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Homilies are posted no later than during the week
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1 Lent
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First Sunday of Lent of Year B
Today we have the story of the flood and Noahís ark. It is a
wonderful story. And every time we look at a rainbow we are reminded of
Godís promise.
The rainbow-this most beautiful and transient of all things is-as we
have heard, a reminder of Godís covenant; the close bond he
established with us after the great flood.
He makes his promise not only to mankind but also to every living
creature. Respect for creation is not something new; the creator
himself respects the whole of creation more than we ever could.
The rainbow is a wonderful sign of Godís love because of all its
wonderful colours. How does it go? Richard of York Gained Battle In
Vain: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. All the colours
are there and all the grades in between. And there are even colours we
canít see. This shows the breadth of Godís love. His love
covers the whole range of existence and even things we are totally
unaware of.
In some ancient cultures the rainbow is a sign of a weapon as in a bow
and arrow; they say the rainbow is Godís bow and the lightning
is his arrow. The rainbow for them is a sign of anger, but for us it is
a sign of Godís love.
We do enough things to provoke Godís anger, but in this great
covenant God says that he will be merciful to us. Although we have
sinned he will hold back his anger; instead he will love us all the
more.
St Paul sees in this water of the flood a prefigurement of baptism. In
baptism we are washed free from our sins. Our baptism becomes a special
sign of Godís love for us individually. By baptism he singles us
out and unites us to himself by a special bond.
We are now in Lent and we think about fasting and doing penance. We
read in the Gospel about Jesus spending time in the desert--he went
there to be tested, and he experienced all kinds of temptations there.
He emerged victorious, just as he was to emerge victorious after the
greatest test of all--his passion and death on the Cross.
The account of the temptation we are given in the Gospel of Mark reads
almost like a telegram-it is sounds staccato. There are just two verses
compared to the more lengthy and fuller eleven verses of Matthew and
thirteen of Luke.
Typically the language of Mark is also a lot stronger. In both Matthew
and Luke we read that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert. But
thatís not strong enough for Mark-no, the Spirit drove Jesus out
into the desert. We shouldnít think of this as Jesus not wanting
to go and so having to be driven, but rather as underlining the
closeness between Jesus and the Spirit.
Mark doesnít bother about the content of the various
temptations, he simply states the fact bluntly he remained forty days,
and was tempted by Satan. The wild beasts are traditional symbols of
evil and like Satan they prowl around looking for any signs of weakness.
Surprisingly there is no actual mention of fasting in this desert. But
then it is probably not necessary to mention it because thatís
what you would have to do anyway in a desert, unless you took along a
lot of supplies which is most unlikely. Thereís no 4x4 available
to bring in any luxuries.
This is a testing. And by enduring it successfully Jesus demonstrates
that he is the Messiah. Both Moses and Elijah before him endured such
periods of fasting and here in the desert Jesus proves that he is their
true heir.
The forty days is also a symbolic allusion to the forty years the
Chosen People spent in the wilderness being tested by God. They spent
those years of wandering in the desert in great adversity but through
them learned some very hard lessons.
All testing involves privation and suffering. It involves doing without
the comforts we are used to whether this be health, little luxuries or
emotional supports.
If all testing involves suffering then in spiritual terms we can also
say that all suffering is a testing. And this is indeed so. In physical
suffering we find all sorts of things removed from us that we normally
consider essential for our daily life. And not only our health, but
also all the comfortable routines and things we have around us. The
test is what we put in their place-let us hope that it will be
increased faith and trust in God.
We can also undergo spiritual suffering when we experience times of
doubt and darkness; these are also a testing. God seems so far away. We
find it hard to place ourselves in his presence. We feel uncomfortable
when the conversation turns to matters of faith. We sit in Church and
wonder if all this isnít a complete waste of time.
This is a real testing. The wild beasts are prowling looking for our
weaknesses. But as with Jesus the Angels are not far away. They guard
us even though we are not conscious of their presence.
Any realistic person dreads being put to the test, but it is something
we all have to endure. It is an essential element of our pilgrimage of
faith. But you notice that even for Jesus it was for a fixed time-forty
days. There is always an end.
The Church gives us the liturgical season of Lent to help us to endure
the time of testing whenever it comes. In Lent we are invited to
undergo some small hardship as a spiritual exercise, as a strengthening
and a preparation for that real time of testing that awaits us.
However, we donít need to go into an actual desert for in a
sense we are already in a desert. The world is a desert for it lacks
the most essential thing of all-knowledge of God.
In the desert we can place ourselves in Godís hands relying
trustfully upon him. When we are tested we remember those hidden Angels
who are not so far away. When we experience these trials we unite
ourselves with Christ and ask him to endure the Temptation with us.
We then recognise that all these sufferings and difficulties we must
endure are part and parcel of the life of a Christian and we know that
they are only a sign of the victory that is to come.
When we emerge from the desert we enter more fully into the presence of
God and it will have all the beauty and more of the rainbow.
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http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html
1 Lent
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First
Sunday of Lent: Spring Training, the Lenten Way
Soon, spring training will be going full blast down here in
Florida. People from the North will join us locals in doing our
own sizing up of our teams for this year. Do the Rays look like
they might be even better this year? How about the Red Sox and
Yanks? Do those new players look good enough to keep them from
getting embarrassed again? Along with the seasoned players who
will certainly be on the starting roster, the beginning of spring
training brings a huge number of prospects to town. Some may make
the team this year, some are here only to get the experience of what
big league ball is like. Many of them will be in shock
because major league baseball, even as it eases into the season during
Spring Training, is faster and harder than anything they have
experienced. They will return to the minors knowing that they are not
yet ready for the big leagues. But some will do very well during
Spring Training and will make the team. Then the real test
will begin. Every pitcher will challenge the rookie hitter.
He'll see better sliders and curves and fast-balls then he could ever
imagine. But if he works hard, each pitcher, each pitch will help
him become a better hitter. He may fan a number of times, but
he'll be ready the next time that pitch comes. And when others
are writing in the press on what a great season an opposing pitcher is
having, our rookie who has been tested and strengthened by the test
will say, "I've hit him before, I can hit him again. Go ahead, throw me
the high hard one. I'm ready." Or for the rookie pitcher,
every one of his best pitches will be challenged. Perhaps many of
those will be hit over the fence. But as his control grows and he
learns to put the ball where the catcher is calling it, he watches the
mighty strike out. Now, when the season starts, and he’s called
out of the bullpen to put out a fire, he can say, “I’ve prepared for
this; I’ve done this before. I’m ready.”
Just
as Spring training prepares the major league player for the challenges
of the year, Lent, the spring renewal of our Christianity, prepares us
for the challenges of our spiritual lives. It is with delightful
simplicity that the Gospel of Mark presents the testing of the Lord in
just two verses. The Spirit sends Jesus to the desert for forty
days. Jesus is put to the test. He's with wild
beasts. Angels minister to him. We don't find the three
temptations of changing a rock to bread, or jumping off the parapet of
the Temple safely, or receiving all the power of the world, which we
come upon in Matthew and Luke. The precise temptations were not
important to Mark. For Mark the only thing that matters is that
the Lord was strengthened by this test and then was ready to proclaim
his Father's Kingdom.
Usually when we think of temptations we take a negative focus and
consider our failures or how close we come to falling. But there
is another way to consider temptations, a positive way. That's Mark's
focus. Temptations can also be seen as a test that if
successfully overcome, can strengthen someone to put up a better fight
for the Lord.
As
we begin Lent and relate the forty days the Lord spent in the desert to
the forty days of Lent, we also can relate tests that we have had or
may still have in our lives. Perhaps some of us can say that we
were strengthened by a successful fight against temptation. Now,
we shouldn't go around looking for temptation, that would be putting
ourselves in the occasion of sin, but if we ever are tempted, we are
ready. We have beaten it off before and we can beat it off
again. Spiritually, we are ready for the high hard one. We
need to have confidence in ourselves, and more important, confidence in
the Lord who is preparing us to do battle for Him.
We're ready, but we are not ready just because we say so. We are
ready because we have been given the power to withstand all assaults on
our spiritual lives. In the Gospel of Mark Jesus is presented
after the devil left as being with the wild beasts as the angel's
ministered to him. Perhaps there is a reflection here of Psalm
91:11-13: For God commands the angels to guard you in all your ways.
With their hands they shall support you, lest you strike your foot
against a stone. You shall tread upon the asp and the viper, trample
the lion and the dragon.
Maybe Mark is addressing his gospel to the Christians at Rome who had
already experienced the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul and the
persecution of Nero, and is saying to them, “even among these beasts of
Romans, God is protecting you.” What the Lord is telling us is
that in the face of forces wishing to destroy our spiritual lives,
there is an infinitely stronger force who will protect us. Leopards,
wild boars, bears and jackals roamed the desert where the Lord was
praying but they couldn't hurt him. The angels ministered to him.
Materialism, hedonism, and religious indifference roam the places where
we live and are tested. But no forces can destroy our spiritual
lives. The Power of Christ is with us. The Holy Spirit who was
with Jesus in the wilderness is with us. Nothing can take the
spiritual from us. We can only give it away by giving up and
giving in.
"This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come, of the
covenant between me and you and every living creature with you: I set
my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and
the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in
the clouds, I will recall the covenant I have made between me and you
and all living beings, so that the waters shall never again become a
flood to destroy all mortal beings." The main lesson of the flood
was not a lesson of God's wrath, but a lesson of his covenant, his care
and his love. He would never give up on his people. He
would never give up on any of us.
We
can allow the events of our lives to strengthen us in our faith
life. We can must do this because God is with us, joining us in
the fight against the forces that would otherwise destroy us.
Spring training is going full force. Our Spring training
began last Wednesday, Ash Wednesday. Today on this First Sunday
of Lent we ask God to give us the determination to find the ways that
we can summon His presence in the face of the challenges to our
Christianity.
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http://stmaryvalleybloom.org/
* available in Spanish - see
Spanish homilies
1 Lent
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The Convenant with Noah Today
(February 26, 2012)
Bottom line: As we focus on baptism, we remember the covenant God made
with Noah – a covenant that God continues in the voice of conscience.
Today we celebrate the First Sunday of Lent. It is significant that in
the opening reading we hear about the covenant that God made with Noah.
Our Jewish brothers and sisters refer to this as the Noahide Covenant.
This covenant does not just apply to Jews, but to the whole human race.
You will remember that in the Bible Noah and his family were the sole
survivors of the great flood.
According to Jewish scholars, the Noahide Covenant has seven pillars.
They include the prohibition of idolatry, murder, theft, sexual
immorality and blasphemy. This applies to us today. Sometimes people
ask if there are moral rules that all humans must follow. We have an
answer in the Noahide Covenant: It is wrong to kill, to take innocent
human life. It is wrong to steal - to do violence to another human
being by robbing his possessions. It is wrong to engage in sexual
immorality. Do I need to go into details? These teachings are not new –
they go back to Noah.*
God made a covenant with our father, Noah. But something has gone
wrong. To understand what happened, I would like to quote from C.S.
Lewis:
"What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea
that they could 'be like gods' - could set up on their own as if they
had created themselves - be their own masters - invent some sort of
happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that
hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history -
money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery
- the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than
God which will make him happy."
When you think about it, every sin is a form of idolatry - imagining
that something other than God will us peace, lasting happiness. That is
why the first pillar of the Noahide covenant is the prohibition of
idolatry - the attempt make some person or thing into a god.
Regarding idolatry, it is important to remember that, although as
Christians we obey the laws of our country, we cannot allow the
government to take the place of God. That is a temptation today. Since
we have lost the consensus about right and wrong, we can be tempted to
look to the government to tell us what is morally correct. For example,
we see our government telling us that it is OK for two men to marry –
or that it is OK to take the life of an unborn child. The government is
not God. There is a commandment that says, "I am the Lord your God. You
shall not have strange gods before me." I will say more about this when
we have Generations of Faith, but for now I would to make this
observation:
When we are tempted, we need to remember about Jesus going into the
desert for forty days. St. Mark states very briefly that Jesus was
"tempted by Satan." Unlike us he withstood temptation. In doing so, he
shows us that it is possible - with grace - to resist Satan, to put God
first, to recognize that only He can make us happy, only He can give us
peace. The things of God's creation are good. We should receive them
with gratitude, but if you have made some created thing into a god,
Jesus has a word for you, "Repent."
"This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel."
Now, Jesus is not speaking about some vague repentance. He has a
specific plan. The first step is to pray. He gave us an example by
spending forty days in prayer. You might say, "How can I get time to
pray?" That's where the second step comes in: fasting. Not just eating
more simply - but fasting from other things: video games, chat rooms,
television, the Internet and cell phone. Instead of email, why not try
knee-mail? Knee mail is getting down on your knees and praying for the
person you are concerned about.
So, prayer and fasting. They lead to the third step: financial
sacrifice. Let's face it, as Americans it is easy for us to make money
into an idol. When I was in Peru, I saw how a small amount of economic
help can make an enormous difference in the life of child or a family.
Our financial sacrifices can make a positive change in our world.
Giving will not only help the other person, but the giver himself. It
is the most practical way of saying, "all that I am and all I have, I
owe to you. It belongs to you, not me."
I began this homily with Noah and I will end with Noah. St. Paul tells
us that Noah prefigures baptism because he and his family "were saved
through water." During Lent we look forward to the baptism of our elect
- and the renewal of our own baptism.
As we focus on baptism, we remember the covenant God made with Noah – a
covenant that God continues in the voice of conscience.** Like our
ancestors we often do not listen to that voice; we give in to
temptations. Jesus has a concrete plan of repentance that includes
prayer, fasting and financial sacrifice. Repent, and believe in the
gospel. Amen.
************
*The covenant with Noah lives today in the voice of conscience. Just as
God spoke to Noah, he speaks to us in our conscience. In recent weeks
our bishops have been reminding us Catholics - and our fellow citizens
as well - that conscience is real. In our conscience God speaks to us
about the meaning of human life and human sexuality. Even if it means
fines and imprisonment, our bishops are telling that we must not go
against conscience. It is the voice of God. It is good to have that
reminder, especially as we begin these forty days of Lent.
**We have a somewhat anemic sense of conscience today, but it was not
always so. Blessed John Newman said, "if I am asked why I believe in a
God, I answer that it is because I believe in myself, for I feel it
impossible to believe in my own existence (and of that fact I am quite
sure) without believing also in the existence of Him, who lives as a
Personal, All-seeing, All-judging Being in my conscience." (Apologia
Pro Vita Sua) The Catechism quotes Newman's definition of conscience:
"Conscience is not a long-sighted selfishness, nor a desire to be
consistent with oneself; but it is a messenger from Him, Who, both in
nature and grace, speaks to us behind a veil, and teaches and rules us
by His representatives. Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ."
(1778)
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http://www.agreeley.com/homilies.html
1 Lent
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February 26th 2012 A.D.
8th Sunday in Ordinary Time Mk 21/18-22
Jesus was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan
Background:
Mark has combined the story of the complaints about fasting with
the saying about wineskins because it seemed to him that they made
related points: Something new had come upon the earth, a new revelation
of the height and the depth of God’s love which made a lot of religious
practices from previous times not nearly so important.
One could fast if one wanted to.
It was a good work, but it was not what Jesus’ good news was
about.
Story:
Once upon a time there was a very stern father who insisted that
his children had to keep all the rules he made for them. He had the
mistaken notion that he could keep close enough track of the children
to make sure that the rules were enforced. They had to sign out when
they left the house and sign in when they came home at curfew time –
his not the official one. They absolutely could not drink. They could
not go to R rated films. They could not date until they were in
college. If they broke the rules, he would find out, he promised them,
and ground them six months for every broken rule.
So the kids decided that poor daddy meant well but he just wasn’t
with it. Moreover he was not swift enough to keep track of them after
they were twelve, to say nothing after the time they got their driver’s
license. To prevent him from undue worry they decided to pull the wool
over his eyes – big thick blankets of wool. I won’t tell you how they
did it, because I don’t want to give anyone bad ideas, except to say
there was a lot of climbing out windows. However, the kids said, we do
what we want, which isn’t all that bad anyway, and dad doesn’t worry.
Cool.
Later when they were out of college they told their father all
the tricks they had pulled. He was astonished. Well, he said, I guess
it’s impossible to keep track of kids all the time these days. Right
they said wineskins for grammar school kids don’t work for high school
kids.
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http://www.saintvincentarchabbey.org/sunday_homily
1 Lent
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February
26, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
First Sunday of Lent
Mark 1:12-15, Cycle B
Gospel Summary
The Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness where he is tempted by
Satan. We should recall that this event in Mark's gospel comes
immediately after Jesus' baptism in the Jordan. As the heavens are torn
open, the Spirit descends upon him, and a voice comes from heaven: "You
are my beloved Son." After the stark, matter-of-fact statement that
Jesus was tempted by Satan, Mark tells us that after John's arrest,
Jesus begins his mission: "The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and
believe in the gospel."
Matthew and Luke in their narratives of the temptations include Jesus'
triumph over Satan in a dramatic verbal exchange between them. Mark
does not present the temptations in this way because his entire gospel
is a narrative of the trials that Jesus undergoes. Satan tempts him to
doubt that he is God's beloved Son, and likewise tempts him to betray
his mission on behalf of God's kingdom. Satan will use every means to
tempt Jesus in order to save his own kingdom that has dominance in the
world.
Jesus is tempted by his own disciples. "Get behind me, Satan. You are
thinking not as God does, but as humans do," Jesus said to Peter (Mk
8:33). He is tested frequently by enemies from among his own people and
by the Romans. His own relatives say that he is out of his mind (Mk
3:21). The most severe temptation comes when he appears to have failed
in his mission; he is misunderstood, betrayed and abandoned by his
disciples; he is arrested, undergoes the humiliation and torture
associated with a criminal's public execution; and finally he
apparently has the experience of being forsaken by God while dying on a
cross. Yet, his dying prayer in this dark night of the soul is also a
cry of unconquered hope and trust (Mk 15:34, Psalm 22).
The Letter to the Hebrews reveals the good news that the triumph of
Jesus over the most severe temptations imaginable can be a source of
hope and trust in the trials that we undergo. "For we do not have a
high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who
was tempted in every way that we are, yet never sinned" (4:15).
"Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help
those who are being tested" (2:18).
Life Implications
No one with the consciousness of freedom escapes the testing that
reveals where the heart's true treasure lies. Only the accidentals of
the testing differ for each of us. The heroes of faith down to the
present day triumph over their trials because they share the
single-minded, childlike faith of Jesus. Jesus in his human
consciousness and freedom loved God with all his heart, and with all
his soul, and with all his strength (Dt 6:5). A person with a divided
heart, on the other hand, easily fails in a test of faith, and
particularly in a trial of suffering constantly asks God, Why? Further,
the double-minded person demands some evidence of God's presence and
care.
The life-implication of Mark's gospel is that we must pray as Jesus
prayed if we hope to love God as he did with an undivided heart when
our time of trial is upon us. Like Jesus before his great trial in the
garden of Gethsemane, we may pray that if possible the hour of trial
might pass by us. Nevertheless, with the power of his Spirit we must
also pray: "Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup
away from me, but not what I will but what you will" (Mk 14:36). Jesus
then said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep" (Mk 14:37)? Shortly after
Jesus was arrested. Peter, standing among the crowd, was tested by the
high priest's maid. Unprepared by prayer and fearful for his life, with
a curse Peter denied that he even knew Jesus.
At the Eucharist for the first Sunday of Lent a good prayer would be to
ask the Spirit to heal the illusions, desires, and the doubts that
divide our hearts. Only with this grace can we say the Lord's prayer
with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength.
And with Christ's Spirit we can live without fear because we trust that
God's will for us can only be love.
Campion P. Gavaler, OSB |
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http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html Meeting Christ in the Liturgy
1 Lent
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EIGHTH Sunday
Hosea 2, 16-17. 21-22; Psalm 103; 2 Corinthians 3:1-6; Mark 2: 18-22
The Church is the bride of Christ, which he has purified and made holy.
The bond between Christ and his Church can never be broken. The gates
of hell will not prevail against it. Marriage is merely a sign for this
most perfect and inviolable of bonds.
The unity of Christ and the Church, head and members of one Body, also
implies the distinction of the two within a personal relationship..
This aspect is often expressed by the image of bridegroom and bride.
The theme of Christ as Bridegroom of the Church was prepared for by the
prophets and announced by John the Baptist. (John 3:29) The Lord
referred to himself as the "bridegroom." (Mark 2:19) The Apostle speaks
of the whole Church and of each of the faithful, members of his Body,
as a bride "betrothed" to Christ the Lord so as to become but one
spirit with him. (Cf. Matthew 22:1-14; 25: 1-13; 1 Corinthians 6:
15-17; 2 Corinthians 11:2)
(CCC 796)
Christ and his Church thus together make up the "whole Christ'
(Christus totus). The Church is one with Christ. The saints are acutely
aware of this unity:
A reply of St. Joan of Arc to her judges sums up the faith of the holy
doctors and the good sense of the believer: "About Jesus Christ and the
Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't
complicate the matter." (Acts of the Trial of Joan of Arc) (CCC 795)
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we
"meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick
(Publish with permission.) http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/
(For more reading on the Church see CCC 748 and following.)
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http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/
1 Lent
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These
homilies may be copied and adapted for your own use;
however, they may not be commercially published without permission of
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