A Homily - The Seventh Sunday of Easter (Year A)

The Ascension, A Holy Day of Obligation

 

First Reading – Acts 1:12-14 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 26(27):1,4, 7-8 ©

Second Reading – 1 Peter 4:13-16 ©

Gospel Acclamation – John 14:18

The Gospel According to John 17:1-11 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Be mindful!

 Prayer is good, it works well as an articulation of intention and as a vehicle for hope, it amounts to little without love.

 Go out and do good, be charitable to one another as Jesus was…that is the way, and that is what we are meant to take away from today’s reading in the Book of Acts.

 God is good.

 Open your eyes and you will see God’s goodness, you will see the goodness of God even in the faces of your adversaries. The divine spirit dwells within them as it dwells within you.

 See them; see that God is good.

 Open your ears and you will hear God’s goodness, even in the murmurs of your opponents. We are all children of the divine.

 Listen to them; hear from them that God is good.

 God loves you, as God loves all people; open your heart, even to your enemies, invite them to your table, share your bread and water, your wine if you have it.

 Be mindful!

 We share in the sufferings of Christ only when we are serving as ministers of justice, divine-justice as an exhibition of mercy, mercy as an expression of infinite compassion.

 Know this!

 If you are suffering and it is not because of the love you bear for all people, then your suffering is not the suffering of Christ.

 Be humble!

 Do not boast of your suffering, it is unseemly and arrogant. You will get nothing extra for your service to God, your share in God’s blessing is the same as that of anyone and everyone.

 Remember the how the wages were paid to those who labored in the vineyard.

 God loves all people equally, from the first moment of creation to the verry last syllable of time, the divine spirit rests on all people, in all times and places, the divine spirits animates the totality and everyone in it without distinction, each of us shares in the same inheritance, the measure of which is love.

 Good and bad, we are the same. God, the creator of the universe, God abandon’s no-one. God will leave no orphans, no-one shall be set apart or stranded in the dark of night. Not one of us will be lost.

 Consider the Gospel for today. Consider how the apostles get it wrong…again.

 Be mindful of how the writers of John’s Gospel reveal their fundamental misunderstanding of Jesus and mission.

 Strive to be more patient than they were.

 Listen!

 The ministry of Jesus was centered on real people, actual people living real lives, facing real hardship in the real world. He was focused on us, here on Earth, on those who lived with him. He was not playing for the heavens, or some imagined and ephemeral mode of self-aggrandizement and glorification.

 Jesus was not here to seek glory, or power, or dominion over mankind; that is not the way.

 Jesus was selfless; he gave everything away, including his life. He gave it all away to save the lives of those he loved.

 There is a kind of power in this, but it is not power in the sense of force or energy, it is not power in the sense of military might.

 Our word power, comes from the Latin potens, potare, meaning ability, both actual and potential.

 The power Jesus demonstrated was intrinsically bound to his capacity for love, he showed us that we could posses this power too, if we followed the way and kept our trust in God.

 Jesus was not a Gnostic, but the writers of John would make him out to be one.

 Jesus did not teach a secret doctrine, he himself wrote nothing down. He taught by the word of his mouth and more significantly, through his actions: by healing and sharing, in community service, in his role as a prophet.

 Remember this:

 Jesus prayed, but he only gave us one prayer, and in that prayer he only asked for bread to feed the people, for mercy, and for the strength to be merciful.

 

First Reading – Acts 1:12-14 ©

The Apostles All Joined in Continuous Prayer

After Jesus was taken up into heaven the apostles went back from the Mount of Olives, as it is called, to Jerusalem, a short distance away, no more than a sabbath walk; and when they reached the city they went to the upper room where they were staying; there were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Jude son of James. All these joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 26(27):1,4, 7-8 ©

I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.

Alleluia!

The Lord is my light and my help;

  whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

  before whom shall I shrink?

I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.

There is one thing I ask of the Lord,

  for this I long,

to live in the house of the Lord,

  all the days of my life,

to savour the sweetness of the Lord,

  to behold his temple.

I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.

O Lord, hear my voice when I call;

  have mercy and answer.

Of you my heart has spoken:

  ‘Seek his face.’

I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.

Alleluia!

 

Second Reading – 1 Peter 4:13-16 ©

It is a Blessing for You When They Insult You for Bearing the Name of Christ

If you can have some share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad, because you will enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed. It is a blessing for you when they insult you for bearing the name of Christ, because it means that you have the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God resting on you. None of you should ever deserve to suffer for being a murderer, a thief, a criminal or an informer; but if anyone of you should suffer for being a Christian, then he is not to be ashamed of it; he should thank God that he has been called one.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 14:18

Alleluia, alleluia!

I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord;I will come back to you, and your hearts will be full of joy.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to John 17:1-11 ©

Father, It is Time for You to Glorify Me

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:

‘Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you; and, through the power over all mankind that you have given him, let him give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him.

And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have glorified you on earth and finished the work that you gave me to do. Now, Father, it is time for you to glorify me with that glory I had with you before ever the world was. I have made your name known to the men you took from the world to give me.

They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now at last they know that all you have given me comes indeed from you; for I have given them the teaching you gave to me, and they have truly accepted this, that I came from you, and have believed that it was you who sent me.

I pray for them; I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they belong to you: all I have is yours and all you have is mine, and in them I am glorified. I am not in the world any longer, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.’

 

The Seventh Sunday of Easter (Year A) The Ascension

A Homily – The Third Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A)

 A Homily – The Third Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A)

  

First Reading – Isaiah 8:23-9:3 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 26(27):1, 4, 13-14 ©

Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 4:23

The Gospel of Matthew 4:12 - 23 ©

 

(NJB)

  

Listen!

 It is an error to ascribe divine motive or action to any event that transpires here on Earth. God, the creator of the universe, God made us in freedom and the whole of creation as well.

 Be mindful.

 God does not confer glory on anyone, on any tribe or any nation, and God does not seek glory for God’s own self. The prophet was wrong to use this language, his error being the error of human ambition, representing the limits of the human imagination, it is a reflection of our sinful nature and our own obsession with personal pride.

 Glorification is not God’s concern, neither should it be ours. The prophet was write however, to speak of this: to speak of hope like a light shining in the darkness, which once perceived, gladdens the heart and brings joy.

 God’s light shines on us from beyond this world; we cannot always see it, but we will when we have left the world behind.

 Listen!

 It is wise to trust in God; it is less than wise to hold yourself in high esteem.

 Embrace God’s judgment!

 This should be easy for a person of faith who knows that God’s judgment never appears without God’s mercy, and that God’s wrath never appears without God’s love.

 Do not boast about standing upright. No one is innocent, and God already knows you, better than you know yourself.

 Do not shun your neighbors, even if you perceive them to be frivolous, even if they do not share your values or believe things contrary to your own beliefs; do not be quick to call them evil.

 Sit where you are invited, open your door to everyone; then will you be in the service of God.

 Be mindful of this, at all times be mindful:

 A house divided against itself cannot stand, and if it cannot stand, it cannot be used for any good, it will shelter no one, harbor no one, people cannot gather there, talk together, share a meal together or lift up their voices in song.

 Do not look to the pulpit or the person preaching there as the final word on the way.

 Look to the teaching of Christ, of Jesus who says this: no greater love can a person show than that they give their life for their sister or brother, which is exactly what Jesus did when the time came, when he was arrested at Gethsemane, put on trial and killed.

 Follow the way: love God with all your strength and all your heart and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, this is the whole of the law, and the wisdom of the prophets…this is the way.

 Be mindful, and be wary of the Scriptures, especially when the authors of the text are attempting to fit their narrative of Jesus’ life into a picture that makes it look as if he is fulfilling a prediction made by a prophet from past ages.

 In these cases the literal story is always false, it cannot be relied on for anything, even as a metaphor. Stories that rest on a false foundation are suspect and should be treated guardedly.

 Know this:

 Even if a prediction was made, and even if Jesus did the thing that was predicted, it is false to suggest that Jesus’ actions were in fulfillment of it…such a thing would be merely a happy coincidence.

 This truth is bedrock, we know it because the future is not predetermined, it never has been and it never will be. God and creation free.

 A prophet only speak of the future for two reasons; to engender hope and to warn of danger. There is no other purpose and there is no predictive power in it. A prophet, even when talking of the future, is always addressing a matter before the people in their own time and their own place. Prophecy is never meant to guide the lives of future generations, except in cases when the prophet is addressing an issue of universal truth, such as the nature of justice and mercy, which is itself timeless and unchanging.

 Listen!

 The Gospel writers were propagandists. They fabricated many of the details of Jesus’ life. They fabricated those details to suit their narrative about who Jesus was, why his mission was necessary, and what his life and death meant for the early church.

 In this narrative the Gospel writers place Jesus directly in the tradition of John the Baptist, they do it with the words “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” This is a continuation of that narrative, meant to harness the energy of John’s movement, after his arrest and murder. The narrative in the Gospel for today informs the reader of this, and that is its main intention.

 

First Reading – Isaiah 8:23-9:3 ©

In Galilee of the Nations the People has Seen a Great Light

In days past the Lord humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in days to come he will confer glory on the Way of the Sea on the far side of Jordan, province of the nations.

The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone.

You have made their gladness greater, you have made their joy increase; they rejoice in your presence as men rejoice at harvest time, as men are happy when they are dividing the spoils.

For the yoke that was weighing on him, the bar across his shoulders, the rod of his oppressor – these you break as on the day of Midian.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 26(27):1, 4, 13-14 ©

The Lord is my light and my help.

The Lord is my light and my help;

  whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

  before whom shall I shrink?

The Lord is my light and my help.

There is one thing I ask of the Lord,

  for this I long,

to live in the house of the Lord,

  all the days of my life,

to savour the sweetness of the Lord,

  to behold his temple.

The Lord is my light and my help.

I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness

  in the land of the living.

Hope in him, hold firm and take heart.

  Hope in the Lord!

The Lord is my light and my help.

Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17 ©

Make Up the Differences Between You Instead of Disagreeing Among Yourselves

I appeal to you, brothers, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to make up the differences between you, and instead of disagreeing among yourselves, to be united again in your belief and practice. From what Chloe’s people have been telling me, my dear brothers, it is clear that there are serious differences among you. What I mean are all these slogans that you have, like: ‘I am for Paul’, ‘I am for Apollos’, ‘I am for Cephas’, ‘I am for Christ.’ Has Christ been parcelled out? Was it Paul that was crucified for you? Were you baptised in the name of Paul?

For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the Good News, and not to preach that in the terms of philosophy in which the crucifixion of Christ cannot be expressed.

  

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 4:23

 Alleluia, alleluia!

 Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom and cured all kinds of sickness among the people.

 Alleluia!

  

Gospel According to Matthew 4:12-23 ©

 He Went and Settled in Capernaum: in This Way the Prophecy of Isaiah Was Fulfilled

 Hearing that John had been arrested, Jesus went back to Galilee, and leaving Nazareth he went and settled in Capernaum, a lakeside town on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali. In this way the prophecy of Isaiah was to be fulfilled:

 ‘Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali!

Way of the sea on the far side of Jordan, Galilee of the nations!

The people that lived in darkness has seen a great light; on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death a light has dawned.’

 From that moment Jesus began his preaching with the message, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.’

 As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew; they were making a cast in the lake with their net, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.’ And they left their nets at once and followed him. Going on from there he saw another pair of brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they were in their boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. At once, leaving the boat and their father, they followed him.

 He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people.

 

The Third Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A)

A Homily – The Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year A)

A Homily – The Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year A)

  

First Reading – Isaiah 7:10-14

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 23(24):1-6 ©

Second Reading – Romans 1:1-7 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 1:23

The Gospel According to Matthew 1:18-24

 (NJB)

 

Listen!

 God is not a politician.

 The creator of the universe is not a kingmaker. God does not give victory in battle; God does not appoint winner and losers. God, Immanuel, the God of Jesus Christ, God is with all people, at all times, in all places.

God loves each and every one of God’s children, God’s love is without measure and flow through all people equally.

God stands with all people, whether or not any of them stand with God.

Be mindful of this.

All things and person have their being in God. God is the foundation of all that is. Without God there is nothing, and in nothing there is not even the possibility of being.

If you wish to climb the mountain, if your desire is to find God, that is fine, do it; God desire to be found. However, the path to God is closer than you might think; turn to your neighbor, see God reflected in their face.

God is there.

See them, behold the face of God, and in the presence of divine give thanks, give thanks for your neighbor, with your neighbor give thanks, demonstrate God’s faithfulness to you, demonstrate that faith living in you; trust the divine and demonstrate it through love.

There is no other way.

Do not worry about your own holiness, such pretensions are immaterial. Rather, believe that God loved you before the creation of the world, when only the possibility of you existed and know that even then you were loved and desired. Believe that this is true of all things and beings, this is true of everyone; everyone is loved by God, everyone is a vessel of God’s holiness.

Believe that this is true.

If you seek God’s blessing you will find it in the service you provide to your neighbor, to your mother and father, to your sister and brother, and know that God desires to see you blessed. If you seek to be justice, to be justified or justification in anything, find it in humility practice it in mercy.

Remember this:

God is not confined to the pages of a book, to inked scratching’s on parchment or vellum, or the printed word on paper, neither is God bound by the history and mythology of a single people. We may look to the histories and the traditions for glimpses of God, for the remembrances of past encounters, but we seek the living God in living beings, for God is alive in us.

Therefore always bear this metaphor in mind: the first time we saw God, when the first parent walked with the creator, then the world was a garden and that was paradise. There was no talk of kings, and no talk of the glory of God victorious in battle…let us return to that.

 Now listen!

 Do good and reject evil, and remember that the apostle Paul was not chosen, rather, he made a choice and chose to preach the Gospel.

 He was not converted, he converted; he underwent kenosis and metanoia, a turning around followed by the embrace of God.

 In all humility, remember this: Jesus descends from David through his father Joseph (if he was at all), he was a human being…this is a simple truth. And remember, Jesus was not a lord or king, he rejected those title and words to that affect were hung on the cross to mock him. Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary and Joseph, he was a Rabbi and a healer.

 The record of his life tells the story of a man whose life and works provide an unparalleled example of goodness and the fullness of grace. He was not a conduit of grace, he was a manifestation of grace, emanating from the seed of the divine (God in God’s fullness) that exists in potential within all of us. Jesus’ mission was not to confer on human beings something that they lacked, but to activate in them something that is innate, the inherent capacity for good and a receptivity for God’s love.

 Now consider this when you read the Gospel for today:

 Mary was betrothed to Joseph and Joseph was of the House of David. She became pregnant before their wedding, according to God’s, the design God put in place for the propagation of all human life, according to no other design.

 It is reasonable to assert that Matthew’s narrative, depicts Joseph as having second thoughts about his marriage, taking Mary into his house as he had promised, and about being a father even though he had gotten Mary pregnant already, and that in the examination of his conscience, by listening to the spirit of grace within him, he made a choice; he embraced the truth, and accepted responsibility for his child.

 David received Mary as his wife, he brought her into his house; they named their child Joshua, after the great hero of the Israelites. They gave him a great name and pinned their hopes on him, in that hope and trust (which means faith) they encountered the presence of God, knowing then   that God was with them, inasmuch as they were with each other.

 If Joseph had succumbed to his fear and weakness and rejected Mary when she was with child (and that was a real possibility), in that time and place, Mary would have been destroyed; she would have become an outcast with no standing in her community, she and her child would have gone into servitude and likely would have perished after much suffering.

 The narrative shows that Joseph was humiliated by his weakness and humbled by his doubt moment of doubt; he came through that moment have learned what it means to truly love.

 He choose good, he rejected evil.

 If you believe it.

 

First Reading – Isaiah 7:10-14

The Maiden is With Child

The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.’

Then Isaiah said:

‘Listen now, House of David: are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men without trying the patience of my God, too?

The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign.

It is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel,

a name which means “God-is-with-us.”’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 23(24):1-6 ©

Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.

The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,

  the world and all its peoples.

It is he who set it on the seas;

  on the waters he made it firm.

Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.

Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?

  Who shall stand in his holy place?

The man with clean hands and pure heart,

  who desires not worthless things.

Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.

He shall receive blessings from the Lord

  and reward from the God who saves him.

Such are the men who seek him,

  seek the face of the God of Jacob.

Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.

Second Reading – Romans 1:1-7 ©

Our Apostolic Mission is to Preach the Obedience of Faith to All Pagan Nations

From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus who has been called to be an apostle, and specially chosen to preach the Good News that God promised long ago through his prophets in the scriptures.

This news is about the Son of God who, according to the human nature he took was a descendant of David: it is about Jesus Christ our Lord who, in the order of the spirit, the spirit of holiness that was in him, was proclaimed Son of God in all his power through his resurrection from the dead. Through him we received grace and our apostolic mission to preach the obedience of faith to all pagan nations in honour of his name. You are one of these nations, and by his call belong to Jesus Christ. To you all, then, who are God’s beloved in Rome, called to be saints, may God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ send grace and peace.

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 1:23

Alleluia, alleluia!

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son

and they will call him Emmanuel,

a name which means ‘God-is-with-us’.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Matthew 1:18-24

How Jesus Christ Came to be Born

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’ When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home and, though he had not had intercourse with her, she gave birth to a son; and he named him Jesus.

The Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year A)