Our Lady of Lourdes
  • Home
  • Mass Schedule
  • News
  • Pastor's Blog
  • Information
    • History
      • Past Priests
    • Sacraments
    • Meet Us
    • Ministries
    • Church Groups
    • Parish School of Religion
    • RCIA
  • Oyster Festival
  • Bulletins
  • Resources
    • Forms
    • Links
    • Resources for Prayer
      • Divine Mercy Novena
    • Hall Rental
  • Donations
  • Photos
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Mass Schedule
  • News
  • Pastor's Blog
  • Information
    • History
      • Past Priests
    • Sacraments
    • Meet Us
    • Ministries
    • Church Groups
    • Parish School of Religion
    • RCIA
  • Oyster Festival
  • Bulletins
  • Resources
    • Forms
    • Links
    • Resources for Prayer
      • Divine Mercy Novena
    • Hall Rental
  • Donations
  • Photos
  • Contact
2621 Colonial Blvd.
Violet, LA 70092

O: (504) 682-7070
F: (504) 605-2064
​E: (504) 356-1737
​oll@arch-no.org

Archive of
Fr. Bryan's Pastor's Blog

Homily for Sunday, August 18, 2019

8/17/2019

0 Comments

 
august_18_2019.m4a
File Size: 1777 kb
File Type: m4a
Download File

Fr. Bryan Howard
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C – 18 August 2019

    In the 19th century atheism became very popular among intellectuals. Many of them thought that God and religion were basically created by people to give them comfort in their terrible lives. Some of them, like Nietzsche, recognized that life is ultimately meaningless if there is no God, because, eventually, everything would be dead. Others, like Ludwig Feuerbach, thought that religion was holding people back from attaining their true potential. He saw religion as something to comfort people with the thought of a merciful God and eternal happiness in heaven. As Karl Marx, the founder of Communism, said, “Religion is the opium of the people.” Marx, pointing out that the word feuerbach means “stream of fire” in German, said that people need to be baptized in the stream of fire of Feuerbach’s atheism. Today, the Lord speaks of another fire with which He wants to baptize the world, but He means the fire of the Holy Spirit.
​
    Fire can be comforting, like sitting around a campfire or a fireplace, but it’s only comforting if it’s under our control. What those intellectuals don’t understand about religion is that, if God is real, then we aren’t the ones in control, HE IS. We like to think of God as someone quite distant from our lives, Who just sort of lets us get on with things. It’s even better if we see Him as an impersonal force. We believe in a God who is closer to us than we are to ourselves, a God who loves us and calls us to love Him in return, and a God who, when we were lost in sin, came down to find us and bring us back to Him. 

    There’s no where in the Bible where Jesus tells us to just keep living our lives however we want and we’ll be fine. Instead, we are told, “Let us rid ourself of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race,” “Take up your Cross daily and follow me,” “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood,” and to “enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is broad and the road narrow that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.” They don’t crucify people who keep the status quo, they crucify people who challenge the authorities, call people to conversion, and who won’t compromise what is right for temporary gain or personal comfort. It’s true that God is merciful, but in His mercy He doesn’t just want to forgive our sins but to help us to cast them from our lives.

    God is real. If we were inventing a God for ourselves, we wouldn’t invent a God who challenges us. We do sometimes project human emotions and traits onto God, but in faith we recognize that God is far beyond us. He is eternal, without beginning or end, and He is the Creator of the universe, and we know from logic that there must be a Creator. Every that exists was caused by something else, but if you follow the train of causes all the way back, you have to come to a first cause. That’s why many atheists thought that the universe was eternal, that it was never created but just was always there. Now we know that the universe as we know it came to exist in the Big Bang, but what caused the Big Bang? If they eventually find a cause for the Big Bang, then we’d have to ask what caused that. There must be a First Cause that doesn’t depend on anything else to exist, and we call this First Cause, God.

    God is infinitely beyond us, but He came to be with us, and to be one of us, so that we can be with Him, and be like Him. “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” When you receive the Eucharist today, know that you are receiving into your body the very Creator of the Universe, He Who Is, the Source of all life, God Himself. Ask Him to fill you with the fire of His Spirit, to walk the narrow way, to not be satisfied with mediocrity but to strive for perfection, the perfection which only Christ can give.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Fr. Bryan was pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes from July 3, 2017 to June 2022.

    Categories

    All
    10 Commandments
    Beatitudes
    Bible
    Blog Article
    Bulletin Article
    Equipped Series
    Fr. Bryan Recommends
    Homilies
    Liturgy
    Philosophy
    Q&A
    Saints
    Symbolism
    The Seven Sacraments

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018

    RSS Feed

Mission Statement

We, members of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, are committed to establish a safe haven for believers in our community. Having Christ as the center of our worship and being impelled by his teachings:
• We continually grow in ministries that address the needs and concerns of our community.
• We strive to be a vibrant “Christ Centered” spiritual family and experience His love and presence in the celebration of the Eucharist.

  • Home
  • Mass Schedule
  • News
  • Pastor's Blog
  • Information
    • History
      • Past Priests
    • Sacraments
    • Meet Us
    • Ministries
    • Church Groups
    • Parish School of Religion
    • RCIA
  • Oyster Festival
  • Bulletins
  • Resources
    • Forms
    • Links
    • Resources for Prayer
      • Divine Mercy Novena
    • Hall Rental
  • Donations
  • Photos
  • Contact