October 13, 2012. Prayer Service, October 17, 2012

Luke 11,42-46
Jesus said: But alas for you Pharisees, because you pay your tithe of mint and rue and all sorts of garden herbs and neglect justice and the love of God! These you should have practised, without neglecting the others.
Alas for you Pharisees, because you like to take the seats of honour in the synagogues and to be greeted respectfully in the market squares!
Alas for you, because you are like the unmarked tombs that people walk on without knowing it!'
A lawyer then spoke up. 'Master,' he said, 'when you speak like this you insult us too.'
But he said, 'Alas for you lawyers as well, because you load on people burdens that are unendurable, burdens that you yourselves do not touch with your fingertips.

3) Reflection
• In today’s Gospel the conflictive relation between Jesus and the religious authority of the time continues. Today in the church we have the same conflict. In a determinate diocese the Bishop convoked the poor to participate actively. They accepted the request and numerous began to participate. A great conflict arose. The rich said that they had been excluded and some priests began to say: “the Bishop is doing politics and forgets the Gospel”.
• Luke 11, 42: Alas for you who do not think of justice and love. “Alas for you, Pharisees, because your pay your tithe of mint and rue and all sorts of garden herbs and neglect justice and the love of God. These you should have practiced without neglecting the others”. This criticism of Jesus against the religious heads of the time can be repeated against many religious heads of the following centuries, even up until now. Many times, in the name of God, we insist on details and we forget justice and love. For example, Jansenism rendered arid the living out of faith, insisting on observance and penance and leading people away from the path of love. Saint Theresa of Lisieux, the Carmelite Sister grew in a Jansenistic environment which marked France at the end of the XIX century. After a painful personal experience, she knew how to recover the gratuity of the Love of God with the force which has to animate the observance of the norms from within; because, without the experience of love, observance makes an idol of God.
The final observation of Jesus said: “You should practice this, without neglecting the others”. This observation recalls another observation of Jesus which serves as a comment: “Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. In truth I tell you, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, is to disappear from the Law until all its purpose is achieved. Therefore, anyone who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but the person who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you, if your uprightness does not surpass that of the Scribes and Pharisees you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 5,17-20).
• Luke 11, 43: Alas for you, because you like to take the seats of honour. “Alas for you, Pharisees, because you like to take the seats of honour in the Synagogues and to be greeted respectfully in the market squares”. Jesus calls the attention of the disciples on the hypocritical behaviour of some Pharisees. They like to go around the squares with long tunics, and receive the greetings of the people, to occupy the first seats in the synagogues and the seats of honour in the banquets (cf. Mt 6, 5; 23, 5-7). Mark says that they lied to enter into the houses of the widows to recite long prayers in exchange for some money. Such persons will be judged very severely (Mk 12, 38-40). This also happens today in the Church.
• Luke 11, 44: Alas for you, unmarked tombs. “Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, because you are like whitewashed tombs that look handsome on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of corruption” (Mt 23,27-28). The image of “whitewashed tombs” speaks of itself and does not need any comments. Through this image, Jesus condemns a fictitious appearance of persons who are correct, but interiorly there is the complete negation of what they ant to appear to be on the outside. Luke speaks about unmarked tombs: Alas for you, because you are like those unmarked tombs that people walked on without knowing it. “. Anyone who walks on or touches a tomb becomes impure, even if the tomb is hidden under the ground. This image is very strong: on the outside the Pharisee seems to be just and good, but this aspect is deceitful because inside there is a hidden tomb, that without people being aware spreads a poison that kills, communicates a mentality that leads people away from God , suggests an erroneous understanding of the Good News of the Kingdom. It is an ideology which makes of God a dead idol.
• Luke 11, 45-46: Criticism of the Doctors of the Law and response of Jesus: A lawyer then spoke up and said: “Master, when you speak like this you insult us too!" In his response Jesus does not turn back, rather he shows clearly that the same criticism is also for the Scribes: “Alas for you lawyers as well , because you load on people burdens that are unbearable, burdens that you yourselves do not touch with your fingertips!” In the Sermon on the Mountain, Jesus expresses the same criticism which serves as a comment: “The Scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore, do and observe what they tell you, but do not be guided by what they do , since they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but will they lift a finger to move them?” (Mt 23, 2-4).

4) Personal questions
• Hypocrisy maintains an appearance which deceives. Up to what point does my hypocrisy reach? How far does the hypocrisy of our Church go?
• Jesus criticized the Scribes who insisted in the disciplinary observance of the minute points of the law, as for example the to pay the tithe of mint and rue and all forts of garden herbs and forget the objective of the Law which is the practice of justice and the love. Can this criticism also apply to me?

5) Concluding prayer
How blessed is anyone who rejects the advice of the wicked
and does not take a stand in the path that sinners tread,
nor a seat in company with cynics,
but who delights in the law of Yahweh
and murmurs his law day and night. (Ps 1,1-2)

October 13, 2012. Homily, Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Luke 11:37-41

After Jesus has spoken, a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home. He entered and reclined at table to eat. The Pharisee was amazed to see he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal. The Lord said to him, "Oh, you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you."
The Gospel of the Lord.

Those who sincerely serve God must be pure and clean - not only outside but within as well.

Cardinal Carl Wotyla was entering the Sistine Chapel for the consistory that would choose the successor to John Paul I, Cardinal Wotyla was carrying Mao's little red book, the book of sayings. A fellow Cardinal observed this and upbraided the Cardinal for reading a communist work. Cardinal Wotyla responded, "My conscience is clear."
Santo Subito. That was the consistory which made him Pope John Paul II.

Mt. 5:17-18:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophet. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments ill be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

The dietary laws of the Old Testament make sense today: wash your hands before eating (dirty hands carry disease), do not eat pork (the meat of animals with cloven hoofs, includes venison; trichinosis), do not eat shellfish (spoil readily).

October 12, 2012. Homily Blessed Virgin Mary, Saturday, October 13, 2012

Blessed Virgin Mary   
Lk 11:27-28

While he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!’

Lectio divini. 

The human being is both flesh and spirit. When the woman in today's Gospel called out to Jesus "Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you", she was emphasizing the physical aspect of the human being. The word "Hebrew" as in "the Hebrew people" is derived from the Hebrew word "hebiru" meaning "wind" or "spirit". Jesus in responding to His Hebrew audience "Blessed rather are the those who hear the word of God and obey it", emphasizes the spiritual aspect of the human being. Jesus came to heal the sinful, nourish the spirit, and show the way to eternal life. His Passion was His crucifixion, death and resurrection. He stayed on earth after His Resurrection for forty days and then ascended into Heaven. His Ascension made room for the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit who came and abides with us to help us understand that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus shows us the way to eternal life.

Meister Eckhart said, "The whole of Christendom pays our Lady great honour and respect because she is the bodily mother of Christ, and that is right and proper…. And if Christendom pays her such honour, as indeed is fitting, nevertheless Christendom should pay even greater honour and glory to that person who hears God's word and keeps it…. All that honour, and immeasurably more, is accorded to that person who hears God's word and keeps it…. The Father of heaven gives you His eternal Word, and in that same Word He gives you at once His own life, His own being and His Godhead: for the Father and the Word are two Persons but one life and one being undivided…. In this light…the Father knows no difference between you and Him and no precedence, any more or any less than between Him and His Word. For the Father and yourself and all things and the Word itself are one in this light.”

October 10, 2012. Homily, Thursday, October 11, 2012

Luke 11: 5-13


And he said to his disciples, "Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,' and he says in reply from within, 'Do not bother me; the door had already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give your anything.' I tell you, if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.
"And I tell you, ask and your will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you, For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"
The Gospel of the Lord.

Jesus gives two parables that instruct us how we may expect God will respond to our prayers.

New translation of the word translated as "persistence": the man aroused himself not because of his neighbor's persistence but rather to save face for it was the duty of the whole village to welcome strangers.

God hears each petition and answers each in the form that does us the greatest good in terms of our salvation.

October 6, 2012. Homily, Tuesday, October 9, 2012

St, Denis and companions (optional memorial)

Luke 10: 38-42

Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me." The Lord said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her."

The Gospel of the Lord.

These past four days my wife Deann and I have been babysitting our four grandchildren in New Jersey. The youngest is our grandson Tucker five years old. Tucker asked Deann, "Grandma Dee, why am I a boy?" Deann just looked at him speechless, and Tucker added, "I know that you are going to tell me that 'I am a boy, because God decided to make me a boy.' But why does God make all the big decisions?"

This Gospel answers that question. Martha asks, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?" And Jesus by His answer show that He does care. First, He addresses her by her name "Martha" and again "Martha". To address a person by their name show that one cares. And then Jesus shows that He has observed Martha: "you are anxious and worried about many things". And to observe a person shows that one cares.

Then Jesus says,

"There is need of only one thing." What is that "one thing". the lead-in to the Gospel says "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it." That suggests the answer.

Then Jesus says, "Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken away from her. "[t]the "better part of what"? "[T]he better part of what [whole}." The whole is to hear the word of God and to observe it. When we hear the Word of God we inhale, and when we observe the Word we exhale. We inhale the Word and exhale the works. Benedict's "Laborare es orare". Work is prayer.

October 4, 2012. Homily, Saturday, October 6, 2012

Luke 10:17-24

  The seventy-two disciples returned rejoicing and said to Jesus, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us  because of your name." Jesus said, "I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, 
I have given you the power 'to tread upon serpents' and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven."
  At that very moment he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.'
 Turning to the disciples in private he said, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it."
The Gospel of the Lord.




Jesus is exultant on the successful return of the seventy who had been sent out two by two as missionaries. They were sent out as emissaries of the Lord, to witness to the Lord, to cure the sick, to be worthy of their role, and to preach what John the Baptist had preached - repent and repentance. Later, after the Passion, death and resurrection of the Lord, they will preach His way and anchor their preaching with the fact, that He had died for our sins and then rose again and ascended into heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father as mediator for us.


I am reminded of my own ordination as deacon when Cardinal Egan sent me and the other ordinandi, my class-mates, out with the words, "Read the Gospel, believe what you read, preach what you believe, and practice what you preach."

And the instruction of St. Francis Assisi on how to preach. Preach the Gospel. Use words only if necessary.

October 4, 2012. Feast of St. Francis. October 4, 2012

Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

Luke 10:1-12
The Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and village he intended to visit. He said to them, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals, and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this household.' If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him, but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserve payment. Do not move from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, 'The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.' Whatever town you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, 'The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.' Yet know this: the Kingdom of God is at hand. I tell you it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town."
The Gospel of the Lord.



Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seekto be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

The Gospel excerpt today (Luke 10:1-12), Jesus sending out the seventy-two is found only in Luke’s Gospel. We have a problem with this particular text because about half the manuscripts say Jesus sent out seventy and the other half say Jesus sent out seventy-two. Which is it? What symbolism did Luke have in mind? If we take it to be seventy we could see it reflecting the seventy nations in Gen 10, thus symbolizing all the nations of the world. If we take it be seventy-two we could see it reflecting the seventy-two nations in the Greek Septuagint (LXX) translation of Gen 10. Thus whether we take it be seventy or seventy-two, it is another indication, among many others in the Gospel, of Luke’s Gospel being directed in a special way to the Gentiles. Luke is saying that it was not the Church which began the mission to the Gentiles, the foundation for this mission was laid in the very ministry of Jesus himself. We are all privileged to have been called by the Lord to participate in this ministry either in the ordained ministerial priesthood or the priesthood of the faithful.

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: This is the Time of fulfillment, The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel. Mark 1:14-15.

Mark and Luke accompanied Paul, so that Paul takes this Gospel fragment from his experience with Paul, on how Paul went forth and preached the good news of Jesus.
Luke is The Dear and Glorious Physician from Taylor Caldwell. Luke was close to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and from Mary Luke got the Annunciation of Mary by the Angel Gabriel (the strength of God), the visitation, the Birth of the Lord, in fact the entirety of the Joyful Mysteries. Luke also painted a picture of Mary. We have if there in our Church, the Signpost. Luke is the patron saint of Artists. The symbol of Luke is the Ox.