December 28, 2009. Homily, January 2, 2010.

John 1: 19-28.

This is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, "Who are you?" he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, "I am the not the Christ." So they asked him, "What are you then? Are you Elijah?" He answered, "No." So they said to him, "Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for your self?" He said:

"I am the voice of one crying out in the desert,

'Make straight the way of the Lord,'

as Isaiah the prophet said." Some Pharisees were also sent. They asked him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?" John answered them, "I baptize with water, but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie." This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The Gospel of the Lord.

What did John the Baptist preach?

"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," — that is, the time was drawing near when the long awaited Saviour would appear. John required that the repentance be sincere and be accompanied by good works.

December 28, 2009. Homily, December 29, 2009.

Luke 2:22-35.

When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord. Every male that opens the word shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying.

"Lord, now let your servant go in peace,

your word has been fulfilled:

my own eyes have seen the salvation/

which you prepared in the sight of every people,

a light to reveal you to the nations

and the glory of your people Israel."

The child's father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,

"Behold this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel,

and to be a sign that will be contradicted

(and you yourself a sword will pierce)

so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

The Gospel of the Lord.

1 Cor. 13: 1 [Paul's song of love:] If I speak in human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. * * * * [ 9] For we know partially and prophesy partially, [10] but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. [11] When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. [12] At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then [when the perfect comes] face to face. I know partially but then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. [13] So faith, hope, love remain, these three, but the greatest of these is love.

and you yourself a sword will pierce. I know partially. The Blessed Mother will know anguish (the Passion and Death) but then I shall know fully as I am fully known (in the end great joy (the Resurrection).).

December 24, 2009. Homily, December 27, 2009.

Feast of the Holy Family.

Luke 2:41-52.

Each year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.

The Gospel of the Lord.

The family is the privileged setting where every person learns to give and to receive love.

The family is the intermediate institution between individuals and society.

The family is a great and lifelong treasure for couples.

The family is a school.

The Holy Family is a model for the family.

- Pope Benedict XVI.

A gospel of Luke. Dear and Glorious Physician, the title of the book on the life of Luke by Taylor Caldwell. At the cross, Jesus committed the care of his mother to the apostle John, the apostle that Jesus loved, and said to Mary, "Woman, behold your son" and to John, "Behold your mother." And John immediately took Mary into his home.

At the end of their days, John and Mary lived in Ephesus, then a commercial metropolis on a harbor of the Mediterranean, over time the entrance to the harbor silted up, and Ephesus was abandoned. Now, ancient Ephesus is a valley leading down to the Sea, some two miles away, and the sides of the valley have been dug away revealing houses along both sides of the valley. The floor of the valley is a stream with a bed made of marble, and street lights with the reflecting surfaces made of sheets of marble. There is a Library and an ancient toilet facility. The recovery effort is perhaps half completed. The tradition is that Luke would visit Mary where she was living with John and that Mary told Luke stories of the childhood of Jesus. This gospel is one of those stories. Also, Luke drew a portrait of Mary, which we call the Signpost; the original was destroyed but a copy remains which is the picture we know and distribute here in our parish as prayer cards with the picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

When we read this gospel, it says that Jesus was 12 years old. Every year a faithful Jew must travel to the Temple to worship. Jesus and his family were on that pilgrimage and his parents lost him, and went back looking for him. "They found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers." So Jesus was 12 in the midst of the the teachers "listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers." We can compute his IQ from these facts. IQ or Intelligence Quotient is your score on a test at a given age as compared with the average score of a person who is 16. If you score the same as a person of 16, you IQ is 100, if your score 50% higher your IQ is 150. 150 is the score of very intelligent persons; 200 is the theoretical top score. If we assume that the IQ of the teachers in the temple were 150, then their mental ages were 16 plus 50% of 16 or 24. Then if the if the understanding and answers of the child Jesus at 12 "astounded" the teachers, he at 12 was at a higher level than them; if their IQ's were 150, or a mental age of 24, then the mental age of the 12 year old Jesus was higher than 24, so that his IQ was higher than 200.

When his parents saw him, they were astonished and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" We have two uses of the term, "Father" one by Mary, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." That "father' being Joseph. and the second by Jesus, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" Or in other words, Why did you find it so hard to locate me, did you not know that I must be in my Father's house? That "Father" being God, the temple where they found Jesus being the house of God.

And they (Jesus and Mary) did not understand "and his mother kept all these things in her heart."

He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. And Jesus lived with his parents until He was 30 years of age and began his public life.

December 22, 2009. Homily, December 26, 2009.

26 December [St Stephen] Mt 10:17-22

Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. It was no perfect world that Jesus was born into, but a harsh brutal place where violence is loved more than peace. “I love war...” said General Patton, “peace is going to be hell on me.” And we make war in order to be able to make more war. Simone Weil wrote, “What a country calls its vital economic interests are not the things which enable its citizens to live, but the things which enable it to make war. Gasoline is much more likely than wheat to be a cause of international conflict.” Into this terrible world Jesus was born. He was the Prince of Peace in the kingdom of violence, and refused to live according to its logic, so he had to die. After him, Stephen was the first Christian martyr, the first of many. We could easily become sentimental about the birth of a child; but this feast of the first Christian martyr is a reminder of reality. The Word made flesh will submit himself to the worst that our world can do. In the very act of doing that he will be giving witness to the truth. All true disciples of his will be ‘martyrs’ in the original meaning of that word: marturein in Greek means ‘to bear witness’; a martyr is a witness to Christ.

December 21, 2009. Homily, December 22, 2009

22 December Lk 1:46-56

Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’ And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home. The magnificat and nunc dimmitis and the 23rd psalm are to be memorized for the comfort they give. Mary’s Magnificat has been called the most revolutionary document in the world. Notice, however, that she did not say, “Let’s bring down the powerful…” but “God has brought down the powerful….” She is already celebrating the topsy-turvy logic of the Gospel. She is an image of the new community, the Church. That is a community where the logic of the Gospel is intended to hold sway: the first is the last, the weak is the strong, the greatest is the least, the poorest is the richest, the lowest is the highest.... But when we look at the Church – at ourselves – sadly, we see that we live mostly by straightforward logic: power and privilege, palaces, badges and titles of honour.... And if I wear such a badge or carry the title of Christian, it doesn't guarantee that it stands for anything in the reality of my life. Mary, the greatest revolutionary figure, still has many revolutions to accomplish.

December 13, 2009. Homily, December 15, 2009.

Matthew 21:28-32.

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, "What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' The son said in reply, 'I will not,' but afterwards he changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, 'Yes, sir,' but did not go. Which of the two did his father's will?" They answered, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him, but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him."

This is a gospel of Matthew and Matthew was a tax collector.

Mary Magdalene, the herald to the Resurrection, was a prostitute.

This is the shortest parable in the Gospels.

It was directed at the chief priests and the elders who were likened to the second son.

December 10, 2009. Homily, December 12, 2009

[The same Gospel as December 8, 2009 and:]

Luke 1:39-47

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said,, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."

And Mary said:

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my soul rejoices in God, my savior."

["My soul magnifies the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God, my savior."]

The Gospel of the Lord.

"The Lord is with thee" meaning the God of her fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of Joseph, of David is with her. She must respond to Gabriel, the able-bodied one, the hero of God, the angel who stands before God. She is alone in her response, And her only support is the narrow will of God, and her readiness to believe, and her readiness to obey.

December 12 is the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Mary appeared to Juan Diego, Cuauhtlatoattzin [quat-la-toe-at-zin], "Speaking Eagle", on Tepacac Hill near Mexico City, this day in 1531.

Her appearance inscribed on Juan Diego's tilma, made of yucca plant leaves and still fresh and bright today, almost 500 years later, is my "My Lord and My God" moment. From John 20:24-29, where Jesus, after the Resurrection, appeared a second time to the apostles and a first time to St. Thomas. "Thomas, put your fingers into the marks of the nails and your hand into my side and do not be disbelieving, but be believing." And Thomas replied, "My Lord and My God".

December 4, 2009, Homily, Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Luke, 1:26-28:

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end." But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" And the angel said to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God." Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Gabriel: God's able-bodied one, or hero of God.

David was the ancestor of Joseph. David was also the ancestor of Mary.

Mary said "Yes" overturning the sin of Eve, who on the Devil's urging disobeyed God the Father and ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - original sin.

There have been many aberrations of Marian piety, and we need to stay close to the authentic tradition. St Ambrose gave it luminous expression in his comment on this passage. "Every soul who has believed both conceives and generates the Word of God and recognises his works. Let the soul of Mary be in each one of you to magnify the Lord. Let the spirit of Mary be in each one to exult in Christ."

Compare Mary's visit from the angel Gabriel with Zechariah's visit from the same angel Gabriel [My name is Gabriel. I stand before God.] Mary a humble your virgin in her home. Zechariah a priest of the Jewish faith in the Temple charges with responsibility for the holy of holies, the sanctuary, the Tabernacle. While Mary believes while Zechariah doubts, and is stuck dumb for his impertinence.