Palm – Passion Sunday, 16.03. 2008
Everything is upside down …
What a strange liturgy we do today. Almost as if the church cannot decide what to do! So, we just squeeze together everything from Jesus entering Jerusalem with the crowds shouting "Hosanna" through the crucified Christ being laid in a borrowed tomb.
Even the name for this Sunday. Today is "Palm - slash - Passion Sunday." It's neither "Palm Sunday" nor "Passion Sunday." It's not "Palm and Passion Sunday." Its "Palm - slash - Passion Sunday," two different events jammed up against one another.
We begin Holy Week by focusing in on the Passion of the Lord, this year according to Matthew. On Thursday we will relate the Passion to Sacramental celebration of the gift of the Lord in the Eucharist, on Friday we will zero in on the suffering and death of the Lord, then on Easter we will celebrate the triumph of Eternal Life over Physical Death.
He suffered for us. And what does he ask in return? He asks that we love his Father. He asks that we believe in Him. He asks that we love each other. He asks that we fight for his Kingdom. He asks that live as moral, decent people. He asks little, this Tremendous Lover who has given so much.
Hosanna and … crucify HIM!!!
Most probably the same people were shouting and crying “Hosanna” and 5 days later “Crucify him!” Is it not like in my life? One day “hosanna”, the other “I don’t need you”?
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Saturday, March 08, 2008
FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
The first reading is from the book of the prophet Ezekiel. These words were spoken to the Hebrew people after many of them had been deported by Babylonian armies from the land of Israel to Babylon, what we know as Iraq today, at the beginning of the sixth century B.C.
The Spirit of God leads the prophet Ezekiel to a valley full of dry bones of humans. This is an image of God's people who have left God, adored false gods and have died. They had lost hope, vision, and identity as God's people. So God promises His people, “I am going to open your graves, bring you back to the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord. I will put My Spirit within you, and you shall live.”
The second reading is from the letter that St. Paul wrote to the parish in Rome when he was in Corinth, Greece, during the winter of 57 - 58 A.D.
In this part of the letter, God our Father speaks to us about what the Holy Spirit does for us right now in this very moment.
St. Paul says that "The body is dead because of sin": meaning that our body is like a corpse if we sin (seriously) because then the Holy Spirit is no longer in us.
In Jesus, we, like Lazarus, are freed from the constraints of death and given new life. The death signified here is primarily spiritual death, and the new life promised us by Christ signi¬fies resurrection to eternal life.
Our resurrection opens the way to Christ's embracing us unto eternal life, a life foreseen by Ezekiel in the vision of the dry bones.
God wants to literally dwell in us and for us to abide in Him, as St. Paul tells us in the Second Reading.
Thus the only death that matters, the only death that can endure, is the death caused by mortal sin. This is a topic I invite you to reflect on today - that a mortal sin is so grave that it excludes Christ from our life, and causes spiritual death because we no longer abide in Him nor does He live in us.
The three conditions needed in order for a sin to be mortal are : (1) serious matter, (2) sufficient knowledge and (3) full consent of the will. Unless all three are verified, mortal sin does not occur. (See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1857.)
Sacred Scripture gives us several lists of actions which are seriously wrong in themselves. For example, St. Paul in Galatians 5:19-21, lists fornication, impurity, licentiousness (which is living in a permissive or lewd manner), idolatry, sorcery, enmity (which is living in hostility or hatred), drunkenness, and carousing (cf. Catechism, No. 1552.).
The Church has clearly acknowledged certain actions as evil in them selves, either in ecumenical councils or in Papal teaching or in ordinary Magisterial doctrine. Clear examples are direct abortion, euthanasia, and sins against reverence for human life.
Contraception is another example, a sin against the holiness of human sexuality. All of these are a rejection of God.
Likewise, recourse to artificial forms of conception, what the world calls "techno¬logical reproduction is also a serious sin.
But full knowledge and complete consent are necessary for the sin to be called mortal. To sin mortally you must know that the sin is serious, you must know that it is agains God’s Law and you must have deliberately consented to it through your own free will. (Catechism, No. 1859).
Mortal sin excludes us from Christ's kingdom. This means eternal death, the death of hell, for our free will has the power to make choices forever, with no turning back.
Mortal sin is so lethal to the soul that it cries out for reconciliation, which is a gift from God. Reconciliation comes from Christ through His Church, primarily through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as the Sacrament of Penance, or, simply, confession.
These thoughts should help us make a resolution about confession at least before we enter Holy Week and celebrate Easter. The precepts of the Church remind us that Catholics are required to confess their serious sins to a priest at least once a year.
Just as schoolchildren must attend school daily in order to remain in school and employees must show for work each day to keep their jobs so too must Catholics follow the precepts of the church in order to be considered good, practicing Catholics in full communion with the church. Does everyone remember what they are?
The 6 precepts of the church are:
1. Attending Mass on all Sundays and holy days of obligation.
2. Receiving the Holy Eucharist during Easter Season.
3. Confessing your mortal sins at least once a year.
4. Fasting and abstaining on appointed days
5. observing the marriage laws of the Church
6. Contributing to the support of the church.
Catholics should all be aware of these 6 precepts – as they are the minimum required to keep a Catholic in good standing in addition to the Ten Commandments which also apply to every Christian and Jew alike. Those who attended the parish mission heard Father Paul Moret tell us that it would be very helpful to a family’s spiritual welfare to have not only a Bible but also a Catechism of the Catholic Church handy in their home.
This Sunday's Gospel recounts one of Christ's most astounding mir¬acles: the raising of his friend Lazarus from the dead. But there is a big differ¬ence between the Lord's Resurrection and the raising of Lazarus. Lazarus came back to life after having been dead for four days: but he eventually died again.
Christ's Resurrection, on the other hand, is quite different, because He cannot die any more. Our risen Saviour looked quite different from the way He was before His crucifixion and death on Calvary-so different, in fact, that His closest friends had trouble recognizing Him on Easter.
The fact that neither Mary Magdalene nor the disciples on the road to Emmaus recognized Him makes it clear that Jesus is not merely a man who has come back from the dead, like Lazarus. He is the same person He was, yet He now lives a new kind of life; in fact, He says to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life..." (John 11:25).
"I am the resurrection and the life," Jesus says in the Gospel Reading, and He backs up His words by raising Lazarus from the dead.. "Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die."
The apparent contradictions in these words are explained by the fact that Jesus, like St. Paul, is speaking of two different kinds of life: natural life, by which we are mortal and can expect to die; and supernatural life, also called eternal life, divine life, everlast¬ing life, God's life, spiritual life, etc., by which we are immortal and live forever.
Calling himself "the life," Jesus does not only mean that life which begins beyond the grave, but divine life in our soul - the life which unites us to God here and now, and makes us capable of seeing God "face to face" in heaven.
Of this life, St. Paul says, "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal. 2:20 RSV).
How do we live in Christ, how do we abide in Christ? Our answer is in the same Gospel of John. In Chapter 15 Jesus tells us first to abide in Him. To live in Him. Jesus says “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. “
Jesus also tells us how we do this. How we live in Him and how He abides in us.
In John chapter 6 verses 54-56 Jesus says “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day, for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.
This is how we abide in Jesus and how He abides in us – through Holy Communion, worthily received.
That is, we must have no serious sin in us when we come up to receive Him. If we do then we must first confess these sins to a priest and receive sacramental absolution in order to be able to receive Holy Communion worthily.
As Father Moret also reminded us that we must not receive Holy Communion if we know that we are in serious sin because if we do so then we bring condemnation upon ourselves. St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians tells us that whoever eats or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer”.
The Church refers to the new life we get from Christ by the name sanctifying grace: "grace" means "a gift" and "sanctify" means "to make holy." Sanctifying grace, then, is the gift of God's own holiness in us.
We first receive sanctifying grace in baptism, the sacrament of our rebirth from water and the Spirit (John 3:5)-our rebirth as adopted children of God the Father, members of Christ's Body the Church, and temples of their Holy Spirit.
If we are Christ's members through faith and baptism, His victory over sin becomes our victory too, and His resurrection-life becomes ours too.
Only one thing can rob us of sanctifying grace, and that is mortal sin. When a person turns their back to God, when they love themselves more than God, sanctifying grace cannot remain.
Surely all sin offends God and harms our relationship with him. However, the Bible, our Catholic tradition, and common sense tell us that some offenses are worse than others.
For a disciple of Christ, mortal sin is a horrendous prospect. A con¬tradiction of all we believe, it is essentially ugly and repugnant. There is nothing good or beautiful about it; it is never justified, never tolera¬ble, never neutral.
If one could draw a picture of mortal sin, one would portray Jesus, the Son of God, crucified, His Precious Blood pouring forth, his voice crying, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" This is what mortal sin looks like. (look at the crucifix)
If we should foolishly forfeit the life of grace through mortal sin, we would be all the more foolish to put off going to confession.
The sacrament of Reconciliation or Penance restores us to life - the life of grace - if we are spiritually dead. For that reason, the Early Church Fathers nicknamed it a "second baptism”.
Christ came to save the whole person. Not only our souls but also our bodies have a place in the kingdom of God. At the general resur¬rection on the Last Day, God will reunite bodies and souls as befits each person's degree of holiness.
This He has already done for our Blessed Mother, the first and best Christian, by bringing her body and soul to heaven. The rest of us must wait until Christ returns in glory.
In the meantime, let us not forget that God's grace in us, nourished by the Eucharist, is the pledge of our own resurrection, soul and body, to eter¬nal life.
In Today’s Gospel when Jesus sees them weeping, He is greatly disturbed and deeply moved and He weeps.
Why does Jesus weep? He is both God and man and He knows that Lazarus will come to life again. Why does He weep?
In the very beginning and throughout the ages there has always been those whose pride prevents them from serving.
They refuse to follow Jesus.
Jesus knows that many will be lost even today because they refuse to listen to His teachings given to them through His Church.
He weeps not only in sympathy for Lazarus’ family but also because being both God and man He knows how many souls will be lost because they refuse to believe in Him.
Jesus asks them to show Him the tomb where Lazarus has been laid. He says, “Take away the stone.” Looking upward toward His Father He prays, “Father, I thank You for having heard Me ...I have said this for the sake of the crowd so that they may believe.”
Now Jesus cries out in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out!, The dead man comes out. Jesus says, “Unbind him, and let him go” and then many believed in Jesus. Doesn’t the same thing happen to us in confession – in essence - doesn’t Jesus say to Satan “Unbind him or her and let them go”.
We say we want life, and we want it to the full, and yet, as Jesus said, "you are unwilling to come to Me to possess that life."
This is why Jesus weeps. We know the way – but we refuse to listen to either Jesus or His Church since both are one and the same – Jesus said “Whoever hears you – hears me” - instead many prefer to do it their own way – believing that they can save themselves.
This is the offer Christ makes that we can, if we let Him have His way, come to share His di¬vine life, the life that He has by nature because He is begotten by God the Father, Who Himself has divine life by nature. If we accept this offer, we too become sons and daughters of God.
Therefore hearing this let us make a resolution not to neglect the sacrament of penance, espe¬cially during Lent.
We acquired Spiritual Life when we were baptized. However, we can let our Spiritual Life die, through mortal sin. We can also let our Spiritual Life starve, through lack of nourishment.
Let’s not neglect the Sacrament and Sacrifice of the Mass either, in which we eat Jesus's Body and drink His Blood and He abides in us and we in Him.
The Sunday following Easter is the Sunday of Divine Mercy – you are invited to make a real effort to find out all that you can about this great devotion and plan to take part in those special services which are provided for our spiritual benefit.
Let us pray, in the words of the final prayer of this Sunday’s Mass, that we will believe Jesus, that we will place all our trust in Him and that we will remain one in Him – that we will abide in Him and He in us – “FOR HE IS LORD FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN
Deacon Bernard Ouellette
The first reading is from the book of the prophet Ezekiel. These words were spoken to the Hebrew people after many of them had been deported by Babylonian armies from the land of Israel to Babylon, what we know as Iraq today, at the beginning of the sixth century B.C.
The Spirit of God leads the prophet Ezekiel to a valley full of dry bones of humans. This is an image of God's people who have left God, adored false gods and have died. They had lost hope, vision, and identity as God's people. So God promises His people, “I am going to open your graves, bring you back to the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord. I will put My Spirit within you, and you shall live.”
The second reading is from the letter that St. Paul wrote to the parish in Rome when he was in Corinth, Greece, during the winter of 57 - 58 A.D.
In this part of the letter, God our Father speaks to us about what the Holy Spirit does for us right now in this very moment.
St. Paul says that "The body is dead because of sin": meaning that our body is like a corpse if we sin (seriously) because then the Holy Spirit is no longer in us.
In Jesus, we, like Lazarus, are freed from the constraints of death and given new life. The death signified here is primarily spiritual death, and the new life promised us by Christ signi¬fies resurrection to eternal life.
Our resurrection opens the way to Christ's embracing us unto eternal life, a life foreseen by Ezekiel in the vision of the dry bones.
God wants to literally dwell in us and for us to abide in Him, as St. Paul tells us in the Second Reading.
Thus the only death that matters, the only death that can endure, is the death caused by mortal sin. This is a topic I invite you to reflect on today - that a mortal sin is so grave that it excludes Christ from our life, and causes spiritual death because we no longer abide in Him nor does He live in us.
The three conditions needed in order for a sin to be mortal are : (1) serious matter, (2) sufficient knowledge and (3) full consent of the will. Unless all three are verified, mortal sin does not occur. (See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1857.)
Sacred Scripture gives us several lists of actions which are seriously wrong in themselves. For example, St. Paul in Galatians 5:19-21, lists fornication, impurity, licentiousness (which is living in a permissive or lewd manner), idolatry, sorcery, enmity (which is living in hostility or hatred), drunkenness, and carousing (cf. Catechism, No. 1552.).
The Church has clearly acknowledged certain actions as evil in them selves, either in ecumenical councils or in Papal teaching or in ordinary Magisterial doctrine. Clear examples are direct abortion, euthanasia, and sins against reverence for human life.
Contraception is another example, a sin against the holiness of human sexuality. All of these are a rejection of God.
Likewise, recourse to artificial forms of conception, what the world calls "techno¬logical reproduction is also a serious sin.
But full knowledge and complete consent are necessary for the sin to be called mortal. To sin mortally you must know that the sin is serious, you must know that it is agains God’s Law and you must have deliberately consented to it through your own free will. (Catechism, No. 1859).
Mortal sin excludes us from Christ's kingdom. This means eternal death, the death of hell, for our free will has the power to make choices forever, with no turning back.
Mortal sin is so lethal to the soul that it cries out for reconciliation, which is a gift from God. Reconciliation comes from Christ through His Church, primarily through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as the Sacrament of Penance, or, simply, confession.
These thoughts should help us make a resolution about confession at least before we enter Holy Week and celebrate Easter. The precepts of the Church remind us that Catholics are required to confess their serious sins to a priest at least once a year.
Just as schoolchildren must attend school daily in order to remain in school and employees must show for work each day to keep their jobs so too must Catholics follow the precepts of the church in order to be considered good, practicing Catholics in full communion with the church. Does everyone remember what they are?
The 6 precepts of the church are:
1. Attending Mass on all Sundays and holy days of obligation.
2. Receiving the Holy Eucharist during Easter Season.
3. Confessing your mortal sins at least once a year.
4. Fasting and abstaining on appointed days
5. observing the marriage laws of the Church
6. Contributing to the support of the church.
Catholics should all be aware of these 6 precepts – as they are the minimum required to keep a Catholic in good standing in addition to the Ten Commandments which also apply to every Christian and Jew alike. Those who attended the parish mission heard Father Paul Moret tell us that it would be very helpful to a family’s spiritual welfare to have not only a Bible but also a Catechism of the Catholic Church handy in their home.
This Sunday's Gospel recounts one of Christ's most astounding mir¬acles: the raising of his friend Lazarus from the dead. But there is a big differ¬ence between the Lord's Resurrection and the raising of Lazarus. Lazarus came back to life after having been dead for four days: but he eventually died again.
Christ's Resurrection, on the other hand, is quite different, because He cannot die any more. Our risen Saviour looked quite different from the way He was before His crucifixion and death on Calvary-so different, in fact, that His closest friends had trouble recognizing Him on Easter.
The fact that neither Mary Magdalene nor the disciples on the road to Emmaus recognized Him makes it clear that Jesus is not merely a man who has come back from the dead, like Lazarus. He is the same person He was, yet He now lives a new kind of life; in fact, He says to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life..." (John 11:25).
"I am the resurrection and the life," Jesus says in the Gospel Reading, and He backs up His words by raising Lazarus from the dead.. "Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die."
The apparent contradictions in these words are explained by the fact that Jesus, like St. Paul, is speaking of two different kinds of life: natural life, by which we are mortal and can expect to die; and supernatural life, also called eternal life, divine life, everlast¬ing life, God's life, spiritual life, etc., by which we are immortal and live forever.
Calling himself "the life," Jesus does not only mean that life which begins beyond the grave, but divine life in our soul - the life which unites us to God here and now, and makes us capable of seeing God "face to face" in heaven.
Of this life, St. Paul says, "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal. 2:20 RSV).
How do we live in Christ, how do we abide in Christ? Our answer is in the same Gospel of John. In Chapter 15 Jesus tells us first to abide in Him. To live in Him. Jesus says “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. “
Jesus also tells us how we do this. How we live in Him and how He abides in us.
In John chapter 6 verses 54-56 Jesus says “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day, for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.
This is how we abide in Jesus and how He abides in us – through Holy Communion, worthily received.
That is, we must have no serious sin in us when we come up to receive Him. If we do then we must first confess these sins to a priest and receive sacramental absolution in order to be able to receive Holy Communion worthily.
As Father Moret also reminded us that we must not receive Holy Communion if we know that we are in serious sin because if we do so then we bring condemnation upon ourselves. St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians tells us that whoever eats or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer”.
The Church refers to the new life we get from Christ by the name sanctifying grace: "grace" means "a gift" and "sanctify" means "to make holy." Sanctifying grace, then, is the gift of God's own holiness in us.
We first receive sanctifying grace in baptism, the sacrament of our rebirth from water and the Spirit (John 3:5)-our rebirth as adopted children of God the Father, members of Christ's Body the Church, and temples of their Holy Spirit.
If we are Christ's members through faith and baptism, His victory over sin becomes our victory too, and His resurrection-life becomes ours too.
Only one thing can rob us of sanctifying grace, and that is mortal sin. When a person turns their back to God, when they love themselves more than God, sanctifying grace cannot remain.
Surely all sin offends God and harms our relationship with him. However, the Bible, our Catholic tradition, and common sense tell us that some offenses are worse than others.
For a disciple of Christ, mortal sin is a horrendous prospect. A con¬tradiction of all we believe, it is essentially ugly and repugnant. There is nothing good or beautiful about it; it is never justified, never tolera¬ble, never neutral.
If one could draw a picture of mortal sin, one would portray Jesus, the Son of God, crucified, His Precious Blood pouring forth, his voice crying, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" This is what mortal sin looks like. (look at the crucifix)
If we should foolishly forfeit the life of grace through mortal sin, we would be all the more foolish to put off going to confession.
The sacrament of Reconciliation or Penance restores us to life - the life of grace - if we are spiritually dead. For that reason, the Early Church Fathers nicknamed it a "second baptism”.
Christ came to save the whole person. Not only our souls but also our bodies have a place in the kingdom of God. At the general resur¬rection on the Last Day, God will reunite bodies and souls as befits each person's degree of holiness.
This He has already done for our Blessed Mother, the first and best Christian, by bringing her body and soul to heaven. The rest of us must wait until Christ returns in glory.
In the meantime, let us not forget that God's grace in us, nourished by the Eucharist, is the pledge of our own resurrection, soul and body, to eter¬nal life.
In Today’s Gospel when Jesus sees them weeping, He is greatly disturbed and deeply moved and He weeps.
Why does Jesus weep? He is both God and man and He knows that Lazarus will come to life again. Why does He weep?
In the very beginning and throughout the ages there has always been those whose pride prevents them from serving.
They refuse to follow Jesus.
Jesus knows that many will be lost even today because they refuse to listen to His teachings given to them through His Church.
He weeps not only in sympathy for Lazarus’ family but also because being both God and man He knows how many souls will be lost because they refuse to believe in Him.
Jesus asks them to show Him the tomb where Lazarus has been laid. He says, “Take away the stone.” Looking upward toward His Father He prays, “Father, I thank You for having heard Me ...I have said this for the sake of the crowd so that they may believe.”
Now Jesus cries out in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out!, The dead man comes out. Jesus says, “Unbind him, and let him go” and then many believed in Jesus. Doesn’t the same thing happen to us in confession – in essence - doesn’t Jesus say to Satan “Unbind him or her and let them go”.
We say we want life, and we want it to the full, and yet, as Jesus said, "you are unwilling to come to Me to possess that life."
This is why Jesus weeps. We know the way – but we refuse to listen to either Jesus or His Church since both are one and the same – Jesus said “Whoever hears you – hears me” - instead many prefer to do it their own way – believing that they can save themselves.
This is the offer Christ makes that we can, if we let Him have His way, come to share His di¬vine life, the life that He has by nature because He is begotten by God the Father, Who Himself has divine life by nature. If we accept this offer, we too become sons and daughters of God.
Therefore hearing this let us make a resolution not to neglect the sacrament of penance, espe¬cially during Lent.
We acquired Spiritual Life when we were baptized. However, we can let our Spiritual Life die, through mortal sin. We can also let our Spiritual Life starve, through lack of nourishment.
Let’s not neglect the Sacrament and Sacrifice of the Mass either, in which we eat Jesus's Body and drink His Blood and He abides in us and we in Him.
The Sunday following Easter is the Sunday of Divine Mercy – you are invited to make a real effort to find out all that you can about this great devotion and plan to take part in those special services which are provided for our spiritual benefit.
Let us pray, in the words of the final prayer of this Sunday’s Mass, that we will believe Jesus, that we will place all our trust in Him and that we will remain one in Him – that we will abide in Him and He in us – “FOR HE IS LORD FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN
Deacon Bernard Ouellette
Sunday, February 24, 2008
3rd Sunday in the Lent – 23/24.02.2008
Living water
THE THEME of today's readings centres around water. The links with Baptism are obvious. Water is the source of life but also of destruction.
So we have the story of the Flood, which brought salvation to Noah and his family but death to a sinful world; the crossing of the Red Sea, which meant life and liberty to the Israelites but death to the army of the Pharaoh; and the water from the rock for the Israelites in the dryness of the desert. We will hear more about these at the Easter Vigil during the blessing of the baptismal water.
The Gospel which we have just heard is about the Woman at the Well and it also centres around the theme of water and life.
She is very surprised at his approach but her surprise allows Jesus to turn the tables and offer her "living water". She, understanding him literally, asks how he can give it as he has no bucket. But the water that Jesus will give is different. Those who drink it will never be thirsty again and it gives eternal life. Again, literally, the woman wants this water that lasts forever. Then she will never have to trudge to the well again.
What is this water that Jesus speaks about? It is God's Spirit which comes to us in Baptism. Baptism is not just a ritual producing magic effects. It is the outward, symbolic sign of a deep reality, the coming of God as a force penetrating every aspect of a person's life.
And this happens through our exposure to Jesus and to the Gospel vision of life and our becoming totally converted to that vision. This can only happen through the agency of a Christian community into which we are called to enter. As the Second Reading says today, "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit". It is not just a question of a ritual washing or immersing and saying magic words but of a real drinking in of that Spirit. The spirit quenches our thirst, not by removing our desire for God's presence but by continually satisfying it.
The Roman Triptych: Meditations of Pope John Paul II
2. The source
The undulating wood slopes down
to the rhythm of mountain streams....
If you want to find the source,
you have to go up, against the current,
tear through, seek, don't give up,
you know it must be somewhere here.
Where are you, source? Where are you, source?!
Silence....
Stream, stream in the wood,
tell me the secret of your beginning!
(Silence—why are you silent?
How carefully you have hidden the secret of your beginning).
Allow me to wet my lips
in spring water,
to feel its freshness,
reviving freshness.
And we know that Christ is the source of this living Water, Water of Life, where I can wet my lips like in the spring water and feel its reviving freshness.
Lord give me please this Water of Life.
Don't contaminate it by liberalism, relativism, egoism, materialism.
Living water
THE THEME of today's readings centres around water. The links with Baptism are obvious. Water is the source of life but also of destruction.
So we have the story of the Flood, which brought salvation to Noah and his family but death to a sinful world; the crossing of the Red Sea, which meant life and liberty to the Israelites but death to the army of the Pharaoh; and the water from the rock for the Israelites in the dryness of the desert. We will hear more about these at the Easter Vigil during the blessing of the baptismal water.
The Gospel which we have just heard is about the Woman at the Well and it also centres around the theme of water and life.
She is very surprised at his approach but her surprise allows Jesus to turn the tables and offer her "living water". She, understanding him literally, asks how he can give it as he has no bucket. But the water that Jesus will give is different. Those who drink it will never be thirsty again and it gives eternal life. Again, literally, the woman wants this water that lasts forever. Then she will never have to trudge to the well again.
What is this water that Jesus speaks about? It is God's Spirit which comes to us in Baptism. Baptism is not just a ritual producing magic effects. It is the outward, symbolic sign of a deep reality, the coming of God as a force penetrating every aspect of a person's life.
And this happens through our exposure to Jesus and to the Gospel vision of life and our becoming totally converted to that vision. This can only happen through the agency of a Christian community into which we are called to enter. As the Second Reading says today, "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit". It is not just a question of a ritual washing or immersing and saying magic words but of a real drinking in of that Spirit. The spirit quenches our thirst, not by removing our desire for God's presence but by continually satisfying it.
The Roman Triptych: Meditations of Pope John Paul II
2. The source
The undulating wood slopes down
to the rhythm of mountain streams....
If you want to find the source,
you have to go up, against the current,
tear through, seek, don't give up,
you know it must be somewhere here.
Where are you, source? Where are you, source?!
Silence....
Stream, stream in the wood,
tell me the secret of your beginning!
(Silence—why are you silent?
How carefully you have hidden the secret of your beginning).
Allow me to wet my lips
in spring water,
to feel its freshness,
reviving freshness.
And we know that Christ is the source of this living Water, Water of Life, where I can wet my lips like in the spring water and feel its reviving freshness.
Lord give me please this Water of Life.
Don't contaminate it by liberalism, relativism, egoism, materialism.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
II Sunday in the Lent 17.02.2008
Today instead of homily we will read the message of the Bishops of Alberta
The Saving Works of Catholic Healthcare
A Pastoral Message from the Bishops of Alberta
In Support of our Faith-Based Institutions
February 11, 2008
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On this special occasion of the World Day of the Sick we invite the faithful to support the saving works of Catholic healthcare, which bear witness to and continue the healing ministry of Jesus. Care of the sick belongs to the mission of the Church in which we are united by faith. Therefore, we all have a responsibility to uphold the continued presence and flourishing in our province of Catholic healthcare, which brings essential and irreplaceable value to our healthcare system through provision of quality, compassionate, and holistic care to all.
The World Day of the Sick reminds us of our duty to stand in solidarity with all those afflicted with chronic or incurable diseases, a call that stems from our Lord’s own words recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, “I was sick, and you cared for me” (Mt 25:36). In our Catholic healthcare institutions, we respond to this call in a manner that affirms the human dignity of the patient and offers to the sick and dying a reason to hope. We can justly call healthcare a saving work. The word “salvation” has its etymological root in the Latin salvus, meaning “well” or “sound”. Catholic healthcare is a saving work dedicated to the wellbeing of the total person. It is committed to a holistic vision that embraces the mind, body and spirit of the patient, who is always to be treated with the utmost respect. Those tireless individuals who devote their life to providing such holistic care are the arms and hands of Christ. Physicians, nurses, therapists, chaplains, social workers, volunteers, families, priests and pastoral volunteers are the very face of Christ to the sick and witness to the good news of His presence and love. This is the transformative dimension of healing to which Catholic healthcare gives witness, often articulated as the “something different” about our institutions.
In his first encyclical letter, entitled Deus Caritas Est (God is Love), Pope Benedict XVI addresses the insufficiency of having only the required technical skills in the work of caring for others. In addition is required a “formation of the heart” that gives birth to a genuine love for the other (cf. no. 31). We recognize that our continued efforts to develop the technical competencies necessary for quality care must always be joined to an unwavering commitment to provide compassionate service to all.
This is the legacy of the religious Sisters who founded healthcare in Alberta. They were singularly focused upon providing the best quality standards to the vulnerable persons who sought their care at the same time as they offered them real hope through witness to the love of Christ. Catholic healthcare has continued this tradition, and we as Albertans should be forever grateful for the role of the Sisters, and those who follow in their footsteps today, in promoting this balanced human approach of quality care and compassionate service. Efforts to ensure a just and viable allocation of financial resources and governance oversight in support of faith-based healthcare in this province require the Catholic community to lend its public voice. We the Bishops of Alberta are committed to supporting faith-based healthcare. The entire community of the faithful must always be ready to advocate on behalf of Catholic healthcare to ensure the continued presence of our institutions into the future.
Most Reverend Richard W. Smith
Archbishop of Edmonton
Most Reverend Frederick B. Henry
Bishop of Calgary
Most Reverend Luc Bouchard
Bishop of Saint-Paul
Most Reverend David Motiuk
Eparchial Bishop of Edmonton
Most Reverend Gérard Pettipas, CSsR
Archbishop of Grouard-McLennan
Most Reverend Denis Croteau, OMI
Bishop of Mackenzie-Fort Smith
Most Reverend Murray Chatlain
Coadjutor Bishop of Mackenzie-Fort Smith
Today instead of homily we will read the message of the Bishops of Alberta
The Saving Works of Catholic Healthcare
A Pastoral Message from the Bishops of Alberta
In Support of our Faith-Based Institutions
February 11, 2008
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On this special occasion of the World Day of the Sick we invite the faithful to support the saving works of Catholic healthcare, which bear witness to and continue the healing ministry of Jesus. Care of the sick belongs to the mission of the Church in which we are united by faith. Therefore, we all have a responsibility to uphold the continued presence and flourishing in our province of Catholic healthcare, which brings essential and irreplaceable value to our healthcare system through provision of quality, compassionate, and holistic care to all.
The World Day of the Sick reminds us of our duty to stand in solidarity with all those afflicted with chronic or incurable diseases, a call that stems from our Lord’s own words recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, “I was sick, and you cared for me” (Mt 25:36). In our Catholic healthcare institutions, we respond to this call in a manner that affirms the human dignity of the patient and offers to the sick and dying a reason to hope. We can justly call healthcare a saving work. The word “salvation” has its etymological root in the Latin salvus, meaning “well” or “sound”. Catholic healthcare is a saving work dedicated to the wellbeing of the total person. It is committed to a holistic vision that embraces the mind, body and spirit of the patient, who is always to be treated with the utmost respect. Those tireless individuals who devote their life to providing such holistic care are the arms and hands of Christ. Physicians, nurses, therapists, chaplains, social workers, volunteers, families, priests and pastoral volunteers are the very face of Christ to the sick and witness to the good news of His presence and love. This is the transformative dimension of healing to which Catholic healthcare gives witness, often articulated as the “something different” about our institutions.
In his first encyclical letter, entitled Deus Caritas Est (God is Love), Pope Benedict XVI addresses the insufficiency of having only the required technical skills in the work of caring for others. In addition is required a “formation of the heart” that gives birth to a genuine love for the other (cf. no. 31). We recognize that our continued efforts to develop the technical competencies necessary for quality care must always be joined to an unwavering commitment to provide compassionate service to all.
This is the legacy of the religious Sisters who founded healthcare in Alberta. They were singularly focused upon providing the best quality standards to the vulnerable persons who sought their care at the same time as they offered them real hope through witness to the love of Christ. Catholic healthcare has continued this tradition, and we as Albertans should be forever grateful for the role of the Sisters, and those who follow in their footsteps today, in promoting this balanced human approach of quality care and compassionate service. Efforts to ensure a just and viable allocation of financial resources and governance oversight in support of faith-based healthcare in this province require the Catholic community to lend its public voice. We the Bishops of Alberta are committed to supporting faith-based healthcare. The entire community of the faithful must always be ready to advocate on behalf of Catholic healthcare to ensure the continued presence of our institutions into the future.
Most Reverend Richard W. Smith
Archbishop of Edmonton
Most Reverend Frederick B. Henry
Bishop of Calgary
Most Reverend Luc Bouchard
Bishop of Saint-Paul
Most Reverend David Motiuk
Eparchial Bishop of Edmonton
Most Reverend Gérard Pettipas, CSsR
Archbishop of Grouard-McLennan
Most Reverend Denis Croteau, OMI
Bishop of Mackenzie-Fort Smith
Most Reverend Murray Chatlain
Coadjutor Bishop of Mackenzie-Fort Smith
Saturday, February 09, 2008
I Sunday of Lent
Genesis 2, 7-9; 3, 1-7; Psalm 51; Romans 5, 12-19; Matthew 4, 1-11
Years ago the explorer, Richard Byrd, spent the winter alone at the South Pole. For almost 5 months he lived in total darkness, buried beneath the snow in a tiny room. The temperature in that room often dipped to 50 degrees below zero. Three times a day, Byrd climbed the stairs to the roof of his shelter, opened a trapdoor, pushed away the snow, and went out into the cold and darkness to record weather information.
Why did Byrd choose to live by himself during these months of total darkness? He answered that question in his book Alone where he says he did it because he wanted to get away from everything. He wanted to do some serious thinking. He writes: “And so it occurred to me . . . that here was the opportunity. . . . I should be able to live exactly as I chose, obedient to no necessities but those imposed by the wind and night and cold, and to no man’s law but my own.’’ After the first month of solitude, Byrd discovered something “good’’ happening. He discovered that you can live much more deeply and profoundly if you keep life simple and don’t clutter it with a lot of material things. Byrd emerged from his room a changed man. He ends his book with these words: “All this happened four years ago. Civilization has not altered my ideas. I live more simply now, and with more peace.”
We sometimes need to retire and go off into a desert to re-think our life and the forces present in it. We need to hide ourselves in a solitary place; we need to create a desert in our lives so to be able to think carefully about the demoniac forces and powers which try to terrorize our lives. And they are many.
There are the 7 capital sins or vices: pride, avarice, lust, gluttony, envy, anger, laziness.
1 - There is the temptation of the body which is famished and hungry, starving and lacking something, but not always necessarily food. The temptation of the body tries to dominate my life and tyrannize it. There is lust, the desire for any pleasure and not only what is sexual in nature. There is gluttony and laziness (a capital sin) – the bodily tyrants of our lives.
2 - The temptation of greed and materialism, the temptation of wanting to make more money, to possess more, and to have to be rich are all around us, these lead us to avarice and envy.
3 - And then there is the biggest temptation of all: pride - with our conceit, vanity and arrogance, the desire for power, the desire to dominate, and the arrogance of supremacy.
These forces are dominant in our contemporary society; these three temptations are present in the whole of our lives. Jesus had three proposals against these demoniac forces.....the three evangelical virtues:
1 - the virtue of chastity to counter the domination of the body - His answer: “one does not live by bread alone” – you are not only a carnal being, you are a spiritual being as well
2 - the virtue of poverty against the domination of money - His answer: “worship only the Lord your God” and not money, not material possessions
3 - the virtue of obedience against the domination of pride - His answer: “do not put the Lord your God to the test”. The obedience to the reason and not to the famished body, obedience to the conscience and not to the money, obedience to God.
These three “temptations” are dangerous because they reduce other people--- and even the material world--- to things that can be used purely for my personal gain. They are dangerous because they create a world and a society in which everyone has to compete to get as much for themselves as they can.
In such a rat race, a minority corners to itself a disproportionate amount of the world's goods while the majority is left without what they need.
Above all, living this kind of life are dangerous because they can create the prevailing creed of the society in which we live. They believe that undiluted happiness comes with winning millions in the lottery. They believe that the ownership of what they have acquired is absolute. But there is no absolute ownership of anything.
When we think of temptations, we tend to think of sexual sins, telling lies, losing our tempers, gossiping about people's real or imagined faults, getting angry, feeling resentment and the like.
But the really dangerous temptations are:
- to want material wealth for its own sake (the ability to turn anything into money ['bread']),
- to want status (everyone looking up to me),
- and power (manipulating people and things for my own ends), things which are seen as going with wealth, power and status.
Three key areas - Rather than just seeing them as three consecutive temptations happening almost simultaneously at a particular moment, we should perhaps see them as three key areas where Jesus was tempted to compromise his mission during the whole of his public life. They were not just passing temptations of the moment, but temptations with which he was beset all throughout his public life.
Some real examples of these temptations can be found in the Gospel accounts:
- The Pharisees asked Jesus "to perform a miracle to show that God approved of him" (Mark 8:11).
- "Save yourself if you are God's Son! Come down from the cross!" (Matthew 27:40).
- After feeding 5,000 hungry people with an abundance of food, "the people there said, 'Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world!' Jesus knew that they were about to come and seize him in order to make him king by force; so he went off again to the hills by himself" (John 6:14-15).
Clearly, in varying forms, these temptations of Jesus can come into our lives too. They are certainly coming. What will my response be to them?
Genesis 2, 7-9; 3, 1-7; Psalm 51; Romans 5, 12-19; Matthew 4, 1-11
Years ago the explorer, Richard Byrd, spent the winter alone at the South Pole. For almost 5 months he lived in total darkness, buried beneath the snow in a tiny room. The temperature in that room often dipped to 50 degrees below zero. Three times a day, Byrd climbed the stairs to the roof of his shelter, opened a trapdoor, pushed away the snow, and went out into the cold and darkness to record weather information.
Why did Byrd choose to live by himself during these months of total darkness? He answered that question in his book Alone where he says he did it because he wanted to get away from everything. He wanted to do some serious thinking. He writes: “And so it occurred to me . . . that here was the opportunity. . . . I should be able to live exactly as I chose, obedient to no necessities but those imposed by the wind and night and cold, and to no man’s law but my own.’’ After the first month of solitude, Byrd discovered something “good’’ happening. He discovered that you can live much more deeply and profoundly if you keep life simple and don’t clutter it with a lot of material things. Byrd emerged from his room a changed man. He ends his book with these words: “All this happened four years ago. Civilization has not altered my ideas. I live more simply now, and with more peace.”
We sometimes need to retire and go off into a desert to re-think our life and the forces present in it. We need to hide ourselves in a solitary place; we need to create a desert in our lives so to be able to think carefully about the demoniac forces and powers which try to terrorize our lives. And they are many.
There are the 7 capital sins or vices: pride, avarice, lust, gluttony, envy, anger, laziness.
1 - There is the temptation of the body which is famished and hungry, starving and lacking something, but not always necessarily food. The temptation of the body tries to dominate my life and tyrannize it. There is lust, the desire for any pleasure and not only what is sexual in nature. There is gluttony and laziness (a capital sin) – the bodily tyrants of our lives.
2 - The temptation of greed and materialism, the temptation of wanting to make more money, to possess more, and to have to be rich are all around us, these lead us to avarice and envy.
3 - And then there is the biggest temptation of all: pride - with our conceit, vanity and arrogance, the desire for power, the desire to dominate, and the arrogance of supremacy.
These forces are dominant in our contemporary society; these three temptations are present in the whole of our lives. Jesus had three proposals against these demoniac forces.....the three evangelical virtues:
1 - the virtue of chastity to counter the domination of the body - His answer: “one does not live by bread alone” – you are not only a carnal being, you are a spiritual being as well
2 - the virtue of poverty against the domination of money - His answer: “worship only the Lord your God” and not money, not material possessions
3 - the virtue of obedience against the domination of pride - His answer: “do not put the Lord your God to the test”. The obedience to the reason and not to the famished body, obedience to the conscience and not to the money, obedience to God.
These three “temptations” are dangerous because they reduce other people--- and even the material world--- to things that can be used purely for my personal gain. They are dangerous because they create a world and a society in which everyone has to compete to get as much for themselves as they can.
In such a rat race, a minority corners to itself a disproportionate amount of the world's goods while the majority is left without what they need.
Above all, living this kind of life are dangerous because they can create the prevailing creed of the society in which we live. They believe that undiluted happiness comes with winning millions in the lottery. They believe that the ownership of what they have acquired is absolute. But there is no absolute ownership of anything.
When we think of temptations, we tend to think of sexual sins, telling lies, losing our tempers, gossiping about people's real or imagined faults, getting angry, feeling resentment and the like.
But the really dangerous temptations are:
- to want material wealth for its own sake (the ability to turn anything into money ['bread']),
- to want status (everyone looking up to me),
- and power (manipulating people and things for my own ends), things which are seen as going with wealth, power and status.
Three key areas - Rather than just seeing them as three consecutive temptations happening almost simultaneously at a particular moment, we should perhaps see them as three key areas where Jesus was tempted to compromise his mission during the whole of his public life. They were not just passing temptations of the moment, but temptations with which he was beset all throughout his public life.
Some real examples of these temptations can be found in the Gospel accounts:
- The Pharisees asked Jesus "to perform a miracle to show that God approved of him" (Mark 8:11).
- "Save yourself if you are God's Son! Come down from the cross!" (Matthew 27:40).
- After feeding 5,000 hungry people with an abundance of food, "the people there said, 'Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world!' Jesus knew that they were about to come and seize him in order to make him king by force; so he went off again to the hills by himself" (John 6:14-15).
Clearly, in varying forms, these temptations of Jesus can come into our lives too. They are certainly coming. What will my response be to them?
Monday, February 04, 2008
4th Sunday Ordinary “A”
“Seek the Lord, all you humble of the Lord, who do His commands; seek righteousness, seek humility”, the prophet Zephaniah urges us in the first reading.
In the second reading, St. Paul tell us that “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing, things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.”
In the beatitudes Jesus confirms this view of things, which is so opposed to the world’s view of things.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven…. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth”.
Listening to all this, it is easy for us to see that humility seems to be our Lord’s favorite virtue.
First of all, His Incarnation, the fact that God became man, was the most sublime act of humility ever.
It seems that His mission as our Redeemer was precisely to save us from the opposite of humility namely, our pride.
Pride, the original sin, by which our first parents decided that they could get along just find without God.
It was pride that caused the fall.
St Thomas Aquinas once said that humility is seeing ourselves as God sees us, knowing that every good we have, comes from Him as pure gift, that we depend on God for absolutely everything.
The reason that God is so great a lover of humility is because He is a great lover of the Truth.
Humility is nothing but truth, whereas pride is nothing but a lie - When we think that we can achieve or merit our own redemption, when we think that salvation depends upon us.
We are not defined by what we do, how much we earn, or what we achieve but by who we are.
We are usually closest to God when we are weakest, emptiest and lowest.
We are full of pride when our thoughts are filled with our personal rights, when we refuse to ask for help, when we think we have to understand everything in order to believe or give our allegiance.
When we think that God owes us an explanation and that our brains are fully capable of understanding all that there is to know about everything.
In the Beatitudes Jesus gives us some demanding ideals, which reverses the world’s values of things and is addressed to all and everyone who would be His disciples.
It’s all about poverty of spirit. Those who do not rely on the world are free to entrust themselves and everything to God.
This sounds like foolishness but St. Paul insists that the Gospel message opposes human wisdom. We cannot be proud of our own accomplishments. Our only boast is God’s love.
Two of the most important lessons in life are:
1. that there is a God
2. that I am not God
To be human is to acknowledge that we are not God but rather from God, that we are wholly dependent upon God and are to obey Him.
God places the humble and lowly among the people to show how we are to seek refuge in the Lord, how we are to be a remnant of those who believe in God, how we are to do no wrong and utter no lies, nor have a deceitful tongue.
God promises to the humble that they will pasture and lie down and no one shall make them afraid, the Lord is their shepherd and they are His sheep.
My dear friends, as we prepare ourselves to enter into the Lenten Season let us take the advice of the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen who gives us 4 steps we can take on our way to true humility, true poverty of spirit.
The first is prayer. Only the humble can pray, because prayer presumes that we need someone and something.
Second, regular and sincere confession in the sacrament of reconciliation.
Third, letting ourselves be open to criticism.
Fourth, a knowledge of ourselves so that with the help of God’s grace we never place ourselves in situations that we know can lead us to sin.
In conclusion let us listen to part of the Litany of Humility written by Raphael Cardinal Val and make it our Lenten prayer –
That others may be loved more that I, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be more esteemed that I, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, that others may be chosen and I – set aside, that others may be praised and I – unnoticed.
That others may be preferred to me in everything.
That others may become holier that I, provided that I become as holy as I should, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
Our Lady of Humility, pray for us.
Amen
Deacon Bernard
“Seek the Lord, all you humble of the Lord, who do His commands; seek righteousness, seek humility”, the prophet Zephaniah urges us in the first reading.
In the second reading, St. Paul tell us that “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing, things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.”
In the beatitudes Jesus confirms this view of things, which is so opposed to the world’s view of things.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven…. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth”.
Listening to all this, it is easy for us to see that humility seems to be our Lord’s favorite virtue.
First of all, His Incarnation, the fact that God became man, was the most sublime act of humility ever.
It seems that His mission as our Redeemer was precisely to save us from the opposite of humility namely, our pride.
Pride, the original sin, by which our first parents decided that they could get along just find without God.
It was pride that caused the fall.
St Thomas Aquinas once said that humility is seeing ourselves as God sees us, knowing that every good we have, comes from Him as pure gift, that we depend on God for absolutely everything.
The reason that God is so great a lover of humility is because He is a great lover of the Truth.
Humility is nothing but truth, whereas pride is nothing but a lie - When we think that we can achieve or merit our own redemption, when we think that salvation depends upon us.
We are not defined by what we do, how much we earn, or what we achieve but by who we are.
We are usually closest to God when we are weakest, emptiest and lowest.
We are full of pride when our thoughts are filled with our personal rights, when we refuse to ask for help, when we think we have to understand everything in order to believe or give our allegiance.
When we think that God owes us an explanation and that our brains are fully capable of understanding all that there is to know about everything.
In the Beatitudes Jesus gives us some demanding ideals, which reverses the world’s values of things and is addressed to all and everyone who would be His disciples.
It’s all about poverty of spirit. Those who do not rely on the world are free to entrust themselves and everything to God.
This sounds like foolishness but St. Paul insists that the Gospel message opposes human wisdom. We cannot be proud of our own accomplishments. Our only boast is God’s love.
Two of the most important lessons in life are:
1. that there is a God
2. that I am not God
To be human is to acknowledge that we are not God but rather from God, that we are wholly dependent upon God and are to obey Him.
God places the humble and lowly among the people to show how we are to seek refuge in the Lord, how we are to be a remnant of those who believe in God, how we are to do no wrong and utter no lies, nor have a deceitful tongue.
God promises to the humble that they will pasture and lie down and no one shall make them afraid, the Lord is their shepherd and they are His sheep.
My dear friends, as we prepare ourselves to enter into the Lenten Season let us take the advice of the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen who gives us 4 steps we can take on our way to true humility, true poverty of spirit.
The first is prayer. Only the humble can pray, because prayer presumes that we need someone and something.
Second, regular and sincere confession in the sacrament of reconciliation.
Third, letting ourselves be open to criticism.
Fourth, a knowledge of ourselves so that with the help of God’s grace we never place ourselves in situations that we know can lead us to sin.
In conclusion let us listen to part of the Litany of Humility written by Raphael Cardinal Val and make it our Lenten prayer –
That others may be loved more that I, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be more esteemed that I, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
That in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, that others may be chosen and I – set aside, that others may be praised and I – unnoticed.
That others may be preferred to me in everything.
That others may become holier that I, provided that I become as holy as I should, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
Our Lady of Humility, pray for us.
Amen
Deacon Bernard
Sunday, January 27, 2008
III Ordinary Sunday – 26-27 January, 2008
Homily
After his preaching, Jesus finds the first partners for his work. They are not Pharisees or Scribes, not scholars or influential members of the community but fishermen, who may have been quite illiterate.
It is significant that the call takes place right in their working place. The initiative for the call comes from Jesus. "I chose you, you did not choose me."
For them it means a metanoia, a complete break in their lifestyle. There is a complete letting go. "Immediately they left their nets and followed Jesus." They put their total trust in Jesus, leaving behind their only means of livelihood, not knowing where it would all lead. Jesus himself had already taken this step in leaving Nazareth, his family and his livelihood as a carpenter.
From now on their life would consist not in worrying what they could get and keep but in service to their brothers and sisters, especially those in greatest need.
Peter and Andrew, James and John hear the call of the Lord, drop everything and follow him. They were not the sort of people who anyone would suspect of being religious. They were common, everyday people, fishermen. They were not the sort of people anyone would suspect could convince others to change their lives. They were common, everyday people, fishermen. They were not the sort of people that anyone would suspect could take the position of leadership in the conversion of the world. They were common, everyday people, fishermen. But they were called. They responded. And God worked his wonders through them.
This Sunday’s readings have led me to a reflection on the vocation to the priesthood and religious life. I wish I could find a way to communicate to you and particularly to our young people my feelings about the priesthood. For me, the priesthood is the greatest life possible. I certainly that our married and our single can also say, “For me, this is the greatest life possible.” Back to the priesthood, though. Sometimes I’m called upon in emergency situations to bring the sacraments to a person I have never met. If I only did that once in my life, my life would be have meaning and purpose, but this is an everyday event for a priest.
The ancient Hebrews of the psalms and wisdom literature spoke about their longing to sit at the gates of the city and meditate on Scripture. The priest is obliged to do this every day and every week. We pray the Liturgy of the Hours, which is basically psalms and readings from scripture. We prepare homilies. Sometimes we need a break from preaching. Sometimes you need a break from our preaching. But it is a wonderful life to be obligated to spend so much time with the Word of God.
Then there is the Mass. The Mass! One of my main motivation to become a priest was to be able to celebrate Mass. It is beyond my imaging that God would allow human beings to act in his person and recreate the offering of his Son at the Last Supper and on the Cross, but that is what happens every time the priest celebrates Mass.
Vocational story - one simple “Our Father” every day
Somehow at the beginning of the 19 century
A young man, who would like to be a priest … but he met a young, beautiful girl …
Pretty normal story of the young boys who think sometimes about the vocation, but …
They get married.
Few years later they have already some children …
- He started to regret that he didn’t realize his first vocation …
But he cannot change anything … they get more and more children but his wife saw that he is not happy in the marriage
Why? He told her … what his grudge was? She proposed a very simple thing
Lest us pray everyday one “Our Father” for the vocation of one of our children
They prayed for the years and the years adding always one simple Our Father in a special intention …. The children were coming and praying with them …
Many years later the father was dying and at the bad of the dying father all children gathered.
The oldest one got the courage to ask a question
What for we were praying always in the evening as a last prayer of every day?
Father said what the intention of this one simple prayer was.
All were amazed because at the dying father’s bed were present 3 religious sisters, 4 priests, one bishop and one – the oldest one among the siblings - cardinal … 9 out of 13 children God called to his service .
Maybe this is the solution for the shortage of priests in Canadian church?
Homily
After his preaching, Jesus finds the first partners for his work. They are not Pharisees or Scribes, not scholars or influential members of the community but fishermen, who may have been quite illiterate.
It is significant that the call takes place right in their working place. The initiative for the call comes from Jesus. "I chose you, you did not choose me."
For them it means a metanoia, a complete break in their lifestyle. There is a complete letting go. "Immediately they left their nets and followed Jesus." They put their total trust in Jesus, leaving behind their only means of livelihood, not knowing where it would all lead. Jesus himself had already taken this step in leaving Nazareth, his family and his livelihood as a carpenter.
From now on their life would consist not in worrying what they could get and keep but in service to their brothers and sisters, especially those in greatest need.
Peter and Andrew, James and John hear the call of the Lord, drop everything and follow him. They were not the sort of people who anyone would suspect of being religious. They were common, everyday people, fishermen. They were not the sort of people anyone would suspect could convince others to change their lives. They were common, everyday people, fishermen. They were not the sort of people that anyone would suspect could take the position of leadership in the conversion of the world. They were common, everyday people, fishermen. But they were called. They responded. And God worked his wonders through them.
This Sunday’s readings have led me to a reflection on the vocation to the priesthood and religious life. I wish I could find a way to communicate to you and particularly to our young people my feelings about the priesthood. For me, the priesthood is the greatest life possible. I certainly that our married and our single can also say, “For me, this is the greatest life possible.” Back to the priesthood, though. Sometimes I’m called upon in emergency situations to bring the sacraments to a person I have never met. If I only did that once in my life, my life would be have meaning and purpose, but this is an everyday event for a priest.
The ancient Hebrews of the psalms and wisdom literature spoke about their longing to sit at the gates of the city and meditate on Scripture. The priest is obliged to do this every day and every week. We pray the Liturgy of the Hours, which is basically psalms and readings from scripture. We prepare homilies. Sometimes we need a break from preaching. Sometimes you need a break from our preaching. But it is a wonderful life to be obligated to spend so much time with the Word of God.
Then there is the Mass. The Mass! One of my main motivation to become a priest was to be able to celebrate Mass. It is beyond my imaging that God would allow human beings to act in his person and recreate the offering of his Son at the Last Supper and on the Cross, but that is what happens every time the priest celebrates Mass.
Vocational story - one simple “Our Father” every day
Somehow at the beginning of the 19 century
A young man, who would like to be a priest … but he met a young, beautiful girl …
Pretty normal story of the young boys who think sometimes about the vocation, but …
They get married.
Few years later they have already some children …
- He started to regret that he didn’t realize his first vocation …
But he cannot change anything … they get more and more children but his wife saw that he is not happy in the marriage
Why? He told her … what his grudge was? She proposed a very simple thing
Lest us pray everyday one “Our Father” for the vocation of one of our children
They prayed for the years and the years adding always one simple Our Father in a special intention …. The children were coming and praying with them …
Many years later the father was dying and at the bad of the dying father all children gathered.
The oldest one got the courage to ask a question
What for we were praying always in the evening as a last prayer of every day?
Father said what the intention of this one simple prayer was.
All were amazed because at the dying father’s bed were present 3 religious sisters, 4 priests, one bishop and one – the oldest one among the siblings - cardinal … 9 out of 13 children God called to his service .
Maybe this is the solution for the shortage of priests in Canadian church?
Saturday, January 12, 2008
13.01. 2008 – Baptism of Christ
Introduction: Baptism of Christ reminds us about our Baptism, about our dignity as the children of God, but also about our obligations …
Penitential: Let us recognize that very often I spoil and ruin my dignity of the child of God and I forget my obligations. I confess …
May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
Reading I - Is 42:1-4, 6-7
Thus says the LORD:
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
upon whom I have put my spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.
Responsorial Psalm - Ps 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
Give to the LORD, you sons of God,
give to the LORD glory and praise,
Give to the LORD the glory due his name;
adore the LORD in holy attire.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters,
the LORD, over vast waters.
The voice of the LORD is mighty;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The God of glory thunders,
and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
The LORD is enthroned above the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as king forever.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
Reading II - Acts 10:34-38
Peter proceeded to speak to those gathered
in the house of Cornelius, saying: “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him. You know the word that he sent to the Israelites as he proclaimed peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all, what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”
Gospel - Mt 3:13-17
Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan
to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Homily
Home made religion
John the Baptist was a very fierce man. This might be what you would expect of a man who lived most of his life in the desert. He knew all about hardship and he had the marks of penance on his body. Much of his message was taken up in condemnation, condemnation of those living a life of luxury and giving no thought to the life of the Spirit.
But if John was so fierce why did so many people come to him, people from all over Palestine? If I preached fierce condemnatory sermons each week you would soon get fed up, so why did the people flock to hear John.
They came because he had a message of hope and truth. Yes, he was fierce, but he was also truthful. He tapped into something deep inside each person. He knew that each one of us is profoundly aware of their own guilt and wants to repent and he drew this out.
But he was also able to tell them that one of their deepest yearnings was also about to be filled, a Savior was about to come. One who would reach out to them with the hand of healing and Salvation. They came to John because he had a message of hope and Truth, and the hope he pointed to Jesus Who is the Truth.
Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. Jesus asked John to baptism him "to fulfill all righteousness." The words "to fulfill all righteousness" meant to live by God's will, to do all God commands.
The baptism of Christ reminds us about our own baptism. At his baptism, God identified Jesus as his "beloved son." At our baptism, we become sons and daughters of God, identified as "Christian." We have no more noble title. Jesus became the suffering servant. We are called to serve. We have no more noble task than to do God's will, to serve others, to do all God commands.
And what indeed we do with our baptism, with our faith, with our moral obligations?
Famous German theologian Karl Rahner in his book “Foundation of faith” writes:
“True religion, as a religion of the transcendental God and not the religion of my own subjective imagination cannot be rooted only in my subjectivity or depend only on my individual projection. It has to be a religion of objective and indisputable moral and ethical values rooted ultimately in God, Who is always out of me and finally out of my understanding. If the religion is only an expression and interpretation of my personal understanding and my private acceptation, it is always subjective and week, and finally it is a kind of home made religion. And what is the value of such a home made religion? The value of such a home made religion is the same as the value the home made currency. Means null, literally zero!!”
And this is what we precisely do nowadays with our baptism. We create a kind of home made religion, which is absolutely subjective and depending only on my private acceptation and rejection depending on my private and subjective caprices.
Very often contemporary Christians see the religion rather as merchandise in the supermarket. Many people declare their adherence to the Catholic Church, but they “privatize” faith making it “more human, soft and flexible.” They accept God as long as He is obedient to them, accommodating, submissive and yielding to their desires.
They say I believe in God, I believe that God exists but I don’t believe God, I don’t trust Him, I don’t accept all or at least some commencements. Their decisions are not an effect of the commandments of God and the teaching of the Church but their personal convictions, they agree that robbery is a sin, but they reject for example the moral teaching in the domain of sexuality.
Sociologist Chuck Colson, who has examined this trend, says that "instead of adhering to a specific set of doctrines, they feel free to pick and choose from all the various belief systems, or to create their own tailor-made religion."
This is dangerous ground. The true believer knows that Jesus Christ is the only way to God (Acts 4:12), and that the Bible, God's inspired Word, is the only true source of instruction (2 Timothy 3:15-16). The true believer knows also that sin is a terrible reality and not only the invention of some ultra superstitious priests. They know that: “Whoever says, ‘I know God’, but does not obey His commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist” (1 John 2:4)
All beliefs and practices relating to spirituality must be based on biblical truth—not on how appealing they may sound. Don't trust a homemade religion that contains a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Make your faith all about Jesus, and test everything by God's Word which was given to the Church “knowing this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation.” (2 Peter 1:20).
So, what did I do with my Baptism? Do I live by God's will, do I follow all God commandments or rather my personal, tailor-made caricature of faith?
Prayer of the faithful:
Almighty God, our Father, we know that your truth is revealed in your Son Jesus Christ, but very often we reject Him as your revelation, give us please the grace of the ultimate recognition of the Truth revealed in Christ and given to us trough the Church.
May the incarnation and Baptism of your Son Jesus Christ be for us always a source and example of our personal obedience to your commandments and may it reminds us of our dignity of the children of God. We ask this trough Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen
Introduction: Baptism of Christ reminds us about our Baptism, about our dignity as the children of God, but also about our obligations …
Penitential: Let us recognize that very often I spoil and ruin my dignity of the child of God and I forget my obligations. I confess …
May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
Reading I - Is 42:1-4, 6-7
Thus says the LORD:
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
upon whom I have put my spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.
Responsorial Psalm - Ps 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
Give to the LORD, you sons of God,
give to the LORD glory and praise,
Give to the LORD the glory due his name;
adore the LORD in holy attire.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters,
the LORD, over vast waters.
The voice of the LORD is mighty;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The God of glory thunders,
and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
The LORD is enthroned above the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as king forever.
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
Reading II - Acts 10:34-38
Peter proceeded to speak to those gathered
in the house of Cornelius, saying: “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him. You know the word that he sent to the Israelites as he proclaimed peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all, what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”
Gospel - Mt 3:13-17
Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan
to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Homily
Home made religion
John the Baptist was a very fierce man. This might be what you would expect of a man who lived most of his life in the desert. He knew all about hardship and he had the marks of penance on his body. Much of his message was taken up in condemnation, condemnation of those living a life of luxury and giving no thought to the life of the Spirit.
But if John was so fierce why did so many people come to him, people from all over Palestine? If I preached fierce condemnatory sermons each week you would soon get fed up, so why did the people flock to hear John.
They came because he had a message of hope and truth. Yes, he was fierce, but he was also truthful. He tapped into something deep inside each person. He knew that each one of us is profoundly aware of their own guilt and wants to repent and he drew this out.
But he was also able to tell them that one of their deepest yearnings was also about to be filled, a Savior was about to come. One who would reach out to them with the hand of healing and Salvation. They came to John because he had a message of hope and Truth, and the hope he pointed to Jesus Who is the Truth.
Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. Jesus asked John to baptism him "to fulfill all righteousness." The words "to fulfill all righteousness" meant to live by God's will, to do all God commands.
The baptism of Christ reminds us about our own baptism. At his baptism, God identified Jesus as his "beloved son." At our baptism, we become sons and daughters of God, identified as "Christian." We have no more noble title. Jesus became the suffering servant. We are called to serve. We have no more noble task than to do God's will, to serve others, to do all God commands.
And what indeed we do with our baptism, with our faith, with our moral obligations?
Famous German theologian Karl Rahner in his book “Foundation of faith” writes:
“True religion, as a religion of the transcendental God and not the religion of my own subjective imagination cannot be rooted only in my subjectivity or depend only on my individual projection. It has to be a religion of objective and indisputable moral and ethical values rooted ultimately in God, Who is always out of me and finally out of my understanding. If the religion is only an expression and interpretation of my personal understanding and my private acceptation, it is always subjective and week, and finally it is a kind of home made religion. And what is the value of such a home made religion? The value of such a home made religion is the same as the value the home made currency. Means null, literally zero!!”
And this is what we precisely do nowadays with our baptism. We create a kind of home made religion, which is absolutely subjective and depending only on my private acceptation and rejection depending on my private and subjective caprices.
Very often contemporary Christians see the religion rather as merchandise in the supermarket. Many people declare their adherence to the Catholic Church, but they “privatize” faith making it “more human, soft and flexible.” They accept God as long as He is obedient to them, accommodating, submissive and yielding to their desires.
They say I believe in God, I believe that God exists but I don’t believe God, I don’t trust Him, I don’t accept all or at least some commencements. Their decisions are not an effect of the commandments of God and the teaching of the Church but their personal convictions, they agree that robbery is a sin, but they reject for example the moral teaching in the domain of sexuality.
Sociologist Chuck Colson, who has examined this trend, says that "instead of adhering to a specific set of doctrines, they feel free to pick and choose from all the various belief systems, or to create their own tailor-made religion."
This is dangerous ground. The true believer knows that Jesus Christ is the only way to God (Acts 4:12), and that the Bible, God's inspired Word, is the only true source of instruction (2 Timothy 3:15-16). The true believer knows also that sin is a terrible reality and not only the invention of some ultra superstitious priests. They know that: “Whoever says, ‘I know God’, but does not obey His commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist” (1 John 2:4)
All beliefs and practices relating to spirituality must be based on biblical truth—not on how appealing they may sound. Don't trust a homemade religion that contains a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Make your faith all about Jesus, and test everything by God's Word which was given to the Church “knowing this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation.” (2 Peter 1:20).
So, what did I do with my Baptism? Do I live by God's will, do I follow all God commandments or rather my personal, tailor-made caricature of faith?
Prayer of the faithful:
Almighty God, our Father, we know that your truth is revealed in your Son Jesus Christ, but very often we reject Him as your revelation, give us please the grace of the ultimate recognition of the Truth revealed in Christ and given to us trough the Church.
May the incarnation and Baptism of your Son Jesus Christ be for us always a source and example of our personal obedience to your commandments and may it reminds us of our dignity of the children of God. We ask this trough Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen
Monday, January 07, 2008
THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD SUNDAY—January 6, 2008
Introduction: During these past several weeks of Advent we have been conscious of Christ’s light penetrating our darkened world. We have celebrated God’s grace manifested through his Son, Jesus, and gloried in this heavenly visitation. In the book On Being Human, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen explains, “But Christmas is not a man making himself a god, but God becoming a man, without ever ceasing to be God. In the first instance, there is exaltation or self-inflation by which man makes himself what he is not. In the second instance, there is humiliation, for God takes on the form and habit of man.” What a glorious truth!
Penitential rite: Let us recognize our sins and ask God for pardon and forgiveness
May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
Homily
Isaiah 60, 1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 3, 2-3.5-6; Matthew 2, 1-12
Solemnity of the Epiphany – means Revelation
Artaban’s gift
The greatest gift to the King of Kings is the gift of a life of faithful love and service.
There’s a story called “The Other Wise Man’’ by Henry van Dyke.
It’s about a fourth person who is supposed to accompany the other three wise men on their journey to search for the newborn King. The name of the person is Artaban. As Artaban prepares for the journey, he takes with him a bag of precious stones to give to the baby King. On his way to join the other three wise men, Artaban stops to help a poor person. The delay is just enough to make him miss his rendezvous with the others.
Artaban never does catch up with them. He constantly runs into people who need help. And he always stops to help them. Eventually, Artaban gives away all his precious stones. As the story ends, Artaban is old and poor. He never realized his dream to meet the King of Kings and place at his feet his gift of precious stones.
The story of “The Other Wise Man’’ could end here. And if it did, it would be a sad story. It would be the story of a man who never realized his one big dream. But the story doesn’t end here.
One day Artaban is in Jerusalem. The city is buzzing with excitement. Authorities are about to execute a criminal. When Artaban sees the criminal, his heart skips a beat. Something tells him this is the King of Kings for whom he has been searching all his life. Artaban is heartbroken at what he sees. He is even more heartbroken when he sees he can do nothing to help the King. Then something remarkable happens. Artaban hears the King’s voice say to him:
“Don’t be brokenhearted, Artaban.
You’ve been helping me all your life.
When I was hungry, you gave me food.
When I was thirsty, you gave me drink.
When I was naked, you clothed me.
When I was a stranger, you took me in.’’
The story of Artaban is the story of many people in our world. Like Artaban, they begin life with the dream of doing something great. But as time passes, circumstances beyond their control interfere with their dream. Eventually it disappears.
The Feast of the Epiphany reminds us that we all have a gift we can give to the King of Kings. And the story of “The Other Wise Man’’ reminds us that our gift is far more precious than those of the other three wise men. Our gift is not a one-time gift of gold, frankincense, or myrrh. It’s a full-time gift of love and service. Some people may consider us foolish for giving this gift. But that’s only because they don’t know the end of the story. The story will end with Jesus saying to us what he said to Artaban:
“Come, you that are blessed by my Father!
Come and possess the kingdom
which has been prepared for you
ever since the creation of the world.
“I was hungry and you fed me,
thirsty and you gave me a drink;
I was a stranger
and you received me in your homes . . .
“I tell you, whenever you did this
for one of the least . . . of mine,
you did it for me!” (Matthew 25:34–35, 40)
Introduction: During these past several weeks of Advent we have been conscious of Christ’s light penetrating our darkened world. We have celebrated God’s grace manifested through his Son, Jesus, and gloried in this heavenly visitation. In the book On Being Human, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen explains, “But Christmas is not a man making himself a god, but God becoming a man, without ever ceasing to be God. In the first instance, there is exaltation or self-inflation by which man makes himself what he is not. In the second instance, there is humiliation, for God takes on the form and habit of man.” What a glorious truth!
Penitential rite: Let us recognize our sins and ask God for pardon and forgiveness
May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
Homily
Isaiah 60, 1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 3, 2-3.5-6; Matthew 2, 1-12
Solemnity of the Epiphany – means Revelation
Artaban’s gift
The greatest gift to the King of Kings is the gift of a life of faithful love and service.
There’s a story called “The Other Wise Man’’ by Henry van Dyke.
It’s about a fourth person who is supposed to accompany the other three wise men on their journey to search for the newborn King. The name of the person is Artaban. As Artaban prepares for the journey, he takes with him a bag of precious stones to give to the baby King. On his way to join the other three wise men, Artaban stops to help a poor person. The delay is just enough to make him miss his rendezvous with the others.
Artaban never does catch up with them. He constantly runs into people who need help. And he always stops to help them. Eventually, Artaban gives away all his precious stones. As the story ends, Artaban is old and poor. He never realized his dream to meet the King of Kings and place at his feet his gift of precious stones.
The story of “The Other Wise Man’’ could end here. And if it did, it would be a sad story. It would be the story of a man who never realized his one big dream. But the story doesn’t end here.
One day Artaban is in Jerusalem. The city is buzzing with excitement. Authorities are about to execute a criminal. When Artaban sees the criminal, his heart skips a beat. Something tells him this is the King of Kings for whom he has been searching all his life. Artaban is heartbroken at what he sees. He is even more heartbroken when he sees he can do nothing to help the King. Then something remarkable happens. Artaban hears the King’s voice say to him:
“Don’t be brokenhearted, Artaban.
You’ve been helping me all your life.
When I was hungry, you gave me food.
When I was thirsty, you gave me drink.
When I was naked, you clothed me.
When I was a stranger, you took me in.’’
The story of Artaban is the story of many people in our world. Like Artaban, they begin life with the dream of doing something great. But as time passes, circumstances beyond their control interfere with their dream. Eventually it disappears.
The Feast of the Epiphany reminds us that we all have a gift we can give to the King of Kings. And the story of “The Other Wise Man’’ reminds us that our gift is far more precious than those of the other three wise men. Our gift is not a one-time gift of gold, frankincense, or myrrh. It’s a full-time gift of love and service. Some people may consider us foolish for giving this gift. But that’s only because they don’t know the end of the story. The story will end with Jesus saying to us what he said to Artaban:
“Come, you that are blessed by my Father!
Come and possess the kingdom
which has been prepared for you
ever since the creation of the world.
“I was hungry and you fed me,
thirsty and you gave me a drink;
I was a stranger
and you received me in your homes . . .
“I tell you, whenever you did this
for one of the least . . . of mine,
you did it for me!” (Matthew 25:34–35, 40)
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