08-09.12.2007 - Second Sunday in Advent - A
Homily
Isaiah 11, 1-10; Psalm 72; Rom 15, 4-9; Matthew 3, 1-12
“John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight your paths.
The one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Mt 3:1-3,11-12)
A millionaire announced to Mark Twain, "Before I die, I will go to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read aloud the Ten Commandments. God will certainly see my gesture and will help me to enter heaven".
Mark Twain observed, "I have a better idea. You could stay home and keep them."
John the Baptist with his preaching is not at all an easy going prophet. He tells openly: “you have to make straight the paths of your life, otherwise don't count on the spectacular gestures in your life. They will not help you at all, and God will certainly “burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
In fact, his message was: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand." In fact, this is exactly the same message that Jesus will proclaim at the beginning of his public life (Mark 1:15). The word for 'repent' here means much more than just being sorry for past misdeeds. The Greek verb metanoeite means having a radical change in one's thinking and style of life. It means seeing the world in a completely different way and taking on board a whole new set of values.
I introduce this homily on sin with an illustration from a layman precisely because many people do not like priests speaking on sin. Many Catholics no longer buy into the concept of personal sin.
We live our lives in an era which has dry cleaned sin away. How else can one explain that so few of us go to Confession?
Eg, a university professor was arrested for collecting his mother's social security for six years after her death. He didn't understand what was wrong.
Nowadays you must feel guilty and ashamed about feeling guilty. If you send people on a guilt trip, God help you! No one else will. You will be called a killjoy.
There is one serious problem in this scenario. Jesus and His main man, John the Baptist, speak more often of sin than of love. There are more references to sin in the New Testament than to love.
A novelist says love means you never have to say you're sorry. John the Baptist replies "Rubbish." Why else would John the Disturber have come in from the desert "proclaiming a baptism of repentance that led to forgiveness of sin?" The Gospels tell us people bought his message hook, line, and sinker, repented of their sins, and were baptized.
Today John the Baptist might well be out of a job. He might be locked up for upsetting people's peace of mind and forced to take antidepressant pills.
Young people are being deprived of education in morals by those who should know better - namely, myself, their parents, and teachers.
What message are we sending boys and girls when we allow public school teachers to demonstrate putting condoms on cucumbers and then present studies of the homosexual lifestyle? They advise students with an ear-to-ear grin to practice safe sex whatever that is.
A Catholic professor in a private college told freshmen that in ethics there is no right or wrong, only points of view. Can you imagine what John the Baptist would have to say to him? Infinitely worse, what he would say to us who tolerate this nonsense?
To airbrush sin away is to turn religion into cherry vanilla ice cream. To bury sin with socio-economic buzz words is to sell Christ out. It makes John the Baptist retch.
Good manners demand that for slight offenses we must say to God, "Excuse me." For serious offenses we must say, "Pardon me." The place to find that pardon is on our knees in the confessional. It is only when we say, "I have sinned!" that God can say, "I forgive you." (Joseph Felix)
When Peter denied Christ, he did not say he blew his cool.
He did not blame his defection on bad toilet training. Matthew's Gospel tells us "he went out and began to weep bitterly." Today, if he was caught weeping, he would be forced to take a holiday.
Judas took responsibility for his betrayal of Christ. He did not say, "Hey, give me a break. It's only my first betrayal."
The prodigal son confessed his sins saying, "Father, I have sinned against God and against you." Check it out in Luke 15:21.
The Gospel of Matthew advises us the first command Jesus spoke to a live audience was a stark one word order, "Repent!"
Christ must have taken his repentance cue from John because today's Gospel tells us the first thing the Baptizer said after walking out of the desert was not "Have a nice day!" but "Repent!" God wants us to be like John the Baptizer. He wants us to be a voice and not a whisper, a burning light and not a dying bulb.
Most of us resemble medieval oil paintings. We are covered with years of dust and grime. Confession is the only way out for us.
Some say that when God made John the Baptist, He threw the mold away. This Advent we should pick up our flashlights, find that mold, and squeeze ourselves into it.
To become a contemporary John the Baptizer would be a wonderful gift to present the Infant that we shall shortly salute. Good people are in short supply in our culture.
In this season, we celebrate not what we are nor what we were but what we could be and want to be. (AU)
Do you get the feeling that Confession should be way up there on your must-do list this Advent?
John the Baptist says to us today, "If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up space."
Monday, December 10, 2007
1-2. 12. 2007 -I Sunday of Advent
“If I'd only known who it was I turned away!” - Christmas story
Queen Victoria was England's most famous queen. She reigned 64 years from 1837 to 1901. Her favorite place during her reign was her summer home in Balmoral, Scotland. She loved to take long walks alone in the Scottish highlands.
One day Victoria got caught in a rainstorm. Seeing a rundown cottage, she ran to it. It was occupied by an old peasant woman, who opened the door. Standing in the rain, Victoria asked her if she could borrow an umbrella, promising to return it the next day. The woman said, “I have two umbrellas. One is new. The other is fairly old, but you may use it if you wish. Just a minute, I'll get it.” As it turned out, the umbrella was filled with holes and was practically useless.
The next day the woman was shocked when a royal official rode up, stopped, and knocked at the door of her cottage. He returned the old umbrella, saying, “Her Majesty the Queen borrowed this from you yesterday. She was very grateful for the use of it.”
When the royal official left the cottage, and rode away, the woman was filled with regret. She began crying out in anguish, “If I'd only known who it was I turned away! If I'd only known who it was I turned away!”
That story bears a striking resemblance to the Christmas story that unfolded in the town of Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. It began with an innkeeper who turned away not the queen of England but the Queen of Queens, who was carrying in her womb the King of Kings.
The innkeeper may even have lived long enough to discover who it was he turned away that first Christmas night. And if he did, he surely cried out in anguish: “If I'd only known who it was I turned away! If I'd only known who it was I turned away!”
Since then so many people turned Him away, so many people didn't recognize Him …
How many times in my life was Jesus passing by, and I turned Him away. Maybe this time, maybe this Christmas He will find a shelter in my heart.
Don't let Him go away.
“If I'd only known who it was I turned away!” - Christmas story
Queen Victoria was England's most famous queen. She reigned 64 years from 1837 to 1901. Her favorite place during her reign was her summer home in Balmoral, Scotland. She loved to take long walks alone in the Scottish highlands.
One day Victoria got caught in a rainstorm. Seeing a rundown cottage, she ran to it. It was occupied by an old peasant woman, who opened the door. Standing in the rain, Victoria asked her if she could borrow an umbrella, promising to return it the next day. The woman said, “I have two umbrellas. One is new. The other is fairly old, but you may use it if you wish. Just a minute, I'll get it.” As it turned out, the umbrella was filled with holes and was practically useless.
The next day the woman was shocked when a royal official rode up, stopped, and knocked at the door of her cottage. He returned the old umbrella, saying, “Her Majesty the Queen borrowed this from you yesterday. She was very grateful for the use of it.”
When the royal official left the cottage, and rode away, the woman was filled with regret. She began crying out in anguish, “If I'd only known who it was I turned away! If I'd only known who it was I turned away!”
That story bears a striking resemblance to the Christmas story that unfolded in the town of Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. It began with an innkeeper who turned away not the queen of England but the Queen of Queens, who was carrying in her womb the King of Kings.
The innkeeper may even have lived long enough to discover who it was he turned away that first Christmas night. And if he did, he surely cried out in anguish: “If I'd only known who it was I turned away! If I'd only known who it was I turned away!”
Since then so many people turned Him away, so many people didn't recognize Him …
How many times in my life was Jesus passing by, and I turned Him away. Maybe this time, maybe this Christmas He will find a shelter in my heart.
Don't let Him go away.
25.11.2007 -The Solemnity of Jesus Christ, Universal King
Introduction: The solemnity of Jesus Christ the King of the Universe reminds us the fundamental truth, that we all belong to His Kingdom, and that we are His subjects. Is it really true that I am His subject? "Whom do I serve in my life?"
Penitential Rite: We come together to honor Christ our King. As we prepare for this Eucharist, let us recognize our weaknesses and need for his mercy and forgiveness.
Lord Jesus, you are the image of the invisible God, Lord have mercy,
Christ Jesus, in you we have redemption and forgiveness of our sins, Christ have mercy,
Lord Jesus, you make peace by the blood of your cross, Lord have mercy.
Homily
2 Samuel 5, 1-3; Psalm 121 (122), 1-2.3-4.4-5; Colossians 1, 12-20; St. Luke 23, 35-43
On this final Sunday of the liturgical year we are reminded that we belong to a kingdom that does not belong to this world. We serve Christ the King. But he is a king like no other. The readings for this Sunday will help us appreciate the difference.
So on this great feast of Christ the King, we recognize the great irony. There were those expecting a messiah, a powerful, mighty warrior king, and then this person Jesus showed up. We acknowledge that even today we can be searching for a particular kind of king, a particular kind of God. As God speaks to us in many ways through the life of His Son, and the words of scripture, we can begin to lay our preconceptions aside and let God show us what a king is. Let God show us who God is.
In the Gospel we discover Jesus, who does not live in luxury or comfort, but rather experiences the worst suffering, mockery and abuse this world can offer. We see Jesus, the very Son of God, who time and time again gave to others, gave of Himself without counting the cost, without concern for appearances, and recognizing that living in such a way would cost Him His life.
We are tempted to place all of our trust in human efforts, ourselves, our friends, popular opinion. Power and worldly success too often hold greater value for us than participating with the suffering Son of God on the cross. Jesus Christ the King shows us what Saint Paul told the Corinthians: Jesus came through "the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." The other thief was one who believed. He began to see behind the dirt, grime and apparent foolishness, the saving power of Jesus Christ that is always present and among us. He was able to see in this beaten, dirty, bloody man… the power of love…someone who was just trying to help. In faith he makes his request to the king who can grant all: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
In the Kingdom of God the poor are brought to the top of the table, those who mourn rejoice, those who give away their last possessions receive riches beyond compare and so on. If the Kingdom turns things upside down, then we must have an upside down King. And that is precisely what Christ is, an upside down King. He is a King who carries the wounds of suffering; a King who knows persecution, a King who had no home, a King ignored by the aristocracy and the powerful. We have for our Gospel reading today the story of the crucifixion itself.
There is a story of a very faithful servant slave serving the family of the Roman Emperor Mark Aurelius for more than 70 years. The man was very loyal and devoted in his service. He fulfilled all his tasks, duties and obligations with an exactitude and responsibility for many, many years. And eventually the time came that he was at his last days on the bed seriously ill and dying. The Emperor Mark Aurelius came to his bed and ask him: "What I can do for you, tell me please, if there is something I can do to help you I will certainly be happy to do it, because you were such a good and faithful slave absolutely committed in the service to my family and to myself.
So the slave says: "I have only one request. After all this years and years of my faithful service can you, divine Emperor, extend my life for at least one year more. I have some obligations towards my family and I hope that in one year time I will be able to arrange all and everything, to be ready to die." So, the Emperor Mark Aurelius laughed bitterly and said: "I can do many things but this one I am not able to do!"
So the dedicated slave said: "So maybe you can lengthen my life for half of a year. I will try to complete my obligation towards my relatives." And so, the Emperor said with a kind of astonishment and bitterness: "I cannot!" Not disappointed by the answers the old man asks again: "So, perhaps you will be able to make longer my life for one month?" The Emperor, divine Mark Aurelius answered -this time with a kind of impatience- "I cannot!"
So, finally frustrated man says: "So if even one month is to difficult for you, so maybe you can prolong my life for one week?!" Already angry Emperor says: "No, stubborn slave, I can not extend your life even for one day, and even not for one hour!!!"
Bitterly -this time- old slave says finally: "How stupid I was serving you so faithfully all of my life. You are the King of the biggest Empire of the world, the most powerful person in the whole earth, and you cannot extend my life even for one minute!
If I serve so faithfully and so devotedly the King of the Universe, Jesus Christ, who died for me, He will be able to extend my life for all eternity! And now I am dying because I have served you and you are so week! How stupid I was the whole of my life!"
Maybe one question more: "Whom do I serve in my life?" There are so many kings and princesses, there are so many lords pretending to be powerful, and promising me different advantages … and I am so naive to believe all of them …
General Intercession:
- God raised Jesus to life and made Him King of all creation. Let us pray that we might one day share in the glory of Paradise
- O God, you make us worthy members of your kingdom: hear these our prayers that one day we may be with you forever in your Kingdom. We ask this through Christ our Lord and King. Amen
Introduction: The solemnity of Jesus Christ the King of the Universe reminds us the fundamental truth, that we all belong to His Kingdom, and that we are His subjects. Is it really true that I am His subject? "Whom do I serve in my life?"
Penitential Rite: We come together to honor Christ our King. As we prepare for this Eucharist, let us recognize our weaknesses and need for his mercy and forgiveness.
Lord Jesus, you are the image of the invisible God, Lord have mercy,
Christ Jesus, in you we have redemption and forgiveness of our sins, Christ have mercy,
Lord Jesus, you make peace by the blood of your cross, Lord have mercy.
Homily
2 Samuel 5, 1-3; Psalm 121 (122), 1-2.3-4.4-5; Colossians 1, 12-20; St. Luke 23, 35-43
On this final Sunday of the liturgical year we are reminded that we belong to a kingdom that does not belong to this world. We serve Christ the King. But he is a king like no other. The readings for this Sunday will help us appreciate the difference.
So on this great feast of Christ the King, we recognize the great irony. There were those expecting a messiah, a powerful, mighty warrior king, and then this person Jesus showed up. We acknowledge that even today we can be searching for a particular kind of king, a particular kind of God. As God speaks to us in many ways through the life of His Son, and the words of scripture, we can begin to lay our preconceptions aside and let God show us what a king is. Let God show us who God is.
In the Gospel we discover Jesus, who does not live in luxury or comfort, but rather experiences the worst suffering, mockery and abuse this world can offer. We see Jesus, the very Son of God, who time and time again gave to others, gave of Himself without counting the cost, without concern for appearances, and recognizing that living in such a way would cost Him His life.
We are tempted to place all of our trust in human efforts, ourselves, our friends, popular opinion. Power and worldly success too often hold greater value for us than participating with the suffering Son of God on the cross. Jesus Christ the King shows us what Saint Paul told the Corinthians: Jesus came through "the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." The other thief was one who believed. He began to see behind the dirt, grime and apparent foolishness, the saving power of Jesus Christ that is always present and among us. He was able to see in this beaten, dirty, bloody man… the power of love…someone who was just trying to help. In faith he makes his request to the king who can grant all: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
In the Kingdom of God the poor are brought to the top of the table, those who mourn rejoice, those who give away their last possessions receive riches beyond compare and so on. If the Kingdom turns things upside down, then we must have an upside down King. And that is precisely what Christ is, an upside down King. He is a King who carries the wounds of suffering; a King who knows persecution, a King who had no home, a King ignored by the aristocracy and the powerful. We have for our Gospel reading today the story of the crucifixion itself.
There is a story of a very faithful servant slave serving the family of the Roman Emperor Mark Aurelius for more than 70 years. The man was very loyal and devoted in his service. He fulfilled all his tasks, duties and obligations with an exactitude and responsibility for many, many years. And eventually the time came that he was at his last days on the bed seriously ill and dying. The Emperor Mark Aurelius came to his bed and ask him: "What I can do for you, tell me please, if there is something I can do to help you I will certainly be happy to do it, because you were such a good and faithful slave absolutely committed in the service to my family and to myself.
So the slave says: "I have only one request. After all this years and years of my faithful service can you, divine Emperor, extend my life for at least one year more. I have some obligations towards my family and I hope that in one year time I will be able to arrange all and everything, to be ready to die." So, the Emperor Mark Aurelius laughed bitterly and said: "I can do many things but this one I am not able to do!"
So the dedicated slave said: "So maybe you can lengthen my life for half of a year. I will try to complete my obligation towards my relatives." And so, the Emperor said with a kind of astonishment and bitterness: "I cannot!" Not disappointed by the answers the old man asks again: "So, perhaps you will be able to make longer my life for one month?" The Emperor, divine Mark Aurelius answered -this time with a kind of impatience- "I cannot!"
So, finally frustrated man says: "So if even one month is to difficult for you, so maybe you can prolong my life for one week?!" Already angry Emperor says: "No, stubborn slave, I can not extend your life even for one day, and even not for one hour!!!"
Bitterly -this time- old slave says finally: "How stupid I was serving you so faithfully all of my life. You are the King of the biggest Empire of the world, the most powerful person in the whole earth, and you cannot extend my life even for one minute!
If I serve so faithfully and so devotedly the King of the Universe, Jesus Christ, who died for me, He will be able to extend my life for all eternity! And now I am dying because I have served you and you are so week! How stupid I was the whole of my life!"
Maybe one question more: "Whom do I serve in my life?" There are so many kings and princesses, there are so many lords pretending to be powerful, and promising me different advantages … and I am so naive to believe all of them …
General Intercession:
- God raised Jesus to life and made Him King of all creation. Let us pray that we might one day share in the glory of Paradise
- O God, you make us worthy members of your kingdom: hear these our prayers that one day we may be with you forever in your Kingdom. We ask this through Christ our Lord and King. Amen
Sunday, November 18, 2007
33 Sunday in the year “C”
Today’s gospel begins with the disciples marveling at the glory of the Temple. It must have been something to see. The Temple they looked at was one of the wonders of the world. It was brand, spanking new. It had taken fifty years for Herod to rebuild the Temple. The original Temple, the Temple that Solomon built, was destroyed by the Babylonians at the beginning of the captivity in 588 BC. When the Israelite returned to Jerusalem around 528, the people had all to do to build shelters for themselves. It took about fifteen years for them to begin to build a new Temple. This was modest undertaking, merely adequate, but the best the people at the time could do. As the centuries progressed, this temple was enlarged and refurbished, but it never approached the magnificence of the Temple of that Solomon built. In the year 26 B.C. Herod decided to restore the Temple to the Glory of Solomon’s Day. The work had just been completed when Jesus’ disciples looked on amazed at the precious stones and votive offerings.
Jesus heard them and said, “This really doesn’t matter.” It is all going to come to a ruin anyway.
What do you build in your life? Do you think it will last eternally? Be sure that “This really doesn’t matter. It is all going to come to a ruin anyway.” What is more important, it’s your readiness to enter eternity. Be sure this totally depends on your present life, and not on what do you have and how rich are you.
Today’s gospel begins with the disciples marveling at the glory of the Temple. It must have been something to see. The Temple they looked at was one of the wonders of the world. It was brand, spanking new. It had taken fifty years for Herod to rebuild the Temple. The original Temple, the Temple that Solomon built, was destroyed by the Babylonians at the beginning of the captivity in 588 BC. When the Israelite returned to Jerusalem around 528, the people had all to do to build shelters for themselves. It took about fifteen years for them to begin to build a new Temple. This was modest undertaking, merely adequate, but the best the people at the time could do. As the centuries progressed, this temple was enlarged and refurbished, but it never approached the magnificence of the Temple of that Solomon built. In the year 26 B.C. Herod decided to restore the Temple to the Glory of Solomon’s Day. The work had just been completed when Jesus’ disciples looked on amazed at the precious stones and votive offerings.
Jesus heard them and said, “This really doesn’t matter.” It is all going to come to a ruin anyway.
What do you build in your life? Do you think it will last eternally? Be sure that “This really doesn’t matter. It is all going to come to a ruin anyway.” What is more important, it’s your readiness to enter eternity. Be sure this totally depends on your present life, and not on what do you have and how rich are you.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
10-11.11. 2007
32 Sunday in ordinary time - C
2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14; Psalm 17:1,5-6,8,15; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5; St.Luke 20:27-38
Introduction: What do I really believe? Do I accept the totality of the catholic faith or rather I try to adjust and correct my faith so that it becomes more "human" and better fitting my needs and the requirements of the contemporary, 21st century life?
Every year on November 11, the Remembrance Day, Canadians pause in a silent moment of remembrance for the men and women who have served, and continue to serve the country during times of war, conflict and peace. We honor those who fought for Canada in the First World War (1914-1918), the Second World War (1939-1945), and the Korean War (1950-1953), as well as those who have served since then. More than 1,500,000 Canadians have served the country in this way, and more than 100,000 have died. They gave their lives and their futures so that we may live in peace. Let us pray also for them.
Penitential Rite: Jesus offers us hope in the face of despair, confidence in the face of doubt. Let us bring to Him our failures and our doubt, assured of His understanding and forgiveness.
Lord Jesus, You hear us when we call upon You, Lord, have mercy
Christ Jesus, You are the Lord of the living and the dead, Christ, have mercy
Lord Jesus, You raise us to new and everlasting life, Lord, have mercy
May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
Homily
In today's readings we have two different attitudes towards the religious beliefs and values. The Sadducees were a group of very influential people, who belonged to the upper class of the society, and they wielded great power in Jewish society. However their theology was skeptical, minimalist and even rationalistic. They didn't accept the concept of life after death; they didn't believe the existence of angels and eternal life. They decided by themselves what is sound and what is not in the teaching of the Holy Scripture.
Their skepticism and even disbelief is supported by their (false) reasoning, by their (apparently) correct and accurate logic. We will be even tempted to sympathize with them and understand them as an example of a spirit of criticism and non fundamentalist approach of faith. They are the example of believers who are not fanatic and blind extremists.
On the other side in the first reading from the 2 Maccabees we have a strong religious family, an impressive example of putting God first. We hear about a woman arrested with her seven sons. The king wanted them to deny their Jewish religion by eating pork. Speaking to her sons in Hebrew, the mother encouraged them to endure torture rather than betray their faith. It must have torn her heart to see the tortures they inflicted on her children, but that woman put God first. She knew that this life is brief and - no matter what we do - none of us can avoid suffering, so she put her trust in God.
In the last issue of the "Western Catholic Reporter" cardinal Marc Ouellet the Archbishop of Quebec and primate of the Catholic Church in Canada says:
"The real problem in Quebec is not the presence of religious symbols or the appearance of new religious symbols in public spaces. The real problem in Quebec is the spiritual void (and religious emptiness) created by the religious and cultural rupture."
This has led the people to a substantial loss of memory, leading to a crisis in the family and in education. Citizens have been left "disoriented, unmotivated, subject to instability and leaning on transient, superficial values."
I see Saduccees from today's Gospel as an example of those who are living in the spiritual void and religious emptiness. They created for themselves a kind of secular religion, type of faith without supernatural, without sacrum. For this reason they are disoriented, instable and leaning on superficial values.
We do have too this choice or over-speculated and adjusted religion of our pleasing and choices, or acceptance that God is the God of impossible and unimaginable, the God of the living and the Lord of the resurrection against logic and reason.
General Intercessions: The God of the impossible, the Lord of the living will hear our prayers and grant our needs. And so we pray with hope and faith.
O God, You are the Lord of the living and the dead; guide us to live responsibly each day and to accept the wholeness of your teaching even if it seems to us impossible and unimaginable, because You are the God without boundaries and limitations, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen
32 Sunday in ordinary time - C
2 Maccabees 7:1-2,9-14; Psalm 17:1,5-6,8,15; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5; St.Luke 20:27-38
Introduction: What do I really believe? Do I accept the totality of the catholic faith or rather I try to adjust and correct my faith so that it becomes more "human" and better fitting my needs and the requirements of the contemporary, 21st century life?
Every year on November 11, the Remembrance Day, Canadians pause in a silent moment of remembrance for the men and women who have served, and continue to serve the country during times of war, conflict and peace. We honor those who fought for Canada in the First World War (1914-1918), the Second World War (1939-1945), and the Korean War (1950-1953), as well as those who have served since then. More than 1,500,000 Canadians have served the country in this way, and more than 100,000 have died. They gave their lives and their futures so that we may live in peace. Let us pray also for them.
Penitential Rite: Jesus offers us hope in the face of despair, confidence in the face of doubt. Let us bring to Him our failures and our doubt, assured of His understanding and forgiveness.
Lord Jesus, You hear us when we call upon You, Lord, have mercy
Christ Jesus, You are the Lord of the living and the dead, Christ, have mercy
Lord Jesus, You raise us to new and everlasting life, Lord, have mercy
May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
Homily
In today's readings we have two different attitudes towards the religious beliefs and values. The Sadducees were a group of very influential people, who belonged to the upper class of the society, and they wielded great power in Jewish society. However their theology was skeptical, minimalist and even rationalistic. They didn't accept the concept of life after death; they didn't believe the existence of angels and eternal life. They decided by themselves what is sound and what is not in the teaching of the Holy Scripture.
Their skepticism and even disbelief is supported by their (false) reasoning, by their (apparently) correct and accurate logic. We will be even tempted to sympathize with them and understand them as an example of a spirit of criticism and non fundamentalist approach of faith. They are the example of believers who are not fanatic and blind extremists.
On the other side in the first reading from the 2 Maccabees we have a strong religious family, an impressive example of putting God first. We hear about a woman arrested with her seven sons. The king wanted them to deny their Jewish religion by eating pork. Speaking to her sons in Hebrew, the mother encouraged them to endure torture rather than betray their faith. It must have torn her heart to see the tortures they inflicted on her children, but that woman put God first. She knew that this life is brief and - no matter what we do - none of us can avoid suffering, so she put her trust in God.
In the last issue of the "Western Catholic Reporter" cardinal Marc Ouellet the Archbishop of Quebec and primate of the Catholic Church in Canada says:
"The real problem in Quebec is not the presence of religious symbols or the appearance of new religious symbols in public spaces. The real problem in Quebec is the spiritual void (and religious emptiness) created by the religious and cultural rupture."
This has led the people to a substantial loss of memory, leading to a crisis in the family and in education. Citizens have been left "disoriented, unmotivated, subject to instability and leaning on transient, superficial values."
I see Saduccees from today's Gospel as an example of those who are living in the spiritual void and religious emptiness. They created for themselves a kind of secular religion, type of faith without supernatural, without sacrum. For this reason they are disoriented, instable and leaning on superficial values.
We do have too this choice or over-speculated and adjusted religion of our pleasing and choices, or acceptance that God is the God of impossible and unimaginable, the God of the living and the Lord of the resurrection against logic and reason.
General Intercessions: The God of the impossible, the Lord of the living will hear our prayers and grant our needs. And so we pray with hope and faith.
O God, You are the Lord of the living and the dead; guide us to live responsibly each day and to accept the wholeness of your teaching even if it seems to us impossible and unimaginable, because You are the God without boundaries and limitations, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen
November, 3-4 , 2007
31 Sunday in Ordinary Time
This Sunday's Gospel presents an incident with a real life tax collector, a short man named Zacchaeus.Of all the people the Lord could have chosen to spend the night with, he chose this tax collector, this betrayer of the Jewish people, this thief, this sinner.people around Jesus could not believe that Jesus would want to stay with Zacchaeus."Certainly, if Jesus were a prophet he would know the sort of man that he was going to stay with."But Jesus did know Zacchaeus.He knew Zacchaeus was a sinner. But he also knew that Zacchaeus could change his ways.
Zacchaeus had an experience of the Lord's presence in his own house. For Zacchaeus everything had to change now.God had come under his roof."Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it four times over."
Zacchaeus did change his life in a radical way because "God entered under the roof of his house". I invite Jesus Christ to enter my life at every Eucharist, but … do I also change radically my life at every Eucharist?
***********
Letter of the Bishops of Alberta for Catholic Education Sunday
31 Sunday in Ordinary Time
This Sunday's Gospel presents an incident with a real life tax collector, a short man named Zacchaeus.Of all the people the Lord could have chosen to spend the night with, he chose this tax collector, this betrayer of the Jewish people, this thief, this sinner.people around Jesus could not believe that Jesus would want to stay with Zacchaeus."Certainly, if Jesus were a prophet he would know the sort of man that he was going to stay with."But Jesus did know Zacchaeus.He knew Zacchaeus was a sinner. But he also knew that Zacchaeus could change his ways.
Zacchaeus had an experience of the Lord's presence in his own house. For Zacchaeus everything had to change now.God had come under his roof."Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it four times over."
Zacchaeus did change his life in a radical way because "God entered under the roof of his house". I invite Jesus Christ to enter my life at every Eucharist, but … do I also change radically my life at every Eucharist?
***********
Letter of the Bishops of Alberta for Catholic Education Sunday
Sunday, October 28, 2007
THIRTIETH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
Penitential Rite:
Let us come before our God in humble prayer, let us acknowledge our sinfulness, and ask for God’s mercy ….
Lord Jesus, your hear the cry of the humble and the poor, Lord have mercy,
Christ Jesus, you alone justify the sinners, Christ have mercy,
Lord Jesus, you exalt those who humble themselves, Lord have mercy.
May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
Homily
Sirach 35:12-14; 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18; Luke 18:9-14
In today's Gospel we have the strange scene between a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee - and he clearly has evidence to prove it - is the "good" person. He carefully keeps the Law of the Jews and the Commandments of God. He faithfully observes the obligations of a good Jew: he prays, he fasts, and he gives alms.
And yet, God is not happy with him. Why? Because he is basically a totally self-centered person. He says, "I thank you, God, that I am not like others, especially this terrible tax collector..." What he really is saying is: "God, you should be deeply grateful that you have someone like me (and there are not many of us), someone who is so faithful in following your commands..."
When he prays, fasts, give alms, it is not because he loves God (or the poor) and wants to serve God. It is because he loves himself; he is the centre of his whole existence. Even God is on the fringe. God should be so happy to have such a rare example like him. Especially when so many are like the tax collector.
The tax collector in the parable in today’s Gospel suffered from the loneliness caused by his sins. He worked for Rome, collecting money from his own people. He was a thief, demanding from the Jews more than the Romans would demand he pay them. He used the Roman guards as his means of enforcing his arbitrary decisions. The tax collector had many things. He was rich. But he was alone. He had no friends other than other tax collectors, people as despicable as he was. His people hated him. His family hated him. He hated himself. Surely God must hate him. So he slipped into the Temple and sincerely sought God's forgiveness. And God heard the cries of this abandoned one.
Now the Pharisee comes to the Temple, not to cry out for help, but to remind God of his goodness. He fasts. He pays tithes. He reminds God that he is not like so many others who are grasping and crooked and adulterous. The Pharisee has no sense of dependence on God. He is so full of himself that he doesn't recognize his own emptiness. He does not have enough sense to ask God to help him be a better person. He thinks he has everything. He leaves the Temple with nothing.
The Pharisee sinned because he did not recognize his dependence on God. Paul in the second reading, the orphan and widow in the first reading, the tax collector in the parable, all have a sense of total abandonment. They recognized their need for God. They ask God to fill their emptiness. They are justified, raised up to God by his gratuitous mercy.
We come before God not because we are so good, but because we are so empty. We recognize how our sins have left us isolated in our worlds. We have lost close friends because we have not been able to control our tongues. We have destroyed relationships when we have allowed fantasy to be confused with reality. We have not loved as we could love because we have tried loving ourselves instead of others. As a result there are times that we don't even like ourselves. So we come before the Lord, alone, abandoned by some whom we love, perhaps abandoned by our own self esteem. And we ask the Lord to hear our cries.
It is incidental whether the Pharisee or the tax collector is the one who exalts himself to in the sight of God. In today’s culture, Jesus would probably have someone like the tax collector exalt himself and despise others in his prayer: “God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—do-gooders and church-going Pharisees. I may be greedy, dishonest, and adulterous, but I am grateful not to be a hypocrite like them.” The desire to exalt oneself can always find a reason—even one’s humility.
In other words, today we should turn the terms around to get at the original intention. The publicans of yesterday are the new Pharisees of today! Today the publican, the transgressor, says to God: "I thank you Lord, because I am not one of those believing Pharisees, hypocritical and intolerant, that worry about fasting, but in real life are worse than we are." Paradoxically, it seems as if there are those who pray like this: "I thank you, Lord, because I'm an atheist!"
Who says today: “I have no sins, I am sinless, and there is no sin at all. I don’t need God for my salvation, I will save myself. The confession is not for me, the recognizing of the sin is a kind of masochism and it’s psychologically unjustified”? Who is the Pharisee and who is a publican able to recognize his total dependence on God?
General Intercessions
Celebrant: The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds. With confidence that God is with us, we humbly bring him our needs.
Celebrant: Father, You always hear the prayers of the lowly.
Aware of our sins, we still trust you.
Grant all we need, and keep us faithful.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Penitential Rite:
Let us come before our God in humble prayer, let us acknowledge our sinfulness, and ask for God’s mercy ….
Lord Jesus, your hear the cry of the humble and the poor, Lord have mercy,
Christ Jesus, you alone justify the sinners, Christ have mercy,
Lord Jesus, you exalt those who humble themselves, Lord have mercy.
May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
Homily
Sirach 35:12-14; 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18; Luke 18:9-14
In today's Gospel we have the strange scene between a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee - and he clearly has evidence to prove it - is the "good" person. He carefully keeps the Law of the Jews and the Commandments of God. He faithfully observes the obligations of a good Jew: he prays, he fasts, and he gives alms.
And yet, God is not happy with him. Why? Because he is basically a totally self-centered person. He says, "I thank you, God, that I am not like others, especially this terrible tax collector..." What he really is saying is: "God, you should be deeply grateful that you have someone like me (and there are not many of us), someone who is so faithful in following your commands..."
When he prays, fasts, give alms, it is not because he loves God (or the poor) and wants to serve God. It is because he loves himself; he is the centre of his whole existence. Even God is on the fringe. God should be so happy to have such a rare example like him. Especially when so many are like the tax collector.
The tax collector in the parable in today’s Gospel suffered from the loneliness caused by his sins. He worked for Rome, collecting money from his own people. He was a thief, demanding from the Jews more than the Romans would demand he pay them. He used the Roman guards as his means of enforcing his arbitrary decisions. The tax collector had many things. He was rich. But he was alone. He had no friends other than other tax collectors, people as despicable as he was. His people hated him. His family hated him. He hated himself. Surely God must hate him. So he slipped into the Temple and sincerely sought God's forgiveness. And God heard the cries of this abandoned one.
Now the Pharisee comes to the Temple, not to cry out for help, but to remind God of his goodness. He fasts. He pays tithes. He reminds God that he is not like so many others who are grasping and crooked and adulterous. The Pharisee has no sense of dependence on God. He is so full of himself that he doesn't recognize his own emptiness. He does not have enough sense to ask God to help him be a better person. He thinks he has everything. He leaves the Temple with nothing.
The Pharisee sinned because he did not recognize his dependence on God. Paul in the second reading, the orphan and widow in the first reading, the tax collector in the parable, all have a sense of total abandonment. They recognized their need for God. They ask God to fill their emptiness. They are justified, raised up to God by his gratuitous mercy.
We come before God not because we are so good, but because we are so empty. We recognize how our sins have left us isolated in our worlds. We have lost close friends because we have not been able to control our tongues. We have destroyed relationships when we have allowed fantasy to be confused with reality. We have not loved as we could love because we have tried loving ourselves instead of others. As a result there are times that we don't even like ourselves. So we come before the Lord, alone, abandoned by some whom we love, perhaps abandoned by our own self esteem. And we ask the Lord to hear our cries.
It is incidental whether the Pharisee or the tax collector is the one who exalts himself to in the sight of God. In today’s culture, Jesus would probably have someone like the tax collector exalt himself and despise others in his prayer: “God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—do-gooders and church-going Pharisees. I may be greedy, dishonest, and adulterous, but I am grateful not to be a hypocrite like them.” The desire to exalt oneself can always find a reason—even one’s humility.
In other words, today we should turn the terms around to get at the original intention. The publicans of yesterday are the new Pharisees of today! Today the publican, the transgressor, says to God: "I thank you Lord, because I am not one of those believing Pharisees, hypocritical and intolerant, that worry about fasting, but in real life are worse than we are." Paradoxically, it seems as if there are those who pray like this: "I thank you, Lord, because I'm an atheist!"
Who says today: “I have no sins, I am sinless, and there is no sin at all. I don’t need God for my salvation, I will save myself. The confession is not for me, the recognizing of the sin is a kind of masochism and it’s psychologically unjustified”? Who is the Pharisee and who is a publican able to recognize his total dependence on God?
General Intercessions
Celebrant: The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds. With confidence that God is with us, we humbly bring him our needs.
Celebrant: Father, You always hear the prayers of the lowly.
Aware of our sins, we still trust you.
Grant all we need, and keep us faithful.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Exodus 17:8-13a; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8.
Mission Sunday
"Do we not perhaps lack the courage to speak out and witness as did those who witnessed the healing of the deaf-mute in the Decapolis? Our world needs this witness; above all, it is waiting for the common testimony of Christians”
Pope Benedict XVI
Our world is starving for witnesses, authentic and reliable messengers
Don’t our children need true faith formation? Should not the parents be, for their children, the witnesses of Christ? Are not our children being educated by television and computers rather than by their own parents? Why in catholic countries and in catholic families are so many children not yet baptized, not catechized, not educated in faith?
why do they know so little about Jesus Christ,
why do they ask: what is Holy Communion?
what does Confession mean?
what is the meaning of the Sign of the Cross?
Today is World Mission Sunday. The theme suggested for us this year by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith is "Go! Proclaim the Gospel!
What does that mean for us today? Perhaps we can find the beginning of that answer in the last line of today’s gospel: "But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?
“The pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature, since it is from the mission of the Son and the mission of the Holy Spirit that she draws her origin …”
(Ad Gentes n.2)
Since the whole Church is missionary, whole and everywhere, and the work of evangelization is a basic duty of all the People of God, we are also the missionaries in our own houses and families.
Exodus 17:8-13a; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8.
Mission Sunday
"Do we not perhaps lack the courage to speak out and witness as did those who witnessed the healing of the deaf-mute in the Decapolis? Our world needs this witness; above all, it is waiting for the common testimony of Christians”
Pope Benedict XVI
Our world is starving for witnesses, authentic and reliable messengers
Don’t our children need true faith formation? Should not the parents be, for their children, the witnesses of Christ? Are not our children being educated by television and computers rather than by their own parents? Why in catholic countries and in catholic families are so many children not yet baptized, not catechized, not educated in faith?
why do they know so little about Jesus Christ,
why do they ask: what is Holy Communion?
what does Confession mean?
what is the meaning of the Sign of the Cross?
Today is World Mission Sunday. The theme suggested for us this year by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith is "Go! Proclaim the Gospel!
What does that mean for us today? Perhaps we can find the beginning of that answer in the last line of today’s gospel: "But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?
“The pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature, since it is from the mission of the Son and the mission of the Holy Spirit that she draws her origin …”
(Ad Gentes n.2)
Since the whole Church is missionary, whole and everywhere, and the work of evangelization is a basic duty of all the People of God, we are also the missionaries in our own houses and families.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
28 Sunday in Ordinary Time - year C
Penitential Rite:
Lord Jesus, you show us the path of love and thankfulness: Lord, have mercy,
Christ Jesus, you invite us to share our goods with less fortunate: Christ, have mercy,
Lord Jesus, you teach us the ways of kindness and humility, Lord, have mercy.
May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
FIRST READING - 2 Kings 5:14-17
Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of Elisha, the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean of his leprosy. Naaman returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On his arrival he stood before Elisha and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant." Elisha replied, "As the LORD lives whom I serve, I will not take it;" and despite Naaman's urging, he still refused. Naaman said: "If you will not accept, please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the LORD."
SECOND READING - 2 Timothy 2:8-13
Beloved: Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David: such is my gospel, for which I am suffering, even to the point of chains, like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore, I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, together with eternal glory. This saying is trustworthy: If we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him he will deny us. If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.
GOSPEL Cycle C - Luke 17:11-19
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" And when he saw them, he said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Then he said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."
Homily
How thankful we are? Gratitude and thankfulness …
Once upon a time there was a man who was struck down in his early thirties who was diagnosed with brain cancer. He had a wife and young children and a promising career. Suddenly all of that was swept away from him. He could barely talk or walk. He was in constant agony. His friends and his family, except for his wife and mother, avoided him. The doctors shook their head. It was too bad. He was a nice man and deserved longer life. But there was nothing they could. At last he went to a very famous doctor who offered to operate on him, even though everyone else said the tumor was inoperable. The doctor warned the patient and his wife that he could very well die during the operation, though he (the doctor) was pretty sure that he would survive and return to health. They decided that they should take the risk. After nine hours of surgery, the doctor came into the waiting room, grinned at the man’s wife and said, “Got it!” The man recovered and went on to a happy and successful life. Twenty years later the surgeon died. We should go to the wake, the patient’s wife said. I’d like to, her husband replied. But it’s on the weekend and I have an important golf tournament.
******************
‘Isn’t it great?’
A number of years ago a Chicago high school student went to Nicaragua during his summer vacation to do volunteer work.
He accompanied a medical team to Wiwili, a tiny mountain village. Life in the village was primitive.
Most of the children had no clothes and were inadequately fed.
The houses, built right on the ground, were made from old lumber and banana leaves.
The medical team vaccinated the villagers against polio, measles, and DPT. Sometimes they had to turn children away because they had already gotten the disease.
The high school boy found this especially heartbreaking. He wrote:
“By the end of the first week of work, I started feeling sorry—even guilty— for the conditions these people lived in. I became homesick and depressed.
“One night I was sitting outside in the darkness. I was thinking about home, my girlfriend, and why I had volunteered. I asked myself why people had to live like this. Whose fault was it? Why did God permit it?
“Then I heard someone in the darkness.
It was José Santos, the schoolteacher and the father of the family that I lived with. He sat down next to me, tilted his chair back against the wall, and stared up at the sky. “After a minute, he broken the silence, saying,
‘Isn’t it great!’
“I questioned what he said, and he repeated, ‘Isn’t it great—all that God has given us!’ His eyes were still staring up at the sky. “I tilted my head and looked up. I hadn’t noticed that the sky was lit up with millions of stars. “It was spectacular. The two of us just sat there looking up at the stars. It was an experience I will never forget.
At that moment I felt great. Everything fell into place.
“Never before had I felt so thankful for all that God had given me. Never before had I felt so loved.
This poor man showed me, what is the most important in our lives and how to be thankful even if apparently I have nothing.
The word Eucharist means "to give thanks". I suppose to thank God for all He has done and is doing for me. I thank God for the prayers that have been answered the way I wish they would be answered, and for the prayers that have been answered in ways different than I have asked.
… but the Eucharist is on Sunday and I have so many other urgent things to be done …
Nowadays we are not able to say “thank you” to God, because we are deeply convinced that all we have is the effect of our efforts and labors. It seems to us that we own nothing and to nobody.
Prayer of the Faithful:
Introduction Lord Jesus Christ, you hear all our cries for mercy and reveal God’s saving power. With humble heart and faith we pray for the Church, for our families and for all those who are in burden ….
Lord God, you continue to perform mighty deeds on our behalf: may faith and gratitude be ever evident in our world as we strive to reach out to all in need for you are worthy of all thanks and praise trough Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen
Penitential Rite:
Lord Jesus, you show us the path of love and thankfulness: Lord, have mercy,
Christ Jesus, you invite us to share our goods with less fortunate: Christ, have mercy,
Lord Jesus, you teach us the ways of kindness and humility, Lord, have mercy.
May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
FIRST READING - 2 Kings 5:14-17
Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of Elisha, the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean of his leprosy. Naaman returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On his arrival he stood before Elisha and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant." Elisha replied, "As the LORD lives whom I serve, I will not take it;" and despite Naaman's urging, he still refused. Naaman said: "If you will not accept, please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the LORD."
SECOND READING - 2 Timothy 2:8-13
Beloved: Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David: such is my gospel, for which I am suffering, even to the point of chains, like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore, I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, together with eternal glory. This saying is trustworthy: If we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him he will deny us. If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.
GOSPEL Cycle C - Luke 17:11-19
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" And when he saw them, he said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Then he said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."
Homily
How thankful we are? Gratitude and thankfulness …
Once upon a time there was a man who was struck down in his early thirties who was diagnosed with brain cancer. He had a wife and young children and a promising career. Suddenly all of that was swept away from him. He could barely talk or walk. He was in constant agony. His friends and his family, except for his wife and mother, avoided him. The doctors shook their head. It was too bad. He was a nice man and deserved longer life. But there was nothing they could. At last he went to a very famous doctor who offered to operate on him, even though everyone else said the tumor was inoperable. The doctor warned the patient and his wife that he could very well die during the operation, though he (the doctor) was pretty sure that he would survive and return to health. They decided that they should take the risk. After nine hours of surgery, the doctor came into the waiting room, grinned at the man’s wife and said, “Got it!” The man recovered and went on to a happy and successful life. Twenty years later the surgeon died. We should go to the wake, the patient’s wife said. I’d like to, her husband replied. But it’s on the weekend and I have an important golf tournament.
******************
‘Isn’t it great?’
A number of years ago a Chicago high school student went to Nicaragua during his summer vacation to do volunteer work.
He accompanied a medical team to Wiwili, a tiny mountain village. Life in the village was primitive.
Most of the children had no clothes and were inadequately fed.
The houses, built right on the ground, were made from old lumber and banana leaves.
The medical team vaccinated the villagers against polio, measles, and DPT. Sometimes they had to turn children away because they had already gotten the disease.
The high school boy found this especially heartbreaking. He wrote:
“By the end of the first week of work, I started feeling sorry—even guilty— for the conditions these people lived in. I became homesick and depressed.
“One night I was sitting outside in the darkness. I was thinking about home, my girlfriend, and why I had volunteered. I asked myself why people had to live like this. Whose fault was it? Why did God permit it?
“Then I heard someone in the darkness.
It was José Santos, the schoolteacher and the father of the family that I lived with. He sat down next to me, tilted his chair back against the wall, and stared up at the sky. “After a minute, he broken the silence, saying,
‘Isn’t it great!’
“I questioned what he said, and he repeated, ‘Isn’t it great—all that God has given us!’ His eyes were still staring up at the sky. “I tilted my head and looked up. I hadn’t noticed that the sky was lit up with millions of stars. “It was spectacular. The two of us just sat there looking up at the stars. It was an experience I will never forget.
At that moment I felt great. Everything fell into place.
“Never before had I felt so thankful for all that God had given me. Never before had I felt so loved.
This poor man showed me, what is the most important in our lives and how to be thankful even if apparently I have nothing.
The word Eucharist means "to give thanks". I suppose to thank God for all He has done and is doing for me. I thank God for the prayers that have been answered the way I wish they would be answered, and for the prayers that have been answered in ways different than I have asked.
… but the Eucharist is on Sunday and I have so many other urgent things to be done …
Nowadays we are not able to say “thank you” to God, because we are deeply convinced that all we have is the effect of our efforts and labors. It seems to us that we own nothing and to nobody.
Prayer of the Faithful:
Introduction Lord Jesus Christ, you hear all our cries for mercy and reveal God’s saving power. With humble heart and faith we pray for the Church, for our families and for all those who are in burden ….
Lord God, you continue to perform mighty deeds on our behalf: may faith and gratitude be ever evident in our world as we strive to reach out to all in need for you are worthy of all thanks and praise trough Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen
Sunday, October 07, 2007
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4; 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17:5-10
Father Cantalamessa on the Leap of Faith
Pontifical Household Preacher Comments on Sunday's Readings
ROME, OCT. 5, 2007 ( Zenit.org ).- Here is a translation of a commentary by the Pontifical Household preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, on the readings from this Sunday's liturgy.
* * *
Increase Our Faith
This Sunday's Gospel begins with the apostles asking Jesus: "Increase our faith!"
Instead of satisfying their desire, Jesus seems to want to make it grow further. He says: "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed ..."
Without a doubt, faith is the dominant theme this Sunday. We hear about it also in the first reading, in the celebrated line of Habakkuk, taken up again by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans: "The just shall live by faith" (1:17).
Faith has a few different meanings. This time I would like to reflect on the more common and elementary understanding of faith: believing or not believing in God.
This is not the faith by which one decides whether one is Catholic or Protestant, Christian or Muslim, but the faith by which one decides whether one is a believer or a nonbeliever, believer or atheist. A Scripture text says: "Those who come to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). This is the first step of faith, without it, we cannot take the other steps.
To speak of faith in such a general way we cannot base ourselves only on the Bible since it only has validity for Christians and, in part, for Jews, but not for anyone else. It is fortunate for us that God wrote two "books": One is the Bible, the other is creation. The one is composed of letters and words, the other of things.
Not everyone knows or is able to read the book of Scripture; but everyone, from every place and culture, can read the book of creation. "The heavens tell of the glory of God and the firmament declares the work of his hands" (Psalm 19:2). Paul writes: "Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made" (Romans 1:20).
It is urgent that we show how unfounded the opinion is that says that science has already liquidated the problem and exhaustively explained the world without any need to invoke the idea of a reality beyond it called God. In a certain sense, today science brings us closer to faith in a creator than in the past.
Let us consider the famous theory that explains the origin of the universe with the "big bang," the great explosion at the beginning. In a billionth of a billionth of a second, we go from one situation in which there is not yet anything, neither space nor time, to a situation in which time has begun, space exists, and, in an infinitesimal particle of matter, there is already, in potency, the whole subsequent universe of billions of galaxies, as we know it today.
One could say: "There is no sense in asking about what there was before that instant, because there is no 'before,' when time does not exist."
But I say: "How can we not ask that question!"
"Trying to go back behind the history of the cosmos," it will be said, "is like going through the pages of a large book starting at the end. Once we arrive at the beginning we see that the first page is missing."
I believe biblical revelation has something to tell us precisely about this first page. Science cannot be asked to declare on this "first page," which is outside time, but neither must science close the circle, making everyone think that everything is resolved.
There is no pretense of "demonstrating" God's existence, in the common understanding of this term. Here below we see as through a mirror, says St. Paul.
When a ray of light enters into a room, it is not the ray of light itself that is seen, but the dance of the dust that receives and reveals the light. It is the same with God: We do not see him directly, but as in a reflection, in the dance of things. This explains why God is not reached without the "leap" of faith.
Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4; 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17:5-10
Father Cantalamessa on the Leap of Faith
Pontifical Household Preacher Comments on Sunday's Readings
ROME, OCT. 5, 2007 ( Zenit.org ).- Here is a translation of a commentary by the Pontifical Household preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, on the readings from this Sunday's liturgy.
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Increase Our Faith
This Sunday's Gospel begins with the apostles asking Jesus: "Increase our faith!"
Instead of satisfying their desire, Jesus seems to want to make it grow further. He says: "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed ..."
Without a doubt, faith is the dominant theme this Sunday. We hear about it also in the first reading, in the celebrated line of Habakkuk, taken up again by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans: "The just shall live by faith" (1:17).
Faith has a few different meanings. This time I would like to reflect on the more common and elementary understanding of faith: believing or not believing in God.
This is not the faith by which one decides whether one is Catholic or Protestant, Christian or Muslim, but the faith by which one decides whether one is a believer or a nonbeliever, believer or atheist. A Scripture text says: "Those who come to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). This is the first step of faith, without it, we cannot take the other steps.
To speak of faith in such a general way we cannot base ourselves only on the Bible since it only has validity for Christians and, in part, for Jews, but not for anyone else. It is fortunate for us that God wrote two "books": One is the Bible, the other is creation. The one is composed of letters and words, the other of things.
Not everyone knows or is able to read the book of Scripture; but everyone, from every place and culture, can read the book of creation. "The heavens tell of the glory of God and the firmament declares the work of his hands" (Psalm 19:2). Paul writes: "Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made" (Romans 1:20).
It is urgent that we show how unfounded the opinion is that says that science has already liquidated the problem and exhaustively explained the world without any need to invoke the idea of a reality beyond it called God. In a certain sense, today science brings us closer to faith in a creator than in the past.
Let us consider the famous theory that explains the origin of the universe with the "big bang," the great explosion at the beginning. In a billionth of a billionth of a second, we go from one situation in which there is not yet anything, neither space nor time, to a situation in which time has begun, space exists, and, in an infinitesimal particle of matter, there is already, in potency, the whole subsequent universe of billions of galaxies, as we know it today.
One could say: "There is no sense in asking about what there was before that instant, because there is no 'before,' when time does not exist."
But I say: "How can we not ask that question!"
"Trying to go back behind the history of the cosmos," it will be said, "is like going through the pages of a large book starting at the end. Once we arrive at the beginning we see that the first page is missing."
I believe biblical revelation has something to tell us precisely about this first page. Science cannot be asked to declare on this "first page," which is outside time, but neither must science close the circle, making everyone think that everything is resolved.
There is no pretense of "demonstrating" God's existence, in the common understanding of this term. Here below we see as through a mirror, says St. Paul.
When a ray of light enters into a room, it is not the ray of light itself that is seen, but the dance of the dust that receives and reveals the light. It is the same with God: We do not see him directly, but as in a reflection, in the dance of things. This explains why God is not reached without the "leap" of faith.
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