Fr. Brian Soliven Sermons Rev. Brian J. Soliven

Why does God allow our suffering? It’s a question that every single one of us will eventually grapple with sooner or later, if we have not already. Whenever someone makes an appointment with me in my office, I always prepare myself for a heavy conversation. Rarely does anyone come in to tell me about how everything is going great in their lives. On the contrary, my office can be a house of tears. It’s similar to the confessional room in the church, where confessions are heard each week (Tuesdays from 5pm to 6:30pm and Saturdays 3:30pm to 5:00pm). Tears flow in that place as easily as breezy air. It’s a common sight to see a long line of our fellow brothers and sisters with broken hearts and even broken lives waiting patiently for their turn. As I listen to their pain, I can’t help but beg Jesus under my breath, “Lord, help them. Please take away their suffering. They need you.” 


When suffering overwhelms us, we can feel like Jesus’ disciples in the boat that we heard about in this Sunday’s Gospel reading. The story begins with them crossing the treacherous Sea of Galilee. It is known, even to our modern day, to have unpredictable swells. Strong, driving winds can whip up huge waves in an instance, causing the boat to capsize into the cold dark waters. In fear for their lives, the disciples cry out to Jesus for help, “Do you not care that we are perishing?” (Cf. Mark 4:38-40). Stop here. Notice the conclusion they have made about Jesus. In the midst of the “violent swell”, they wrongfully believe that God has left them; he does not care. How many of us have thought the same thing when life knocks the wind out of our chest? Have we all not cried out in our deepest pain to God and yet heard nothing but devastating silence? It’s precisely here that many of us make decisive mistake like the disciples and think God abandoned us. Nothing can be further from the truth. 


Let us return to the Gospel story; Jesus is now roused awake from his nap. He looks at the storm and commands it, “Quiet! Be still!” To their shock, the winds immediately subside and the waves cease. Their mouths dropping in awe. One second ago they thought they would die and now they live. He turns to them and says, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” When the suffering of our lives becomes overwhelming, we must remember this famous account. Jesus is trying to tell us a valuable lesson about his providential plan for us. We may not fully grasp why he allows these storms of our lives to happen or why he allows us to suffer, but the one thing is for certain – He is with us in the boat. He has not forgotten us. In fact, even more mysteriously so, He is suffering with us.

When asked what is the greatest commandment, Jesus quoted the famous verse from Deuteronomy 6, "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." The second is like it, "Love your neighbor." Since the dawn of the Church, we Christians have been striven to live this high calling, albeit clumsily. Despite our failings, our vast network of hospitals, schools, universities, and orphanages, that we've built over the last two millemina is a testament to living this call of love. 

***Stay tuned to the end of the homily. There's a bonus track from our Sunday @2pm Latin High Mass***


As the school year ends, students rejoice!  Newly minted graduates reflect upon their diplomas and hard earned degrees, parents exhale a sigh of relief, as the low hum of our air conditioners battle the onslaught of the Vacaville summer. St. Mary’s now shifts into high gear. Baptisms quadruple. Quinceaneras abound, with their big, colorful puffy dresses. A beautiful bride and a dapper groom will march down our center aisle, practically each Saturday for the next few months. In the midst of all these busy activities, I want to call your attention to three in particular: the Mother/daughter (ages 10-17), the Vacation Bible School for First graders all the way up to Seniors in high school, and the a day retreat lead by Catholic evangelist and speaker, Jesse Romero. All the details can be found in the parish bulletin and St. Mary’s website. I’d like to invite all of you to consider signing up for these activities. Why? 


The answer is in our Gospel reading this Sunday. Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God is like a “Seed.” As anyone knows who’s ever tried to care for a houseplant or grow a vegetable garden in their backyard, it requires work. Our faith is like a delicate seed. It requires effort to make it flourish. It needs water, fertilizer, the correct amount of sunlight, and yes even attentive love. If neglected, this “seed” of which our Lord speaks of, can wither and die, just like a plant. Every single one of us has the Kingdom of God planted in all of us that we received when we were baptized. That’s when our spiritual relationship with Jesus began. It’s nourished each time we receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist in state of grace, it’s watered when the Holy Spirit descended upon us from Heaven at our Confirmation, like the rains from above. This precious faith in us must be cared for. Jesus says, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of the plants and puts forth large branches.” (Cf. Mark 4:30–32). 


I want to be that kind of plant. I want to be that kind of Catholic, strong, mighty, courageous, and most of all, a passionate lover of Jesus Christ that bears much fruit. If you are a mother of a daughter between the ages of ten and seventeen, I invite you to the mother/daughter program on June 30th. If you are in school, from the first grade all the way to senior in high school, come to our Vacation Bible School in July. If you are Catholic, thirsting for more, come to the day retreat with Jesse Romero on July 30th. Let’s strengthen this divine “seed” in us. Now is the time to be holy!




 

This morning in the first reading, Elijah stands alone versus four-hundred and fifty false prophets of a demon. The odds are always against the faithful when you look over the history of the Church. Those who choose fidelity to God's commandments will consistently be outnumbered. 

Imagine this scenario: a stranger walks up to you on the street and asks, “If you were to die today, how do you know if you will go to Heaven?” It’s a thought provoking question. Oftentimes, if you’ve gone through our parish baptism classes for parents and godparents of the child, I immediately begin with that question. It’s meant to peak one's curiosity and wonder about the bigger picture of the meaning of life. If I were to die today, how do I know I would go to Heaven? It’s another way of asking, how am I saved? The most common answer I get after over a decade of ministry as a priest, in all the parishes I’ve had the honor of serving, is this: I am going to Heaven because I am a good person. 


This answer is a fantastic start; it provides an opportunity to take a deeper step into another fascinating question, how do we know what is good? Who determines what is right or what is wrong? Who defines the terms? In 2005, then Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, on the eve of the election that would eventually elect him pope, gave a famous homily to the other cardinals gathered from all over the world dealing with this foundational question. He said, “We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one’s own ego and one’s own desires.” In other words, we live in a culture that has lost a sense of any objective truth. In fact, to speak of truth, is to be labeled a fanatic or a fundamentalist. This modern ethos can be summed up with the famous quip, “What is true for you, is not true for me.” Who defines what is the meaning of “good?” I do. 


This tendency of ours to be the definers of truth is actually biblically ancient. The first reading we heard at Mass today points to where all of this mess happens, God scolds Adam, “You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!”(Cf. Genesis 3:11). This tree is described in the previous verses of the same chapter, “For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.” After this Original Sin, man removes God as the standard of objective and moral truth and replaces it with himself. Human history has been limping on ever since. 


Cardinal Josef Ratzinger would remind us in the same homily of the Christian response to humanity’s death spiral: “We, however, have a different goal: the Son of God, the true man. He is the measure of true humanism. An "adult" faith is not a faith that follows the trends of fashion and the latest novelty; a mature adult faith is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ. It is this friendship that opens us up to all that is good and gives us a criterion by which to distinguish the true from the false, and deception from truth.” Now let us return to the initial question I began our reflection, “If you were to die today, how do you know if you will go to Heaven?” The only correct answer is Jesus Christ. His blood has paid the price for my sins. Now my life must be lived in humble obedience to his definition of what it means to be good.

In perfect harmony, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary beat as one. United in love and will, they reveal how our hearts should be conformed.