February 27, 2013. Homily Mt. 20:[17-]20-28

Matthew 20:[17-]20-28
[As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the Twelve disciples aside by themselves, and said to them on the way, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day."]

The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.  He said to her, "What do you wish?"  She answered him, "Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in  your kingdom." Jesus said in reply, "You do not know what you are asking.  Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?" They said to him, "We can." He replied,  "My chalice you will indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give, but for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father." When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus summoned them and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among  you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a a ransom for many."
The Gospel of the Lord.

The mother of the sons of Zebedee, the "sons" being james and John, asked Jesus for a special favor for her sons, but at the time of the Transfiguration, Jeus took James and John, with Peter, up on the mountain.

James was the first of the apostles to be martyred. Acts 12:2.  He [King Herod] had James, the brother of John, killed with a sword. But John lived on as the guardian of Mary and as the evangelist who wrote the final gospel. John 21:20-23. Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and said, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?" When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!"  So the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to  him that he would not die, but, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?"


Mark 3:17.  James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder). Mark 10:35. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, [made the request of Jesus].  James and John were Sons of Thunder because they were outspoken zealots.  And from that, and from this story, we get the flavor  of the zealotry of their mother.


Letter of James:


James 1:17  Every generous act of giving is from above, coming down from the  Father of lights.
James 1:20    let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.
James 1:22    be doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
James 1:27  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James 2:8  You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
James 2:14  What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you says you have faith but do not have works?  Can faith save you?  /15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, /16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? /17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
/18 But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.

Tuesday, February 26, 2010

Matthew 23:1-12

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders, but will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.' As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called 'master'; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

This year marks the 155th anniversary of the apparitions of the Blessed Mother to St. Bernadette in Lourdes. On this day in 1858 the Blessed other is believed to have made her 10th appearance.

Sunday was Transfiguration Sunday.  Jesus took Peter, James and John to the top of the holy mountain.

        While Jesus was praying, his face changed in 
        appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.

The Transfiguration was not an isolated event in the life of Jesus but an event connected with his whole life.

There was an echo of his baptism: "This is my chosen Son."

There is a foreshadowing of the future (his death) because Moses and Elijah talk with Jesus about "His passage" [Jesus's passage], the greatest journey of all, from this life through death to the next life.

There is also a glimpse of Jesus' resurrection - Jesus appears with his face transfigured, his garments dazzling white in his risen form.

The Transfiguration if a moment when Jesus rises above the present moment and experiences all of who he is and where he has come from and where he is going.

Through prayer we can spend some quiet time with the Lord.




phylacteries: Scripture prayers [dedicate your first son to God; the Shema - Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, mind and strength; the 1st Commandment - I am the Lord your God, you shall not have false gods before you] written on parchment and worn on one's forehead and around one's left arm.

tassels: fringe on the ends of a prayer shawl [originally used to hang up a cloak by tying it to a hook]

reb: the Hebrew word for "great". "Rabbi" means "great one".

Homily, Saturday, February 23, 2013

Matthew 5: 43-48.
Jesus said to His disciples: "You have heard that 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 the 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.

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.

Saint Polycarp, martyr, who knew that he would be thrown to the lions who would crush my bones until they became fine flour; a martyr's body and blood are the food of the Church.

January 20, 2013. Homily, January 23, 2013

 Optional memorial of St. Vincent, deacon, martyred early 4th century in Valencia, Spain with his bishop Valerius after undergoing torture.

Mark 3:1-6
Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. They watched Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him. He said to the man with the withered hand, "Come up here before us." Then he said to the Pharisees, "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?"   But they remained silent. Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.
The Gospel of the Lord.

Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil.
to save life rather than to destroy it.

to do good          to restore the withered hand, to cure him
to save life          to restore the withered hand, to cure him

to do evil            to watch Jesus closely so that they might accuse him, when questioned by Jesus to          remain silent, to take counsel with the Herodians against Jesus to put him to death
to destroy [life]   to prevent the cure from occurring on God's day, when questioned by Jesus to          remain silent, to take counsel with the Herodians against Jesus to put him to death

January 20, 2013. Homily, Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children.


Mark 2:23-28

As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?" He said to them, "Have you ever read what David did when he was in need and he and his comp;anions were hungry? How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering which only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?" THen he said to them, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath."

Luke 6:1-5
Mark 2:23-38
Matthew 12:1


His disciples were picking the heads of grain [reaping/harvesting], rubbing them in their hands [threshing; removing the chaff from the grain {winnowing}], and eating them [preparing food]. reaping [harvesting], gleaning [to collect the leavings from a field], winnowing [to blow away the chaff], threshing [rubbing the grain in one's hands, to crush the wheat head thus separating the grain from the chaff/husks]

Under the Old Testament, one could go through one's neighbor's fields and take grain by hand but could not use a sickle, but this was the sabbath where no work was permitted.

The Pharisees were spying on Jesus and the disciples and made this charge. Jesus did not deny it; instead he defended it; in the end by saying that He, Son of Man, was Lord of the sabbath. And 1 Samuel 21, David received showbread from the high priest of the Temple, Ahimelech the priest of Nob.

Jesus also restored to the people the true meaning of the Sabbath. Look at verse 27. “Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.’” In the clutter of detailed rules derived by the Pharisees, the original purpose and meaning of the Sabbath had been lost. With this one word, Jesus restored to them God’s purpose for the Sabbath (Gen 2:3; Ex 20:8-11). God did not give the Sabbath to burden man. God gave the Sabbath to bless man. The Sabbath is a gift from God, a day of rest to restore man's body, mind and spirit after a week of hard work. It was not given to oppress man, but to edify and heal and encourage man. The Sabbath was made for man.

January 20, 2013. Homily, January 21, 2013

Mark 2:18-22   The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to Jesus and objected, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast but your  disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away m them, and then they will fast on that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak.  If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined.  Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins."
The Gospel of the Lord.


Obligatory Memorial of Saint Agnes: I have with me an angel of the Lord as a guardian of my body.  According to legend, threat, torture and confinement in a house of prostitution could not break this young girl's commitment to Christ. Saint Agnes went to her death as to her wedding banquet, trusting that Christ, the bridegroom with whom she kept faith in this life would keep faith with her in the life to come.  Saint Agnes, a beautiful girl and the object of the desires of the governor's son,  at 13, died a martyr in Rome during either the second half of the third century or, more probably, at the beginning of the fourth century.  Pope Damasus adorned her tomb with sacred poetry, and many of the Fathers of the Church, following Saint Ambrose, have honored her in their writings.  
She is the patroness of Christian virtue  (the saint of chastity, gardeners, girls, engaged couples, rape victims, and virgins).

Also the birthday of Martin Luther King - we should pray for the end of racial discrimination.



In this confrontation with the Pharisees, Jesus is saying there is no mixing of the old ways of legalism with the coming of the Kingdom, for salvation by grace through faith is a brand new garment, a new wineskin that cannot be mixed with a man centered works righteousness. The works oriented religion cannot contain God’s grace that He is now pouring out. Grace requires new wineskins.
            We see this principle even in the old testament book of Ezekiel 36:26,27
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
Notice that our keeping the law comes after we receive the gift of God’s Spirit, after we have been born again we keep the laws of God as a thank offering, a love offering back to God, not in order to earn our salvation or keep our salvation. Obedience follows faith and repentance. Obedience is an act of faith not the flesh. This is the new wine that bursts the old wineskins of the Pharisees.
            Have you repented of sin and placed your faith in Christ? Have you trusted in Jesus alone for your salvation? Or are you trusting in church membership, good morals, and religion?

January 18, 2013. Homily, Saturday, January 19, 2013.

Mark 2:13-17

Jesus went out along the sea.  All the crowd came to him and he taught them. As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. Jesus said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed Jesus.  While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. Some scribes who werePharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus heard this and said to them, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."

The Gospel of the Lord.


As Jesus went about preaching and healing, he called people to follow him.  All he said to Levi, now known as Matthew the evangelist, was "Follow me." and Matthew got up from his customs post, left his things behind and went and followed Jesus.  Jesus wants us to call people to follow him, to become his disciples, to enjoy his salvation.

Who are suitable prospects?  Are they those religiously inclined?  This Gospel asks us to think differently, to think outside of the box, asks that we not limit the ones we call.

Every time I read the Gospel, I finish and say to myself, as all priests and deacons do, "By the reading of this Gospel my my sins be washed away."  We each recognize ourselves to be sinners in the eyes of the Lord.

Ask why are each of us here for this Mass?  It is not a Sunday or a holy day of obligation. We do not have to be here.  Why then? We are here because internally, in our soul, with our spirit, we need to be here.  Each of us for our unique individual reasons need to be here, and we are here.

There was an American priest who became a bishop and then a cardinal. Each cardinal receives Church in Rome for which he is to act as a pastor.  This priest was visiting his church and was accosted by a beggar.  He recognized the beggar as a class-mate at the North American College in Rome and as a fellow priest. The cardinal had supper that evening with the Pope and told His Eminence about his contact with his class-mate. The Pope asked that he return to the Church and ask his class mate to join him for dinner with the Pope. The cardinal went back, extended the invitation and the three had dinner. At the dinner, the Pope asked the priest to hear his confession. The priest agreed but only if the Pope would first hear his own confession. The Pope heard the failed priest's confession and then the priest heard the confession of the Pope. The Pope then assigned the priest to serve as a curate in the Church where he had been a beggar.

Jesus did not come to call the righteous but sinners.  And we are all sinners.