February 20, 2011, Homily, February 22, 2011.

Matthew 16-13-19

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philipi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the nether world shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Simon said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father."

[Peter] had some mysterious inkling of the ultimate identity of Jesus. Every Christian has this kind of knowledge of Jesus, buried somewhere in them.

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "how can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "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 holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible for God." Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

Simon bar Jonah is complimented "Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah", receives a new name, Peter [Roman], Cephas [Greek], Rock, will become the foundation of the Church, and receives the Keys to the Kingdom of heaven. The mural behind the altar has the Blessed Mother, Peter, the rock of the Church, on the left with his keys and Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, on the right with the scrolls.

February 18, 2011. Homily, Sunday, February 20, 2010.

Matthew 5:38-48

Jesus said to His disciples, "You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well. If anyone wants to of to law with you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.

"You have heard 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 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.

This is part of the Sermon on the Mount. In Exodus 21:24, Moses calls for "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." It is also part of the Code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi was King of Babylon 1792 B.C. to 1750 B.C. In the time of Jesus, Jews regarded all non-Jews as enemies for failing to acknowledge the one true God.hen we love the culprit, we see good in them and reason to forgive.

Today's Gospel ends with the words, "So be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect." How can we do that. The Golden Rule is a start. But think how often we try the patience of our Heavenly Father; how often we seek forgiveness of the same sin we repeat, whether it be drinking or anger or spitefulness to one who has harmed us or failure to forgive or even wallowing in our unforgiveness. Remember when John Paul II visited and forgave the assassin who had tried to kill him. That assassin has now been freed.

If someone has wounded you or yours, is that person your enemy? Enmity grows by being reflected, and if you stopped reflecting it, in a while there would be less of it in the world. Usually we get into tangles of blaming and justifying and asking “who started it”; but all this is futile. The only way to stop it is to stop reflecting it. Gradually the tangle loosens and we are left with just ourselves, variously wounded and fearful. We are God's boisterous children. To know that is to know some kind of love.

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

February 14, 2011. Homily, February 15, 2011.

Mark 8, 14-21

The Disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. Jesus explained to them, "Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, and the leaven of Herod." They concluded amongst themselves that it was because they had no bread. When he became aware of this he said to them, "Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?" They answered him, "Twelve." "When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?" They answered him, "Seven." He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"

The Gospel of the Lord.

Mardi Gra [Fat Tuesday].

Our God is a jealous god.

"Do you still not understand?" What does that mean? The homilies on this Gospel do not explain. Perhaps we can explain for ourselves.

Jesus said, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, Beware of the leaven of Herod. Jesus is saying, Beware of dependency upon others than the Lord. Do you have eyes to see and not see, ears to hear and not hear? You have been traveling with Jesus and seen His acts, how He cares for His disciples and even for all who follow Him. Having seen His acts, believe in Him.

The "Twelve" is when Jesus fed the 5,000, the Israelites. The "Seven" is when Jesus fed the 4000, the Gentiles. Our help is in the hand of the Lord. Jesus is telling the disciples to depend on Him, who feeds both the Jews and the Gentiles, who in fact feeds the whole world who believes in Him.

Do you allow anxiety or fear to keep you from trusting in God's provision for your life? How easy it is to forget what God has already done for us and to doubt what he promises to do as well. Jesus warned his disciples to avoid the way of the Pharisees and of Herod who sought their own counsels rather than the will of God. As the apostles continued to worry about their lack of bread, Jesus reminded them of his miraculous provision of bread in the feeding of the four thousand. He then upbraided them for their lack of trust in God. Do you not yet understand? It's easy to get preoccupied with the problems and needs of the present moment and to forget the most important reality of all -- God's abiding presence with us and his abundant provision for our lives as well. Do you pray with joyful confidence, Father, give us this day our daily bread?

February 8, 2011. Homily, Saturday, February 12, 2011

Mk 8:1-10

In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, ‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way—and some of them have come from a great distance.’ His disciples replied, ‘How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?’ He asked them, ‘How many loaves do you have?’ They said, ‘Seven.’ Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

All four gospels include the story of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes. Mark's Gospel has two versions of which this is the second. The first is at Mk. 6:34-44. John's gospel, fourth and last chronologically, includes it as one of the seven miracles in his Book of Signs (water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana, the curing at a distance of the son of the royal official, the curing on the sabbath of the man ill for 38 years at the pool at the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, the feeding of the multitude with five barley loaves and two fish, Jesus walks on the sea, the curing of the man blind from birth, the raising of Lazarus from the dead). John's gospel does not include the breaking of the bread and the consecration of the wine at the Last Supper but does have Jesus give thanks for the bread before he feeds the multitude. Matthew 14:19 Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowds. Mark 6:17 two hundred denarii [a denarius was a day's wages]. Luke 10:12-17. John has the barley loaves. All agree to the deserted place, to the teaching of Jesus before the miracle, to the 5,000 men, to the 12 baskets of fragments, the synoptic gospels that he looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the bread, and gave it to the disciples to distribute. And the synoptic gospels each have Jesus consecrating and distributing the bread and wine at the Last Supper.

February 1, 2011. Homily, Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Mark 7: 1-13

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed hands. (For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.) So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, "Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?" He responded, "Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:

This people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.

You disregard God's commandments but cling to human tradition." He went on to say, "how well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition! For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and Whoever curses father or mother shall die. Yet you say, 'If someone says to father or mother, "Any support you might have had from me is gorban [meaning, dedicated to God]," you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things."
The Gospel of the Lord.

This is the optional memorial of Jerome Emiliani a Venetian soldier who died of the plague in 1537 and whose conversion in 1534 led to an order dedicated to the poor and the education of youth and of Josephine Bakhita, 1869-1947. "Bakhita" means "lucky one", born in the Sudan, raised a Muslim, kidnapped by slave traders at seven, sold five times in the slave markets in the Sudan, beaten every day, leaving 144 scars on her body, purchased at twelve by the Italian Consul Callisto Legnani, brought to Italy as a nanny, then sent to the Canossian Sisters in Venice, introduced to the faith, baptized Giuseppina, and eventually granted her freedom. In 1896 she joined the Canossian Daughters of Charity, served 25 years as cook, seamstress and portress of their houses in Venice, Verona and Schio, beloved for her sweet nature and beautiful voice, died after a long and painful illness, canonized as the first Sudanese saint by John Paul II October 1, 2000 as a witness to evangelical reconciliation and a model of freedom.

The Pharisees and the scribes are seeking to denigrate or criticize Jesus by criticizing His disciples. The details of the criticism are valid: One should clean one's hands before dining. But the overall intent of the criticism by the Pharisees is not valid, for in focusing on the acts of the disciples of Jesus, the Pharisees and scribes seek to ignore the words of Jesus. We do the same thing in critiquing the story of the creation of the world in Genesis. The point of Genesis is not the details of the seven days; the point of Genesis is that God created the universe and everything in it. The rest of Genesis is poetry. So, here the point of this Gospel is that our worship is in vain if our hearts are far from God. We must not merely honor God with our lips. We must place our hearts close to God. The disciples of Jesus are close to God. The Pharisees and scribes should recognize that the disciples of Jesus are close to God, as does Solomon in his prayer in the first reading, "Lord, there is no God like you. You keep your covenant of mercy with your servants who are faithful to you with their whole heart." That faithfulness is shown in giving God our heart. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!