"Why do you always have to bring Him up?" Fr Brian Larkin's Homily for Third Sunday of Advent, 2021.

Fr. Brian Larkin preaches about the kerygma on the Third Sunday of Advent on December 12, 2021. -- -kerygma - the basic Gospel message -If you don't know the heart of the Gospel and the basic story, you're always going to put the emphasis in the wrong place. -Fr. Brian -The Gospel is not good advice, it is good news. And I think part of the reason people in the culture don't want to hear from us—they are sick and tired of hearing from Christians—and I think part of the reason is because when we encounter the world, we're always kind of scolding them on how they should be living a moral life. Which we're not wrong about, they should be, but who wants to hear that all the time? -Fr. Brian -"For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another."(Titus 3:3) -There are three things that Satan does to every one of us to keep us in slavery: (1) Accuses. (2) Discourages. (3) Lies. -Rescued: The Unexpected and Extraordinary News of the Gospel by Fr. John Riccardo -"And even when you were dead [in] transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions; obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross; despoiling the principalities and the powers, he made a public spectacle of them, leading them away in triumph by it." (Colossians 2:13-15) -On the cross, the moment when Jesus was so humiliated, was actually the moment when he captured our enemies. That's not good advice, it's good news. -Fr. Brian -Today, we set aside the concerns of the week that we may honor the Lord and His resurrection. Today we put aside our labors, that we may honor the Lord and remember the eternal life to which He has called us. (Prayer from the Companions of Christ) -God didn't just save you from the Evil One, that wasn't enough for Him. He didn't just capture your enemy, He captured your enemy, shamed him, and then He said, "By the way, you are my son, you are my daughter, and I love you." And you were brought home into the family of God the Father. -Fr. Brian -"This was the tree on which Christ, like a king on a chariot, destroyed the devil, the lord of death, and freed the human race from his tyranny. This was the tree upon which the Lord like a brave warrior wounded in hands, feet and side, healed the wounds of sin that the evil serpent had inflicted on our nature. A tree once caused our death, but now a tree brings life." (St. Theodore the Studite)