A Homily – The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin (Year C), A Holy Day of Obligation

First Reading (vigil) – 1 Chronicles 15:3-4,15-16,16:1-2

Responsorial Psalm (vigil) – Psalm 131(132):6-7,9-10,13-14

Second Reading (vigil) – 1 Corinthians 15:54-57

Gospel Acclamation (vigil) – Luke 11:28

The Gospel According to Luke (vigil) 11:27-28

 

First Reading – Apocalypse 11:19,12:1-6,10

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 44(45):10-12,16

Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 15:20-26

Gospel Acclamation

The Gospel According to Luke 1:39-56

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

These myths are metaphors. The woman represents the Church, but only insofar as the Church adheres to the way. This is a dramatic narrative, written for a Christian audience living through a time of persecution, seeing their fledgling movement under an existential threat.

It was from a place of fear that the author of the Apocalypse imagined the Church as ruler of the world, casting its institutions and offices as the artificium of empire. In keeping with this expectation he twists the future expectation of the Gospel into something grotesque, making the threat which the dragon in his vision portends, into something of a fate accompli. He displaces the woman who is full of light from her role as Church, and in-so-doing the Church becomes the thing which it abhors…the dragon itself.  

Be mindful.

The proper content of Christian hope is not the hope for political and secular power; the proper content of Christian hope is the hope for peace and love and goodwill between all people. These hopes cannot be achieved through violence, usurpation or coercion, they must be arrived at through humility, kindness and compassion.

 Know this.

 It is an exercise in vanity to allegorize a life in service to the divine as to a royal wedding. Our service will not be rewarded with gold and perfumes, with flowing gowns and feasts...those who are following the way quickly come to understand that the fruit of our labors is found in the seed of our intentions…doing good is its own reward and nothing else should be expected. God’s servants are more likely to be beaten and killed, marginalized and imprisoned than to be regaled with ceremonious pomp, and only after much time has passed, if they are remembered at all, are the recognized for their service and what they gave us.

 Remember.

 God is not a king or a maker of kings, and God has no enemies.

 When God’s servants pass away from the world they go to join the creator, as do all whom God loves…which is everyone.

 Those who go to their labor early receive the same wage as those who come late in the day. There is no special-boon granted to those who found the divine and loved God while they were alive and, in the flesh; they only the joy that comes of its own for living justly, walking humbly and providing loving service to those in need.

 Consider the teaching of the apostle who understand the way and knows that we, humanity, were created all-together in the divine unity of being. In God we are one creation…in our failures of faith and in our triumphs, we are one. 

 Consider the Gospel reading for today and pay attention to the differences in the narrative traditions of the early Church.

 The writers of Mark begin their story when Jesus of Nazareth, otherwise known as Joshua son of Joseph, was at the beginning of his public ministry and already an adult. However, the early Christians wanted more, and so the authors of Luke took their narrative a step back in time and presented a fable about his conception and birth. In this fable, they attempted to tie up various loose ends in the stories that were being told about Jesus, and by doing this they had hoped to unite different factions of Christians who were already dividing themselves from one another over matters of ideology and doctrine.  

 The particular narrative we are given today was meant to appeal to the followers of John the Baptist, by bringing forth the notion that Jesus and John were actually cousins, and that even though John was older, he was a follower of Jesus from the time he was in the womb, and they double-down on this context by subordinating John’s mother to Mary.

 Remember…this is a fable, a myth; the whole thing is a work of fiction.

 These were unfortunate developments in the early because these fictions were in themselves naked political calculations meant to manipulate the burgeoning movement, and because a great deal of theology and doctrine has been hung from these exercises in make believe to the detriment of the people.

 The succeeding Gospels, each in their turn, reached back further in time and did so for the same purposes.

 For instance, the writers of Matthew inserted a confusing genealogy into the record; tracing Jesus’ heritage back to Adam, through David on his father’s side, while at the same time the Church asked its members to believe that Joseph was not his biological father. While the writers of John open their narrative with the beginning of time itself and the creation of the universe.

 It is a sad thing to note that what people opted to believe about these fables ended up being the cause of extreme, bitter, and deadly partisan conflict among Christians...never mind the violence done to the actual teaching of Jesus, which is to love your enemies and to pray for those who persecute you.

 Therefore I tell you to rejoice in the divine, rejoice that we who are infinitely less than the infinite God have received an eternal blessing insofar as God deigned to create us in the divine image; therefor rejoice in God’s mercy, emulate it without fear. Rejoice and oppose the transmogrification of Mary into the serpent…a beast that would eat its own tail.

First Reading (vigil) – 1 Chronicles 15:3-4,15-16,16:1-2

They Brought in the Ark of God and Put it Inside the Tent that David had Pitched for It

David gathered all Israel together to bring the ark of God up to the place he had prepared for it. David called together the sons of Aaron and the sons of Levi. And the Levites carried the ark of God with the shafts on their shoulders, as Moses had ordered in accordance with the word of the Lord.

  David then told the heads of the Levites to assign duties for their kinsmen as cantors, with their various instruments of music, harps and lyres and cymbals, to play joyful tunes.

  They brought the ark of God in and put it inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and they offered holocausts before God, and communion sacrifices. And when David had finished offering holocausts and communion sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord.

 

Responsorial Psalm (vigil) – Psalm 131(132):6-7,9-10,13-14

Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your strength.

At Ephrata we heard of the ark;

  we found it in the plains of Yearim.

‘Let us go to the place of his dwelling;

  let us go to kneel at his footstool.’

Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your strength.

Your priests shall be clothed with holiness;

  your faithful shall ring out their joy.

For the sake of David your servant

  do not reject your anointed.

Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your strength.

For the Lord has chosen Zion;

  he has desired it for his dwelling:

‘This is my resting-place for ever;

  here have I chosen to live.’

Go up, Lord, to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your strength.

 

Second Reading (vigil) – 1 Corinthians 15:54-57

God Gave Us the Victory Through our Lord Jesus Christ

When this perishable nature has put on imperishability, and when this mortal nature has put on immortality, then the words of scripture will come true: Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and sin gets its power from the Law. So let us thank God for giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Gospel Acclamation (vigil) – Luke 11:28

Alleluia, alleluia!

Happy are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Luke (vigil) 11:27-28

'Happy the Womb that Bore You and the Breasts You Sucked!'

As Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, ‘Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!’ But he replied, ‘Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!’

 

First Reading – Apocalypse 11:19,12:1-6,10

A Great Sign Appeared in Heaven: A Woman Adorned with the Sun

The sanctuary of God in heaven opened and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it.

  Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelve stars on her head for a crown. She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky, a huge red dragon which had seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail dragged a third of the stars from the sky and dropped them to the earth, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was having the child, so that he could eat it as soon as it was born from its mother. The woman brought a male child into the world, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron sceptre, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne, while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had made a place of safety ready.

  Then I heard a voice shout from heaven, ‘Victory and power and empire for ever have been won by our God, and all authority for his Christ.’

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 44(45):10-12,16

The wedding of the King

This is the time of repentance for us to atone for our sins and seek salvation.

Alleluia, alleluia!

My heart cries out on a joyful theme:

  I will tell my poem to the king,

  my tongue like the pen of the swiftest scribe.

You have been given more than human beauty,

  and grace is poured out upon your lips,

  so that God has blessed you for ever.

Strap your sword to your side, mighty one,

  in all your greatness and splendour.

In your splendour go forth, mount your chariot,

  on behalf of truth, kindness and justice.

Let your right hand show your marvels,

  let your arrows be sharp against the hearts of the king’s enemies

 – the peoples will fall before you.

Your throne is firm, O God, from age to age,

  your royal sceptre is a sceptre of justice.

You love uprightness, hate injustice

 – for God, your God has anointed you

  with the oil of gladness, above all your companions.

Myrrh and aloes and cassia anoint your garments.

From ivory palaces the sound of harps delights you.

In your retinue go the daughters of kings.

At your right hand, the queen is adorned with gold of Ophir.

Listen, my daughter, and understand;

  turn your ears to what I have to say.

Forget your people, forget your father’s house,

  and the king will desire you for your beauty.

  He is your lord, so worship him.

The daughters of Tyre will bring you gifts;

  the richest of your subjects will beg you to look on them.

How great is the king’s daughter, within the palace!

  She is clothed in woven gold.

She will be taken to the king in coloured garments,

  her maidens will escort her to your presence.

In gladness and rejoicing they are brought

  and led to the house of the king.

Instead of your fathers you will have sons:

  you will make them rulers over all the world.

I will remember your name

  from generation to generation.

And so your people will do you honour

  for ever and for ever.

Amen.

This is the time of repentance for us to atone for our sins and seek salvation.

Alleluia, alleluia!

 

Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 15:20-26

Christ Will Be Brought to Life as the First-Fruits and Then Those Who Belong to Him

Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep. Death came through one man and in the same way the resurrection of the dead has come through one man. Just as all men die in Adam, so all men will be brought to life in Christ; but all of them in their proper order: Christ as the first-fruits and then, after the coming of Christ, those who belong to him. After that will come the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, having done away with every sovereignty, authority and power. For he must be king until he has put all his enemies under his feet and the last of the enemies to be destroyed is death, for everything is to be put under his feet.

 

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia!

Mary has been taken up to heaven; all the choirs of angels are rejoicing.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Luke 1:39-56

The Almighty has Done Great Things for Me

Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’

  And Mary said:

‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my saviour; because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid.

Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me.

Holy is his name, and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him.

He has shown the power of his arm, he has routed the proud of heart.

He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly.

The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich sent empty away.

He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his mercy – according to the promise he made to our ancestors – of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back home.

 

A Homily – The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin (Year B), A Holy Day of Obligation

Observation - August 10th, 2025, Sunday

the morning light is soft and gray

there is small-movement in the green leaves

outside the windows

 

the air is still in the stuffy office

facing east the sun is rising

behind a veil of clouds

 

a small dog is talking to me

about returning to the bedroom

the air conditioner is humming there

a fan is blowing

my lady sleeping with her golden hair

upon the pillow

A Homily – The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

First Reading – Wisdom 18:6-9 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 32(33):1,12,18-20,22 ©

Second Reading – Hebrews 11:1-2,8-19 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 11:25

Alternative Acclamation – Matthew 24:42 44

The Gospel According to Luke 12:32 - 48 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

There is no place for jingoism for those who follow the way; remember what Jesus said, “take no oaths for me or against me” and apply these to the teaching of the prophet.

God loves all people and desires their deliverance, God has a plan and works for the salvation of everyone, bearing no enmity to anyone.

Be mindful

Our adversaries, if we have them, are also God’s children, and there is no one alive who may boast of piety; all our pretensions to it are merely charades, just as the sacrifices we make are rendered meaningless in the absence of love and mercy…reject the false wisdom that suggests there is any other way. 

Consider the wisdom of the psalmist who says that it is fitting to praise God, to praise the creator of the universe every day, and give thanks to the creator for the life you have in it, as burdensome as it may be, do your part to make it a better place.

It is wise to trust in the counsel of God and to have faith in God’s mercy; and though this is wise, do not expect God to rescue you from danger, or believe that God’s loves any one of God’s children more than any other, or that you are loved by God in a unique and special way.

God knows all things and God understands all things, you have heard this said:

God’s knowledge is not an abstract knowledge of the particulars details of individual events, God understands our person, our choices, our lives and experience; even as we understand them ourselves; God understands with a clarity we do not possess.

Trust in God’s plan for you, and God’s plan for creation…trust is the essence of faith.

Do not wait for salvation, there is nothing you can do to effect it, you cannot purchase it with good deeds, or trade for it on faith. Salvation is already yours, go out and share the good news, salvation is the inheritance of everyone.

Now reflect for a moment on the meaning of faith and the teaching of the apostle, who is mistaken.

Faith is not a thing, like a key, such that when it comes into your possession you are able to do miraculous things. Faith is not a substance, faith is not quantifiable.

The simple meaning of faith is this: to trust, it guarantees nothing…it proves nothing.

Placing your trust in the way is its own reward. Faith in the heavenly will brings peace of mind, faith frees us from fear and anxiety, faith facilitates love and promotes caring, it leads us into the way of justice and mercy.

Abraham may have obeyed his calling out of faith, his faith may have endured undiminished when he arrived at his journey’s end, a stranger in a strange land. He may have instructed his heirs to trust in God in the same way that he and his wife Sara did, all of them may have trusted the vision that they shared, but it was not because of their faith that they thrived on land, and it was not because of her faith that Sara conceived a child after a lifetime of barreness.

Be mindful.

Faith is not a coin that we exchange for the blessings of God, and make no mistake, God does not interfere in our affairs; faith will not engender that.

The teachings of Jesus cannot be treated like a shell game, though they often are, and often have been since the beginning of the church, as Matthew’s Gospel illustrates.

The way of Jesus is not a long con, it is not a bait and switch, it is a simple and cannot be controlled or owned by any one group of people.

God has hidden nothing. The truth is in the open for anyone to see.

The wise and the powerful, the learned and the clever, the weak and the meek, everyone has access to the same truth, to the knowledge of God and the way of justice, of hope and love.

Know this!

The future history of the world has not been written.

Any supposition we might make about our future on earth is merely guesswork. Some guesses are more informed than others, we can speak about the future in terms of possibility and probability, but we cannot know anything about the days and nights to come.

There are thousands of ways in which the plans we have laid or the hopes which we cherish can come undone; lightening will strike, a tornado will blow, a meteor will fall, a volcano explode. A person in the fullness of their life may trip and fall and hit their head and die, leaving everything they have accomplished behind them.

The promises we have received from God regarding our salvation, those promises are not of this world. God has promised to bring an end to suffering, injustice, hunger, illness; believe that these will come to pass…in a world in which we are not subject to the vicissitudes of the material condition.

I cannot speak of that world. I have never seen it…no one living has.

Our belief in a loving God, our hope in the testimony of the prophets, our trust in the Gospel, these are what allow us to believe that God’s promises are true. Through faith we can live our present lives as if the reality of these promises were true, this is how we realize the promise and make it present among us…this is the secret of the way which Jesus taught.

If we are just and loving, if we care for one another, we do not have to wait for salvation, we are already well.

Know this!

Because the Gospels were written by human beings (mostly men), written by communities of people long after Jesus’ death, we are often confronted with passages that appear to vacillate between hope, joy and optimism for the way, and the demands of those who were seeking to enshrine his teachings in institutions like the burgeoning Church.

The Gospel must be read carefully, from time to time we have to peel away those segments that speak to us from a place of fear and the doubt, to place in their proper context the conservativism and protectionist teachings of those who came after Jesus, as they wrote about the challenge of their own experience in the second and third generations after his passing.

The opening of the gospel for today represents the heart of Jesus’ teaching: there is no need to be afraid, Jesus says. There is no need to fear.

The parable that follows must be read in the context of these hopeful words. The parable speaks to the roles of a householder and his servants, it does not address whether the servants were members of his family, hired hands or slaves, it does not need to, because for the purpose of the reading those distinctions are immaterial.

The parable is concerned with preparedness, the fulfillment of the obligations assigned to the role a person occupies, and the vital necessity of cooperation. The setting is the walled house of the householder, this is a metaphor for the believing community, and we are told that the householder represents, Jesus the founder of the Church (and in popular mythology the Son of Man who has promised to return), the householder also represents the head of the believing community, in its contemporary time and place. The servants of the house represent the community of believers.

Be mindful.

In the Christian tradition, as it is properly constructed, the householder represents head of the believing community, it is to be understood as the chief among servants. The parable calls us to be happy in our work, to go to it joyfully, to faithfully execute the responsibilities we are given (the responsibilities we have sought), to anticipate the needs of those in our care and fulfill them.

Preparedness is about expectation, expectation is about hope, and hope is the core of the Gospel.

Note well: the narrative changes in response to Peter’s questioning, and this change marks a deviation from the way. It is a reflection of the teachings of the church in the generations following Jesus and the and the message has become harsh; the merciful heart of Jesus are absent, in its place are judgements, beatings, lashings and the alienation of others.

Remember.

Jesus taught us to come together, to be as one. He taught in the spirit of compassion, he forgave those who persecuted him, as well as the disciples who sold him out and abandoned him at his darkest hour…Jesus had taken their measure and knew that they would…he loved them anyway.

First Reading – Wisdom 18:6-9 ©

You Made Us Glorious by Calling Us to You

That night had been foretold to our ancestors, so that, once they saw what kind of oaths they had put their trust in, they would joyfully take courage.

This was the expectation of your people, the saving of the virtuous and the ruin of their enemies;

for by the same act with which you took vengeance on our foes you made us glorious by calling us to you.

The devout children of worthy men offered sacrifice in secret and this divine pact they struck with one accord: that the saints would share the same blessings and dangers alike; and forthwith they had begun to chant the hymns of the fathers.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 32(33):1,12,18-20,22 ©

Happy are the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just;

  for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.

They are happy, whose God is the Lord,

  the people he has chosen as his own.

Happy are the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

The Lord looks on those who revere him,

  on those who hope in his love,

to rescue their souls from death,

  to keep them alive in famine.

Happy are the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

Our soul is waiting for the Lord.

  The Lord is our help and our shield.

May your love be upon us, O Lord,

  as we place all our hope in you.

Happy are the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

 

Second Reading – Hebrews 11:1-2,8-19 ©

Abraham Looked Forward to a City Founded, Designed and Built by God

Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen. It was for faith that our ancestors were commended.

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a country that was the inheritance given to him and his descendants, and that he set out without knowing where he was going. By faith he arrived, as a foreigner, in the Promised Land, and lived there as if in a strange country, with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. They lived there in tents while he looked forward to a city founded, designed and built by God.

It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful to it. Because of this, there came from one man, and one who was already as good as dead himself, more descendants than could be counted, as many as the stars of heaven or the grains of sand on the seashore.

All these died in faith, before receiving any of the things that had been promised, but they saw them in the far distance and welcomed them, recognising that they were only strangers and nomads on earth. People who use such terms about themselves make it quite plain that they are in search of their real homeland. They can hardly have meant the country they came from, since they had the opportunity to go back to it; but in fact they were longing for a better homeland, their heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, since he has founded the city for them.

It was by faith that Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He offered to sacrifice his only son even though the promises had been made to him and he had been told: It is through Isaac that your name will be carried on. He was confident that God had the power even to raise the dead; and so, figuratively speaking, he was given back Isaac from the dead.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 11:25

Alleluia, alleluia!

Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom

to mere children.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – Matthew 24:42 44

Alleluia, alleluia!

Stay awake and stand ready, because you do not know the hour when the Son of Man is coming.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Luke 12:32-48 ©

You too Must Stand Ready

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘There is no need to be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom.

‘Sell your possessions and give alms. Get yourselves purses that do not wear out, treasure that will not fail you, in heaven where no thief can reach it and no moth destroy it. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

‘See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit. Be like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks. Happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. I tell you solemnly, he will put on an apron, sit them down at table and wait on them. It may be in the second watch he comes, or in the third, but happy those servants if he finds them ready. You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what hour the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house. You too must stand ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’

Peter said, ‘Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?’ The Lord replied, ‘What sort of steward, then, is faithful and wise enough for the master to place him over his household to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Happy that servant if his master’s arrival finds him at this employment. I tell you truly, he will place him over everything he owns. But as for the servant who says to himself, “My master is taking his time coming,” and sets about beating the menservants and the maids, and eating and drinking and getting drunk, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful.

The servant who knows what his master wants, but has not even started to carry out those wishes, will receive very many strokes of the lash. The one who did not know, but deserves to be beaten for what he has done, will receive fewer strokes. When a man has had a great deal given him, a great deal will be demanded of him; when a man has had a great deal given him on trust, even more will be expected of him.’

 

A Homily – The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

A Homily – The Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)

First Reading – Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 89(90):3-6, 12-14,17 ©

Second Reading – Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11 ©

Gospel Acclamation – John 17:17

Alternative Acclamation – Matthew 5:3

The Gospel According to Luke 12:13 - 21 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 We live and we die, we leave everything behind, within a generation or two we ourselves will be forgotten, reduced to a name etched in stone, on a metal plate, some papers… somewhere,  perhaps a digital image drifting in cyberspace.

 In time all of our work will be undone and we ourselves become nothing to the world, even as the Earth itself is swallowed by the sun.

 If our ambitions are set against these eventualities, then they are as the prophet said they are, merely vanities…nevertheless we continue.

 Consider what the psalmist says and know that God does never intervene to change the course of our lives. God is with us, yes, God is with us; God has created in each of us the desire and longing for God’s own self and made it a constitutional element of our being. This draws us to the divinity, but beyond this subtle pull, God does not intercede in our lives, does not interfere with our choices, does not intervene in the consequences of those choices. God neither works for us or against us in relation to our individual ambitions, or the many objects that occupy our hearts desire.

 God is the eternal—creator of all that is, and we are but motes of dust in the face of the infinite. We are; each of us individually and all of us together, infinitely less than the infinite God.

 God is never angry with us. We do not suffer because God desires to see us suffer, we do not sorrow because it please God to see us sorrowful. We are created with these capacities because they teach us something about joy and foster in us a want for peace.

 When we suffer and when we are sorrowful, we cause others to suffer and we bring them sorrow. When we rejoice and are glad the same is true, and God is with us through it all, feeling what we feel, knowing what we know, going through our experience even as we do.

 Consider the teaching of the Apostle and be wary of the desire for perfection. Though God has called us all to perfection, and though God has given us the example of Jesus to follow…Jesus who showed us the way; both our continuing and future failures are known to the divine and like all of our past failures they are forgiven even before they are instantiated.

 Have no fear…forgive yourself and forgive all of those whom you have harmed. Forgive those who have harmed you, for in the end, just as the Apostle promised, and all of our pretenses toward perfection will be revealed for the vanities they are.

 Be mindful.

 Do not shun the prophet when the prophet says: give up your earthly desires, for these desires are the root of all suffering, or that our greed and lust for material things are akin to the worship of false idols.

 Remember!

 In God there is no distinction between nationality, ethnicity or class; we are all one creation.

 Know this!

 You cannot prevaricate and serve God at one and the same time.

 We must navigate the course of our lives and through the countless paradoxes that present themselves as we read along the way. Take joy is the smile of a stranger, the kindness of your beloved, the opening of a flower, the smell of bread in the oven or a drink of cool water, and share it.

 The Gospel reading for today commends us to contemplate these three things:

 Know who it is to whom you are speaking. Do not ask you God to arbitrate a matter of inheritance; Jesus did not come to settle disputes over the distribution of a family’s fortune.

 Know that life is uncertain, our bodies are subject to the vicissitudes of chance. At any moment the expected life of a human could be expressed in years or months, in minutes or seconds.

 The truth is that we do not know, that we can never know; therefore, it is pointless to hoard wealth in preparation for the fantasy of a long life, or for a life of leisure as a reward for years of labor, any other consideration is vanity.

 Know the end to which God would have us direct our strengths, resources and talents; God would have them directed toward the benefit of all people, God would not have us hold them in reserve to serve the appetites of single person or their family…what you have you cannot take it with you…share it while you have it, and you will be on the way to the garden of peace and everlasting joy.

First Reading – Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23 ©

Vanity of Vanities; All is Vanity

Vanity of vanities, the Preacher says. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity!

For so it is that a man who has laboured wisely, skilfully and successfully must leave what is his own to someone who has not toiled for it at all. This, too, is vanity and great injustice; for what does he gain for all the toil and strain that he has undergone under the sun? What of all his laborious days, his cares of office, his restless nights? This, too, is vanity.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 89(90):3-6, 12-14,17 ©

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

You turn men back to dust

  and say: ‘Go back, sons of men.’

To your eyes a thousand years

  are like yesterday, come and gone,

  no more than a watch in the night.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

You sweep men away like a dream,

  like the grass which springs up in the morning.

In the morning it springs up and flowers:

  by evening it withers and fades.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

Make us know the shortness of our life

  that we may gain wisdom of heart.

Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever?

  Show pity to your servants.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

In the morning, fill us with your love;

  we shall exult and rejoice all our days.

Let the favour of the Lord be upon us:

  give success to the work of our hands.

O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

 

Second Reading – Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11 ©

You Must Look for the Things that Are in Heaven, Where Christ Is

Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.

That is why you must kill everything in you that belongs only to earthly life: fornication, impurity, guilty passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same thing as worshipping a false god; and never tell each other lies. You have stripped off your old behaviour with your old self, and you have put on a new self which will progress towards true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its creator; and in that image there is no room for distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised or the uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free man. There is only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 17:17

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your word is truth, O Lord:

consecrate us in the truth.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – Matthew 5:3

Alleluia, alleluia!

How happy are the poor in spirit:

theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Luke 12:13 - 21 ©

Fool! This Very Night your Soul Will be Demanded of You

A man in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.’ ‘My friend,’ he replied, ‘who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?’ Then he said to them, ‘Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.’

Then he told them a parable: ‘There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, “What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.” But God said to him, “Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?.” So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.’

 

A Homily – The Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)