This homily was preached at the funeral of Fr. Reginald Foster, OCD on January 21, 2021, at Holy Hill Basilica by Fr. Michael Berry, OCD, Provincial.

Yesterday, as I was leaving Latrobe, Pennsylvania very early in the morning, while it was still dark, I passed a well-lit bulletin board that said in big letters: GOD IS ABLE. And I thought this sign was perfectly suited to celebrate the mystery of the great Solemnity we celebrate today, the ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. God is able.

The following is the homily that was given by Fr. Michael Berry of the Heart of Jesus to the Discalced Carmelite community at Holy Hill for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, June 19, 2020.

“Let us understand most clearly the real fact: God gives [gifts] to us without any merit on our part. And let us thank His Majesty for them, because, if we do not acknowledge we are receiving them, we will not awaken ourselves to love."

Like the Samaritan woman at the well, Teresa knows by experience the liberation of having been loved by Christ. She knows the liberation of being freed of one’s enslavement to sin. She knows the liberation of being freed of licking one’s own wounds and repeatedly tearing them open again in the desire for justice. At the CORE of Teresa’s spirituality is the experience of ENCOUNTER with Christ...

What God wants from you and me—for the SAKE OF HIS GLORY—is that we come to greater faith in His IRREPRESSIBLE love for us. Christ despoils us of all accusations of injustice.

We got the last chapter today in the scriptures. We know how the greatest story of all time ends. It ends with the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“Wake up the World!” Pope Francis’s now-famous rallying call for the Year of Consecrated Life has reverberated around the globe since he announced that 2015 would be a year of prayer and thanksgiving for women and men who live a vocation to the religious life. The question we can ask is how can religious “Wake Up the World?”