“A good man is not a perfect man; a good man is an honest man, faithful and unhesitatingly responsive to the voice of God in his life.” St. John Fisher (1469 –1535)

There are many people who fit this description. They are the unknowns in the world, who are not in the limelight. If you find such a person, get to know and befriend that person, so that you can learn from one another, support one another on the same road to your eternal destiny. There are more unknown saints in heaven than known ones. They found the Lord in their journey and decided to follow him on the only road to the Kingdom of God. Now they are interceding for all the unknowns still on the road. That’s you. Be heartened.

 

Homily Twenty-fifth Sunday Year B

Reading 1:

Last Sunday, we read from the prophet Isaiah where he prophesied about one who would suffer innocently. It is called the Song of the Suffering Servant of God. Though innocent they would beat him and put him to a cruel death.

 

In today’s reading, we hear the same message but from another source, the Book of Wisdom. The one who is attacked is a just one who claims to be the Son of God. He is attacked because his words and actions confront his hearers for their wrong doings. They revile, torture him and condemn him to a shameful death.

 

Who is the author referring to and has it happened? How often did the leaders of Jesus’ day put him to the test? Why did they put him to death? He said that he was the Son of God, the Just One. While on the cross Jesus experienced the fulfillment of this prophetic word. The religious leaders and the crowd mocked him. They said: “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross and save yourself.” “Let’s see if God will save him.”

 

What was more shameful in those days than to humiliate someone and publicly hanging him on a cross, stripped of all dignity? But let us not judge them hastily. It was our sins which he took upon himself. It was our sins which reviled him and put him to death.

 

Reading 2:

Again this Sunday we read from the Letter of James. What does James say is the root of our sinful struggles? It is within ourselves that jealousy and selfish ambition exist! But when the focus is the other out of love and concern from true righteousness, then there is peace and right order.

 

He further says that our passions, or what is understood as the seven capital sins or roots of sin—pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, lust and greed—are at the core of our self-centeredness. When self is the focus, it is like the tentacles of a giant octopus, drawing everything to itself. Try to hug yourself. Is there anylasting satisfaction in that? But when we hug others in true love, what happens?

 

Gospel

Last Sunday, after Peter confessed in faith that Jesus was the Christ, Jesus shared with the Apostles the true understanding of what was the mission of the Messiah. He would be one who suffered a cruel death at the hands of others but rise again. Peter objected strongly. Jesus corrected him sternly.

 

Sometime later, Jesus predicts a second time concerning his upcoming passion and cruel death. This connects with the first reading. Jesus further prophesied what the author of Wisdom had also said. Just as the leaders of the day did not make the connection, so the disciples of Jesus did not understand. Maybe they were unwilling to do so.

 

This time the Apostles didn’t respond directly, but only indirectly. Their focus was not on Jesus so much as on themselves. Who was the greatest among them? Does that come from wisdom from above or from sin within?

 

What is Jesus’ response to them? Unless you have a change of attitude, namely see things from a different perspective, you will not be able to be my followers. You will not be able to overcome the sin within you. Unless you totally surrender your life to me and give me permission to be Lord of every part of your life, you will continue to walk the path you are on and remain controlled by the sinful roots within.

 

What is needed is a humility and a servant’s heart. Becoming like a child in one’s attitude, depending totally on another, the Lord, trusting on the other, opens one up to the Lordship of Jesus and the Fatherhood of God. In this lies our true identity and true mission in life.

 

Clearly, what God wants, above all, is our will, which we received as a free gift from God in creation and possess as though our own. When a man trains himself to acts of virtue, it is with the help of grace from God, from whom all good things come …The will is what man has, as his unique possession.” St Joseph of Cupertino 

 

The human will is a blessing from God when we use it to glorify and unite our wills to that of God. The human will is the source of our downfall, when we use it in opposition to God’s will for us. The human will chooses with the help of grace the road of life it will follow: God’s way or self-way. Adam and Eve chose the latter. If relationship with God is important to me, if I desire more than anything else to be with God eternally, then I will choose the Way of the Lord. God wills our eternal good. He gives us the freedom to will the same or something else. The gift of the will is good. How I use it determines the consequences.

 Twenty-fifth Sunday Gospel B

They left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but Jesus did not wish anyone to know about it.  He was teaching his disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death he will rise." But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him. 

· This was the second prediction of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection? When did we reflect on the first prediction in Mark’s Gospel?

· Why do you think the disciples did not understand what Jesus was saying?

· Why were they afraid to question him?

They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, "What were you arguing about on the way?"  But they remained silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. 

· This will be the last time Jesus goes to Capernaum before his journey to Jerusalem.

· What does this say to you about where the disciples were in relationship to Jesus at this stage of their journey?

· What does it say to you about your own relationship to Jesus at times?

Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." 

· How does this teaching relate to what you and I were taught as we were growing up?

· How would we have reacted to this teaching if we were there with the twelve at the time?

Taking a child he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it he said to them, "Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the one who sent me." 

· Why does Jesus use the example of a child as the model of discipleship? What does a child teach us about life with Christ?

· What is Jesus asking of us as we reflect on this passage and apply it to our lives?

 “Great occasions for serving God come seldom, but little ones surround us daily.” St. Francis de Sales

 

Life is full of little opportunities, given to us to serve the Lord. But because they are small, we think they are insignificant. But these grace moments are the building blocks of our spiritual life. For when we show that we are faithful servants in the ordinary moments of life, then God can give us greater opportunities to grow in relationship with him. But if we can’t do the little things well, why should God trust us with greater responsibility?

 “Whatever a man prefers to God, that he makes a god to himself.” St. Cyprian of Carthage 

The First Commandment is “I am the Lord, your God, you shall not have strange gods before you.”  Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) How do we know if we have other gods in our lives? Is God always first in our life or are other things or people more important at the moment than God? Is prayer a priority or is work? Is my pleasure a priority or the service of others? Is the Word of God my rule of life or the word of others? Is God the connecting thread in my life or an afterthought? Like the ancient Greeks, I may have many gods, including an unknown god, as a way of covering my bases. But there is only one God. Choose and serve him above everything else.

 

Homily: Twenty-Fourth Sunday Year B

 

Reading 1: Who is Isaiah prophesying about? “I gave my back to those who beat me, my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting….The Lord God is my help.” From our perspective, it is Jesus in his passion which we will hear about in the Gospel.

 

Through the prophet God was preparing the people for the great mystery of his redemptive love, the suffering and death and resurrection of his own divine Son become man. But the focus of the prophet was not so much the sufferings of this servant of the Lord, but his resolve to trust in God in the midst of his sufferings. He endured this suffering even though he knew he was sinless and innocent. He would be true to his identity and mission.

 

In the midst of his sufferings on the cross, Jesus still could say, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.” “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”  When Isaiah says that this suffering servant sets his face like flint, he means that he is resolved to be fully obedient to the Father and to do his will in love.

 

How often do we find ourselves in difficulties and struggles? How often we have suffered at the hands of others though we were innocent of their attacks? Do we turn to the Lord for his help? Do we trust in the Lord, knowing in faith He is near and will uphold our right? The difference between Jesus and ourselves is that we have sinned and he was sinless. At times, we may be reaping the consequences of our sins.

 

Reading 2: This is a continuation of the last Sunday’s second reading. James is balancing the emphasis Paul wrote that we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. The works of the Old Law did not save us. This is true.  It is possible that in the community to whom James is writing some interpreted Paul the way some Christians do today. They say faith alone saves us.

 

James reflects on Jesus’ teaching about the need to feed and clothe and give drink to the needy out of love. This was very important in the life of the disciple. James makes that very clear. It is faith in Jesus Christ that saves us, but that faith must be expressed and lived in love by carrying for those in need. He says faith not expressed in works or actions is dead, a matter of external show. But faith accompanied with works demonstrate one’s faith in Christ. As Jesus said: “It is not the one who says, Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven but him who does the will of my Father.”

 

Gospel

There are three parts in the Gospel today. First, the confession of faith in Jesus by Peter; second, the mystery of the cross is part of this; third, the need for us both to believe in Jesus and follow in his footsteps by embracing our own crosses.

 

First, the need for the apostles to make a decision about the identity of Jesus. They have been with Jesus for a period of time and have heard his teachings and seen signs and wonders. “Who do you say I am to you at this point of our relationship?” Peter, in faith, proclaims: “You are Christ” This is part of Jesus’ true identity. He is promised Messiah and Savior of the world.

 

Second, Jesus reveals to them what it really means for him to be the Christ. This is our connection to the first reading. He is the Suffering Servant prophesied by Isaiah. Jesus reveals that he will live out his mission as the Christ by suffering the cruel death of crucifixion.

 

To this Peter reacted negatively. Though he gave the right answer, he had a wrong understanding of its full meaning. Or maybe Peter really understood the implication of Jesus’ predictions of his suffering, but was not ready to embrace this himself. Peter was, in essence, telling Jesus to deny both his identity and his mission.

 

Third, Jesus rebukes Peter’s attempt to turn him from the cross. Instead, he emphasizes the disciple is to acknowledge Jesus’ identity and mission and embrace the mystery of the cross in one’s own life. Having faith in Jesus is not just agreeing with a set of statements about Jesus. Having faith means following him. It means giving our lives to him. Having faith means that we make Jesus our way of life. And this is the way of the cross, the way of love.

 

Who do you say I am? This is a question each disciple of Jesus needs to answer. If he is Christ for us, then how do we respond to this reality? Is he truly the Lord of our lives, at the very center of our lives? Do we embrace or run away from the crosses in our path?