Homily originally presented June 10, 2018

A little boy, named Johnny, was visiting his Grandparents on their farm ...

and he was given a slingshot  to play with out in the woods.

He practiced in the woods but he could never seem to hit a target.

Getting discouraged ... he headed back for dinner ...

And as he was walking, he saw Grandma’s pet duck by the barn.

On an impulse, he let the slingshot fly and hit the duck square in the head & killed it!

He was shocked and in a panic he hid the duck in the woodpile ...

only to see ... that his sister, Sally, had seen it all ... but said nothing.

After lunch the next day, Gramma said, “Sally, let’s wash the dishes.”

But Sally said, “Gramma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.”

As she walked by him she whispered, “Remember the duck.”

Later that day, Grampa asked the children if they wanted to go fishing.

But Gramma said, “I ‘m sorry but I need Sally to help me make supper.”

Sally just smiled and said, “Well that’s all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help.”

          Again she walked by Johnny and whispered, “Remember the duck.”

So Johnny stayed to help ... and Sally went fishing.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s,

    he couldn’t stand it any longer ....

so he went to his Gramma and confessed that he had killed her duck ...

and said he was sorry.

Gramma knelt down, gave him a big hug and said,

“Sweetheart, I know you killed the duck.

You see, I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing.”

“I’ve been waiting to give you my forgiveness ...  

and just wondering how long you were going to let Sally make a slave of you!”

Can you relate to that?

Have you ever been enslaved by something ... or someone?

Have you ever carried a weight around your neck because you did something wrong?  

Did you get to the point where you decided to get it off your chest by admitting it.

Do you remember what that was like ...

the freedom that you experienced by having the weight removed?

Freedom ... it’s a tremendous gift!

We talk about the great gift of freedom we have here in America ...

that no enemy has power over us ...

that we can make our own choices without living in fear.

And we must not forget another freedom, a more precious freedom ...

the freedom that comes from living in the Love of God ...

and not enslaved by the devil. 

Sin, which is turning away from the love of God ... enslaves us.

Sin places a weight upon us that we carry everywhere ... restricting our freedom.

God doesn’t want us enslaved.

God wants us to be free ... spiritually free ... free to love ... like He loves.

Which is why He delights in pouring forth ... His Grace and His Mercy.

His Grace is His supernatural help.

His Mercy is His endless forgiveness.

As His beloved children, God desires to give us ... help and healing.

We just need to trust Him and humbly approach Him to receive these gifts.

In our First Reading from Genesis, God asked Adam and Eve

if they had eaten from the tree which He had forbidden them to eat.

Adam and Eve both admitted that they did ... but God already knew they did.

Because like Gramma standing at her window, God is always watching us.

Just as Gramma saw Johnny kill her pet duck.

God sees everything we do ... the good and the bad.

There’s nothing we can hide from God.

Knowing this should move us to come quickly to God and own up to our sins.

Yes, God wants to forgive us for our sins ... but we have to ask.

Adam and Eve never asked for forgiveness ... they just shifted the blame:

Adam blamed Eve ... and Eve blamed the Serpent.

They never said they were sorry ... so instead of receiving mercy ...

they were cast out of the Garden.

Little Johnny went and told his Gramma he was sorry ...

and he received her mercy ...

the weight was lifted ...

and he was no longer enslaved.

How about you?

Are there sinful things from your past that you continue to carry with you?

Does the Devil pull “a Sally” on you and keep throwing them up in your face?

Maybe not whispering: “Remember the duck.”

But whispering “Remember the lying ... the cheating ...  the stealing ...

Remember that day ... you did that to her ... to him ... to yourself.”

And he whispers, “If you do as I say ... no one will ever know.”

That’s a grand lie indeed ... as you would expect, coming from the Father of Lies

No one will ever know is a lie ... because God knows ... and you know!

Yes, God, who sees everything, already knows your sins.

And you, who have a God-given conscience, already know your sins.

The Devil, who hates you, wants to keep you enslaved to sin.

God, Who loves you, wants you to be set free from sin.

Does God have that kind of power?

That’s the matter in question in our Gospel today.

Here, the Scribes are accusing Jesus of using demonic power to cast out demons.

So, Jesus points out that any power divided against itself will fall.

And since they recognize that demonic power is still operating in the world,

they see that Jesus’ power must have another source.

Yes, Jesus explains that no one can enter a strong man’s house

unless he first ties up the strong man.

He’s referring to Satan, who is strong ... but has been bound by Jesus,

whose exorcisms demonstrate the overthrow of Satan’s power.

There was a marvelous demonstration of power to bring freedom just this week.

On Wednesday, President Trump used his executive power

to commute the life sentence of  63 year old Alice Marie Johnson

who had spent more than 20 years behind bars for drug offenses.

Right after the reality personality, Kim Kardashian, met with President Trump, to plead Alice Marie’s case, the President used his power to grant her clemency!

Can you imagine:

• One day you’re living out the sentence: Life in prison without parole
• And the next day you’re hearing the words ... You’re free to go!

On Thursday, the Aliceville woman, Alice Marie, was released from prison.

She immediately thanked President Trump for ... “having mercy.”

He tweeted her back: “Good luck to Alice Johnson. Have a wonderful life.”

Kim Kardashian tweeted him back, “BEST NEWS EVER!”

Yes ... Freedom is the best news ever.

That woman was enslaved ... and now she was set free.

Jesus has the executive power to do that for all of us ...

to set us free from anything that enslaves us.

And there’s so many prison cells that the devil lures us into.

There are people enslaved by hatred, by violence, by drugs, by alcohol, by pornography, by fornication, by adultery, by prostitution, by an endless list of sins.

And Jesus has the power to set us free from them all!

In our Gospel He says, “Amen, I say to you,

all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them.”

Wow, His mercy is available for all sins.

What are we waiting for?

Why would we not seek the freedom God’s mercy can bring?

Jesus’ one restriction was on blasphemies against the Holy Spirit ...

that they would not be forgiven.

That’s because blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a denial of Jesus’ power ...

a denial that Jesus can do what He says He can do.

You know there’s a growing number of people who deny Jesus’ power to forgive sins and they demonstrate it by checking out of this life ... committing suicide!

They’re saying in effect “I’m so awful that even You can’t help me.”

Suicide has grown 30% in the past 18 years with 45, 000 taking their life each year in America ... making it the 8^th leading cause of death.

Just this week, a world famous chef & world famous designer hanged themselves!  

How sad!    How unnecessary!

In his great work of Redemption ...

 Jesus set all mankind free from the power of the devil to enslave.

And each time we courageously and trustingly go to Him during our lives,

He frees us individually from the weight of sin and guilt and shame.

Today, St. Paul encourages us not to be discouraged, saying:

“This momentary light affliction is producing for us

an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”

That’s the weight we want to carry ...

the eternal weight of glory ... not the eternal weight of sin.

So, whenever the devil whispers: “Remember the Duck.”

Remember the Mercy of Jesus and ask for his forgiveness.

It’s then you’ll hear Him say, “You are free ... have a wonderful life.”

To which you’ll certainly reply:    “BEST NEWS EVER!”