The Word of God Speaks - Are We Listening?

Here's my homily for my first Sunday as pastor of the St. LaSalle Pastorate - bit of an introduction to who I am, and some thoughts on the Bible and prayer :)  

Location: Holy Trinity Catholic Church (Luxemburg, IA) – 4 p.m. Saturday

                Saint Joseph Catholic Church (Rickardsville, IA) – 6 p.m. Saturday

                Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic Church (Sherrill, IA) – 8 a.m. Sunday

                Holy Cross Catholic Church (Holy Cross, IA) – 10 a.m. Sunday

Date: Sunday July 13^th, 2014 (15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A)

READINGS:

1^st Reading: Isaiah 55:10-11

Resp. Psalm: Ps. 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14

2^nd Reading: Romans 8:18-23

Gospel: Matthew 13:1-23 (OR Matthew 13:1-9 {short form})

FOCUS: A good way to prepare for Mass is to read the readings before you come. 

FUNCTION: Engage in opportunities for spiritual growth like lectio divina.

          It’s a privilege to be here this weekend as your new pastor :)  This is an exciting opportunity for me, especially since I’m a brand-new pastor.  I’m pretty sure both Fr. Ray and Fr. Jose were both pastors before they were assigned as pastor of the St. LaSalle Pastorate.  So, you get to put up with a priest who’s still learning the ropes :)  Please be patient with me. :)  As I’m sure some of you are wondering, my last name is simply pronounced “Diehm” – one syllable.  It’s not “Di-ehm” or “Dime” or “De-ham” – just “Diehm,” one syllable.  And whereas the previous two priests both went by their first names, my preference is to go by my last name – so I prefer to be called “Fr. Diehm” rather than “Fr. Noah.”  Maybe it sounds a little formal, but you’ll soon discover I’m really not a terrible formal person, except when I need to be. 

          Before I talk about the great readings we have this weekend, I thought I’d take the time to introduce myself.  I was born and raised in Dubuque, and my parents still live there.  I was involved in Catholic education practically all my life – grade school, high school, college, and of course seminary.  After my four years of college at Clarke in Dubuque, I was in seminary for five years – I spent one year at Loras College (Iowa’s premiere Catholic college (: ) with the St. Pius X college seminary program, and then spent the next four years in southern Indiana at the Saint Meinrad Seminary & School of Theology, where I was trained predominately by the Benedictine monks of the Saint Meinrad Archabbey in Saint Meinrad, IN.          

While I was getting my M. Div. (or Masters of Divinity, a ministerial degree that all priests have in one form or another), I was ordained a transitional deacon (which is the step immediately before being ordained a priest) on April 10^th, 2010 and was then ordained a priest three years ago on June 25^th, 2011 at the age of 27.  And I recently celebrated a birthday this past Tuesday (move day), and I’m now a very happy 31 year-old priest and your new pastor :)

          My appointment from the Archbishop as pastor is for a six-year term, with the possibility of being renewed once.  So, I look forward to spending at least six, if not twelve years with you here as Pastor of the St. LaSalle Pastorate and Pastoral Coordinator of LaSalle Catholic Schools.  You’ve been forewarned J  And during my time here, I look forward to visiting with many of you when you invite me to your house for supper (FYI – that’s a not-so-subtle suggestion (: ), or while having coffee with some of you after daily Mass, which I’ve been able to do this past week in Sherrill, Luxemburg, and Holy Cross.

          I’m a big fan of film and music.  I enjoy watching and playing basketball, although I haven’t played much basketball since I left seminary.  I’m an extrovert, but I’m usually ready to not see or talk to anybody after about 8:30 or 9 o’clock at night.  I plan to work hard in this assignment as your pastor, and I hope to be surrounded by other hard-working Catholics.  You’ll get to know me better once I’ve been here a little longer, and I look forward to building the kingdom of God here in our pastorate during my time as pastor :)

          Now for a few thoughts on the Sunday readings :)  I think the readings this weekend challenge us to think about how we receive (or fail to receive) God’s word spoken in our midst.  Please pardon me for using the long form of the Gospel but I thought it was worth it for us to hear the full passage.  Most of us – myself included – don’t often give enough consideration to the fact that when we hear the reader proclaim the readings, we’re actually listening not to the words of a human (although the Bible has many authors), but rather to the words of God.  Just think, at every Mass, it is God who speaks to us through His word.  We believe it’s His inspired word, because after every reading, we hear the reader say, “The word of the Lord,” or we hear the priest say, “The Gospel of the Lord.”  Of course, there was a human author who was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the sacred text; and because of that inspiration, we believe that it’s God who’s actually the author of the books of the Bible, such that it’s God who’s really speaking to us when we hear His word proclaimed.

          The Mass gives us the opportunity to hear the voice of God.  It’s a good to stop and consider how well we prepare ourselves to listen to His voice.  One good practice is going through the readings at home before you come to Mass, or arrive early enough that you can sit and read them before you hear them.  And if you’re technology-savvy, you might appreciate looking the readings up online, at the website, usccb.org, or using any number of fancy “apps” to read the readings on a tablet such as the Apple iPad or the Kindle Fire.

 

          In my own preparation for preaching, I like to sit with the readings early on in the week (on Monday or Tuesday) and ask God what He wants to tell me, and what message He wants me to share with others.  If you ever wanted to better appreciate what a priest does, you might sit with the readings and think about what kind of homily you’d preach if you were the preacher.  Or maybe you just want to sit down, read the readings, and focus on 3-4 sentences that really speak to you.  That’s a practice commonly called “lectio divina,” in Latin, or “divine reading” in English.  It’s a practice of prayerfully reading the sacred words of the Bible and considering how God’s word might be applied to your life.    

          God is still speaking to the world, but we are often too busy or we don’t try to open the ears of our heart to listen to what He has to say.  We all need to take time to slow down and listen for the voice of God. 

          So I invite you to do that this week – take some time and prepare yourself to come to Mass next Sunday; read the readings before you get to Mass, or arrive early enough so that you can read them before you hear them; ask God what He wants to say to you; ask Him what He wants you to share with others.  When we open our ears to hear God’s word, we’ll probably be amazed at what we hear.