Fourteenth Sunday Gospel A
· Let me put this passage in context. Jesus in the verses prior to these talked about how many rejected John the Baptist because his message was hard. And many rejected Jesus in spite of his teachings, in spite of the signs and wonders they had observed and experienced. This passage helps to explain why. While many have rejected Jesus, others have accepted him. These are the ones he now addresses.
At that time Jesus said, "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
· This is one of the few prayers of Jesus to the Father recorded in the scriptures.
· For Jesus, the wise and the learned were those who should have been open to his teachings and recognized that signs and wonders he performed confirmed his teachings. But because of the hardness of their hearts, they refused.
· On the other hand, the childlike are those who are opened to the workings of God in their lives and accept without always understanding fully.
· The revelation is from God; the grace to accept that revelation is from God; the decision to do so is personal.
· Are we open to God’s message, even if it seems difficult? What revelations of the Gospel do we find the most challenging?
All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.
· Jesus shares briefly about his intimacy with the Father. What is our relationship to Jesus and the Father like? How intimate?
"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
· The yoke was the cross bar that was fitted over the necks of the oxen as they pulled a cart. If it was well-made, it distributed the load evenly.
· In its original meaning Jesus was referring to the heavy burden that the Law had become because of the many extra laws humans added through interpretation. It became almost impossible to fulfill the Law, which was at the basis of their covenant relationship with God.
· What are the burdens and difficulties that tend to overwhelm us as we try to live in relationship with God?
· Jesus is inviting us to team up with him and to learn from him. We don’t have to go it alone. Allow him to take the lead and to help us through those difficult situations of life. Only the childlike can do this.
· How can I respond to this invitation of Jesus in a practical way this week.
Pope
Francis has said: “The patience of God accompanies and waits for us. If we look
at the history of salvation we can see the ‘patience of God, our Father,’ who
has led and carried His ‘stubborn people’ forward each time they strayed one
way or the other.” Even though God would
call them back to their covenant commitment, they would continue to do
abominable things. He would chastise them, but never abandon them, because his
patience is ever lasting.
“The
patience of God is a mystery! How much patience he has with us! We do so many
things, but He is patient. God is patient like the prodigal son’s father who waits
every day for his son to come home.” God
treats us in the same way. How patient has God been with us through our life’s
journey? The Second Letter of Perter reminds us: "The Lord does not delay
his promise, as some regard ‘delay,’ but he is patient with you, not wishing
that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (3:9). God has
every right to end our relationship with him because of our many sins and the
hardness of our hearts. Instead, God graces us and waits patiently for our
return.
What should our response
be? Repentance and Gratitude. The fruit of God’s patience will be our return to
him and remaining one with and in him.
We will continue to reflect on the virtue of patience, since it is a key virtue in our journey to greater holiness. St. Peter said: "Esteem it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various trials, knowing that the trying of your faith begets patience." St. Therese builds on this when she says: "If we bear slight things patiently, we shall acquire courage and strength to bear great things."
We want instant gratification and instant results. It is a sign of our need to be in total control of our life and its circumstances. But the truth is we are not in total control. We get impatient when things do not go the way we want. We get impatient when we are inconvenienced. We forget that we are not God and the world doesn't revolve around us.
The virtue of patience enables us to embrace the truth of who we are and who we are not. It gives us many opportunities to live out the reality of our existence in relationship to God and others. Impatience is the expression of our fallen nature and our imperfect will. While the virtue of patience enables us to embrace the will of God for us in the present moment. Since it is a virtue, I have to develop it and at the same time be open to the grace of God which enables me to grow in this virtue.
Our prayer should not be: "Lord, let me grow in patience, but make it happen now." Rather it should be: "Lord, let me grow in patience in your time and by your grace and by my response."
Have you ever been impatient with God? Have
you prayed for something very important to you and it didn’t happen or happened
later than you desired? How did you react? Have you ever felt that God had
abandoned you, didn’t love you the way you wanted to be loved? What was your
reaction? Have you ever given up on God, because you were hurt by something
that happened to you? You believed that God should have protected you by
preventing it from happening.
Job was upset and impatient with God. He didn’t
think he deserved the calamities that happened to him. He wanted God to give
him an account. What did God say? Can the clay pot demand a reckoning from the
potter? Can the creature confront the Creator?
Isaiah tells us that God’s ways are not our
ways; his thoughts are not our thoughts. The truth is that God has every right
to be impatient with us. For all the love he has poured upon us, we have sinned
against him many times. But instead of condemning us, he chooses to chastise us
in love, so that we might return to him, where we will find true happiness and
peace.
What do we need to do? Ask forgiveness of
anytime we were impatient with God. Ask God for the grace to grow in patience, especially
when we do not understand his ways.
Patience in reference to God will bear the fruit of greater love and
trust in his goodness.
Besides having to practice the virtue of patience with regards to others, how often do we find ourselves impatient with our own faults and failures? We are beset with sin, especially some habitual sins. The more we try to break from them, the more we seem to fail. This could lead to frustration and impatience with ourselves. This impatience could lead to discouragement and a sense of hopelessness.
We have a choice to remain in a state of hopelessness or to admit our weakness and renew our commitment to start again, depending more on the strength and grace of God. For as St. Paul reminds us: "When I am weak, it is then that I am strong." Or as Saint Junipero Serra's motto says: "Always forward, always forward and never turn back." It is those times when we see our faults, that we need to express patience with ourselves, the same patience that God shows when we sin. He doesn't condone our sins, but encourages us to start again. Lord, help me to grow in patience, today!
Homily
Thirteenth Sunday Year A
Reading
1: The woman recognized the holiness of Elisha and provided for his needs.
Unconnected but as a result, she received a gift from God, a child. The gift of
hospitality to his prophet is rewarded by God. God sees the heart of the woman.
Her honoring Elisha was her way of recognizing God and trying to respond to what
God commanded, namely to show hospitality.
Her
focus was God. Elisha was just the recipient of her faith and love, her
commitment to God. We can’t have a real, true relationship with God without it
being expressed in the ways pleasing to God.
Her
hospitality ties in with the Gospel. Whoever receives a prophet will receive a
prophet’s reward. Who are the prophets and holy ones who come into our lives?
Do we recognize them to be such? How do we treat them and why?
Gospel:
We have a series of independent sayings of Jesus that center around the
relationship of a disciple to Jesus as Lord and Master. He is the center of our
lives.
It
is not that Jesus wants us to hate our parents, that would be in opposition to
the Fourth Commandment. But in loving and being obedient to them, we are to
love and be obedient more to Jesus, if we acknowledge him as the Lord of our
lives.
The
same is true with other family members. We are not to focus so much on them
that we neglect our relationship with Jesus. The focus is not our life, but our
life in Christ Jesus. For Jesus to be the center of our lives will not take
anything away from our other relationships, but will continue to enhance. That’s
the paradox.
The
second series of sayings deal with the role of disciples because of our
relationship with Jesus and how the disciple should be received and treated by
others. The focus again is not who the disciple is in his/her own person, but
who the disciple is in Christ Jesus. Those who receive, accept and provide for
that disciple will be reared as if they were receiving, accepting and providing
for Christ himself. “What you do to the least, you do to me.”
So
we reflectively ask: Is Jesus in the center of our life or on the fringe or
just one among many? Whatever is in the center controls the whole. So what is
in the center of our life? What is in control? If it is Christ, then we will
make different choices; we will see thing differently; we will value things
differently. The crosses of our lives will not be stumbling blocks but ladders
to climb closer to God, a bridge over trouble waters.
Reading
2: The focus is our identity in Christ and the effects of this identity. Christ died for our sins. In baptism we too,
in a sense, died to sin, the sin that alienated us from God. But as Jesus rose
from the dead, in baptism, we too rose from the death of alienation to live a
new life in Christ. Something
drastically happened. We became a new creature.
Because
of Jesus’ death and resurrection and our death to sin, we too will rise with
him at our death to the fullness of that new life we received in baptism. This
is our faith. We are not to fear physical death because it has no power over
us. We will pass from physical death to eternal life with God, if we live for
God in Christ Jesus.
What
should our response be to this gift of God? We are called to intentionally put
aside the areas of sin in our life, which would prevent us from being with God
eternally. This is a life-time process, but one that happens one act of love at
a time.
What virtue do most of us need in our daily
journey? I would suspect it may be patience.
Jesus said: “By your patience you will save your soul”.
Sometimes it is our lack of patience that can become a stumbling rock on our
path to sanctity. How often were we impatient over the past week?
To whom is our impatience directed towards? The spiritual writers identify three: others, ourselves and God.
Sometimes those we live with, those we work with, those in our immediate and extended family, those we interact with directly or indirectly get under our skin and we lose it. I know for me, my patience is tested when I am driving. Inevitably, I get behind someone who is going less than the speed limit and I am in a rush to get somewhere. But what is your situation? Who aggravates you the most?
Here is St. Francis de Sales advice on how to deal with others who push our button. "Resist your impatience faithfully, practicing, not only with reason, but even against reason, holy courtesy and sweetness to all, but especially to those who weary you most." (St. Francis de Sales)
What I try to do when I am driving is to talk out loud as if I am talking to the person in the car. In a joking way, I ask where did the person get his/her license. Being impatient in the circumstance doesn't change the situation. It only elevates my blood pressure. Laughing at the situation to myself and at myself, takes the sting out of it.
Pray for patience but intentionally strive to be patient. "By your patience you will save your soul."
“Strive to acquire the virtues you think others lack, and then you will no longer see their defects, because you yourself will not have them.” (St. Augustine)
We have a tendency (coming from Original Sin) to see the faults of others very clearly but to quickly gloss over our own shortcomings. If, instead, we would spend our energy dealing with our own defects, then we will accomplish two things. First we will be seeking to grow in holiness in these areas. Second, we will be praying for the other that they too would grow in holiness, rather than be judgmental towards them.
What changes is our focus, from fault-finding of others to correction of our own defects. What results is true self-love and true love of the other.
In yesterday's Gospel reading, Jesus repeated three times: Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid of speaking the truth. Do not be afraid of what others can do to you. Do not be afraid to acknowledge me before others. Why? He reminds us that he is with us always, even though we do not see or feel him. He reminds us that we are precious in the eyes of the Father.
How often do we let human fear dictate our response rather than our relationship with God? How often do we fear what others may say or do more than we fear God's response? How often do forget to live in our true identity as a son or daughter of God?
Jesus' response to Jairus, when he was told that his daughter had died, was "Fear is useless. What is needed is trust." Ask for the grace to trust in God's presence, promise and protection the next time we become afraid. His grace is available, but we must ask for it and respond to it. Who can be against me if God is with me?
Pope Pius XII in his encyclical on the Sacred Heart spoke
of the threefold love of the heart of Jesus. Yesterday we reflected on the first two. Today, we look at the third.
“And finally – and
this in a more natural and direct way – it is the symbol also of sensible love,
since the body of Jesus Christ, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the
Virgin Mary, possesses full powers of feelings and perception, in fact, more so
than any other human body.
“Since, therefore, Sacred Scripture and the official
teaching of the Catholic faith instruct us that all things find their complete
harmony and order in the most holy soul of Jesus Christ and that He has
manifestly directed His threefold love for the securing of our redemption, it
unquestionably follows that we can contemplate and honor the Heart of the
divine Redeemer as a symbolic image of His love and a witness of our redemption
and, at the same time, as a sort of mystical ladder by which we mount to the
embrace of “God our Savior.”
Jesus in his
humanity is our pattern of true, unconditional, other-focus love. As we seek to
love in the same way in our humanity, we not only draw closer to him but through
him also to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Our heart becomes united to Jesus’
heart and his divine life sustains us on our journey to the God’s eternal
presence. We can never equate Jesus' love for us. We can only respond to it with love. Thus, the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus invites us to love Jesus and in loving him becoming a sign of love to others.
Pope Pius XII in his encyclical on the Sacred Heart spoke
of the threefold love of the heart of Jesus. Today, we will look at two of these.
“The Heart of the Incarnate Word is
deservedly and rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that threefold
love with which the divine Redeemer unceasingly loves His eternal Father and
all mankind. It is a symbol of that divine love which
He shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit but which He, the Word made
flesh, alone manifests through a weak and perishable body, since “in Him dwells
the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”
Jesus in his
humanity manifested his love for the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. He
chose to do the will of the Father out of love, even embracing death on the
cross. In all he reflects both divine and human love.
“ (Secondly), It is, besides, the symbol of that
burning love which, infused into His soul, enriches the human will of Christ
and enlightens and governs its acts by the most perfect knowledge derived both
from the beatific vision and that which is directly infused.”
Jesus never lost
awareness of the Father’s love from early on in his life, but especially from
the time of his baptism on. He was loved by the Father to which his baptism was
his public response to this intimate love. This mutual love was confirmed by
the Father’s affirmation, which the early Fathers of the Church referred this
as the kiss of the Father. It was this love that sustained him throughout his life, even on the cross when he gave all for our sake.
Homily
Twelfth Sunday Year A
Reading
1: The prophet Jeremiah, because he has spoken the word of God to the Chosen
People who had been unfaithful to God, is persecuted by them. The word he spoke
from God was something they did not want to receive or accept. God told them
that a time of chastisement is coming, in which they would be taken into exile
by their enemies. They were not to resist, but to surrender to the will of God.
Though
Jeremiah didn’t expect the strong negative response against him, he knew that
this word came from God and needed to be said. In the midst of the persecution,
where did Jeremiah find his comfort? He knew the Lord was the one who called
him and gave him the words to say. He knew that the Lord was with him in spite
of his difficulties.
Instead
of running away and hiding, Jeremiah trust himself to the Lord. Even when he
does, he is still imperfect. He wants to see the vengeance God will bring upon his
enemies. In the Gospel, Jesus shows us the perfect way, namely forgiveness.
Gospel:
Jesus begins by telling the twelve and us: Do not be afraid of what people may
do and do not be ashamed to proclaim the good news of God, his mercy. Do not be
afraid because of the possibility or reality of persecution, even death. God is
with us and will care for us.
What
are we to witness in the midst of difficulties? We are to proclaim the love of
God, his providence and his great mercy. We are to stand firm because God is
with us thought the storms of others’ anger rage around us.
In
Baptism, we were sealed with the oil of Chrism and told that we now share in
the life of Christ as priest, prophet and king. In Confirmation we were again
anointed by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses of God’s love and mercy to us and
to others. When we came into the awareness and own the reality that God has
loved and saved us through his death and resurrection and shared his life with
us, then this revelation needs to be publicly proclaimed.
If
we act on that call and acknowledge what God has and is doing, Jesus promises
to acknowledge us before his Father. What does that mean? We will be with God
forever. But if we do not acknowledge him by silence or out of fear of what
people may do in response, Jesus will not acknowledge us before his Father.
What does that mean? Eternal alienation from God. If we deny him, he will deny
us. Wow!
To
reject Jesus is to reject the grace that he gives us. To ignore or reject what
he has commanded us to do in response to what he has done for us, is to be
ungrateful and thus unworthy of eternal life with him.
Reading
2: Paul acknowledges two realities: 1) that of sin and death and 2) that of God’s
grace and mercy. Sin is part of the life of each of us. We have all sinned many
times over, even after experiencing God’s mercy. But unmerited grace is the
remedy to sin. God’s forgives those who repent of their sins and turn back to
God. This grace comes from the death and resurrection of Jesus. We don’t earn it.
All we can do is receive it, like the tax collector in Jesus’ parable. He
recognized his sin and turned to the mercy of God, which he experienced.
What
lessons do we take from today’s scriptures? What response should we give to the
Word of God?
Yesterday, I cited the first reason given by Pope Pius XII for our devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Here is his second reason.
"The other reason which refers in a particular
manner to the Heart of the divine Redeemer, and likewise demands in a special
way that the highest form of worship be paid to it, arises from the fact that
His Heart, more than all the other members of His body, is the natural sign and
symbol of His boundless love for the human race. "There is in the Sacred
Heart," as Our predecessor of immortal memory, Leo XIII, pointed out,
"the symbol and express image of the infinite love of Jesus Christ which
moves us to love in return."
In worshiping the Sacred Heart of Jesus we are responding
to the infinite love that he has shown us by becoming man and by giving his
life in ransom for our life out of love. As St. Theresa of Avila so aptly
stated it: Love is responded to with love. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I love you.
You are deserving of all my love. Help me to deepen my love for you.
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel A
Jesus said: "Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.
· Jesus tells us not to be afraid in times of persecution or rejection because of our loyalty to him. When were the times I was afraid to be counted as a follower of Jesus and instead gave in to peer pressure? When were the times I spoke the truth about moral issues even though it was not well received?
· The first reason given by Jesus: He knows all and all will be revealed. The deeds done in darkness will be made known in the light. The deeds of evil will be overcome by the deeds of good. God promises that evil will not win out in the end because Jesus has won the victory on the cross.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
· We are called not to act in darkness but always in the light. We are children of the light not of darkness.
· A disciple of Jesus is bold and public about his/her witness to the truth revealed by Jesus.
· Is there an area of darkness I am struggling with now? Have I ever experience inner peace and freedom when I was able to bring something from darkness into the light?
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
· The second reason given by Jesus: in truth those who persecute us have limited powers. Yes, they can harm or even destroy our bodies, but they have no power over the soul. The body is going to die in any event, but the soul will live eternally. The question is whether we will live eternally in condemnation or glory.
· The true fear is “fear of God”, which is not fear in the strict sense but reverential awe of his person and his love. It is a gift of the Spirit. Do I pray for such a gift from God?
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
· The third reason given by Jesus: God’s compassionate and everlasting, personal and redemptive love for each of us. Our full and true worth is found in our relationship to God.
· Am I convinced of God’s love for me or is it something I think I have to merit?
Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.
· Instead of fear or cowardice before others, we are challenged by Jesus to take advantage of the opportunities to publicly acknowledge the truth about Jesus and our relationship with him.
· If we do, he promises to be our advocate before His Father on the day we will have to give an account of our life.
· If we do not, he warns us that he will not stand by us on the Day of Judgment.
· What spoke to me in the Gospel passage?
· In my desire to respond to God’s word, what action do I feel I want to take?
Why does the Church give the highest
form of worship to the heart of Jesus? Pope Pius XII gave two reasons. Today, I will reflect on the first of these.
“The first,
which applies also to the other sacred members of the Body of Jesus Christ,
rests on that principle whereby we recognize that His Heart, the noblest part
of human nature, is hypostatically united to the Person of the divine Word.
Consequently, there must be paid to it that worship of adoration with which the
Church honors the Person of the Incarnate Son of God Himself. We are dealing
here with an article of faith, for it has been solemnly defined in the general
Council of Ephesus and the second Council of Constantinople.”
What is this article of faith? We believe that the Son of God became man, was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb. As a result we believe that Jesus is True
God and True Man. It is in view of this that we worship his human heart, in so far as it is a vital part
part of the one person, Jesus Christ. His heart can not be separated from the person
who is divine. The person is divine and therefore we pay homage to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. What we offer is not mere pious devotion but adoration due to the person of God.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I worship you. You are deserving of all
worship, for you are God.
This coming Friday we will celebrate
the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This week I will share with you
reflections on this mystery.
Love has always been associated with
the heart, so it was only natural that the love of God became represented by a
heart, the heart of his Son Jesus. In him, God the Father revealed his infinite
love for us.
The Church was born from the pierced
heart of Jesus on the cross. In the first creation, Eve was born from the side
of Adam. In the new creation, the Church was born from the side of Jesus. The
Bride from the Heart of the Bridegroom! When the soldier thrust his lance into
Jesus’ side, immediately blood and water flowed out.
Saint John Chrysostom had this to say
about this passage: “Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without thought;
it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said that
water and blood symbolized baptism and the holy Eucharist. From these two
sacraments the Church is born: from baptism, the cleansing water that gives
rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit, and from the holy Eucharist. Since
the symbols of baptism and the Eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his
side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of
Adam … As God took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has
given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib
when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and
the water after his own death.”
Reflect on this mystery of God's love.
At the Last Supper, Jesus
actualized this teaching on the Eucharist when he took bread, blessed, broke
it. He then gave it to those at table with him saying: “Take and eat. This is
my Body.” Then he took the chalice of wine and gave thanks. Handing it to those
at table, he said: “Drink from this, all of you. For this is my blood of the
new covenant, which shall be shed for many as a remission of sins.” (Mt
26:27-28) At the time, without understanding what was happening, the disciples
acted in faith. Their faith was in the person of Jesus. Probably only after
Pentecost with the gift of the Spirit did they began to connect the dots
between the gift of Manna in the desert, then what Jesus revealed in John 6 and
finally the event of the Last Supper.
We believe that at the words of
Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit bread and wine are substantially
changed into the real Body and Blood of Jesus. We call this
transubstantiation. This means that,
after the words of consecration, what appears as bread and wine is now in
actuality the real Body and Blood of Jesus. It is not a symbol of a reality, or
a reminder of a past reality, but the reality itself.
As Jesus made it clear, in
recognizing his Body and Blood in faith and receiving it in full awareness of
our unworthiness, we are sharing in the Divine Life of God in a fresh new
way—the life given to us in Baptism . God in us and we in God! Mystery! In silent awe and gratitude we
worship God, who chooses to make our bodies living tabernacles for his
glorified Body and Blood. Like St Thomas, the Apostle, we acclaim: “My Lord and
my God.”
There is no mistaking what Jesus
said and meant, when he said that he will give us his Body to eat and his Blood
to drink. His words are clear and straight forward, no equivocation and no
interpretation needed. Why is it so hard to believe? If God created the world
from nothing, if the Holy Spirit could overshadow Mary for her to conceive
Jesus without the help of a man, if Jesus’ death on the cross saved us from
eternal death, if Jesus, though dead for three days, could rise with a
glorified body, never to die again, could he not change bread and wine into his
very Body and Blood for us to eat and drink?
What was the response, even from
some of his followers? Therefore, many
of his disciples, upon hearing this, said: “‘This saying is difficult,’ and, ‘Who
is able to listen to it?’ Jesus, knowing within himself that his disciples were
murmuring about this, said to them: ‘Does this offend you?....But there are
some among you who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the beginning who were
unbelieving and which one would betray him.” (John 61-62, 65)
Many of his disciples could not
accept this teaching of Jesus. Not only could they no longer believe in his
word, the could no longer believe in him. They walked away. The same is true
for many today. Therefore, Jesus said to
the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” Then Simon Peter answered him: “Lord,
to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed,
and we recognize that you are the Christ, the Son of God.” (John 6:68-70)
These disciples heard the same
teaching as the others. Even though they did not understand the mystery of the
Bread of Heaven, their faith was in the person of Jesus. Do we believe in the
Real Presence?
NOVENA TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
June 10-18, 2020
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in
you. O my Jesus, you have said: “Truly I say to you, if you ask anything of the
Father in my name, he will give it to you.” Behold, in your name, I ask the
Father for the grace of… (Mention your Intention Here)
Our Father……Hail, Mary…..Glory be to the Father….
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is
impossible not to have compassion on the
afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we
ask of you, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, your tender
Mother and ours. Amen.
Homily
Feast of Corpus Christi Year A
Reading
1: God prefigured and foreshadowed the gift of his Body and Blood by the lesser
gift of manna to feed the Israelites in the desert. Moses reminded the people
toward the end of their journey that the gift of manna was given to them, not
just to feed their bodies, but to remind them of several things.
1)
Through
their forty year journey in the desert, God directed their journey to test
whether they would keep his commandments and thus enter into the Promised Land.
2) They were to remember that bread is important to live physically, but God’s
word and obedience to it is necessary to live eternally. 3) They were not to
forget what God had done for them.
What
is the application for us? Our life journey is to test our acceptance and
commitment to God. This will determine whether we will be with God or not in
eternity. This test is based on the acceptance of and the embracing of the word
of God as our way of life. Finally, like the Israelites, this realization that
we must not forget what God has done for us, must be recalled to mind and
celebrated in thanksgiving.
Reading
2: The bread and wine are changed, transformed radically and substantially into
the Body and Blood of Christ. Thus, when we partake, we partake not in bread
and wine but the very Body and Blood of Christ. Our oneness with Christ in the
Eucharist also signifies our oneness with each other because of the Eucharist.
How
conscious are we of each of these reality? God dwells in me and I in God.
Mystery of faith beyond reason! What is happening after Communion during those
moments of intimacy with Jesus? How conscious are we when we leave the Church
of this presence and oneness with God? Because it is the same Jesus in me as in
you, by his presence we are united as brothers and sisters. How can I choose to
sin against another, if I am conscious of this mystery? How can I choose to say
or think negative against another, who also receive Jesus in Eucharist? What is
our disposition after Communion?
Gospel:
The focus of the Gospel message is that to eat the Body and Blood of Christ is
not a symbolic gesture. In faith, we are consuming the real Body and Blood of Jesus.
To eat his Body is to have eternal life. Human beings have looked for the
fountain of youth. This is the fountain of life that exists after physical
death. Everyone desires to live forever. True life is not physical life, which
is here today and gone tomorrow, but divine life of God which is eternal.
How
much clearer can Jesus be? Unless you eat my Body and drink my Blood you will
not have eternal life. He is talking about an internal, invisible reality.
The
Pew Research Center last year did a survey of Catholics concerning their belief
in the Eucharist. They discovered that only one-third of Catholics believe that
the Eucharist is the actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. From observing over
the years how people approach the Eucharist and what they do afterwards, I tend
to believe that this statistic is accurate, unfortunately.
Am
I complacent or attentive when I receive the Eucharist? Do I approach the
moment of Communion as a matter of fact or out of routine? Or do I realize how
unworthy I am to receive the God of Gods the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, True
God and True Man into this sinful body?
Am I overwhelmed each time I receive, reflecting on the words I said prior:
Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word
and my soul shall be healed.
Approach
in awe and wonder and celebrate in thanksgiving the love of God shown us in
such marvelous ways.
What did Jesus teach about the
Eucharist? “I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never
thirst....Your fathers ate manna in the desert, and they died. This is the
bread which descends from heaven, so that if anyone will eat from it, he may
not die. I am the living bread, who descended from heaven. If anyone eats from
this bread, he shall live in eternity. And the bread that I will give is my
flesh, for the life of the world.” (John 6:35, 49-52)
The response of the Jews was the
response of reason, not of faith. They debated among themselves, saying, “How
can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (John 6:53) This was the stumbling
block for them and for others, even in our own day. Last year in a Pew Research Center report it stated that only one-third of Catholics believe that the Eucharist is the actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.These Catholics could not put their
faith In Jesus, like the people of his own day.
When the Jews of his day bulked at
the words of Jesus concerning giving his
flesh to eat, he immediately affirmed what he had said. In fact, Jesus doesn’t
qualify his previous statement but instead he gave greater emphasis and
insistence to what he had already said. “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise
him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Just as
the living Father has sent me and I live because of the Father, so also whoever
eats me, the same shall live because of me. This is the bread that descends
from heaven. It is not like the manna that your fathers ate, for they died.
Whoever eats this bread shall live forever.” (John 6:54-59)
Is this what we believe without question?
Feast of Corpus Christi Gospel Reflections A
I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."
· In talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus in Jn 4 said he would give her living water and again in Jn 7:37 Jesus invited all those who thirst to come to him and he would give them living water. What is this living water? The gift of the Spirit. Now, he says he is the living bread.
· What does “living water” do and what does “living bread” do? What is the connection between our physical needs and our spiritual needs?
· He says that he is the living bread that came down from heaven. What would this remind the Jews of? The Manna in the desert; God’s providence. What is the connection between God providing for his people in the desert and God providing for us today?
· We eat in order to sustain physical life. Jesus feeds us with his Body and Blood to sustain our life with God, not just for the moment but for eternity.
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?"
· On first take they thought he was talking about cannibalism. Because of their dietary laws, the Jews would only eat clean “flesh” not anything considered to be unclean according to the Law. And definitely no faithful Jew would think of eating human flesh.
· The fact that they quarreled among themselves indicates that some accepted this saying and others did not.
Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.
· Anytime Jesus uses the phrase “Amen, amen,” he is making a statement that is absolutely true.
· Do we approach the Eucharist with this understanding?
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.
· Notice Jesus doesn’t try to explain what he means. If we believe in him, we will believe in his words, no matter if we don’t understand. Faith is primarily an assent to a person.
· How conscious are we of the union and intimacy between Jesus and ourselves, when we receive him in Communion?
· He makes himself very clear by saying “my flesh is true food….blood…true drink.” It is not a symbol but the real body and blood of Jesus.
Just as the living Father sent me, and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
· The great difference between the manna and the Body and Blood of Jesus is that the former fed only the body for a short period; while the later brings spiritual nourishment at the deepest level.
· What is our understanding of Eucharist? What is our experience of Eucharist?
· The primary focus of the Eucharist is the reception for spiritual nourishment. The secondary focus is adoration. Sometimes people reverse the intention of Jesus.
Preparing the people for the
greater teaching on the Eucharist, Jesus said: “Do not work for food that perishes, but for that
which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you. For God the
Father has set his seal on him.” Therefore, they said to him, “What should we do, so
that we may labor in the works of God?” Jesus responded and said to them, “This
is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he sent.” (John 6:27-29)
First of all, Jesus is talking about real food that leads to eternal life. Secondly, Jesus is the one sealed and sent by the Father to reveal his plan of salvation. Thirdly, to understand this new teaching a level of faith is needed. Faith in the person of Jesus, as
the one sent by the Father, is the key to embracing this and any revealed
mystery.
A mystery is beyond reason. Reason is based on facts, mystery on
faith. I can reason that there is a God from the facts of creation. But to
accept the realty of the One God being Triune in person takes the grace of faith.
The people witnessed the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish. The
facts were evident. Now they are being challenged to take a leap of faith from
the known experience to the revelation of mystery. Each time we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus in Eucharist, we are making this leap of faith. The facts we see are bread and wine. The faith we express is that what we receive is the real Body and Blood of Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus, for the grace to believe in you and to accept and act on your words in faith
Next Sunday, we will celebrate
another mystery of our faith. It will be the Feast of the Body and Blood of
Jesus Christ. As Catholics, we believe that at the Last Supper Jesus took
unleavened bread and ordinary wine, said a blessing and changed them into his
Real Body and Blood for us to eat and drink. Then he said, “Do this in memory
of me.” Ever since, the Apostles, their successors and ordained priests have
obediently fulfilled this command of Jesus in cathedrals, parish churches, on
the battlefield, in prisons and hospitals, in catacombs and in hidden places,
from the rising of the sun till its setting.
The teaching of Jesus on this
miracle-mystery is clear, even though the reality remains a mystery. Like other
revealed mysteries one can only embrace it with faith in the person of Jesus.
Because Jesus is both God and Man, because he is the Truth, the Way and the
Life, because he teaches and does the works of the Father, what he says about
the Eucharist is true.
In the sixth chapter of St. John’s
Gospel the revelation of this mystery is given to us. It is given with the
background of Jesus miraculously feeding the five thousand with a few loaves
and a few small fish. The manna that God provided the Israelites during their
forty year trek in the desert prior to entering the Promised Land is also part
of the background.
We will continue our reflection
tomorrow. Meanwhile, spend some time reflecting on your experience and
understanding of the Eucharist as we prepare for the feast.
As we conclude our reflection on the
mystery of the Trinity, I offer this prayer of St Catherine of Sienna. Pray it
reflectively in preparation for the Sunday celebration. I pray that your celebration of the Feast of the Most Blessed Trinity will be a time of a new relationship with the Triune God.
Eternal
God, eternal Trinity, you have made the blood of Christ so precious through his
sharing in your divine nature. You are a mystery as deep as the sea; the more I
search, the more I find, and the more I find the more I search for you. But I
can never be satisfied; what I receive will ever leave me desiring more. When
you fill my soul I have an even greater hunger, and I grow more famished for
your light. I desire above all to see you, the true light, as you really are.
I
have tasted and seen the depth of your mystery and the beauty of your creation
with the light of my understanding. I have clothed myself with your likeness
and have seen what I shall be. Eternal Father, you have given me a share in
your power and the wisdom that Christ claims as his own, and your Holy Spirit
has given me the desire to love you. You are my Creator, eternal Trinity, and I
am your creature. You have made of me a new creation in the blood of your Son,
and I know that you are moved with love at the beauty of your creation, for you
have enlightened me.
Eternal Trinity, Godhead,
mystery deep as the sea, you could give me no greater gift than the gift of
yourself. For you are a fire ever burning and never consumed, which itself
consumes all the selfish love that fills my being. Yes, you are a fire that
takes away the coldness, illuminates the mind with its light and causes me to
know your truth. By this light, reflected as it were in a mirror, I recognize
that you are the highest good, one we can.
When we profess the Apostles’ Creed or
the Nicene Creed, we may not be aware of the struggles our ancestors in the
faith had to endure in order to preserve the revelation handed done concerning
the mystery of the Blessed Trinity.
First of all, the apostolic community
didn’t have the clarity of language that we have to express our faith. They
believe without knowing how to fully express what it meant for the One God to be
Triune in persons. As the Church spread beyond Palestine into Greek and Roman
territories, they began to develop a theology on the Trinity.
As a result of trying to explain a
mystery with limited words, the first heresies arose, challenging the teaching
handed down by the Apostles to succeeding generations. There were those who
taught that there were not three persons but three aspects of One God. Others
questioned the humanity of the Christ, saying he was not God/Man but God in a
man, or appearing as a man. Some professed that Jesus was not God, but a god.
Others denied the Spirit was a person, only a power of God. Others stated there
were three gods.
Throughout, the Spirit guided the
Church to hold on to the truth as revealed by Jesus. And so 2000 years later,
we profess belief in one God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Hundreds of
years from now, as long as their are Christians alive, the same belief in the
Most Blessed Trinity will still be professed. We have been blessed to have been
recipients of this handed-down mystery. Now, we are called to pass on to future
generations this truth revealed by Jesus. Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit!
Homily Solemnity of the
Most Blessed Trinity Year A
Reading 2: Our faith in
the Trinity is expressed in the words of St. Paul in this second reading: “The
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the
Holy Spirit be with all of you.” Our faith expresses the revelation of God of
himself to us. God is One and Triune: one in being, three persons, Father, Son
and Spirit.
There is perfect relationship
among the three persons. That relationship is love. Their very life is perfect
love for each other, which bonds them together, though distinct persons into
the oneness of the Godhead.
Instead of dividing the
attributes or functions of God as Paul did for better human understanding, he
could just as easily have said: “the grace, love and fellowship of God be with
you.” What Paul is saying is: May all the blessings and favors given to us by
God as a sign of his intimate and personal love for us bring us into union with
God and one another. All God has done for us has been done because of his love.
Once we grasp and accept
this mystery of revelation, then our life will be different. We will “mend our
ways”, put off sin and put on the mind of Jesus Christ. We will “encourage and
agree with one another”, reaching out to one another with the same love God
gives us. Following what Paul says, we will let love be the basis of all we do
to one another. This in turn will draw us into the bond of unity and there will
be real peace and harmony between us. Then the God of love and peace will be
with us.
Reading 1: God wanted
humankind to know that the union which the three Persons of the Trinity share
with one another in love is his desire for them. God created us in unity with
him and with one another. But man and woman freely chose to alienate themselves
from God through sin.
But it is God who begins
the return journey of man and woman to himself. In this reading, God gives
Moses a personal revelatory experience of God. The Lord stood with Moses and
revealed his name: “Lord” and his attributes of mercy and graciousness, slow to
anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.
Moses, in turn, reflected
the deep longing within him and all humankind. “Be with us on this journey.”
There is a longing within the depth of each one’s heart for the presence of
God. St. Augustine once said: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you,
O God.” To fulfill this desire, God has
revealed himself to us and invites us into intimate union with him as Father,
Son and Spirit.
Gospel: We are reminded that all God does is done in
love. He created us out of love. He became man out of love. He redeemed us out
of love. He adopted us as his sons and daughters out of love. In all this, we
did nothing.
But what should our
response be to God’s unconditional, gratuitous love? Love. A love that is
expressed into belief and acceptance of his will for us in each present moment.
Though Jesus has saved us
without our earning it in any way, our salvation needs to be embraced and
responded to in a life of love and surrender to his will for us. In so doing,
we will share in the very life and love of God forever. We will not be God, but
we will experience the very life of God in union with him and one another.
We continue our reflection on the
mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity.
Jesus, the Son of God and the Son Man,
brought the revelation of the mystery of the Trinity, hidden until the time was
ready, into the light. The people of Israel acknowledged the Fatherhood of God.
As the rosebud contains the fullness of the rose, so Jesus began gradually to
unfold the reality of the Triune God.
First, he began by speaking publicly
of the person of the Father, who sent him to speak the words of the Father and
to do the works of the Father. Then he said the One who sees him (Jesus) has seen
the Father, for he and the Father are one.
The glory he had before the world began will be his again, when he
returns to the Father. When accused of making himself equal to God, Jesus did
not deny it. Rather he confirmed it by saying he will sit at the right hand of
God. All this was hard to believe to many of his devout contemporaries in
Israel.
To complete the revelation, Jesus
revealed that he and the Father will send the Holy Spirit to be with his
disciples and to be within them. The Spirit will be another Advocate for them,
giving them the ability to embrace what Jesus had revealed to them. For he will
be the Spirit of Truth witnessing about Jesus to the disciples, who in turn
would also witness. Later, Peter will
say: “It is better for us to obey the Spirit than men.”
Jesus revealed that God is one, but
the Father is a person, the Son is a person and the Holy Spirit is a person.
Before he left them, Jesus commissioned the disciples: “Go and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit.”
Spend some time today reflecting on
this mystery. Who is the Father to you? Who is the Son to you? Who is the Holy
Spirit to you? Let this mystery, like the
rose bud, unfold further for you to see and comprehend more fully.
Feast of the Holy Trinity Gospel Reflections A
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
· This is the core message of the Gospel: the depth and unconditional magnitude of God’s love for us. Reflect on Paul’s realization that Jesus died for us when we were sinners, not friends. (Rom 5:6-11)
· The Father gave his Son to us in a twofold manner: a) through the Incarnation; b) through his death on the cross.
· “Eternal life” is another way of saying “sharing God’s own divine life.”
· Reread the verse and put yourself in it: God so loved me…
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
· If God wanted to condemn the world all of salvation history from Abraham to Jesus’ death of the cross would not have been necessary.
· There is no salvation outside of Jesus. He came to save all.
· Again reread the verse and put yourself in it.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
· Though Jesus saved all, not everyone will be saved. Do you hear the condition? What does it mean “to believe in him?” It is more than assent and acknowledgment. What is involved?
· What about those who do not know, through no fault of their own, and therefore do not believe in Jesus? Is salvation possible for them? (Catechism of the Catholic Church—paragraphs 846-848)
· How do we respond to God’s love and how should we realistically respond?
· What do you take from this reflection and apply to your life?
“The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity
is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in
himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the
light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching
in the ‘hierarchy of the truths of faith”. The whole history of salvation is
identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men ‘and reconciles and unites
with himself those who turn away from sin’”.
(CCC 234)
As we prepare to celebrate the
Solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity, it may be good to reflect on this
mystery for the next few days. The
Trinity is a mystery. We can come to know there is a God with the use of our
natural reason. But, we have come to believe in the One God who is Triune in
persons by the grace of revelation through the Sacred Scriptures.
Though there is only one God, after
the fall of man, succeeding generations began to believe in many gods. From
Abraham on the awareness of this One God began to be known. In time, what
separated the Israelites from the other nations and tribes was their faith in
God as the only true God.
What we take for granted-the belief in
the One God-became a faith conviction that many true Israelite suffered and
died for rather than forsake their covenant with God. Thus, it was hard for
many of the Jewish people at the time of Jesus and his followers to accept that
the One God was Triune in person. But this is the mystery that Jesus, the
God-man, came to reveal. As the oneness of God separated the Chosen People from
the rest of the world, the belief in the mystery of the Trinity separates
Christians from other world religions.
Thank you Holy Trinity for this revelation and the
grace to embrace it with our lives!
Jesus is Lord and Messiah. This
was the first message Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost. What does it mean
for Jesus to be Lord, to be our Lord? First of all, Jesus is the Lord of all
creation. As a created being, we belong to him. Paul says that we belong to the
Lord, whether we live or die. As Lord he gave us life and as Lord he can take
our life away.
Secondly, when Jesus died on the
cross for our sins, he became our justification and righteousness before the
Father. Being slaves of sin, we were set free at the cost of his shed blood.
We belong to the Lord by virtue of redemption. But we were still alienated from
God.
Thirdly, in the waters of Baptism
God adopted us as his sons or daughters and shared his own Divine Life. In this
regeneration we became a new creation. We now belong to the Lord in a life of
grace, sealed with the Holy Spirit. We live now, not we, but Christ Jesus in
us.
All this Jesus did for us out of
unconditional love independent of any response from us. What should our response be now? Only love responds to love.
Our love is expressed through obedience to his will for us. In obedience we
choose to witness him to others in the power of the Spirit. He is Lord and we
are his disciple/witnesses.
Jesus, I acknowledge and proclaim you as my personal Lord and Savior. I commit to you to live under your Lordship today.
