March 17, 2010, Homily, Sunday, March 21, 2010.

John 8:1-11

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She replied, "No one, sir." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Jesus challenges us to examine our own hearts before self-righteously judging others.

Jesus, "It is mercy I seek and not sacrifice." I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

From Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, 1596:

Portia: The quality of mercy is not strain'd.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;

it blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

'Tis mightiest in the mightiest.

It becomes the throned monarch better than his crown;

The sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

the attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.

but mercy is above this sceptred sway,

It is enthroned in the heart of kings,

it is an attribute to God himself.

And earthly power doth then show likest God's

when mercy seasons justice.

Only the Romans had the authority to execute persons. That is why Jesus went from the Sanhedrin to Herod and to Pontius Pilate. Thus, the Jews asking Jesus to authorize the stoning of the woman were asking Jesus to choose between the law of Moses [stoning] and the law of the Roman occupiers [no execution without their approval]. The answer of Jesus balanced between the two.

Legend has it that when Jesus was writing on the ground, he was cataloguing the sins of those who had brought the woman before him, starting with the elders. Jesus also said in the Sermon on the Mount: Judge not lest ye be judged.

Monday, March 15, 2010. Homily, Tuesday, March 30, 2010.

John 13:21-33, 36-38.

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, "Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me." The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus' side. So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus' chest and said to him, "Master, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it." So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas, one of Simon the Iscariot. After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." Now, none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, "Buy what we need for the feast," or to give something to the poor. So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.

When he had left, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, "Where I go, you cannot come,' so now I say it to you."

Simon Peter said to him, "Master, where are you going?" Jesus answered him, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later." Peter said to him, "Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times."

The Gospel of the Lord.

If it is faithfulness you seek, look to God not man. Do not seek faithfulness in man.

After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." * * * * So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.

And it was night.

Dichotomy: forgiveness [Peter] and despair [Judas].

March 15, 2010. Homily, March 27, 2010.

John 11:45-56.

Many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, "What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation." But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish." He did not say this on his own, but since he was high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one, the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to kill him.

So Jesus no longer walked about in public among the Jews, but he left for the region near the desert, to a town called Ephraim, and there he remained with his disciples.

Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before Passover to purify themselves. They looked for Jesus and said to one another as they were in the temple area, "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?"

The Gospel of the Lord.

Caiaphas: "nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish."

"He did not say this on his own, but since he was high priest for that year, [H]e [Caiaphas had] prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one, the dispersed children of God."

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI: Jesus, disgraced and mistreated, is honorably buried in a new tomb. Nicodemus brings a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight, which gives off a precious scent. In the Son's self-offering, as at his anointing in Bethany, we see an "excess" which evokes God's generous and superabundant love. God offers himself unstintingly. If God's measure is superabundance, then we for our part should consider nothing too much for God. This is the teaching of Jesus himself, in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:20). But we should also remember the words of Saint Paul, who says that God "through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ everywhere. We are the aroma of Christ" (2 Cor 2:14ff.). Amid the decay of ideologies, our faith needs once more to be the fragrance which returns us to the path of life. At the very moment of his burial, Jesus' words are fulfilled: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (Jn 12:24). Jesus is the grain of wheat which dies. From that lifeless grain of wheat comes forth the great multiplication of bread which will endure until the end of the world. Jesus is the bread of life which can satisfy superabundantly the hunger of all humanity and provide its deepest nourishment. Through his Cross and Resurrection, the eternal Word of God became flesh and bread for us. The mystery of the Eucharist already shines forth in the burial of Jesus.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, in your burial you have taken on the death of the grain of wheat. You have become the lifeless grain of wheat which produces abundant fruit for every age and for all eternity. From the tomb shines forth in every generation the promise of the grain of wheat which gives rise to the true manna, the Bread of Life, in which you offer us your very self. The eternal Word, through his Incarnation and death, has become a Word which is close to us: you put yourself into our hands and into our hearts, so that your word can grow within us and bear fruit. Through the death of the grain of wheat you give us yourself, so that we too can dare to lose our life in order to find it, so that we too can trust the promise of the grain of wheat. Help us grow in love and veneration for your Eucharistic mystery to make you, the Bread of heaven, the source of our life. Help us to become your "fragrance", and to make known in this world the mysterious traces of your life. Like the grain of wheat which rises from the earth, putting forth its stalk and then its ear, you could not remain enclosed in the tomb: the tomb is empty because he the Father "did not abandon you to the nether world, nor let your flesh see corruption" (Acts 2:31; Ps 16:10 LXX). No, you did not see corruption. You have risen, and have made a place for our transfigured flesh in the very heart of God. Help us to rejoice in this hope and bring it joyfully to the world. Help us to become witnesses of your resurrection.

March 15, 2010. Homily, March 23, 2010.

John 8:23-30

Jesus said to the Pharisees "[1]I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where [2]I am going you cannot come." So the Jews said, "He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, 'Where [3]I am going you cannot come'?" He said to them, ‘You are from below, [3a]I am from above; you are of this world, [3b]I am not of this world.He said to them, "You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that [3c]I am he.’That is why I told you that you will die in your sins." So they said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world." They did not realize that he was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realise that I am he, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that [4]I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him." Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

"The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him." So, if we do what is pleasing to God, the Father, then God the Father is with us and will stay with us.

[1]I am going away/ [2]Where I am going/ [3]Where I am going/[3a] I am/[3b] I am/

[3c] I am/[4] I AM.

"I am going away * * * . Where I am going * * * * So Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM * * * ." "I AM" is God's name for Himself. It was the name He gave Moses from the burning bush. "Who will I say sent me?" "Say I AM WHO AM sent me."

March 15, 2010. Homily, March 29, 2010.

John 12:1-13

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, "Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days' wages and given to the poor?" He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

"three hundred days' wages" appears in other versions of this Gospel as 300 denarii; a denarius in Jesus' time was one day's wage.

French scholar Victor Saxer dates the identification of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute, and as Mary of Bethany, to a sermon by Pope Gregory the Great on September 21, 591 A.D., where he seemed to combine the actions of three women mentioned in the New Testament and also identified an unnamed woman as Mary Magdalene. In another sermon, Gregory specifically identified Mary Magdalene as the sister of Martha mentioned in Luke 10.^[8]

Gregory the Great, a Pope, was also a deacon.

The aromatic nard use to anoint the feet of Jesus was valued at a full year's work. Mary Magdalen was a sinner and a prostitute, Jesus had removed seven devils from Mary Magdalen.

The seven devils could be seven customers, and their removal could be this Gospel passage when Mary Magdalen anointed Jesus with the aromatic nard.

Luke 8:1-3 Galilean Women Follow Jesus Afterward [the Pardon of the Sinful Woman] he journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Maary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward, Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged,” Jesus had said (Mt 7:1). Our judgment may be factually true: that’s the bait on the trap. But it is not the whole truth. All our judgments are incomplete. We don’t know the full truth about anyone. And we hardly begin to understand the mercy of God.

March 9, 2010, Homily, March 16, 2010

John 5:1-16

There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be well?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk." Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat." He answered them, "The man who made me well told me, 'Take up your mat and walk.'" They asked him, "Who is the man who told you, 'Take it up and walk'?" The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there. After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him, "Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you." The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who made him well. Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.

The Gospel of the Lord.

In reference to this gospel passage Johann Tauler said: “If we could only wait for the Lord, we would have the power and strength to pick up and carry the thing that was carrying us before.” It is a wonderfully suggestive phrase.

I hope you are convinced that God is often closer to us in times of sickness an suffering than when we enjoy perfect health. Seek no other doctor than him.

John's Gospel is in two parts: the Book of Signs and the Book of Glory.

In the Book of Signs there are seven miracles: Lazarus, Cana, walking on the water, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, this healing of the man blind from birth, the healing from afar of the son of the royal official, the healing of the man unable to walk ill for 38 years

In the Book of Glory, we have the Passion, death and Resurrection of the Lord.

March 9, 2010, Homily, March 13, 2010

Luke 18:9-14

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. "Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself. 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity - greedy, dishonest, adulterous - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.' But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.' I tell you the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

That is the point of this parable: it is addressed to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

What can I do with you, Ephraim. What can I do with you, Judah. Your piety is like a morning cloud.

Jesus, one of the three persons in God, is not overhearing but intercepting these prayers:

The Pharisee spoke "this [his] prayer to himself."

The Pharisee is convinced of his own righteousness and despised everyone else. "O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity - greedy, dishonest, adulterous". "[O]r even like this tax collector": The Pharisee despised the tax collector.

The tax collector beat his breast and prayed, "O God, be merciful to me a sinner."

Jesus concluded, "I tell you the latter [tax collector] went home justified, not the former [the Pharisee]; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

March 7, 2010, Homily, March 9, 2010

Matthew 18:21-35

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times, but seventy-seven [or seventy times seven] times. That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount [10,000 talents]. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children and all of his property, in payment of the debt. At that the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.' Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave the loan. When that servant had left. he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount [a few denarii]. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, 'Pay back what you owe.' Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were greatly disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant as I have had pity on you?' Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart."

The Gospel of the Lord.

seven times: when Cain killed Abel, the very ground cried out. God put the mark of Cain on Cain so that anyone who harmed Cain would be punished sevenfold. Six generations later, Lamech, Cain's descendant, killed a man who had injured him and and a boy who had struck him, Lamech boasted anyone harming him [Lamech] would be punished seven times seventy times.

We must forgive others even those we love who have hurt us. Something in the human heart likes to nurse a grudge. But only when we let go of what is consuming us, only when we forgive and wipe the slate clean, that peace can return, and we can get on with our lives. Let it go.

a talent was the largest denomination of a bill in ancient Palestine [say 10,000 dollars; our largest denomination is $100].

a talent = 6000 denarii.

a denarius was the equivalent of one day's wage.

The GDP of Palestine at that time was 600 talents.

The point of the parable is that Jesus is comparing Peter to the unjust servant, because Peter wants to put a limit on forgiveness.