John 10:27-30 5-8-2022 (As built, Amite #496)
- Hands… our hands… your hands… my hands… their disposition…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ it’s about nineteen forty… Nineteen fifty… and if you had to describe George you would say… in ten words or less… in three words or less… you would say… eclectic… different… everybody would say brilliant… his name is George De Mestra… and as a result of it by the age of twelve… he already had patents in his name… it’s unheard of even today… he had come up for a design for a little toy airplane… with the same aerodynamics it needs to fly… only George could have done that… as a result of it man he grows up… he’s a Swiss engineer… he loves to go in the mountains with his dog… he loves to walk and visit… and I got to tell you… when he goes in the mountains he picks up these little… things… objects… some people call them cockleburs… okay… wow… were going to die a very miserable death I can already feel it coming on… some people call them hitchhikers… okay wow… you know the little things that attach to your clothes my brothers in Christ and you can’t get them off for all the kings men when you… okay great… you know when you explain a joke it dies miserably but I digress… as a result of it man he comes back through and he’s enamored with it… he noticed that when you put a couple of them within like maybe an inch… they’ve got over like a thousand hooks… in like a quarter of an inch… he’s just enamored with it… and so man he goes to different groups… he goes to trade shows… he stars looking for different fabrics… he goes all over looking for different things… he finally gets up with a nylon manufacture and he said look… I got this idea about this product… and he said what are you going to call it… he said the zipper less zipper… he said man you had to work at that… he said that ain’t going to sell… he gets with Nasa… Nasa now uses it on their clothing… and as a result of it he said man well you go to change the name… he said well man you got to come up with something that everybody will recognize… otherwise zipper less the zipper ain’t going to work… he said man this has been in my hands and I ain’t giving it up… he said man okay… it’s yours… but just change the name… he said man do something… so he takes crochet… and he matches it with another word… with velour… Velcro… okay… okay… hang on one minute… it’s only going to take a second… okay… that’s that homily… that right there… I’ll never use that one ever again… man I thought Black Bart was bad… the look on your faces…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ the good Lord makes the statement twice… he said man I’m not going to let it out of my hands… and I am with my Father and he will not let it out of his… now my brothers and sisters in Christ… listen to what I’m telling you… now stop you’re a first century Jew… the good Lord is on to go see a temple that is being dedicated in Jerusalem… and this is why it’s important that you don’t pull books from the bible… remember the Catholic church created and brought the bible into existence... as a result of such... it has all the books that it needs… it’s Martin Luther who pulls the books… let me tell you why this is important… the good Lord is in route to go dedicate a temple… that was initiated by Judas Maccabeus… they gave the temple over to Zeus… he took it over with his family… put it back to where it was in the Jewish rite… now they’re going to dedicate the temple… the Pharisees see Christ walk into the temple… and they are asking him questions… about like… what are you going to say… what are you going to do… they are very… underhanded… and as a result of it this is where the good Lord is with them… and he’s kind of about to lose his patience with them… my brothers in Christ look… listen to what I’m telling you… the Good Lord is saying the manner in which you use your hands… is actually an exposure of how you think… he said my brothers and sisters in Christ he’s trying to tell them all you want to know is… how you can use it against me…
- Now stop… go back in scripture… all of our best players… all of our best players… are so profound in what they did… you would know them… you would know them if I showed you a picture of their hands… case and point… if I told you that she had this veil that had the image of Christ you’d say oh Father that’s Veronica… if I told you that he’s holding a spear tip even though his name means spear tip… you’d say oh man that’s Longinus… do you know that when he stabbed Christ according to tradition… the blood that fell off the sword and from Christ to him… actually cured one of his eyes which had poor eyesight… but nobody speaks to that… then he proclaims truly this man was the Son of God… but if I showed it you would know it… If I told you that this man… he was a carpenter by trade… and he’s got a big set of hands and there’s a little bitty set next to them… you’d say oh man that’s probably Joseph… if I told you that he’s got a bowl and towel next to his hands you’d say oh man that’s Pilate… if I told you that if you got a picture of him at the last supper… he’s holding a money bag… but right next to him is the table salt that he’s knocked over… you’d say man that’s Judas… my brothers and sisters in Christ… do you know there’s three hundred people since the time of Christ that had the wounds of Christ… three hundred different people… and if you were to ask St. Francis… who was the very first to receive the stigmata after obviously Christ… and you were to ask him to hold his hand up to the light… he would say that… he could see all the way through it… he could see the light… if you were to ask Padre Pio to hold his hands up to the light… he would say that he couldn’t see the light through his hands… so he asked the good Lord… why is I that I cannot see the light… just like when you raise your hands Lord you can see through them… St. Francis could raise them and see through them… see St. Francis was not a priest… he was a religious… therefore he didn’t need to hold the Chalice… and that’s what he told Pio… Pio if I allowed you to see all the way through it you couldn’t hold my chalice…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ well here you and I sit two thousand years later… let me ask you… if we took a picture of our hands… and showed it to our family and our friends… less all the jewelry… or maybe that’s the point… would they be able to identify who we are… in other words my brothers in Christ… are your hands always seen with a remote control in it… are your hands always seen with a computer mouse… my brothers and sisters in Christ… is your hand always seen with a drink in it… a syringe… my brothers in Christ is your hand always seen with money in it… let me ask you… would you hand be seen with a rosary in it… would your hand be seen with a religious card in it… would the ring that you have on you besides your wedding ring… would that delineate that you are indeed catholic… would anything in your hands that they often see you with… would anything delineate that you’re Catholic… my brothers and sisters in Christ therein lies the problem… our hands are an extension of our thoughts… and as a result of it people should come to know us… you knew Pilates hands… you knew Veronicas hands… you probably know Joseph of Arimathea… if he was standing next to a tomb and you see him moving a boulder so that he can put Christ in it… my brothers and sisters in Christ that’s where you and I sit in the world... you know Mother Theresa said when she prayed… she always prayed with her hands facing up… and she always made her thumbs in the form of a crucifix to remind her… that she needs to pray looking up… and to remind her of the crucifixion… you know when the good Lord used to speak to people he would speak with his hands down and they’d be open… whenever he would bless them he would raise his hands in this form… this is why we pray that way… and that when he finally decided to tell how much people loved him… they nailed his hands to the tree… this is why I’m constantly making this symbol throughout the mass… to remind you and I the amount of love he has for you and I… to remind us of the crucifixion… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’m telling you… how you use your hands… what you use them for… is your picture of your hands always in a fist… as in anger… is your hands always like somebody is about to slap somebody… and woe to you who raises your hand to another… is your hands always pointing out something… the faults of other people… my brothers and sisters in Christ and let me tell you this too… in about thirty days you and I are going to have to cross a bridge… and you better cross it… the roe versus wade has to stop… and the killing of our children goes no more… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’m telling you… this fight has come to stay… if we give up real estate now… then we will have nothing left to give… we have done nothing but acquiesce… this is an intrinsically evil thing… nowhere in the world does the good Lord say let the children come to me… and then you and I have the ultimate decision as if somehow or another we’ve been made God… remember what St. Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians… my brothers and sisters in Christ you are not a master of your own life… nor of your own death… you have been purchased at a great price… our body is not our own… we’re renters… it’s all going back to him… in thirty days you and I are going to have to make our voices known… and may you use your hands in the appropriate manner… to cast a vote… to tell people this is what we believe… because if you don’t acknowledge Christ in public... he’s not going to acknowledge you before our Father… if you think the good Lord is going to bless our country… while we kill his children… then I can tell you… that we’re well on the way to perdition…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ I pray you stay the course… that you hold firm to the teachings of Holy Mother Church… that you put your hands together before you put your hands around them… and at the end of the day… remember your hands are a visible sign of your thoughts
- Amen.
