GregCast Diakonia

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice, for indeed, the Lord is near.” This is what St. Paul wrote to the Philippians, and this is what is announced as we celebrate this Third Sunday of Advent. For these past two weeks of Advent, we have quietly proclaimed the Lord’s Coming. Today offers us the opportunity to worship with JOY, for now the Lord is near. Joy is a gift from the Lord, who is our first and greatest gift, and the only one that will never tarnish or break or fade. “Gow-DAY-tay,” the Latin word for rejoice, reminds us that while the gift has not yet arrived, it is very near. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again, rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” In happy times during our Advent journey, this third Sunday is a moment to stop and reflect on the source of true joy; that is, as Paul tells us, “the peace

Homily – November 8, 2015 (The Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - B) Readings: 1 Kings 17: 10-16; Psalm 146: 7-10; Hebrews 9: 24-28; Mark 12: 38-44 You know the cliche, some see the glass half empty, while some see it as half full. In our world today, there are varying opinions and theories, and half baked ideas that revolve around this cliche. The starting premise for every informercial is that your life is empty, so order now. If you’ve ever struggled with some sort of dependency or addiction, you struggle with the notion that you're somehow incomplete without that drink, drug, or no-so-great person in your life. In our own realm of church and religion, we too have the “scribes” who seek the good seats, and the so-called religious people who would have you believe that your life is empty without them. Well the Word today offers us a fun little twist and a response to this ones who want to keep you seeing that glass as almost empty. The harvest is plenty, and much has b

Homily – October 4, 2015 (The Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - B) Readings: Genesis 2: 18-24; Psalm 128: 1-6; Hebrews 2: 9-11; Mark 10: 2-1 6 Today is the Feast of St. Francis. Francis loved creation! Francis loved the poor! Francis loved peace! Our own Holy Father, Pope Francis visited our country last week, and challenged us to continue the dialogue around these very three things! Interestingly enough, I heard a song this week that caught my attention. It personified the morning as a person seeing God's light for the first time, and in a way provides us with a good introduction to the message in today's readings, as we are called to embrace God's intimacy. The first morning to have ever seen the sun must have run the other way. But in spite of her fear, she finally spun around to behold  the sweet light rising through the trees.  She fell to her knees and she began to smile, because  she had been in darkness for a long long while.  (A Paraphr

Homily – August 9, 2015 (The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - B) Readings: 1 Kings 19:4-8; Psalm 34:2-3,4-5,6-7,8-9; Ephesians 4:30-5:2; John 6:41-51 I want to begin today with the simple, straight forward, and challenging invitation from today’s readings: Taste and see the goodness of the Lord, for Christ’s flesh is given for the life of the world; that is, may you be nourished by Him, so that you might imitate Him in the giving of yourself to others! Summer is winding down, and we’re all gearing back up to continue our walk as Church in our journey of faith. The rest that you might have been blessed with in a beach trip, or a series of nice relaxing summer evenings with family and friends, is certainly more relaxing than what the Prophet Elijah had to endure to regain his energy, but the point seems quite evident: God loves us… God guides us… and God feeds us, so that we might continue on our journey towards Him. There are three examples of this journey that I’d like fo

Homily – July 19, 2015 (The Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - B) Readings: Jeremiah 23: 1-6, Ps. 23: 1-3, 3-4, 5, 6; Ephesians 2: 13-18; Mark 6: 30-34 Once upon a time, there were a community of these little creatures that spent their existence clinging to the river grass, near the bottom of this rapidly flowing section of the river. One of the creatures wondered out loud saying to the others, “What would happen if I were to let go?” The wisest of all the creatures overheard the young one and responded. “You would surely be taken by the swift current, and dragged along the river bottom, and eventually dashed upon the rocks!” The younger one replied like young ones are prone to do, “But how do you know?” The other creatures began to recount the various times they witnessed one of their own being swept away along the bottom, and all agreed with the wise leader that letting go was just too scary, and not the best option. But still the young creature wondered. You see, he spent a

Homily – June 14, 2015  (The Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - B) Readings: Ezekiel 17: 22-24, Ps. 92: 2-3, 13-14, 15-16; 2 Corinthians 5: 6-10; Mark 4: 26-34 VBS: A Marvelous Mystery: The Mass Comes Alive! At the VBS Closing Mass on Friday, one of the Prayers of Faithful offered prayed, “Lord, you revealed yourself in a way that confused the proud.  Help us all to become humble children that we may become closer to you and begin to understand your great mysteries.” The Nature of a Parable... And therein lies our challenge today, and every day, when we approach the Lord here at His table. The Lord reveals Himself in the mystery of the Trinity, in the mystery of His Body and Blood, and in the mystery of His Word, which today comes to us in the form of parables. Simply put, parables are an explicit comparison of one item to another. More than just an analogy, or an image, parables tell us what God is like by comparing God's being or behavior to something familiar and kno