Homily June 18, 2017, Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ
Today’s readings are about food, manna in the desert and Jesus’ flesh and blood as food for us. Our food we call the Eucharist or communion, that is we come together as a 
community to celebrate Christ’s life and passion and death and resurrection and are fed his body and blood. John tells us today that whoever eats Christ’s body and drinks his blood will have Christ in him and will be able to have eternal life. As manna was meant for the Israelites as a people escaping slavery and without food and a need to reconnect not only with God but also with each other as a community and nation bound together. This need of coming together and acting as a nation is a strong reason why they remained in the desert for forty years as they bonded their lives 
together and became once again God’s people. So it is for us, that Christ’s body and blood binds us to him not only individually as he comes to us, but also a community that is bound together to look out for each other and to bring Christ’s Word to the world. It is a principle act of the church which brings us together frequently so as to be prepared to live out and proclaim our faith and love to the world. As our body craves and needs food, so does our soul need Christ’s special food which keeps us ready for the journey that we walk together. And so in this special way, Christ is present and comes to us and remains with us as he has remained with the church throughout the ages. His love is ever-present and remains in us.
Homily June 11th, 2017 the Feast of the Holy Trinity
One thing we see out around us is John 3:16. We see it on signs, at sporting events and other places. People seem to use it to remind us of Christ’s presence and his life and death. God gave his only Son so that those who believe might have eternal life. What we must remember, is that in John’s thought eternal life was the age to come, an age begun with Jesus’ death and resurrection. 
Of course, no idea of the age to come is possible without the Holy Spirit and his coming as the new age dawned. In this way, we can see that the gospel is meant to reflect the idea of the Trinity. I think we are all acutely aware that we believe in One God, three persons, but explaining it is beyond what is possible for us. It is hard for us to conceive that God is not material and who and what He is will come to light at some future time of our existence. What we do have is an experience of three persons, Father(or a parental being), Son and Holy Spirit. We know the Son at an appointed time entered the world to give his life so that creation could be restored to union with the Trinity. At the end of his time, the Son left(sent) his Spirit to keep alive his Word and to aid and inspire his followers as they proceeded to walk in the new life given by the Son. This is why we always invoke the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Theologians for centuries have written and speculated about God and 
Theology including the Trinity. Yet Thomas Aquinas after a lifetime of writing and after a mystical experience concluded his work was straw.
Faith is what is needed. We come to know God by faith and experience by opening ourselves to him. Christ physically comes in the Eucharist, but the Spirit abides in us if we permit and helps us form an intimate and positive relationships as we walk the path and the way of the new life given to believers.
Homily May 14, 2017 the 5th Sunday of Easter
The readings today are an interesting look at the early church. In acts, we see that the apostles calling together the community to resolve the issue of everyone being served. 7 Greek men were chosen and we see a description of an ordination and the beginning of an order of servers, especially for the Greek converts, who we later called deacons. But think about it, the church started with the twelve apostles and Jesus’ close disciples. As their numbers grew they set up convenient ways for the community to meet and carry on and to spread the word. Many were practical spur of the moment decisions meant to solidify the community and spread the word. Of course, humanity, being what it is, took these decisions and institutionalized them building a huge structure that probably would confound the apostles themselves. In fact, the message is service and is as important today as in the early church. The mission is to bring Christ’s love and his way so all may come to believe.
The gospel today is Jesus’ farewell speech. It is kind of fascinating as he is a man standing in two places, a door between two realities. As he stands with his disciples, he is trying to show and explain his father’s house. It is a place of many dwellings. He says he is going to prepare a place for each of his followers. When it is ready and time, he will return and bring them to that place. But even at the end of his time on earth, his disciples were 
confused. Who was the Father, what was the way? Jesus said he and the Father are One. If you see Jesus you see the Father. Jesus has been given to us to see and know the Father. He becomes the way, the visible means of knowing and pursuing the Father. Knowing Jesus and doing his works is the way to the Father. Simple, yes but at the same time complex in that it requires our faith, our commitment, our “I believe” and our living it out. To speak the words is easy, to live it out is a life’s work.
Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter- April 30, 2017
Two distraught, downtrodden, defeated men were walking to Emmaus. A stranger joined them and their conversation came alive and something was different, but what they didn’t know. A shared dinner was about to begin when the Stranger broke the bread, they recognized Jesus but then he was gone. The question I have for you today is, do you even see the people who come into your life. In church, every time we gather, we break the same bread, we share the same blood. Jesus is here he comes to us, we share his body and his blood. Can you feel and believe that presence here and now? Yes, this is my Body, this is my blood given for you. He is here, not only on the altar, but among us and in every one of us intimately sharing the Holy Spirit with us. Remember how 
often he reminded us that he is in everyone? How can we forget that he said what the least you do to anyone, you do it to me? His love, his life calls out to us in so many ways for us to respond. In the history of the Jews, God prepared them for the coming of his Son, but how little were they prepared to recognize him because they had their own selfish expectations of who and what the Messiah would be. What they wanted or expected was an earthly ruler along the lines of David or greater. This is a great lesson here, for how often do we pray for one thing or another. How often do we presume to ask for exactly our need as we want it, literally not really knowing what is best for us. What we must learn is to know and accept that God cares and gives what is best for us, not always what we expect or sometimes even want. His love is such he knows what is good and most 
importantly what we need. He knows and understands disappointment, pain, and even suffering. None of these, even in their difficulties can remove a certain inner peace and strength born of our faith and the presence of the risen Lord and his Spirit.
Let us remember, his presence is real and all around us. He should enliven our hearts and our actions to all we meet and come across each day. In this we can find joy and fulfillment.
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent (April 8, 2017)
Inclusive Text- Readings- Ezekiel 37: 21-28 / Psalm: Jeremiah 31: 10-12ABCD, 13 / John 11: 45-56
Think back to a time when you coordinated a project, knew something was wrong but could have gone right, messed up by others, but decided to take the blame and fall on the sword. You may have been involved to some degree knowing that everyone contributed their best but no other course could have been taken. It didn’t mean you had to suffer and die for it but perhaps you avoided going to the end because of fear. Something so minor in that sense, but what would happen, we would get through it, right?
On the other hand, as we know, Jesus had to go through it. Jesus in essence had to fall on the sword because so much was at stake. The soul of humanity was at hand. Jesus could have turned back and leave God, but he knew deep down inside it had to be done.
What were the times in our lives when we could not turn back? What forced us to make the decisions that we had made when it came to others? Could we have turned back? If we did, why? When we didn’t, what gave us the courage to speak up for the cause?
rev. Michael Theogene
Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent (April 7, 2017)
Inclusive Text- Readings- Jeremiah 20: 10-13 / Psalm 18: 2-3ABC, 4-7 / John 10: 31-42
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