July 28, 2009. Homily, August 1, 2009.

Matthew 14:1-12.

Herod the Tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus and said to his servant, "This man is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him."

Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of  his brother Philip, for John had said to him, "It is not lawful for you to to have her." Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet. But at a birthday celebration for Herod, the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod so much that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for. Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests who were present, he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl who took it to her mother. His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him and went and told Jesus.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Ayn Rand: "The hatred of the good for being the good."

The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.

Herod's bloody deed has appalled people throughout the ages. It seems that a truly vile deed can turn the world upside down, such is its power of infection. Describing Herod's evening party, Peter Chrysologus (c. 280-450) wrote: "The house changed into an arena, the table changed to a stand at the amphitheatre, the birthday guests turned into spectators, the feast turned into an uproar, the wine into blood, the birthday into a funeral, sunrise into sunset, the banquet became a bloody murder, and the musical instruments began to play the tragedy of the ages."

Herodias was the grand-daughter of Herod the Great; her first husband Herod Philip was the son of Herod the Great and the uncle of Herodias.  Herodias and Herod Philip had a daughter Salome and then divorced. While Herod Philip was still living, Herodias married his full brother Herod the Tetrarch. That was John the Baptist's complaint; it was not that Herodias had again married an uncle; it was that Herodias had married the full brother of her ex-husband while her ex-husband was still living (like incest).  To compound, the problem, Salome danced for her uncle[by her father]/grand-uncle[by her mother] and "delighted Herod so much".  It was a scandalous bacchanal; Salome and Herodias knew it was scandalous and sought to stanch the criticism by cutting off the head of John the Baptist. 

It is the hatred of the good for being the good: Herodias/Salome hatred of John the Baptist for John the Baptist being good.

July 28, 2009. Homily, August 4, 2009.

Matthew 14: 22-36

Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other side of the sea, while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone. Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. "It is a ghost," they said, and they cried out in fear. At once Jesus spoke to them, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." Peter said to him in reply, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" After they  got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, "Truly, you are the Son of God."

After making the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret. When the men of that place recognized him, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought to him all those who were sick and begged him that they might touch only the tassel  on his cloak, and as many as touched it were healed.

The Gospel of the Lord.

"the fourth watch": the last watch of the four night watches, the watch just before dawn.

 

Peter "cried out", and when did Jesus stretch out his hand and catch him?  "immediately".

And when we cry out, when will Jesus reach to save us, stretch out his hand and catch us?  "immediately".

"Take courage, it is I." The words "It is I" can also be interpreted as "I am", the name of God.

The Church as the bark [barque] [boat] of Peter.

July 24, 2009. Homily, July 28, 2009.

Matthew 13: 36-43.

Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."  He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the seed is the word, the good seed the children of the Kingdom. The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear."

The Gospel of the Lord.

The Lord's explanation of that parable is not of human origin. It is of divine origin. For only the Lord could speak so intimately (with authority) of  the Son of Man, the children of the Kingdom, the end of the age, the enemy is the Devil, the angels of the Son of Man (his angels), and at the end of the age the angels choosing those from the Kingdom who had caused others to sin and who were evildoers to be bound and cast into the fiery furnace while the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of the Father. When one reads the parable being interpreted by Jesus, the parable makes clear that the evildoers are not plucked out at the beginnings of their lives but, instead, are left to live alongside the righteous until the end of the age. Since they are allowed to persist, they are retain the opportunity to repent until the end of the age.

Mt. 13:24-30

He put before them another parable: "The Kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everyone was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' The slaves said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' But he replied, 'No, for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

July 23, 20090. Homily, July 26, 2009.

John 6: 1-15.

Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?" He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Two hundred days wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little." One of the disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what good are those for so many?" Jesus said, "Have the people recline." Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had their fill, he said to his disciples. "Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted." So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with the fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, "This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world." Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.

The Gospel of the Lord.

All four gospels include the story of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes. John's gospel, fourth and last chronologically, includes it as one of the seven miracles in his Book of Signs (water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana, the curing at a distance of the son of the royal official, the curing on the sabbath of the man ill for 38 years at the pool at the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, the feeding of the multitude with five barley loaves and two fish, Jesus walks on the sea, the curing of the man blind from birth, the raising of Lazarus from the dead). John's gospel does not include the breaking of the bread and the consecration of the wine at the Last Supper but does have Jesus give thanks for the bread before he feeds the multitude. Matthew 14:19  Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowds. Mark 6:17 two hundred denarii [a denarius was a day's wages]. Luke 10:12-17.  John has the barley loaves.  All agree to the deserted place, to the teaching of Jesus before the miracle, to the 5,000 men,  to the 12 baskets of fragments, the synoptic gospels that he looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the bread, and gave it to the disciples to distribute. And the synoptic gospels each have Jesus consecrating and distributing the bread and wine at the Last Supper.

July 21, 2009. Homily, July 25, 2009.

Matthew 20:20-28

The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.  He said to her, "What do you wish?"  She answered him, "Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in  your kingdom." Jesus said in reply, "You do not know what you are asking.  Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?" They said to him, "We can." He replied,  "My chalice you will indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give, but for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father." When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus summoned them and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among  you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a a ransom for many."

The Gospel of the Lord.

James was the first of the apostles to be martyred. Acts 12:2.  He [King Herod] had James, the brother of John, killed with a sword. But John lived on as the guardian of Mary and as the evangelist who wrote the final gospel. John 21:20-23. Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and said, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?" When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!"  So the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to  him that he would not die, but, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?"

Mark 3:17.  James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder). Mark 10:35. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, [made the request of Jesus].  James and John were Sons of Thunder because they were outspoken zealots.  And from that, and from this story, we get the flavor  of the zealotry of their mother.

July 20, 2008. Homily, July 21, 2009.

Matthew 12:46-50.

While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you." But he said in reply to the one who told him, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother."

Take that.

A parable of Jesus is a container made of words. We pour into it what we know from our life experiences and we pour our of it what we need. So here, we have our own experience of our mother and our brothers and our sisters and of those times when they have disturbed us at our work and our reactions to that.  But this is Jesus and the mother of Jesus and the reaction of Jesus to His mother, and we know that the mother of Jesus is the perfect vessel of the will of God, for when God through the archangel Gabriel asked for her obedience she said "Yes".  And we know that Jesus loved His mother and that His mother's life was to do the will of God.  We saw that at the wedding feast of Cana, when she asked the help of Jesus, and Jesus said, "Woman, my time has not yet come" and Mary said to the servants, "Do whatever he asks." And Jesus asked the servant to fill the water vessels and then performed the miracle of water into wine.  And so here, Jesus answers the messenger by elevating the disciples of Jesus, us, to the status of brother of Jesus, sister of Jesus, and even mother of Jesus.

Homily, July 14, 2009

Mt. 11:20-24

Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For, if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell  you ,it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment thean for you. As for you, Capernaum:

   Will you be exalted to heaven?! You will go down to the netherworld.

For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."

The Gospel of the Lord.

If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.

Today is the obligatory Memorial of Blessed Kateri Tekawitha, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior. She was baptized at the age of 20 by the Jesuits and lived austerely in piety near Montreal caring the sick and aged for four years enduring the hostility of her tribe and family dying at 24 in 1680. Blessed Kateri is known as "The Lily of the Mohawks".  She and her work were unrecognized by her tribe and family for the last four years of her Christian life and since and now has been recognized by the Church for these 329 years.  

If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.

July 9, 2009. Homily, July 11, 2009.

Matthew 10:24-33.

Jesus said to His Apostle; "No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household.

"Therefore, do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness,  speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever who denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Three times in this Gospel,  near the beginning, at the middle and near the end,  Jesus tells His disciples "do not be afraid".  When Pope John Paul II was consecrated Pope, he followed John Paul I who was Pope for only thirty days, Paul VI and John XXIII, and John Paul II's first words on assuming the papacy were "Do not be afraid".  John Paul II was shot six years into his papacy and he went on to work with Solidarity to free Poland, to see the Berlin Wall fall, and to serve 26 years in the papacy. Pope John Paul II was not afraid. He lived two decades with a bullet in his abdomen and showed us how to live as witness to Jesus and, eventually, how to die in the arms of Jesus. His final words, in Polish,  were "Let me go to the house of the Father."

John Paul the Great. The crowd outside the Vatican as he died called out "Santo subito". Make him a saint now.

Today is the feast of Saint Benedict, the founder of the Benedictines famous for their abbey at Monte Cassino,and for B&B, benedictine and brandy, who wrote the rule of Saint Benedict, and the namesake of Pope Benedict XVI.  The motto, laborare est orare, to work is to pray, is at the foundation of the Rule of Saint Benedict. In modern times, it has been said, although one should not smoke while praying, one may pray while smoking.