August 23, 2010. Homily, August 28, 2010.

Matthew 25:14-30

Jesus told his disciples this parable: "A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one -- to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately, the one who had received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the one who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master's money. After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, 'Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more. ' His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.' Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, 'Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.' Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, 'Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant, and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground, Here it is back.' His master said to him in reply, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone that has, more will be given and he will grow rich; and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'"

The Gospel of the Lord.

5 talents was 30,000 denarii with a denarius equal to a laborer's wages for a day.

In Luke's version of the story, the servants received pounds not talents and were rewarded with control over the same number (10 and 5) of cities with the servant who received but one unit suffering the same fate.

August 19, 2010. Homily, August 24, 2010.

John 1:47-51

Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth." But Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him." Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree." Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." Jesus answered and said to him, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things that this." And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Palestine is a scorching hot country, and people often had a fig tree growing at the door of their house. Besides fruit it offered shade in the heat. It would be a place to sit and be quiet. It may be that Nathanael had been praying under the fig tree when Jesus spotted him earlier. “Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile!” Jesus had said. Our faces, it may be, are never so transparent as when we are praying.

Today is the feast day of Bartholomew who appears in the first three Gospels with Philip but in John Philip's companion is Bartholomew.

How could Jesus have seen Nathanael under the fig tree? Maybe Nathanael was praying. Maybe Jesus as part of the Trinity observed Nathanael praying. How did Jesus know Nathanael was without guile? Maybe Nathanael was praying and Maybe "Our faces, it may be, are never so transparent as when we are praying." And maybe the above string of inferences was known to Nathanael and was why "Nathanael answered him, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.'"

August 13, 2010. Homily, August 17, 2010.

Matthew 19:23-30

Jesus said to his disciples: "Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the next age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Our faith is saturated with paradoxes, and they are never resolved (as problems are), or answered (as questions are). They remain there; they never go away. “The last shall be first and the first last,” said Jesus (Mt 19:30). * * * * Today’s gospel reading, you might say, is about ‘rich poverty’.

Father Kennedy and being there for me when needed. Like a father.

You love your children more than you love your parents.

August 10, 2010. Homily, August 14, 2010.

Matthew 19:13-15.

Children were brought to Jesus that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." After he placed his hands on them, he went away.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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

Would you like to hear the voice of God? This is the voice of Jesus Christ.

I will remove your heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh.

Come to me all you that labor and are heavy burdened. Take my yoke upon you and learn, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and my yoke is easy and my burden light.

August 5, 2010. Homily, August 10, 2010.

John 12:24-26

Jesus said to his disciples: "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me."

The Gospel of the Lord.

By Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger Presentation The leitmotiv of the present Way of ... who sought to see him: "unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, ...... Jesus is the grain of wheat which dies. From that lifeless grain of comes the Way of the Cross, the Way of Jesus.

OPENING PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, for our sake you became like the grain of wheat that falls to the earth and dies, so that it may bear much fruit (cf. Jn.12:24). You invited us to follow you along this path when you told us “the one who loves his life loses it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (Jn.12:25). Yet we are attached to our life. We do not want to abandon it; we want to keep it all for ourselves. We want to hold on to it, not to give it away. But you go before us, showing us that it is only by giving away our life that we can save it.

As we walk with you on the Way of the Cross, you lead us along the way of the grain of wheat, the way of a fruitfulness that leads to eternity. The cross, our self-offering, weighs heavily upon us. Along your own Way of the Cross you also carried my cross. Nor did you carry it just at one distant moment in the past, for your love continues to accompany every moment of my life. Today you carry that cross with me and for me, and, amazingly, you want me, like Simon of Cyrene, to join you in carrying your cross; you want me to walk at your side and place myself with you at the service of the world’s redemption.

Grant that my Way of the Cross may not be just a moment of passing piety. Help all of us to accompany you not only with noble thoughts, but with all our hearts and in every step we take each day of our lives. Help us resolutely to set out on the Way of the Cross and to persevere on your path. Free us from the fear of the cross, from the fear of mockery, from the fear that our life may escape our grasp unless we cling pos sessively to everything it has to offer. Help us to unmask all those temptations that promise life, but whose enticements in the end leave us only empty and deluded. Help us not to take life, but to give it. As you accompany us on the path of the grain of wheat, help us to discover, in “los ing our lives,” the path of love, the path that gives us true life, and life in abundance (Jn.10:10).

Opening prayer to the Way of the Cross 2005 by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger now Pope Benedict XVI

St Laurence was martyred in Rome in 258 during the persecution under the Roman emperor Valerian. He was among the seven deacons serving Pope St Sixtus II, who was martyred a few days before Laurence. When he was challenged to hand over the Church’s treasure to the authorities, he asked for a few days’ grace; then “he went all over the city, seeking out in every street the poor who were supported by the Church, and with whom no other was so well acquainted. On the third day, he gathered together a great number of them before the church and placed them in rows: the decrepit, the blind, the lame, the maimed, the lepers, orphans and widows; then he went to the prefect, invited him to come and see the treasure of the Church.”

Although Lawrence was probably beheaded, St Ambrose of Milan and the Latin poet Prudentius, among others, recorded that he was roasted to death on a gridiron. Many conversions to Christianity throughout Rome reportedly followed Laurence's death, including those of several senators witnessing his execution. The Basilica of San Lorenzo, Rome, was built over his burial place.

August 1, 2010. Homily, Tuesday, August 3, 2010

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.

This is one of the seven signs chosen by John in his Book of Signs.

"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.