Our Redeemer Lives Prayer Community

07/07/2024

02/20/2024

Homily 2nd Sunday of Lent:
A priest tells the story that one day he and some friends were out driving and they were coming upon Smyrna, TN. As they approached the city they started arguing about its correct pronunciation – was it “Smyr-na” or “Smeer-na”? It was close to midday, so they decided to ask someone when they stopped for lunch. They came to a fast-food restaurant and once inside the group went to a lady who was standing nearby. The priest said, “Ma’am, could you please help me and my friends with a debate that we are having? Could you, slowly and distinctly, tell us the name of the place in which we are?” The lady gave them a quizzical look and slowly said, “Bur … ger … King.”
It is good to know where we are – both geographically and, for our purposes this Sunday, in the life of faith and discipleship. Today, as we continue our journey toward Jerusalem with the Lord we are at the mount of Transfiguration but it is worthwhile to note both that this mountain points toward Golgotha
– the mountain of the cross and sacrifice of the Son – and why it points that direction.

There is a beauty to sacrifice. Cinema, in its best moments, is aware of this. Think of those moments in movies that wrench our guts when the hero or heroine sacrifices (the soldier lets go of the rope and plummets to his death so that others in the troop might make it, Obi-Wan Kenobi lets Darth Vader strike him down, the priest in “The Mission” walks directly into a hail of gunfire while carrying the monstrance). But the beauty of sacrifice is not limited to “big” moments. Sacrifice can be seen in the parent who works two or three jobs in order to provide for his or her children, it can be found in the life of the teacher whose great work or opus is not a world-renowned symphony but generations of students whose lives are transformed by the love of learning. There is beauty in sacrifice.
Before the sacrifice of the cross to which we are journeying with our Lord is the moment of Transfiguration. Before the sacrifice of the cross, all other sacrifices pale in comparison. The sacrifice of the cross is infinite. God dies that we might have life.
We killed God. Do we recognize the scope of this? Sometimes the true depth (and beauty) of sacrifice can only be recognized in contrast to what might have been.
Romano Guardini’s book, The Lord, is a powerful exploration of the fullness of the Christian mystery. One thing that Guardini explores in his book is the great “What if?” What if Jesus had not been crucified? We assume that the crucifixion was just the way it had to happen, the way salvation was to be won. Not necessarily so, asserts Guardini. Within the Book of the prophet Isaiah running alongside the prophecies of the suffering servant, Guardini points out, are the visions of God’s mountain where peace is established, people forget the ways of war and right relationship is restored. God is revealed in the midst of his people.

A choice is brought to us. Christ, the humble God-man, stands before every part of society, yet each one denounces him and each one turns away. The religious leaders call him a blasphemer, the government/military leaders mock him and wash their hands of him,
the very people who welcomed him into Jerusalem waving palm branches later denounce him in favor of a criminal, even his disciples run away. What if we had not turned away? What if we had not denounced? Yet we did. Christ must go the way of the cross.
Do we recognize the depth of the sacrifice?

Before the horror of the cross we have the moment of Transfiguration. What might have been? There is a spiritual that is usually sung during Holy Week but it is appropriate for all of Lent, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Sometimes it causes me to tremble … tremble … tremble … Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” The depth of the sacrifice of Christ…

Going back to the story shared earlier, it is good to know where we are in the spiritual life, in our journey toward Jerusalem. This Sunday, in the beauty and awe of the Transfiguration … of who Christ is and of what might have been … we recognize the depth and love of the sacrifice of the cross.
God came to us. We turned away. Christ must go the way of the cross.
Another spiritual, “What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse, for my soul, for my soul…”

12/25/2023

My Christmas Message to All
Deacon Bruce Burnham
The Solemnity of Nativity of the Lord: Christmas: Come to Jesus
“O Come All Ye Faithful, Joyful and Triumphant, Come Ye O Come Ye to Bethlehem.” Our Christmas liturgies most often begin with this beautiful hymn. We are called to be faithful, joyful and triumphant. We are called to celebrate the central event of humankind, the Christ Event. God has entered human history as one of us. He has come to destroy the grip of sin. He has come to restore spiritual life.
So, we return to Bethlehem to find Mary and Joseph with their newborn son, our newborn Savior. Some people say that they were homeless, but they weren’t. They just didn’t have a place to stay. Joseph was a carpenter. He could afford a room, only there was no room available in the Inn; so the stable had to do. I’m sure he was devastated that he couldn’t provide better for Mary and Jesus. But they had all they needed. They had each other. They had love. They had God in the center of their love.
The birth of a child should be celebrated. But Joseph and Mary were far away from their relatives. Who would celebrate their child? Then the shepherds came telling their story of angels singing “Glory to God on High,” Joseph knew that God was in control. Jesus’ birth was celebrated greater than any child ever born.
And it still is. Please join me in a meditation on the celebration.
O Come, all ye faithful! Come all you who are grieving. Come all ye who cringe at the thought of an empty place at the table this year. Come to Bethlehem, the City of Bread, and know that a day will come when you will sit with your loved ones at the Banquet of the Lord.
O Come, all ye faithful! Come you who are sick with chronic ailments. Come before the One who heals. Know that when you are with him you are only physically ill. Know that when you are before the Christ child, you are spiritually strong.
O Come, all ye faithful! Come all you who have pain in your family. Come you who are suffering from a marriage that is in trouble. Come you who are dealing with adult children who are more aggressive than loving. Come before the Holy Family. Come and pray that their love might reignite the love of your family.
O Come, all ye faithful. Come you who are elderly and waiting for what is next. Come you who fear that this might be your last Christmas. Come before the One who is eternal and know that you have only begun to number your Christmas celebrations.
O Come, all ye faithful. Come you who are poor. Come you who are in pain that you cannot provide more for your family.
Come to the stable where the best that Joseph could do for his family is provide a manger for their baby. Come and realize that your family needs nothing more than love.
O Come, all ye faithful. Come you who are poor in your riches. Come all you who try to buy happiness. Come and worship before the source of all joy. Come and find the pearl that is beyond all price. Come before Jesus.
O Come, all ye faithful. Come you who fear for the future of our country. Come before the King and pray for our country and our world. Come to Bethlehem, the City of David, David the King. Come and remember that our citizenship lies in heaven.
O Come, all ye faithful. Come all you who are fighting addictions. Come before the only one who knows your struggles, who hurts for you and with you. Come to Bethlehem before the One who will always pick you up so that you can fall on your knees before Him.
O Come all ye faithful. Come all you sinners, all us sinners. Come before the One who was born to forgive. Weak and weary sinners, Come to Jesus. Weak and weary world, Come to Jesus.
O Come all ye faithful. Experience the One who has come for you, for us. Wisdom has come. Wisdom, the Holy Word of God, who governs all creation with his strong yet tender care.
He has come to show his people the way to salvation.
O Come, all ye faithful. O Come before Wisdom. Wisdom has come to help us find the way to God through a world that continually puts barriers to his presence. Wisdom has come to help us remove the barriers that we have constructed around ourselves and around others. Wisdom has come to show us the way, His way.
O Come, all ye faithful. O Come before Adonai, the Lord of Ancient Israel, who showed himself to Moses in the burning bush, who gave him the holy law on Sinai Mountain. He and he alone can set us free from the pagan world and all its empty promises.
O Come, all ye faithful. O come before the flower of Jesse's stem. Come before he who has been raised up as a sign for all peoples. Come before our Savior, our Messiah. Come before the One who shows the world the love our God has for his people, a love that is realized in a child in a stable, in a man on a cross, in a people living in hope.
O Come, all ye faithful. Come before he who is the Keystone of the mighty arch of man. The keystone of an arch is the rock that balances the weight of the rocks of the sides of the arch. The keystone is also the fixed point of the arch. God is the fixed point of the universe. He is the one who keeps the universe from caving in upon itself.
He is the one who has come to prevent us from destroying ourselves. He, the Almighty One, has come to save a creature made from dust. He has come to give us peace.
O Come, all ye faithful. Come before Emmanuel. Emmanuel means, God-is-with-us. The great yearning of humankind is to once more share the intimate presence of God lost in the Garden of Eden. The great yearning of mankind is to live with meaning, with purpose, with God. He has come. Emmanuel has come!
O Come, all ye faithful. Come and celebrate, for there is nothing that the world can do that can prevent us from celebrating the birth that gives meaning to all life. O Come, all ye faithful. Come before Jesus, born to a Virgin in Bethlehem.
Let’s conclude with Chris Rice’s beautiful Come to Jesus

Weak and wounded sinner, lost and left to die Oh, raise your head, for love is passing by Come to Jesus, come to Jesus, come to Jesus and live

Now your burden's lifted and carried far away And precious blood has washed away the stain So, sing to Jesus, sing to Jesus, sing to Jesus and live

And like a newborn baby, don't be afraid to crawl And remember when you walk sometimes we fall So, fall on Jesus, fall on Jesus, fall on Jesus and live

Sometimes the way is lonely and steep and filled with pain So, if your sky is dark and pours the rain Then, cry to Jesus, cry to Jesus, cry to Jesus and live

Oh, and when the love spills over and music fills the night And when you can't contain your joy inside Then, dance for Jesus, dance for Jesus, dance for Jesus and live

And with your final heartbeat, kiss the world goodbye Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side And fly to Jesus, fly to Jesus, fly to Jesus and live.
©CCLI License #2368115

God bless you all, and Merry Christmas!

12/04/2023

The priest that took Jesus to the streets during the Covid shut down is coming to Our Holy Redeemer in Freeport.

11/23/2023

Deacon Bruce Burnham
Homily for The Solemnity of Christ the King
The ‘Law and Order’ Moment
Matthew 25:31-46
There has always been a certain amount of fascination with courtroom dramas. Those of us who are old enough to remember the early days of television, can perhaps remember “Perry Mason”. Most of us today know of, and perhaps watch, shows such as “The Practice” and “Law and Order”. The best of these shows have a moment on which everything turns, a sentence which determines all else that follows. It is usually in the courtroom when a lawyer asks a particular question or a witness gives a particular response.
Suddenly it becomes obvious who is guilty and who is innocent. In an instant we know the true nature of the characters. Perhaps, in honor of the leading television show, we should call this moment, “the Law and Order Moment.” For this is the moment when all the pieces fall into place, the sentence on which everything else depends,.
Today’s gospel gives us the ultimate “Law and Order Moment.” The courtroom is the entire world and Jesus is the judge, sitting on his royal throne.
We are the ones called before him to justify ourselves, and the sentence will be either eternal damnation or eternal life. We would be wise to hire the best lawyers and carefully examine both our plea and our defense. But the whole trial will be determined by one sentence, one “Law and Order Moment.” That sentence is: “Whatever you do for the least of my brothers or sisters, you do for me.” This is the moment that determines our destiny; the turning point that seals our fate.
It is crucial to recognize that the most important word in that sentence is the word “least.” Because what this “Law and Order Moment” tells us, is that we are not going to be judged on how well we love those who are closest to us, but rather on how we love those who do not seem to be connected to us. We are not going to be judged on how well we love those that we like, but rather on how we love those who are difficult to love—the least of our brothers and sisters.
In this courtroom, it is not enough to come forward and say: “I have loved somebody.” Everybody loves somebody. It would be inhuman or monstrous to go through life, never loving anyone. In this courtroom we are expected to do more. As good as it is, loving our friends, our spouse, our children, is not the love that determines our fate. It is not the love that shapes the “Law and Order Moment.”
This Judge expects more from us. He expects us to accept the geeky kid at school who everyone else shuns. He expects us to be patient with a co-worker who irks us. He expects us to forgive the person who has hurt us and to welcome the relative who has disappointed us. He expects us to help those who have no connection to us, other than the fact that they stand in need of our help. He asks us to love the least among us.
Although that expectation may seem too demanding and a bit unfair, it is motivated by the best intention. Because this Judge has an agenda, an agenda for the world.
This Judge wants to establish God’s Kingdom, a kingdom in which violence and hatred cease, a kingdom in which justice and peace reign, a kingdom in which all people can share a common life and joy.
Jesus knows that that Kingdom will never be established if people simply love their own. The Kingdom of God can never take root as long as men and women love only those who love them in return. There is no hope for the world as long as we are willing only to love those who are easy to love. That is why this Judge calls for disciples who are willing to do more, who are willing to love those who are difficult and those who have no easy claim on our love. That is the norm to which Jesus will hold us accountable, to love the least of our brothers and sisters.
Today’s gospel reveals the measure against which we will be judged, to love the least among us. It is a measure which is difficult, but it is certainly not one which is hidden. Today’s gospel makes it crystal clear, as clear as the difference between innocence and guilt, as clear as the difference between sheep and goats.
On that last day when we come before the Lord, there will be no surprise turns or revelations, such as we find in Perry Mason and Law and Order. We know the sentence against which our lives will be measured. So now is the time to start collecting the evidence. Now is the time to start preparing our defense. Now is the time when it might be necessary to start changing our lives.

11/20/2023

Come to our Advent Mission

06/29/2022

HOMILY FOR 14TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME
Jesus sends his 72 disciples out to preach the Gospel, and they come back rejoicing at the success of their mission.
And then Jesus says something rather strange. He tells them, "I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven."
• Biblical commentators differ on their interpretation of this sentence.
• Some read it as if Jesus were simply affirming the reports from the disciples.
• It would be like Jesus saying, "Yes, while you were preaching and healing, I was here, and I saw Satan's influence rolling back wherever you spread the Good News."
• Others read the saying as an introduction to the rest of his speech, as a warning against unhealthy pride, the cause of Satan's original fall from grace.
• In this case, the phrase would mean, "Well, it's good that you have experienced the power of my salvation but be careful. If you forget that this power comes not from yourselves but from on high,
you may fall into the tragic trap that the devil fell into, thinking that you are on par with God."
In either case, the lesson remains the same.
Those who trust in God and obey his call in their lives, as did the seventy-two, will experience God's power acting in and through their lives, which is exactly what Christ wants.
That experience will then open the door to the stable kind of happiness that only God can give, because it teaches us to depend on God, who is all-powerful, and not on ourselves, who are far from being all-powerful...
• A Christian's happiness doesn't arise from how great we are or how great our achievements have been.
• It comes from knowing that we matter to God, that God is our Father, Savior and Friend.
• It comes, as Jesus tells us, from having our "names written in heaven."
All the saints learn this lesson.
• God sends them suffering and trials so that they gradually come to depend only on his love and goodness for their joy.
• This is why their joy is so constant.
• It is why, for example, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta was able to smile and sing while she bandaged the foul and festering wounds of dying lepers.
The modern, developed world is very bad at this childlike simplicity, at depending on God.
• We have made so much technological progress that we tend to think we can supply our own happiness and stability in life.
• We have achieved so much more than past generations - cast out so many devils, in a sense - that we have come to rejoice too much in our own strength.
But scientific progress hasn't eliminated our need for God.
• Only God is all-powerful.
• Only his friendship and grace can fully satisfy the human heart.
This childlike simplicity and dependence on God's goodness is a message that the Church has emphasized in a special way for our culture.
It has done so by bestowing its greatest honor on a saint who became great precisely by practicing to a magnificent degree the Little Way of Spiritual Childhood.
• On October 19th, 1997, in St Peter's Square in Rome, Pope John Paul II declared St Therese of the Child Jesus [St Therese of Lisieux] to be a Doctor of the Church.
• It was a prophetic recognition of her outstanding holiness, and of the special relevance her teaching of humility and boundless confidence in God has for our times.
• St Therese's favorite verse in the Bible was a verse that emphasizes that teaching, a verse in which God compares himself to a loving mother, a verse we just listened to in the First Reading:
• "As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms and fondled in her lap; as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you."
That is the source of our rejoicing: God's unfailing love, the same love that has caused him to "write our names in heaven."
One of the easiest and most fruitful ways to apply this lesson in our lives is through being honest in our prayer.
Unfortunately, we sometimes fall into routine in our prayer life.
• We recite familiar prayers, memorized prayers, without even thinking about them.
• God is always pleased whenever we take time to pray, and he listens to us even when we fall into routine - he turns even our wimpy efforts into blessings.
• And yet, he longs for a closer relationship with us.
• He wants to be as close to us as a mother is to her child - as he mentions in the First Reading ["...as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you."]
So, we should never be afraid to open our hearts completely to God in prayer.
• Life is full of victories and defeats, celebrations and frustrations, sunny days and rainouts.
• We should bring all of this to God in prayer.
• We should take time every day to speak to God from our hearts, just as Jesus taught us with his example in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he felt anguish and fear as he prayed, and didn't hide it.
This week, let's take a few minutes each day to share with the Lord our deepest longings, satisfactions, hopes, and fears.
• No masks. No routine. No hesitations. His love has room for it all.
• Let's start today, in this Mass.
• There are moments of silence in Mass, especially after Holy Communion.
• Let's open our hearts to him then, with complete confidence, like the little children that we are.
If we do, God will have more room to work in our lives, and he will teach us how to rejoice as only citizens of heaven can.

05/29/2022

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you." (Isaiah 43:2, NJKV)

What stuck out to me in this scripture is the use of 'when' not 'if'. God doesn't say, "if you walk through the fire". He says 'when you walk through the fire." 'If' would mean I may or may not walk through the fire. 'When' means I will definitely walk through the fire.

As I meditated on this scripture I realized that times of walking through the fire are inevitable. I cannot evade it. You cannot evade it. There are hard seasons when we feel like the world is crashing on us and God has forgotten about us.

There are seasons of pain, brokenness, and struggles. But this is what God says: "When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you." That flame is not meant to burn you. It is meant to purify you.

You need that fire to build you into the person God wants you to be. The fire is not there to burn you but to prepare you. It is there to help you build character. It is there to build resilience. It is there to make your faith stronger.

"Most of the Psalms were born in a wilderness. Most of the Epistles were written in a prison. The greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers have all passed through the fire...The greatest poets have learned in suffering what they taught in song... Take comfort, afflicted Christian! When God is about to make pre-eminent use of a person, He puts them in the fire." — George MacDonald

09/16/2021

Today's Reflection:

Good Morning!!! God is Good!!!

All of us have sinned. All of us are in need of forgiveness. All of us depend upon God’s mercy.

“If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” -Luke 7:39-40

All of us, probably, have had the experience of walking into our home, or a classroom or a workplace and instinctively felt the chilly reception we were getting. There were no overt signals that we were not wanted or signs of disrespect. But there were many little things that spoke volumes and loudly. The lack of a sincere welcome, the abrupt change of conversation, the veneer of social niceties in words, without the warmth and happy gestures, make us wary and uncomfortable. It seems that in people’s minds, we are judged, and we have failed to meet their expectations of us as a human being, family members, friends and persons worthy of their friendship.

If we are so attuned to this kind of experience in our society, Jesus was also. Jesus knew when he was being used. Jesus knew when people were saying one thing to his face but thinking another thing behind his back. Yet, Jesus did not avoid these encounters. In fact, he seemed to welcome them. The Gospel for today’s Mass demonstrates that.

Jesus is invited to a dinner being given by a “certain Pharisee” who may have been well known for his prestige, social status and wealth. Jesus enters and reclines at the table with him. We later find out that he was not welcome with the common courtesies of the day: his feet washed, a kiss of greeting and an anointment that would certainly fill the room with a nice fragrance. We get the impression that the Pharisee was doing Jesus a great favor by having him sit at the table with him.

The other important person in this Gospel account is “a sinful woman in the city.” There could be no greater contrasts than between these two people: a man of power, prestige and wealth and a woman who was well known for her sinful life.

One of the many layers found in this Gospel passage is that of entitlement. The sense of entitlement comes more easily to people of status, wealth, power, and social standing. That doesn’t mean that all of us also have a sense of entitlement, but some are able to exercise it more easily and without impunity, without shame. The examples are legion.

Jesus’ parable within the Gospel passage shows us that all of us are indebted because all of us are sinners. No one has the right to claim superiority over another human being. All of us have sinned. All of us are in need of forgiveness. All of us depend upon God’s mercy.

God’s love for us is all-inclusive. God loved us from the time we were in our mother’s womb. The sign of God’s love for us is forgiveness.

Jesus knew how to break the cycle of social inequality. No human law can dehumanize a person and classify that person as untouchable, inferior, unforgivable, unlovable. Only the human mind and heart can do that.

This is why Jesus’ command to love one another as he loves us is so liberating. It puts us in our place: children of God and brothers and sisters to one another. We don’t have to worry if this person is worthy of our love and attention, or if this “sinner” is loved and can be forgiven by God! That is why God is God.

Those at the table with Jesus ask: “Who is this who can even forgive sins?” Thank God, it is Jesus, our Lord, and Savior!

Praised be You, Lord, because Your love forgives a whole past in a moment. Teach me how to forgive, as You have forgiven me. Amen.

Smile, God loves you and so do I.

08/11/2021

Today's Reflection:
Good Morning!!! God is Good!!!

What kinds of behaviors help us to restore relationships?

Today's Readings:Deuteronomy 34:1-12Ps 66:1-3a,5,8,16-17Matthew 18:15-20

The gospel for today touches upon the difficult topic of conflict. Most of us would like to avoid conflict at all costs, but the reality is we are going to face it at one point or another. Conflict is a normal part of being human and a Christian, so the bigger point is not if it will arise in our lives but how we will treat another when it does.

As I reflect on this gospel passage, I can understand how difficult it can be in today's world to speak to someone who has wronged us since this could be easily misinterpreted. We live in a society where we are often reluctant to converse about wrongdoing, and to do so charitably, as is laid out in this reading, can be rare. And once we have had some of these difficult conversations, are we more prone to bind or to loose, to hold onto wrongs or to offer forgiveness?

What kinds of behaviors help us to restore relationships? St. Paul reminds us in Romans 13 that all of the commandments about how we treat people can be summed up simply with one single commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I pray that we, as a community of Christians, may continue to look out for one another and remember that we are called to be people of love, mercy, and forgiveness. When one person sins against another, it is helpful to have Jesus’ instructions on how to handle it. By doing these things that are hard, we show a refusal to give up on anyone, just as God refuses to give up on us. God of unity and peace, our human nature drives us to dark places of competition and comparison among ourselves. Give us the humility to see one another as you see us, as people struggling towards the same goal—eternal life with you. Help us to work together in harmony as we strive to grow in holiness. Let us listen to each other with patience, speak to each other with gentleness, and love one another with mercy. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Smile, God loves you and so do I

08/02/2021

Tuesday August 3, 2021 7PM. Join our prayer community in the Convent Chapel. 95 Pine St. Freeport. Parking available in School parking lot on S.Ocean Ave. north of post office.