June 21, 2011. Homily, Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Matthew 8:23-27.

As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?" Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey!"

The Gospel of the Lord.

1 Cor. 15:12, 51-55. Some did not believe in the resurrection. Paul taught that the resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of all His teaching. Without His resurrection, His words had no effect. With the resurrection, Jesus had conquered death. Then, He and we may say: Jesus has conquered death. "Where, O Death, is your victory. Where, O Death, is your sting?" Here, in this Gospel, with a violent storm at sea, the disciples of Jesus were "terrified". Of what were they terrified? Of death. But we believe today in the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. By His resurrection, Jesus conquered Death. By His Resurrection, Jesus conquered fear of Death. His disciples caught in the violent storm were "terrified" of Death. The "great calm" of Jesus reassured His disciples on the Sea of Galilee. His great calm reassures us. We may say, with Paul, "Jesus has conquered Death. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?"

June 21, 2011. Homily, June 25, 2011

Matthew 8:5-17

When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully." He said to him, "I will come and cure him." The centurion said in reply, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven, but the children of the Kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will wailing and grinding of teeth." And Jesus said to the centurion, "You may go as you have believed, let it be done for you." At that very hour the servant was healed.
Jesus entered the house of Peter, and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, the fever left her, and she rose and waited on him.
When it was evening, they brought him many who were possessed by demons, and he drive out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick, to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet:
He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.
The Gospel of the Lord.

The ways of God are not the ways of man.

"My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord.'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

June 14, 2011; Homily, Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Matthew 7:6, 12-14

Jesus said to His disciples: "Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.

"Do to others, whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets.

"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few."

The Gospel of the Lord.

These quotations are all from the Sermon on the Mount which also contains the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer, the Our Father.

The first quote is on the dignity of man. You are a worthwhile being. You must treat yourself with respect. One must treat oneself with respect. You are the home of your soul. Your soul is the speck of life created in you by the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life. Do not abuse your body, the temple of the Holy Spirit.

And the second quote is the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do to you. Jesus says that the Golden Rule sums up the Law and the Prophets.

The third quote tells us that discipline is essential to any argument. As the way we conduct our lives is our argument at to why we should be admitted into Heaven. So we must discipline the way we live that life. Remember when we studied Shakespeare and learned about the sonnet and then we had to write our own sonnets. They had to be in iambic pentameter, be fourteen lines and rhyme (the octet abab cdcd and the sextet efef gg in the Shakespearean sonnet or the octet abba abba and the sextet cde cde in the Italian sonnet). And they would be on some abstract theme: Love, our love for our Father or our Mother or some idealized person of the opposite sex. It seemed so difficult to cram that huge abstract thought into the sonnet form, but when you did it, you realized that the stricture of the form made the expressed thought more powerful. So here this is the argument of Jesus. hen we take our life through the narrow gate and down the constricted road we are on the way to eternal life.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta was asked by an acquaintance, "Why do you care for these people? They are dirty, they are sick, they are poor, and they are dying." Mother Teresa's answer was, "I am preparing them to meet the Lord Jesus Christ."

June 11, 2011, Homily, Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Matthew 5: 43-48.

Jesus said to His disciples: "You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."

The Gospel of the Lord.

How hard this Gospel is. But then do we not want God to be perfect, and do we not want His standard to be one we may strive for. Remember Sister Mary Ann? She used to be the chaplain of the sixth floor. One day I was visiting the patients on the sixth floor. I went into one patient in the back right of the north wing. The patient ended up yelling at me and kicking me out of his room. I footnote here that that is very unusual in my time here at Calvary and in fact this is the only time that happened to me. Nevertheless, I retreated out to the hall. And Sister Mary Ann was waiting there. "That was hard, wasn't it?", she said. Then she added, "This is God's work. And that is a good thing, for it is God who is doing it." I interpret that to mean, that it is God doing our work here at the hospital through us.

Have you ever been to a resort and noticed that everyone you pass seems to be smiling and that each one takes a moment to give you a quick wave or a hello? Doesn't that make you feel great? Isn't that an up? So Jesus says, "Do you greet your brothers only" or "If you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that?" But when we greet all, as Nurse Vivian on the third floor reminds me to do, we greet all, brothers and non-brothers. But when we greet all, then all become our brothers.

When I started as a lawyer at a big firm, the firm had different departments representing different fields of law, and I was placed in the Litigation Department, because, they explained, it better fit my personality. I thought, "Great. I would be able to tell my opponents what-for." But I started by being nice, and I found that I did so well being nice that I never gave my opponent what-for. But what about when the case was over? Well, when I won, I did not have to be mean because I had won. And when I lost, I could not be mean, because I had lost. An abiding truth about the Gospels of Jesus, is that when we try to follow them, they work.

Posted by Daniel Murphy at 5:59 AM

June 7, 2011, Homily, Saturday, June 11, 2011

Matthew 10:7-13

Jesus said to the Twelve: "As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give. Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts, no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep. Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you."

The Gospel of the Lord.

John 21:20-25

Peter turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved, the one who had also reclined upon his chest during the supper and said , "Master, who is the one who will betray you?" When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus said to him, "What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me." So the word spread among the brothers that that disciple would not die, but Jesus had not told him that he would not died, just "What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours?"

It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world could contain the books that would be written.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Each of the four gospels, each of the four tellings of the "good news" is about Love. How many times/descriptions of love do we have in this last story of John's gospel.

Peter turns and sees the disciple whom Jesus loved.

Peter is jealous. Lord, what about him. Jesus says, What if i decide that he should remain until I return. What business is it of yours? You follow me.

John writes about his love for Jesus, but his writing is incomplete, for if he wrote it all, he does not think the whole world could contain the books that would be written.

Jesus said, "You have not selected me; it is I who has selected you."

When Jesus left His tomb He came upon Mary Magdalene who held onto Him. He said, "You must let me go. I am returning to my Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God."

Jesus explained, "I must return to my Father. Otherwise He will not send the Advocate. The Advocate will recall with you all that I have said; He will explain everything to you." In other words, "I will send to you the Spirit of truth,: says the Lord, "he will guide you to all truth."

Tomorrow, June 12, is Pentecost. June 2 was Ascension Thursday. After Jesus ascended into Heaven, His disciples waited for Him. They were gathered together in a room and the Holy Spirit came upon them, with tongues of flame. They were strengthened and emboldened by the Holy Spirit and went down into the street and preached the Lord. And the streets of Jerusalem were filled with peoples from all countries who spoke all languages but each heard the apostles speaking in their own tongues. We had a Pentecost celebration here in OLPH. Each of the celebrants appeared here at the podium and read a Scriptural passage in their own native tongue. I remember hearing the passage read in English, in French, Bernie read it in German, Olympia read it in reek, I heard it in Mandarin, and then I heard it read in a beautiful language like singing. I asked what was that? "It is Italian." And then I understood why operas are sung in Italian. We are not doing that Pentecost celebration this year in the Church, but I wanted to relive it so that I decided to talk about it in my homily this morning on the vigil of Pentecost. We are the Roman Catholic Church. "Roman" because our origins are in Rome, in Italy, in that beautiful language, Italian, I heard in that Pentecost celebration, and "Catholic" because our Church is universal, it has spread and spreads throughout the world, throughout all peoples and all languages.

Erma Bombeck had fantasized that her 25th wedding anniversary would be held under a big white tent with guests milling around and an orchestra playing "our song." It turned out differently. Her kids threw a few hamburgers on a grill, scarfed them down and split-- leaving her and her husband to clean up. Later, her husband said, "Close your eyes." She did. When

she opened them, he held in his hand a jar of cauliflower, packed in pickle juice. "I hid them from the kids," he said, "because I knew how much you like it." Erma ended, with this beautiful remark, "Maybe love is that simple."

What did Erma mean?

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads, which sew people together. Simone Signoret

June 1, 2011. Homily, Tuesday, June 7, 2011.

Jn 17:1-11a Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. "I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understand that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours, and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you." The Gospel of the Lord.

The Great High Priestly Prayer from John 17 is the last speech from Jesus to His apostles before His Passion, Death and Resurrection. Jesus prays first for Himself in today's Gospel then for his disciples in the excerpt which we consider at this time next year (Cycle B) and then in the last excerpt which we consider in two years (Cycle C) Jesus prays for all Christians. When Jesus prays for Himself to the Father, Jesus follows the outline of the Lord's Prayer: Jesus calls God "Father" Our Father, who art in heaven Jesus looked up to heaven and said 'Father' Jesus blesses God's name hallowed be Thy name Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you. asks that God's will be done Thy will be done Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me that they may be one as we are one. and prays for deliverance from the evil one but deliver us from evil I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. Jesus says: "Now glorify me with you, Father, with the glory that I had with you before the world began." We go back to the beginning of John's Gospel: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God and nothing came to be except through him. And what came to be through him was life and the life was the light of the world. The light shone in the darkness and the darkness could not overcome it. Jesus says: "Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began." Now, how is that done - through the Passion, Death and Resurrection which shows that Jesus has power over death. And onwards through us, through our witness to the Passion, Death and Resurrection. For Jesus continues in His prayer to the Father: "I revealed your name to those you gave me out of the world." To reveal the name of someone is to know that someone. To know is to understand. To whom did Jesus reveal God's word? Jesus continues "to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word." Jesus is talking about us. Jesus had given the name of God, the word, the understanding of God, to us, and we through our witness to God, to the life of Jesus, to the way of Jesus, will keep, God's Word, at the end of our lives we may be said to have kept God's word. The Great HIgh Priestly Prayer.