasn’t sanctified by them. He, the Holy One, made Baptism holy, not the other way around. By being baptized His intention was to reveal the love of God for us even though we have sinned against Him. By His own ...

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) The Feast of the Epiphany was celebrated in Eastern Churches before being observed in Rome. It seems originally to have been a feast of the nativity of our Lord. January 6th. For those Churches it was the equivalent of December 25th in the Roman Church. The Epiphany, as you know, celebrates the manifestation of our Lord to the whole world… the shining forth of the Light of the World… the manifestation of the Incarnation to the entire world beyond the Jewish world. The three kings symbolize the coming of God to the Gentiles… the entrance of God into all of the world in all of its history. Today’s Liturgy is surrounded with other epiphanies… the manifestation of God’s marriage to us, symbolized in the wedding feast at Cana, the manifestation of Christ’s Sonship in His baptism by John the Baptist in the River Jordan… and finally His Presentation in the Temple, otherwise known as Candlemas Day – Februar...