Monday, May 27, 2013
May 27, 2013. Homily, May 28, 2013
Mark 10:28-31
Peter began to say to Jesus, "We have given up everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother of father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more in this present age: house and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come. But many that are first will be last and the last will be first."
The Gospel of the Lord.
Yesterday's Gospel was about the young man who ran up to Jesus and asked, "Lord, what must I do to be saved?" Jesus answered, "Follow the commandments." "Lord, I have followed the commandments since my youth." "Then, if you would be saved, give up all that you have to the poor and come and follow me." And the young man turned away saddened, for he had much property.
Then in today's Gospel Jesus responds to yesterday's Gospel and promises "a hundred times more in this present age" to those who have given up family and property to follow Jesus.
He defended the commandment to honour one’s father and mother (Mk 7:10-13), but here he was asserting freedom from control by one’s family. The call to discipleship is not necessarily in conflict with family, but in case of conflict it has to take priority over it.
Here we have the oft-repeated paradox of the Gospel, set off very clearly against yesterday’s account of the rich young man: when we try to possess something we lose it; it is only when we are prepared to give it away that it really becomes ours (Mt 10:39; 16:25; Mk 8:30; Lk 9:24).
Friday, May 24, 2013
May 24, 2013. Homily, Saturday, May 25, 2013
Mark 10:13-16
People were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.When Jesus saw this, he became indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Then he embraced the children and blessed them, placing his hands on them.
The Gospel of the Lord.
One of the most popular pictures of Jesus is of the Lord sitting with a child near him sometimes and oft-times on his lap.
• The Gospel of two days ago indicated the advice of Jesus concerning the relationship of the adults with little ones and with the excluded (Mk 9, 41-50). Yesterday’s Gospel indicated the advice on the relationship between man and woman, husband and wife (Mk 10, 1-12). Today’s Gospel indicates the advice on the relationship between parents and sons. Jesus asked for the greatest acceptance for the little ones and the excluded. In the relationship man-woman, he asked for the greatest equality. Now, with the sons and their mother, he asks for the greatest tenderness.
• Mark 10, 13-16: Receive the Kingdom like a child. People brought little children to him, for him to touch them. The disciples wanted to prevent this. Why? The text does not say it. Perhaps because according to the ritual norms of the time, the small children with their mothers lived almost constantly the legal impurity. To touch them meant to become impure! If they touched Jesus, he would become impure! But Jesus does not feel uncomfortable with this ritual norm of legal purity. He corrects the disciples and welcomes the mothers with the children. He touches them, embraces them saying: “Let the little children come to me, do not stop them: for it is to such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs”. And he comments: “In truth I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it”. And then Jesus embraces the children and blesses them, and laid his hands on them. What does this phrase mean? (a) The children receive everything from their parents. They cannot merit what they receive, but live from gratuitous love. (b) The parents receive the children as a gift from God and take care of them with the greatest possible love. The concern of the parents is not to dominate the children, but to love them, educate them in a way in which they can grow and be fulfilled!
• A sign of the Kingdom: To welcome the little ones and the excluded. There are many signs of the acting presence of the Kingdom in the life and the activity of Jesus. One of these is the way of welcoming, of accepting the little ones and the children:
a) To welcome them and not scandalize them. One of the hardest words of Jesus was against those who cause scandal to the little ones, that is, who are the reason so that the little ones no longer believe in God. For them it is better to have a millstone hung round their neck and be thrown into the sea (Mk 9, 42; Lk 17, 2; Mt 18, 6).
b) To identify oneself with the little ones. Jesus embraces the little ones and identifies himself with them. Anyone who receives a child, “receives me” (Mk 9, 37). “And as long as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me”. (Mt 25, 40).
People were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.When Jesus saw this, he became indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Then he embraced the children and blessed them, placing his hands on them.
The Gospel of the Lord.
One of the most popular pictures of Jesus is of the Lord sitting with a child near him sometimes and oft-times on his lap.
• The Gospel of two days ago indicated the advice of Jesus concerning the relationship of the adults with little ones and with the excluded (Mk 9, 41-50). Yesterday’s Gospel indicated the advice on the relationship between man and woman, husband and wife (Mk 10, 1-12). Today’s Gospel indicates the advice on the relationship between parents and sons. Jesus asked for the greatest acceptance for the little ones and the excluded. In the relationship man-woman, he asked for the greatest equality. Now, with the sons and their mother, he asks for the greatest tenderness.
• Mark 10, 13-16: Receive the Kingdom like a child. People brought little children to him, for him to touch them. The disciples wanted to prevent this. Why? The text does not say it. Perhaps because according to the ritual norms of the time, the small children with their mothers lived almost constantly the legal impurity. To touch them meant to become impure! If they touched Jesus, he would become impure! But Jesus does not feel uncomfortable with this ritual norm of legal purity. He corrects the disciples and welcomes the mothers with the children. He touches them, embraces them saying: “Let the little children come to me, do not stop them: for it is to such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs”. And he comments: “In truth I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it”. And then Jesus embraces the children and blesses them, and laid his hands on them. What does this phrase mean? (a) The children receive everything from their parents. They cannot merit what they receive, but live from gratuitous love. (b) The parents receive the children as a gift from God and take care of them with the greatest possible love. The concern of the parents is not to dominate the children, but to love them, educate them in a way in which they can grow and be fulfilled!
• A sign of the Kingdom: To welcome the little ones and the excluded. There are many signs of the acting presence of the Kingdom in the life and the activity of Jesus. One of these is the way of welcoming, of accepting the little ones and the children:
a) To welcome them and not scandalize them. One of the hardest words of Jesus was against those who cause scandal to the little ones, that is, who are the reason so that the little ones no longer believe in God. For them it is better to have a millstone hung round their neck and be thrown into the sea (Mk 9, 42; Lk 17, 2; Mt 18, 6).
b) To identify oneself with the little ones. Jesus embraces the little ones and identifies himself with them. Anyone who receives a child, “receives me” (Mk 9, 37). “And as long as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me”. (Mt 25, 40).
Monday, May 20, 2013
May 20, 2013. Prayer Service, Mark 9, 38-40
Mark 9:38-40.
John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us." Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For anyone who is not against us is for us."
Abraham Lincoln: "A house that is divided against itself can not stand, 'For anyone who is not against us is for us.'"
• Today’s Gospel narrates quite a beautiful and actual example of the pedagogy of Jesus. It shows us how he helped his disciples to perceive and to overcome the “yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod”.
• Mark 9, 38-40: A closed mentality: He was not one of ours” Someone who did not belong to the community used the name of Jesus to drive out the devils. John, the disciple, sees this and forbids it: We have stopped him because he was not one of us. In the name of the community he forbids that the other one can do a good deed! He thinks that being a disciple, he can have the monopoly on Jesus and, because of this, he wants to forbid that others to use the name of Jesus to do good. This was the closed and ancient mentality of the “chosen People, a separated People!” Jesus responds: “You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name could soon afterwards speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.” (Mk 9, 40). It would be very difficult to find a more ecumenical affirmation than this affirmation of Jesus. For Jesus, what is important is not if the person forms part of the community or not, but rather if the person does or not the good which the community should do.
John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us." Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For anyone who is not against us is for us."
Abraham Lincoln: "A house that is divided against itself can not stand, 'For anyone who is not against us is for us.'"
• Today’s Gospel narrates quite a beautiful and actual example of the pedagogy of Jesus. It shows us how he helped his disciples to perceive and to overcome the “yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod”.
• Mark 9, 38-40: A closed mentality: He was not one of ours” Someone who did not belong to the community used the name of Jesus to drive out the devils. John, the disciple, sees this and forbids it: We have stopped him because he was not one of us. In the name of the community he forbids that the other one can do a good deed! He thinks that being a disciple, he can have the monopoly on Jesus and, because of this, he wants to forbid that others to use the name of Jesus to do good. This was the closed and ancient mentality of the “chosen People, a separated People!” Jesus responds: “You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name could soon afterwards speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.” (Mk 9, 40). It would be very difficult to find a more ecumenical affirmation than this affirmation of Jesus. For Jesus, what is important is not if the person forms part of the community or not, but rather if the person does or not the good which the community should do.
May 20, 2013. Homily, Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Mark 9:30-37
Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. He was teaching his disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death, the Son of Man will rise." But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him.
They came to Capernaum and once inside the house, he began to ask them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they remained silent. For they had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, "Whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me."
Our true being looks out at the world with words, and it looks up at God with wordless trust.
All Popes, looking back to Peter and through John Paul II and Benedict XVI, signed and sign their missives with the phrase, "The Servant of the servants of God."
His words also say volumes on those couples and individuals who open their hearts and homes to children in adoption and thus freely commit themselves to a lifetime of love and service of God's most helpless angels. Dowling, Have you Heard the Good News?, Reflections on Cycle B, at p. 162.
Jesus was talking about His death to his disciples. Afterwards, His disciples argued about which disciple was the greatest. The disciples thought that Jesus was the Messiah, the Anointed One, who would be King of The Jews as descendant of David. They interpreted that to mean that Jesus would establish an earthly Kingdom, so that the disciples would each be mighty figures in that earthly kingdom. But Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." Jesus then brought His disciples together to instruct them. In His kingdom, "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last and the servant of all." Now for our perspective we see what Jesus meant. David's kingdom in the north lasted 250 years until it was conquered by the Assyrians and the ten tribes to the north were scattered and became known as "the ten lost tribes of Israel." Similarly, the two tribes to the south around Jerusalem lasted 400 years until they were conquered by the Babylonians.
But the Catholic Church the kingdom of Jesus not of this world has lasted over 2000 years, and each head of the Church from Peter to our Benedict XVI signs each letter "the Servant of the servants of God".
Sunday, May 12, 2013
May 12, 2013. Homily, Tuesday, May 14, 2013
John 15:9-17
Jesus said to His disciples: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in His love.
"I have told you this so that your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give to you. This I command you: love one another."
The Gospel of the Lord.
The Book of Signs deals with the three years of the public life of Jesus and the Book of Glory with the last week of the life of Jesus. A major part of the Book of Glory is the Final Discourse of Jesus at the Last Supper. As Moses passed on the Ten Commandments so Jesus passes on God's commandment of perfect love. of all-encompassing love. What Jesus has done is take all the commandments and boil them down to one. If we love one another as Jesus has loved us, then we will indeed keep all the commandments. It should be a love which shows itself in action and sacrifice, deeds and self-sacrifice. "friends" from "philoi" meaning "loved ones", or those we share our thoughts with. "friends" is never a title used for the divinity. "friendship" in the Near East meant reciprocity with each required to meet the needs and expectations of the other.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
May 9, 2013. Homily, Saturday, May 11, 2013
Jn 16:23b-28
Jesus sad to his disciples, "Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
‘I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you clearly of the Father. On that day you will ask in my name. I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world; now, I am leaving the world and am going back to the Father.’
The apostles to Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray." And Jesus responded, "This is how you should pray. 'Our Father, who art in heaven * * * '" But Jesus started not with "Our Father" but with "Abba", and the Aramaic word "Abba" means not "Father" but "Daddy“. We are to address God the Father with the familiar diminutive. For we are members of His family. Dare we be that familiar with God. He, through Jesus, asks us to be so familiar.
Why on earth do we address our Fathers as "Daddy"? Because he has given us life, he has taught us, he has supported us, he loves us. And if we ask anything of our earthly daddy, he will give it to us. So, Jesus says, in this Gospel. " Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you." We pray for guidance. Then with that guidance, we ask, and with our request guided by the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, and made in the name of Jesus, that request will be given to us.
Friday, May 3, 2013
May 3, 2013. Homily, Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Jn 16:5-11
But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
The first part of the Bible is the Old Testament - the story of God the Father's chosen people, the Jews, the sons of Judah. The Old Testament focuses on God the Father. The Old Testament is the 2000 years from Abraham to Jesus. The New Testament focuses on Jesus, that Jesus is the Son of God. Each of the four evangelists each in their own way, seeks to prove that Jesus is the Son of God. The life of Jesus, that Jesus is the truth, the way and the life, is some 33 years. What part of Scripture focuses on the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit? This passage from John and the other passages considered in this brief time of Jesus risen and before His Ascension. But in fact the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, has been with us for these past 2000 years.
" * * * if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. "
"[T]he Advocate", the Holy Spirit, will be sent to us, and was sent to us, by Jesus. The Advocate, through the Church, starting with the Gospels, teaches us that Jesus has shown us the way, to love God, and that the way to show our love for God is to love His creations, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The Advocate "will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement". "[A]bout sin, because they do not believe in me". Sin is the turning away from God, away from God's way taught to us by Jesus. "[A]bout righteousness, because I am going to the Father". When we follow God's way, our reward is righteousness, and the reward for righteousness, our reward for righteousness, is to go to the Father, to go to the Father in Heaven. "[A]bout judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned." When have you fed me when I was hungry, when have you given me to drink when I was thirsty, when have you tended to me when I was sick? Whatever and whenever you tended to the least one of these, my brothers and your brothers, you tended to me.
But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
The first part of the Bible is the Old Testament - the story of God the Father's chosen people, the Jews, the sons of Judah. The Old Testament focuses on God the Father. The Old Testament is the 2000 years from Abraham to Jesus. The New Testament focuses on Jesus, that Jesus is the Son of God. Each of the four evangelists each in their own way, seeks to prove that Jesus is the Son of God. The life of Jesus, that Jesus is the truth, the way and the life, is some 33 years. What part of Scripture focuses on the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit? This passage from John and the other passages considered in this brief time of Jesus risen and before His Ascension. But in fact the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, has been with us for these past 2000 years.
" * * * if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. "
"[T]he Advocate", the Holy Spirit, will be sent to us, and was sent to us, by Jesus. The Advocate, through the Church, starting with the Gospels, teaches us that Jesus has shown us the way, to love God, and that the way to show our love for God is to love His creations, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The Advocate "will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement". "[A]bout sin, because they do not believe in me". Sin is the turning away from God, away from God's way taught to us by Jesus. "[A]bout righteousness, because I am going to the Father". When we follow God's way, our reward is righteousness, and the reward for righteousness, our reward for righteousness, is to go to the Father, to go to the Father in Heaven. "[A]bout judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned." When have you fed me when I was hungry, when have you given me to drink when I was thirsty, when have you tended to me when I was sick? Whatever and whenever you tended to the least one of these, my brothers and your brothers, you tended to me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)