Homily Fifth
Sunday Year B
Reading 1:
We can possibly relate to Job’s negative attitude about life in general and his
life in particular. At times, life does feel like a drudgery: months of misery,
restlessness, hopeless and helpless feelings, without much happiness.
Job has lost
everything: material possessions and personal relationships. He is afflicted
with multiple sores and scabs on his body that causes great pain. Basically, he
wants to die. But the real reason for
Job’s disposition is he feels totally innocent and he blames God for his
situation. He wants God to justify why he has caused Job to suffer all these
calamities. In spite of his distressful life there is pride and arrogance in
Job. He is right and God is wrong. God owes him a justification. Have you ever
felt this way?
Eventually,
in his confrontation with God, Job experiences the truth. He is not God. He
will never fathom the mind of God. All he could do is to surrender himself to
God’s plan for him, in order to experience true happiness again.
Life is not
a drudgery but a mystery. We are not the beginning, nor end, nor the center of
life. God is. Difficulties are part of human life because of the sin of Adam and
Eve. But Jesus became like us in all things except sin to show us the truth of
life in God.
Gospel: Life
involves encounters. Some encounters are transformative, others destructive.
But it was an encounter with Jesus that has made a difference for Simon,
Andrew, James and John. They left their
former way of life as fishermen to become disciples of Jesus.
As disciples
they had many experiences that become part of their formation. They witnessed the
power of Jesus to heal many from various illnesses and to deliver others from
the power of Satan over them. Jesus knows that in these various encounters
lives can be changed or remain the same. His mission from the Father was to
preach the Good News of the Father’s love and eventually to offer his life for
the salvation of all.
Many people
came into contact with Jesus. Many experienced his ministry. Not all changed
for the better. Not all became disciples and continued their
transformation. Though they experienced
the same ministry and heard the same saving message, they refused to believe,
accept and act on their decision by becoming disciples.
Have we had
a personal encounter with Jesus that has made a difference in our life? What
has happened to us as a result? Have we become disciples and followers so that
we can grow in our relationship? Have we become convicted by the message of the
Gospel—the cross of Jesus—by which we have been saved to the extent, like Paul,
we must share it with others in the power of the Holy Spirit?
Having received
the healing touch of Jesus, Peter’s mother-in-law began serving him and the
disciples. Others went about proclaiming the mighty deeds of Jesus. Others
defended him at the risk of their lives. What has been our response?
Reading 2:
Paul’s life after his conversion to the person of Jesus Christ was anything but
pleasant and comfortable. He was beaten, imprisoned, stoned, shipwrecked, felt
abandonment, even to the point of despair. He could say with St. Theresa of
Avila: “If this is how you treat your friends, Lord, no wonder you have so few.”
But for Paul,
what or who made the difference in his life was the person of Jesus. Once Paul
came into the light of salvation, he felt compelled to preach Jesus and him
crucified and risen. He was so convicted
that he wrote: “Woe to me if I do not preach it!”
Because of
Jesus and the freedom of faith in Jesus, Paul willingly gave his total self to
reaching out to all, so that at least some would be saved. Once his personal
encounter with Jesus changed his life, Paul could not and would not go about in
the same way as the past. He was convinced that “I live now, not I, but Christ
Jesus in me…. In him I move and live and have my being…I want nothing but to be
conformed to his passion, so I can share in his resurrection.”
How
committed am I to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others in gratitude for
the fact that someone shared it with me? We are not called to be another Paul.
Rather, we are called to be the disciple Jesus has gifted us to be.
Lord, what gave you the greatest joy in your life on earth? I
think it was your relationship with the Father. You identified this
when at the age of twelve you stayed in the Temple. When
asked why by your mother you simply replied, “Did you not know
I must be about my Father’s business.” This joy was solidified
when, after your baptism, you heard the Father say, “You are my
beloved Son upon whom my favor rests.” Then the Spirit of
gladness anointed you again. You expressed this joy in your
relationship with the Father also when you told the Apostles that
your food was to do the will of the Father. As you found your joy
in relationship with the Father, so too will we. Nothing can fully
satisfy us except to be one with you, doing your will in love.
Fifth Sunday of the Year: Gospel B
On leaving the synagogue he entered the house of Simon
and Andrew with James and John.
·
This is in Capernaum. In fact,
excavations in that town have identified this house which has a Church built on
top of the site.
Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with
a fever. They immediately told him about her. He approached, grasped her hand,
and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them.
·
This is one of two indications in the scriptures
that Simon was married.
·
This is the first woman that Mark mentions in
his Gospel.
·
It is not common for a visiting male to go into
the private quarters of a family nor is it common for a visiting male to touch
the hand of a woman.
·
Nothing is too
small for Jesus to deal with. Do we bring everything to Jesus or do we think
that he is not interested in small things? The issue is that Jesus is
interested in everything about us. To bring everything to Jesus is to indicate
our total surrender of ourselves to him.
When it was evening, after sunset,
they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.
·
The reason they
waited till after sunset was that they waited for the end of the Sabbath.
Remember very little was permitted on the Sabbath that indicated work.
The whole town was gathered at the door. He
cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him.
·
Mark
focus on the exorcisim of demons is in line with the mission of Jesus: to
confront and overthrow the strongholds of Satin.
·
One of Mark’s
themes will be Jesus not allowing people or spirits to tell others about him.
The reason for this is that the full understanding of Jesus as Messiah will not
be understood until his death and resurrection. We will see this throughout
Mark’s Gospel.
Rising very early before dawn, he
left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
·
Why do you think
Jesus prayed? He was busy and popular but he took time regularly to pray. Does
his example say anything to us?
·
How important is
prayer in our daily life? How much time do we give to the Lord in prayer each
day?
Simon and those who were with him pursued him and on
finding him said, "Everyone is looking for you." He told them,
"Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For
this purpose have I come." So he went into their synagogues, preaching and
driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.
·
Jesus had a clear vision of his mission and did
not allow anything to distract him, including what others wanted or thought.
How clear is God’s vision for us and how committed are we to following that
vision no matter the results?
We have been given a precious gift: the gift of choice. I don't
always have control of circumstances and situations, but I have
the ability to choose how I will respond or react to them. I can
turn to the Lord or to act independently. I can choose to be
optimistic or pessimistic. I can choose to embrace this particular
cross or to butt my head against it. With either choice there are
consequences, which will be ultimately beneficial or destructive
for me. The choice is mine. God not only gives me the gift but
also the grace to make the right choice. He desires my ultimate
happiness.
Even though Jesus was a man of inner joy because of his
relationship with the Father and the Spirit, he experienced
moments of sadness, difficulties and sufferings. He wept over
the death of Lazarus and over the obstinacy of the religious
leadership of Jerusalem. He was saddened over the lack of
faith of the people of Nazareth and the lack of understanding
and acceptance of the disciples over his impending suffering
and death. Still his inner joy remained rooted in the truth of
Being loved. Pope may have had Jesus in mind when he
wrote: " l realize of course that joy is not expressed the same
way at all times in life, especially at moments of great
difficulty. Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures,
even as a flicker of light born of our personal certainty that,
when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved. I
understand the grief of people who have to endure great
suffering, yet slowly but surely we all have to let the joy of
faith slowly revive as a quiet yet firm trust, even amid the
greatest distress.” – Evangelii Gaudium,
It is his relationship with the Father which sustained Jesus throughout his
earthly existence. But it was the permanency of this
relationship beyond his time on earth that made a difference
for him. The joy he had as the eternal Son of God will be the
joy he anticipated as the risen Lord after ascension. This was
the intention of Hebrews 12:2 " Let us gaze upon Jesus, as
the Author and the completion of our faith, who, having joy
laid out before him, endured the cross, disregarding the
shame, and who now sits at the right hand of the throne of
God." As Jesus kept before him this relationship, so we are
called to do the same. In so doing our joy will not be altered
by the circumstances of our life, but will be sustained and
nourished by our joy in God, whom we hope to see face to
face and be with eternally.
What is the joy of Jesus? Is it not his intimate relationship with
the Father and the Spirit in his humanity? The Father loved
the Son and expressed this love publicly. Jesus loved the
Father in turn and lived this love by choosing to do the will of
the Father in obedience even including death on the cross.
"My food is to do the will of my Father." The Spirit
overshadowed Mary for Jesus to be conceived and born. He
further anointed him with the power and gifts needed to fulfill
his mission. Jesus received, acknowledged and exercised
these gifts for the glory of God and the service of others.
Jesus desires his disciples not only to take up their crosses
but to share in his joy to the full. In John 15:11, Jesus says:
“These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might
remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” His message is
clear. True, lasting joy is found only in him and comes from
him. This passage on joy flows from Jesus' teaching on the
relationship between the branch and the vine. Just as the
branch that remains united to the vine, even though trimmed,
shares in the life of the vine in bearing fruit, so too we, who
remain in Jesus by keeping his word, will share in his joy, the
fruit of the Spirit.
Homily Fourth Sunday Year B
Reading I: During the early part of their sojourn in
the desert, the Israelites were afraid of God. They saw his signs and wonders
and they were overwhelmed and fearful. They asked that Moses act as a mediator
between them and God. God promised that after Moses he would not speak to the
people directly any longer but through a prophet, like Moses.
What is a prophet? He is one who is a spokesperson for
God, saying the message of God, not in his own name, but in the name of God.
There were many prophets over the centuries following,
some authentic and some false. As time went on, the people were expecting The
prophet. Recall the question asked of John the Baptist by the religious
leaders. “Are you the Christ, Elijah, or The prophet?” Recall the response of the apostles to Jesus’
question, “Who do people say I am?” “John
the Baptizer, Elijah, The prophet.”
What was the sign of the prophet? Like Moses, a
prophet was in intimate relationship with God; he spoke the words of God to the
people; he may work signs and wonders; he was a mediator between God and his
people. He was one chosen and called by God; one from among the people; one who
must be listened to.
At the same time, Moses indicated that there would be
false prophets as well. What is a false prophet? He is one who presumes to
speak in God’s name a word not commanded or from God; or he may speak in the
name of other gods.
Prophecy is a gift of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was
baptized, he experienced a fresh anointing of the gifts of the Spirit. One of
these was prophesy. He was The prophet
that God promised to send. When he preached and taught, he spoke prophetically
many times. His message was from God. As he verified: “I say only what the
Father tells me to say; I do the works of my Father.”
Gospel: Last Sunday the Gospel of Mark told us that
Jesus began his public ministry by proclaiming prophetically the kingdom of God
was at hand. Then he invited his first disciples to follow him.
Today the focus of his ministry is on his role as
teacher and his power over unclean spirits. He is different. He teaches with
authority, not in name of another rabbi, who formed him. No, he teaches in the
name of God, who sent him.
Secondly, in his humanity because of the anointing
power of the Holy Spirit, he has power over evil spirits. In fact, he has come
to break the power of Satan over humanity, to crush its head.
Jesus has already been confronted by Satan in the
temptations in the desert. Now, Jesus confronts Satan. The evil one recognizes
that Jesus is the Holy One of God and is compelled to acknowledge this, not in
faith, but in fact.
What does this passage teach us? The strongholds that
Satan still has over us can only be broken by Jesus. Jesus desires to break
them, but only when we ask him to. The evil one cannot hide from Jesus but must
manifest itself and come under the authority of Jesus. We are not to fear the
evil one. Rather, we need to turn in trust under the protection of Jesus.
Reading 2: One of the tactics of the evil one is to cause
us to become overly anxious and fearful about situations. Paul reminds us that
we should be free of anxieties. But if we are to be anxious about anything, be
anxious about pleasing the Lord. In
another words, Paul is saying put first things first.
We spend a lot of time pleasing others. How much
effort do we exert in pleasing the Lord and being pleasing to the Lord? What is our priority? God or others? The
reason we are to love others is because of our love of God. The reason we do
good to others should be because we want to be pleasing and faithful to the
Lord.
Whether married or single we are called to be anxious
about the things of the Lord, how we may please the Lord. If we do, we will
adhere to the Lord without distractions.
The Lordship of Jesus Christ as a conscious reality in
one’s life is the ultimate reason for Paul’s ministry. He summed his teaching
about this with this statement: “Whatever you do whether in word or action, do
it in the name of Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Fourth Sunday of the Year B: Gospel Reflections
Then they came to Capernaum,
and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.
·
The synagogue was
the local meeting place that the Jews would gather in to hear the Scriptures
read, to receive instruction, and to pray for various needs. It was mainly a
rectangular room. From excavations it seems that the people when seated faced Jerusalem.
The people were astonished at his
teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
·
“…he taught as
one having authority” means that he did not repeat what other rabbis said, but
taught on his own in the tradition of the prophets of old.
In their synagogue was a man with
an unclean spirit; he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come
to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!"
·
The spirit knows
and fears the power of Jesus to destroy his influence. This is one of the
reasons the Word became flesh: to defeat and overcome the power of the Evil One
over God’s people. This was the work of the Messiah prophesied in the
Scriptures.
·
The spirit in
fear and reaction, not in love and faith, confesses who Jesus is and attempts
to block his mission. Notice how the spirit acknowledges Jesus publicly even
for the wrong reason, but the scribes were not able.
·
It is interesting
that the unclean spirit openly acknowledges who Jesus is and many of us are
afraid to share our faith in Jesus with others. Is there something wrong with
this picture?
·
When was the last
time you openly shared about Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior with someone
else?
Jesus rebuked him and said,
"Quiet! Come out of him!" The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a
loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another, "What is this?
A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they
obey him." His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.
·
In Mark’s Gospel the true identity of Jesus is
not revealed until after his death and resurrection. Jesus was not ready for
the crowds to know that he was the Messiah. Thus he silences the evil spirit
from speaking any further.
·
This public
amazement will be one of the initial reasons for the latter hostility toward
him by the leaders. They are disturbed at the growing popularity of Jesus and
want to silence him.
·
Jesus not only
teaches with authority but acts with authority.
·
Where have I
experienced the power of Jesus over evil in my own life? Where are the
strongholds of the Evil One in my life? Am I ready to submit them to the saving
and healing power of Jesus?
·
Take some time
this week to identify those areas and to bring them to the Lord with total
trust.
·
Mark doesn’t tell us what Jesus taught but shows
us the effect of his teaching. How attentive am I to the teachings of Jesus and
to what effects have the teachings of Jesus had in my life.
·
What is Jesus asking of us this week as a result
of our reflections?
Lord, your relationship with the Father in your humanity
centered around knowing and doing his will. How often was this
a central message in your teachings and in your actions. “My
food is to do the will of my Father.” “Father, not my will, but
your will be done.” Thus, when it comes to be your disciple or
to be in relationship with you, the same criteria applies. “For
whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and
mother.” Therefore, Lord, give me the grace to know your will
in a given situation, then the grace to both choose and act on
your will. Therein lies my true interior peace and joy even in the
midst of external difficulties.
Lord, there is no sin you can't or won't forgive. On the cross you died for all sin. Even the sin against the Holy Spirit can be forgiven. Your mercy has no end. The problem does not reside in you, but in us. Though you saved all, all will not be saved. What is needed on our part is sincere repentance and a conversion away from sin. Repentance opens us to your mercy and forgiveness. Unrepentance keeps us locked in our sin of alienation from you. The reason the sin against the Holy Spirit is serious is that the person denies your ability to forgive him. In a sense, your very identity as The Other is denied and the person puts himself greater than you. That is blasphemy. How arrogant is that, for the heart to so hardened against you.
“The journey of faith: to seek Jesus, to encounter Jesus and to follow Jesus.” (Pope Francis) As we begin a New Year of life, so we are to begin a New Year in our spiritual life, our faith journey. To do this we need to seek a deeper relationship with Jesus, our Lord and Savior. If we presume on our old relationship, it will become more distant. We need to seek Jesus afresh. We have changed, even though he remains ever the same. We need to have a new encounter with him, a new transforming experience which spiritually reenergizes us. This, in turn, will deepen the desire to follow him and serve him in any way he desires, no matter the cost. If this pattern is not repeated
consciously each year, we will find ourselves becoming
complacent, apathetic and stagnant in our relationship
with Jesus. The flame of love will become dimmer to the point of self-extinguishing.
PRAYER FOR WEEK OF CHRISTIAN
UNITY
JANUARY 18-25
O God, your right hand is glorious in power. Extend
your hand to help us discover new ways that unite your people in the Body of Christ,
the Church. May the strength of your hand take away all misunderstanding and
prejudice that hinder our calling to be one in body and spirit. Draw us together in the bond of peace, of
faith and charity that we may be one in Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and
reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God for ever and ever.
Amen.
One of the personal qualities of Jesus is joy. Many times we
think of him mostly as a man of great sorrows. But he was
also an icon of joy. Hebrews 1:9 says, “God has anointed the
Lord Jesus with the oil of gladness above his fellows." How
many portraits of Jesus have you seen him depicted with a
smile on his face in comparison to the portraits of a somber
and series Jesus? One would think it could border on the
irreligious to imagine Jesus smiling or enjoying life. But the
truth is Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. One of the fruits
of the Spirit, according to St. Paul, is joy. As a disciple of
Jesus is the joy of the Lord evident in us? As a disciple/
witness do I reflect the joy of being a Temple of the Holy
Spirit, sharing God’s divine life? Joy is more attractive than
sternness or sadness. With the psalmist we need to live in the
conviction that “the joy of the Lord is my strength.”
Homily Third
Sunday Year B
Reading 1:
This is a condensed version of the full story about Jonah and God’s call to him
to preach repentance in Nineveh.
Initially, Jonah didn’t want to go to the pagan city. He thought it would
be a waste of his time. He ran away from and ignored God’s plan to do his own
thing. But God, through extraordinary experiences, reminded Jonah that it was
the mercy of God to give the Ninevites a chance to repent. Reluctantly and
probably with little enthusiasm or conviction, Jonah went to the town and began
to preach a call to repentance.
To his
amazement and later anger at them and God, they heard and responded to the
grace of repentance immediately. Instead of experiencing God’s wrath, they were
spared. We see in this event the mercy of God for a people other than the
chosen people of Israel.
How often
have we heard the call of God to turn away from sin and to turn back to God,
but did not respond as totally and rapidly as the non-believing Ninevites? Do
we presume on God’s mercy and think there is time? At the beginning of Lent,
Ash Wednesday, we will hear the prophetic call of Isaiah: “Repent. Turn away
from sin and believe in the Gospel.” What response did we give in the past?
What response will we give in the present? A grace word from the Old Testament
reminds us: “If today you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts.”
The grace of repentance is a daily gift from God.
Gospel:
Jesus echoes the call of Jonah to the Ninevites to his own people (and to us).
Repent and believe in the Gospel: the Good News of God’s love and mercy. But
then he adds another step in the process. He calls us not only to repent and
turn away from sin, then to believe that the Lord loves us and desires to save
us, but to act. This third step sometimes is missing in one’s journey.
Like the
rich man, who came to Jesus wanting to know what must he do to have eternal
life, though knowing and hearing the truth, he failed to act on it. Jesus,
called him to become a disciple, totally depending on the Master. In contrast,
when Peter, Andrew, John and James heard the same invitation, they responded
immediately. They became his disciples
To be a
disciple of Jesus doesn’t mean that we have to leave everything. Rather, it
means that we don’t let our station in life prevent us from hearing and acting
on God’s word to us. It is not that husbands and wives must leave each other
and go off to a monastery. Rather it means that God is first in their lives,
their spouse is under God and their children are next. To follow Jesus is to
seek what is good, pleasing and perfect in the will of God for us in a given situation.
The world
may say one thing to us, but what God says should be the foundation for the
disciple. Whom will I really follow: the
world, myself or God? To follow the Lord is a daily call that requires a daily
response.
Reading 2:
The words of this reading are not meant to frighten us. These are given to us so that we can look at
our lives as a disciple from God’s perspective.
Paul, like
many of the first century Christians, really expected Jesus to return in glory
within their life time. At the same time Paul was very conscious of the reality
of death. So what he says can be looked at from either of these perspectives.
This world in
its present form is passing away. We
need to remember what Jesus said: We are in the world but not of the
world. We belong to Jesus as his
disciple not to the world.
While in the
world we have to do what is necessary to live adequately. But we must keep
everything in perspective of eternity. How will this relationship, this situation,
this decision impact my call as a son or daughter of God, as a disciple to live
with God forever?
St. Anthony of the desert once said: "Whoever has not
experienced temptation cannot enter into the Kingdom of
Heaven. Without temptations no-one can be saved." God allows
us to be tested in order to draw us to himself through our
obedience to his will. The Evil one uses the test to tempt us and
to draw us away from God. Take for example Adam and Eve. God
said that they should not eat of the fruit of the tree. Their
obedience would reflect their relationship with God as the
beginning and end of their lives. Then the Devil tempts them by
saying to eat the fruit they would be like God, his equal. How
often we fail the test of relationship and embrace the
temptation and become separated from God.
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time: Gospel Reflections B
After John had been arrested Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."
·
The arrest of John is a foreshadowing of Jesus’ same experience in the future.
·
“The Gospel of God”: the plan of salvation that God will fulfill.
·
Notice that Jesus’ ministry begins with the end of John’s public ministry. John said: “I must decrease. He must increase.”
·
“Time of fulfillment”: Jesus is the promised one whom God said he would send as Savior of the world. All the prophecies about him are about to be fulfilled.
·
“Repent and believe”: continues the prophetic themes of the OT. But now it is believe and commit yourself to the message Jesus preaches.
·
Jesus proclaims that when a person gives oneself to Jesus and to his gospel way of life, God will bring about his kingdom in him/her. How have you experienced this already in your life?
·
What is Jesus asking of you now?
·
What do we need to repent of at this point in our spiritual journey?
·
What aspect of the “gospel” do we need to make more realistic in our life?
As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." Then they abandoned their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.
·
According to John’s Gospel account, this was not the first encounter Simon, Andrew and John had with Jesus. Recall last Sunday’s Gospel.
·
Mk’s account of the event is shorter and quicker. Mt and Lk tell us that they experienced the miracle of the marvelous catch of fish.
·
Jesus invited them to follow him. Normally, disciples asked a Rabbi if they could follow and learn from him. Jesus shows that in relation to him, he gives the initial invitation of grace. Ours is a response.
·
These were the first four to be called. Peter, James and John eventually became Jesus’ intimate inner circle.
·
What do you think attracted these men to Jesus? What attracts you most to Jesus?
·
How quickly have we followed the call of Jesus in our life?
·
In Mk’s Gospel one is to repent of sin, believe in the Good News of God’s love and follow Jesus. To what extent is this true in your life?
·
How is God asking you to respond now to this new invitation?
Lord, to be obedient to you in all things is not easy. You
tell us that my ways are not your ways and your thoughts are not
my thoughts. Only obedience is able to close this gap. Because
of the consequences of sin, there is a rebellion within each of
us. This rebellion seeks its own way. One of the first words we
learned to say was “no”. We judge from appearances, from
what is pleasing, what feels good. Obedience trains us to judge
what is good based on God’s plan for us, rather than externals,
which can be deceptive. Obedience is a learned virtue that
grows into a habit as we more and more respond to the grace of
the moment.
We read in the First Book of Samuel these words. “Does the
LORD so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience
to the command of the LORD? Obedience is better than
sacrifice.” Obedience is a central expectation of God from us in
our relationship with him. It reflects that God is the beginning
and end of all and that we are creatures under God, not equal
to God. What was the central hallmark of Jesus’ relationship in
his humanity to the Father? “I have come to do the will of him
who sent me.” How obedient am I to the will of God in my life?
To sin is to be disobedient. To embrace the will of God is to be
obedient.
Homily
Second Sunday Year B
Reading 1:
The prophet Samuel was a gift from God to his parents, who were without
children for many years. After praying with great intensity, his mother was
told she would conceive. Once the child was born and of age—around 12—his parents
brought him to the Temple in Shilo to be consecrated and serve the Lord there.
It was the place housing the Ark of the Covenant.
This is where we pick up our story in today’s
reading. God had special plans for Samuel. He was to be a prophet of the Lord
at a time when Israel was unfaithful to God. At first, Samuel did not know how
to hear or to respond to the Lord. It was easy for him to misread the initial
call of the Lord. His focus was on serving Eli, the priest
It was Eli, the priest of the Temple, who
discerned that God was calling the young boy. He told Samuel to respond: “Speak,
Lord for your servant is listening.”
When Samuel
did this, then God was able to prepare him for the prophetic role ahead. As
part of that role, he would anoint first Saul as King of Israel and then David.
The call
from God is the same for each of us. God encounters us. He loves us first. But
so many things distract us and we fail to distinguish the inner voice of God
calling to us. God waits for us to respond the same way as Samuel—I am your
servant ready to do your will. This is what we proclaimed in the response to
the reading. God wants to reveal a new moment in our lives but we will not
recognize it until we surrender to the Lord in love and trust. When we do,
maybe the same effect in Samuel’s life will occur in ours. “The Lord was with
him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect.”
Gospel: The
call and response of Samuel points to the call and response of the first
disciples of Jesus. It begins with a
personal encounter with Jesus. The voice of God may be first heard through
others like John the Baptist. “Behold the Lamb of God.” In the case of Peter, the invitation of his
brother Andrew was what led Peter to Jesus. Who was the person whom God used to
reach out to you?
Something
stirred in the hearts of Andrew and John and they began to follow after Jesus
with initial curiosity. Jesus intervened and invited them to get in touch with
the grace of God stirring in their hearts. What Jesus shared with them, we do
not know. I speculate he shared his own encounter with the Father at his
baptism. He probably shared how much the
Father loved him and he loved the Father. He may have shared his awareness of
his mission to bring the Good News of God’s love to others.
Andrew was
so touched that he went to find his brother, Simon and invited him to meet this
person, Jesus, who may be the Messiah. Jesus, in turn, encountered Simon by
initiating a change in his life by giving him a new name. This was the first of
many personal encounters with Jesus which made Simon, now Peter, to be
transformed from being an unknown fisherman to the great Apostle upon whom
Jesus would found his Church.
God is
calling each of us, encountering each of us. Like Peter we may initially resist
and drag our feet in the process of transformation. We may fall short many
times in our journey of surrendering to the will of God.
Reading 2:
What is it that God desires us to surrender? Is it not our will, which can
either choose to love God or to turn away from God in sin? When we sin we think,
we are expressing our independence and our self-identity. But in fact, when we
sin, we show ourselves slaves of our desires and tendencies or a slave of
Satan. We forget that by virtue of creation, we belong to God, who has given us
life and the freedom to know what is good and right. When we sin, we forget
that Jesus, who died on the cross and gave up his life to save us from eternal
death, namely alienation from God. In the words of St. Paul: “You have been
purchased at a price.” We fail to
remember that in baptism we became children of God and Temples of the Holy
Spirit and that we belong to God.
Our bodies
are not for immorality and self-indulgence but to be holy and pleasing to the
Lord in thanksgiving for all God has done for us: from creation to redemption
to sanctification.
Lord, you healed the leper when he asked for healing. You
touched him and restored his disfigured body. Who are the
modern day spiritual lepers? We, who are sinners. Sin has
disfigured us. While the physical leper was considered to be
ritually unclean, we, the spiritual lepers are actually unclean
and in need of purification. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation
you encounter us in our brokenness, you touch us with your
absolving mercy, you heal and restore us to our dignity as
beloved children of the Father and Temples of the Holy Spirit. Our marred figure is made pristine and beautiful in your image and likeness.
INFORMATION!
JANUARY MASS FOR MEN AND WOMEN
MEN'S MASS JANUARY 13, 2018
7:30AM
WOMEN'S MASS JANUARY 20, 2018
8:00AM
BISHOP JACOBS' HOUSE
107 ALBANY DR
HOUMA, LA.
BRING A FRIEND
FELLOWSHIP AFTERWARDS
“I will try to fan into flame the spark of divine love that is
hidden within you, as far as I am able through the power of the
Holy Spirit.” (St Basil the Great) St Paul tells us in Romans 5:5
“The love of God is poured forth in our hearts through the Holy
Spirit, who has been given to us.” This love is a given, not
learned or earned. But it is like an ember that needs to be
fanned into flame lest it grows dimmer within us. Prayer, the
Sacraments, the works of mercy and reflecting on the Word of
God will fan the flame of love within us. The question before us
is at death will love be extinguished, will it still be a small
ember or will it be a roaring flame? Or to put it another way:
will we have a cold or lukewarm heart or will we be in an
intimate relationship with God. This will determine our eternal
salvation.
"Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." These words of the young prophet, Samuel, are at the heart of our relationship with God. It is the attitude of letting go control in prayer. Like Samuel, we may misread the call of the Lord in our life in the present moment. But God is persistent in his outreach to us, as he was to Samuel. When the young boy uttered these words, he did not know the full consequences of this surrender to the Lord. This was the beginning of his journey with the Lord, even though he was consecrated to the Lord by his parents. We were consecrated to the Lord in Baptism. Like Samuel, we too knew about the Lord. But it isn't until we submit ourselves consciously to the will of God, will we begin to know the Lord himself. In this grace-encounter, Samuel's life was forever changed. In our grace-encounter, our lives become focused more on the Lord that anything else. "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening" is not a one time response, but a continual response as we grow in wisdom and knowledge of the Lord.
"Patience is a hard discipline. It is not just waiting until something happens over which we have no control: the arrival of the bus, the end of the rain, the return of a friend, the resolution of a conflict. Patience is not a waiting passivity until someone else does something. Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are. When we are impatient we try to get away from where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen tomorrow, later and somewhere else. Let's be patient and trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand." (Henri Nowen) Looking for a New Year's resolution? This is one most of us can develop, because we are impatient at one time or another. The heart of patience and the heart of existence is learning to live in the present moment. For the grace of God is in this present moment. Patience involves "Be still and know that I am the Lord." For in the silence of the moment, that quiet voice of God may be heard.
The Baptism of the Lord Jesus is an important moment in the life of the humanity of Jesus. The Lord is our pattern and model to imitate. At the moment of his conception, Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit in his humanity. At the moment of our baptism, we are filled with the Holy Spirit, becoming Temples of the Spirit, as Paul reminds us. We received the gifts of the Spirit, especially for our sanctification. At the time of his baptism in the Jordan, Jesus receives a fresh outpouring of the Spirit, as the Scriptures tell us "a dove came down upon him." This fresh outpouring was to anoint him for the ministry ahead. As the Scriptures tell us, he was led by the Spirit with signs and wonders as his credentials. When we were confirmed we too received a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We were anointed with the oil of Chrism, symbolic of the gifts we have received for the ministry of witness that God has commissioned us to do in his name. Jesus went about in the power of the Spirit proclaiming the Good News of God's love, healing the sick and driving out demons. What we are doing with the same gifts we have received?
“The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life
for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our
brothers….Children, let us love not in word or speech, but in
deed and truth.” (1 John 3:16,18) Jesus in his humanity is the
model of love for us to imitate and follow. How did he show us
the greatest of all love? He, though sinless, took upon himself
our sins and gave his life as a sacrificial gift to the Father. He
didn't talk about love, rather he exhibited the truth and essence
of love in action. Anyone can talk about love, but the reality of
love is expressed in sacrificial action. True love seeks the good
of the other for the sake of the other. How authentic is our love
of God and others?
"The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly to do it because it is his will."(St. Elizabeth Ann Seton) Sometimes the simple words of an ordinary person can be so profound and disarming. Our lives are complicated. We need to simplify them. What better way than to put this adage into practice in our daily decisions. Even though it is simple wisdom, we know that it is not always easy to accomplish. Yet, if we try each day to focus on the will of God for us in the present moment and attempt to do his will, as he wills it, because he wills it, then our life will be become better and simpler. What do we lose by trying it?
Homily for
the Feast of the Epiphany Year B
Reading 1:
The word Epiphany means a great manifestation. What is this manifestation in
the first reading? Isaiah prophesies that a light will shine over Jerusalem, dispelling
the darkness of sin. It is the light of the glory of the Lord. Jesus is born as
Savior of the world. He is the true light of the world, the light of Jerusalem’s
glory. But it is the light of a star or a comet that leads to this revelation.
This is the epiphany that we will hear in the Gospel.
As Isaiah
prophesied, when the light appears “the wealth of nations shall be brought to”
Jerusalem, “bearing gold and frankincense.”
Isaiah
prophesied this to a people who had just returned from exile back to Jerusalem,
which at the time was divested of its former glory and beauty. It was in ruins.
He told them that what God had planned for them was something greater than
their former glory.
Jesus is the
glory of the Father, revealing the plan of the Father for his chosen people. In
turn, his people were intended to become a light for other nations. The people of Israel as they heard this
prophetic message anticipated the coming of the Messiah. But when he came, they
failed to recognize the light and chose to remain in darkness. As a result, Jesus will later weep over
Jerusalem, because of the future consequences of their failure to accept him as
the Messiah.
Gospel: The
first reading refers to a light shining over Jerusalem. Here that light is
identified as a star, a natural light with a special purpose: to point to the
true light of the world, Jesus.
The first to
hear the Good News of the birth of a Savior were poor Shepherds, who were
considered unclean and less than others. The revelation of the angels led them
to the new born king and Savior. In turn, they gave praise to God.
But this
Good News is not limited to one nation or people, but for the whole world. Instead of the light surrounding a host of
angels, wise men—non Jews—through a natural phenomenon, a new light in the
heavens, eventually come to see and worship to the same Light of the world.
But a
natural event is not enough to find the new born King. Their inquiry led the Jewish scholars to find
the answer to the coming a future king/Messiah in their own sacred writings.
Though they
knew the truth, they did not act on what they knew. But these Gentile seekers were led by a
natural phenomenon to the written word of God to the Word of God himself. They
offer him praise and adoration and gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh,
fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah.
Once they
encountered Christ the Lord and King, they were not the same. They had come on
a long journey, but now they returned on a different way for they are now
different.
Reading
2: Paul makes the connection between
Christmas and Epiphany. The shepherds represented the chosen people and the
wise men, the Gentiles. According to God’s plan both are called to salvation.
This is the mystery of the two feasts.
Paul’s
understanding of this revealed mystery was challenging to those Jewish converts
who believed that Gentile converts should first embrace the Mosaic laws as part
of being baptized. But Paul was adamant
in proclaiming the truth. What was the truth? “Gentiles are coheirs, members of
the same body, and co-partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the
gospel.” It is baptism that saves us, not circumcision and the Mosaic
laws. Our identity is rooted in being
descendants of Abraham, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. The same grace of
salvation given to the Jewish converts is given independently to the Gentile
converts. Praise God for his mysterious
plan!
That we are sons and daughters of God is something we take for
granted at times. But it is a mystery revealed to us by God. “See
what love the Father bestowed on us that we may be called the
children of of God” (1 John 3:1). It is God’s choice to adopt us as
his children in love. And because we are his children, “we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). What
does God expect from us in this graced relationship? “Everyone
who has this hope (of seeing God) based on him makes himself
holy as he is holy” (1 John 3:3). As we reflect on this mystery,
what desires stir in our hearts? How important is it for me to see
God “face to face”? If growing in his likeness ( which is what
holiness is), is that a priority in my life as a true son or
daughter? Ask for that grace today.
Mystery: we are called, invited and graced to remain in
and with God! Jesus, the Word of God has revealed this mystery
to us. We began experiencing the reality of this mystery in
baptism. This invisible but real, indwelling divine presence
became known by faith. We further experience this grace of
intimacy when we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus, again in
faith, in Eucharistic Communion. Each time we receive any of the other Sacraments, this mystery is restored or renewed. Like Mary, we are to treasure
this grace, to ponder this mystery and to respond. How do we
respond? First, by acknowledging this mystery; second, by being
grateful; third, by choosing to remain free from sin, the taint
and destruction of intimacy! “Remain in me and I in you….For
without me, you can do nothing.”
