April 17, 2012. Sunday Homily, April 22, 2012

Luke 24: 35-48.

The two disciples recounted [to the Eleven back in Jerusalem] what had taken place on the way [the road to Emmaus], and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." [JPII "Do not be afraid."] But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.

He said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, "Thus is it written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Rev. Jack Peterson, Arlington, Virginia:

Luke and John recount in their Gospels that Jesus' most common greeting during the resurrection appearances was "Peace be with you." * * * * Yet, there is more to Christ's gift of peace than a simple desire to calm his frantic followers.

* * * * He became at the resurrection a source of eternal peace. * * * * Christ's frequent offer of the gift of his peace after Easter morning suggests that his peace was a particular fruit of the resurrection.

[John Paul II:] "Therefore, [Peace] is not the result of human efforts nor can it be achieved only through agreements between persons and institutions. Rather, it is a gift to be accepted with generosity, to be preserved with care, and to be made fruitful with maturity and responsibility. However troubled the situation may be, however strong the tension and conflict, nothing can resist the effective renewal brought by the risen Christ. He is our peace."

One of the most powerful ways that we bear witness to Christ is when his peace reigns in our hearts. The world is starving for peace, on every level. If we know Christ's peace, if it reigns in our lives in spite of life's countless trials, then people will seek the source of our peace and we will be led to Christ. When we are deeply aware that the war has already been won by Christ and with Him at the center of our lives we have nothing to fear, the Good News will spread like a brushfire on this earth.

Lord, make me a peace-filled witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

April 11, 2012. Homily, Saturday, April 14, 2012

Mark 16:9-15.

When Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told his companions, who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

After this he appeared in another form to two of them walking along on the way to the country. They returned and told the others; but they did not believe them either.

But later, as the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised. He said to them, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature."

The Gospel of the Lord.

One of the prophecies of the Book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 36:26 reads, “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."

"I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

"[H]e appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised. He said to them, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature."

April 5, 2012. Prayer Service, Wdnesday, April 10, 2012

Luke 24:13-35 [The Road to Emmaus]

The very next day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus' disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near

and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing h iim. He asked them, "What are you discussing as you walk along?" They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, =named Cleopas, said to him in reply, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?" And he replied to them, "What sort of things?"They said to him, "The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us; they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not found his Body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see." And he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into this glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriuptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged his, "Stay with us for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized them, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, "Were not our heart burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?" So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the Eleven and those with them who were saying, "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!" Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Ita. Missa est.

Go forth. The message has been completed.

Ita [Go forth].

Missa est. [The message has been completed].

April 5, 2012. Homily, Tuesday, April 10, 2012

John 20: 11-18

Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, he bent over the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken my Lord, and I don't know where they laid him." When she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" She thought it was the gardener and said to him, "Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni," which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, "Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and then reported what he had told her.

The Gospel of the Lord.

In the Catholic Weekly NY edition on Timothy Dolan, our new Archbishop, one commentator who knew him as the rector of the North American College in Rome, said that Dolan acts as a spiritual father to the faculty and seminarians, and by analogy to his priests, clergy and the faithful, reflecting the Rule of St. Benedict on the conduct of an abbot, that he should "arrange all things that the strong have something to strive for and the weak have nothing to fear."

So we turn to today's Gospel on the treatment of Jesus to Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene was strong enough to stay by the side of Jesus and of His mother during the time of Jesus on the cross and yet weak enough so that at His tomb, she was blinded by her tears as she sought to do her duty as she saw it. And Jesus on His way to His Father and to our Father, to His God and to our God, paused to tend to her, to call her name, "Mary!", to comfort her, and then to send her as his messenger to "His brothers" to the apostles to tell them that she had seen the Lord, that He had risen, to tell them and eventually through them to tell the whole world the message of Easter, that Jesus had risen, that Jesus had conquered death, so that we can say with St. Paul, "O Death where is your victory. O Death where is your sting."

This is one of the most beautiful passages in John's gospel. Jesus was fully man and fully God; this scene captures Jesus giving up his manhood and resuming his Godhood. The angels in the tomb each ask Mary Magdalene, "Woman, why are you weeping?" An angel is a messenger of God. Then Jesus who is the second person of God asks the same question of Mary Magdalene. "Woman, why are you weeping?" She is weeping because Jesus has died, and the angels and Jesus who are not mortal but immortal think she should not be weeping but be rejoicing because Jesus has risen - Jesus has reassumed His immortality.

April 1, 2012. Homily, Tuesday, April 3, 2012

John 13: 21-33, 36-38

Residing 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 the 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, son 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 you need for the feast," 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 a 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.

John's Gospel is the Book of Signs followed by the Book of Glory. So here we have Jesus reclining at table "deeply troubled" and Jesus testified "Amen, amen I say to you, one of you will betray me." A prophesy by Jesus. Peter asks "the one whom Jesus loved [John, the writer of this Gospel]" to find out whom Jesus meant. And Jesus indicated Judas. Then Jesus sent Judas on his way. Judas "left at once." "And it was night."

Now starts the Book of Glory. For Jesus says, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him." Now starts the Passion of the Lord. And none of the "disciples" are to undergo the Passion with him except as observers. Each fail in their own way. Judas betrays him. And John with knowledge of the betrayer Judas takes no steps to stop Judas. Peter takes up the sword to defend Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest. But Peter is stayed and the servant's ear healed. Peter goes on to deny Jesus "three times". Jesus forgives Peter (after the Ascension when he asks Peter "three times" whether Peter loves him) and forgives John (at the Cross where Jesus gives care of his mother Mary to John). Judas commits suicide, so that we assume that Jesus did not forgive Judas. But would Jesus have forgiven Judas. What precedent do we have. Well, Jesus forgave Saul (who orchestrated the murder/martyrdom of Stephen) for Saul became Paul the great apostle and missionary to the Gentiles.

Passion, Death and Resurrection. The three days of the Passion and Death are the prologue to the Resurrection of Jesus and the attendant eternity of the Glory of Jesus.

March 27, 2012. Homily, Saturday, March 31, 2012.

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 24, 2012. Homily Tuesday, March 27, 2012.

John 8:21-30.

Jesus said to the Pharisees: "I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come." So the Jews said, "He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?" He said to them, "You belong to what is below; I belong to what is above. You belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, 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 have heard from him I tell the world." They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that 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.

God the Father spoke to Moses in the burning bush. Moses asked his name. What am I to answer when they ask for your name. "Tell them I AM WHO AM sent you to them." Thus the name of God the Father is I AM which for the Jews is YAHWEH.

Jesus says in this gospel of John, "You belong to what is below; I belong to what is above. You belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins." So the Jews said to him, "Who are you?" Here we have the answer first, "that I AM" and then the question, "Who are you?" I AM is God the Father's name for Himself.

Then Jesus goes on to theology, "That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins." Those who do not believe that Jesus is God and that when Jesus was crucified, he died for the sins of all mankind, will not have their sins forgiven and thus "will die in their sins."

Posted by Daniel Murphy at 12:08 PM