to open the eyes of the blind, 
to free captives from prison, 
and those who live in darkness 
    from the dungeon.

John 15: 1-8

I am the true vine,
and my Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch in me that bears no fruit
he cuts away,
and every branch that does bear fruit
     he prunes
to make it bear even more.
You are clean already,
by means of the word
     that I have spoken to you.
Remain in me, as I in you.
As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself,
unless it remains part of the vine,
neither can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine,
you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me, with me in him,
bears fruit in plenty;
for cut off from me you can do nothing.
Anyone who does not remain in me
is thrown away like a branch
—and withers;
these branches are collected
     and thrown on the fire
and are burnt.
If you remain in me
and my words remain in you,
you may ask for whatever you please
and you will get it.
It is to the glory of my Father
      that you should bear much fruit
and be my disciples. 

                Sing: We Have Been Told

                Blind cannot see

                A secular person — enriches himself
                    at the cost of the other

Hebrews Chapter 11

Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of realities that are unseen. It is for their faith that our ancestors are acknowledged.

    It is by faith that we understand that the ages were created by a word from God, so that from the invisible the visible world came to be. 

    It was because of his faith that Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain, and for that he was acknowledged as upright when God himself made acknowledgement of his offerings. Though he is dead, he still speaks by faith. 

    It was because of his faith that Enoch was taken up and did not experience death: he was no more, because God took him; because before his assumption he was acknowledged to have pleased God. Now it is impossible to please God without faith, since anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and rewards those who seek him. 

    It was through his faith that Noah, when he had been warned by God of something that had never been seen before, took care to build an ark to save his family. His faith was a judgement on the world, and he was able to claim the uprightness which comes from faith. 

    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 sojourned in the Promised Land as though it were not his, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. He looked forward to the well–founded city, 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 was faithful to it. Because of this, there came from one man, and one who already had the mark of death on him, descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore which cannot be counted.   

    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 a homeland. If they had meant the country they came from, they would have had the opportunity to return 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 he had yet to receive what had been promised, and he had been told: Isaac is the one through whom 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. 

    It was by faith that this same Isaac gave his blessing to Jacob and Esau for the still distant future. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, bowed in reverence, as he leant on his staff. It was by faith that, when he was about to die, Joseph mentioned the Exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his own remains. 

    It was by faith that Moses, when he was born, was kept hidden by his parents for three months; because they saw that he was a fine child; they were not afraid of the royal edict. It was by faith that, when he was grown up, Moses refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and chose to be ill–treated in company with God’s people rather than to enjoy the transitory pleasures of sin. He considered that the humiliations offered to the Anointed were something more precious than all the treasures of Egypt, because he had his eyes fixed on the reward. It was by faith that he left Egypt without fear of the king’s anger; he held to his purpose like someone who could see the Invisible. It was by faith that he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood to prevent the Destroyer from touching any of their first–born sons. It was by faith they crossed the Red Sea as easily as dry land, while the Egyptians, trying to do the same, were drowned.  

    It was through faith that the walls of Jericho fell down when the people had marched round them for seven days. It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies and so was not killed with the unbelievers.

    What more shall I say? There is not time for me to give an account of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, or of David, Samuel and the prophets. These were men who through faith conquered kingdoms, did what was upright and earned the promises. They could keep a lion’s mouth shut, put out blazing fires and emerge unscathed from battle. They were weak people who were given strength to be brave in war and drive back foreign invaders. Some returned to their wives from the dead by resurrection; and others submitted to torture, refusing release so that they would rise again to a better life. Some had to bear being pilloried and flogged, or even chained up in prison. They were stoned, or sawn in half, or killed by the sword; they were homeless, and wore only the skins of sheep and goats; they were in want and hardship, and maltreated. They were too good for the world and they wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and ravines. These all won acknowledgement through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, since God had made provision for us to have something better, and they were not to reach perfection except with us.

1 Samuel 16: 1-13

Yahweh said to Samuel, ‘How much longer do you mean to go on mourning over Saul, now that I myself have rejected him as ruler of Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have found myself a king from among his sons. Samuel replied, ‘How can I go? When Saul hears of it he will kill me.’ Yahweh then said, ‘Take a heifer with you and say, “I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I shall reveal to you what you must do; and you will anoint for me the one I indicate to you.

    Samuel did what Yahweh ordered and went to Bethlehem. The elders of the town came trembling to meet him and asked, ‘Seer, is your coming favourable for us, he replied. ‘I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.’ He purified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

    When they arrived, he looked at Eliab and thought, ‘This must be Yahweh’s anointed now before him, but Yahweh said to Samuel, ‘Take no notice of his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him; God does not see as human beings see; they look at appearances but Yahweh looks at the heart. Jesse then called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel, who said, ‘Yahweh has not chosen this one either. Jesse then presented Shammah, but Samuel said, ‘Yahweh has not chosen this one either. Jesse thus presented seven of his sons to Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Yahweh has not chosen these. He then asked Jesse, ‘Are these all the sons you have?’ Jesse replied, ‘There is still one left, the youngest; he is looking after the sheep.’ Samuel then said to Jesse, ‘Send for him, for we shall not sit down to eat until he arrives. Jesse had him sent for; he had ruddy cheeks, with fine eyes and an attractive appearance. Yahweh said, ‘Get up and anoint him: he is the one! At this, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him, surrounded by his brothers; and the spirit of Yahweh seized on David from that day onwards. Samuel, for his part, set off and went to Ramah.

 

Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 19, 2009

HOMILY
There was a man who worked in a museum whose job it was to explain the different exhibits. On one occasion he pointed to the bones of a dinosaur saying the bones were 100 million and 9 years old. Someone asked how they could date those bones so accurately. He said “well, when I started working here, I was told these bones were 100 million years old and I’ve worked here for nine years.”

Today I want to give everyone a little history lesson. I’m not going back to the dinosaurs, but I am going back pretty far – to King David, 1000 years before Christ. When I was in school, I hated history. It wasn’t until we studied the history of the Old Testament in the seminary that I began to appreciate it. I cannot cram 1000 years of history into a couple of minutes. I just want to touch on the parts of Jewish history that are mentioned in today’s reading. If you want to learn more, read everything in the Old Testament, but be sure you have a commentary to help you. Otherwise, you’ll give up in despair because you won’t know what it’s all about - especially the prophets and the historical books.

When David was king 1000 years before Christ, David wanted to build a house for God, since there was no Temple for God at that time. God did not give David permission to do so, however God promised David through the prophet Nathan that he would bless him and build David a house in the sense that David’s kingdom would continue forever and one of his descendants would always rule. This blessing lasted through the reign of David’s son, Solomon; but we humans somehow have the ability to sabotage God’s blessings. Solomon turned to pagan gods and over-extended the country financially by elaborate building projects and exorbitant taxes, so when Solomon died there was a rebellion and most of Israel broke away from Solomon’s successor, David’s grandson, Rehoboam. Rehoboam continued to rule over the southern part of Israel, the area we know as Judaea . For 400 years (and this is amazing) the kings of Judaea were descendants of King David. The northern kingdom that rebelled against David’s successors suffered under a succession of kings and rebellions. In less than 300 years the northern kingdom was destroyed by the Assyrians, people from northern Iraq. About 100 years after that, the Babylonians from southern Iraq conquered the Assyrians and took control of the entire Middle East. The conquest of the Babylonians brings us up to Jeremiah whom we heard in today’s first reading. At the time of Jeremiah, here was the situation: the northern kingdom no longer existed. The southern kingdom, Judaea, was still being ruled by David’s descendants but they were not loyal to God or to God’s laws. Jeremiah spoke to these kings as they came into power, the last four being: Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoikin and Zedekiah. Zedikiah, the last reigning king, died in disgrace. After the Babylonians captured him, his sons were slaughtered before his eyes, he was then blinded and led off to Babylon in chains where he presumably died. You can read how Jeremiah spoke with them in great detail in the book of Jeremiah. He told them exactly what they needed to do to survive the invading forces of Babylon. His messages were ignored. He blames them and their leadership for the destruction that came upon God’s people. As we heard in today’s first reading, God speaks through Jeremiah: “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture.” God said he would take over shepherding his people; he would bring them back from exile; he would appoint leaders over them who would serve them well and lead them to peace and security. It took 600 years before God thought the world was ready for this king who would reign and govern wisely, who would do what is just and right in the land.

But then he came, through the announcement of an angel to a virgin who was engaged to a man named Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel said to her “Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”

In last week’s gospel, Jesus sent his apostles out to heal and cast out demons and to call people to repentance. In today’s gospel we are told of their return, excited over their experience and tired. Jesus wanted to some time off, but he couldn’t. The mission of Jesus and his apostles apparently was so successful that a great crowd caught up with them before they had chance to catch their breath. Mark describes Jesus taking compassion on them (his heart was moved with deep sympathy for them would probably be a better translation). He saw them as sheep without a shepherd, - people without leadership, and he began to teach them.

One of the important messages in today’s readings is that in love our Lord leads us, by teaching us and appointing others to teach us. But we need to listen, and we need to keep on listening. We’ll never be finished listening and learning as long as our world suffers from injustice, poverty, hunger, discrimination, war, hatred and killing of innocent people. Christ would be put to death before he would stop teaching. It is to our own great loss when we stop listening. That’s one of the reasons we are here each weekend, to listen and to learn. We call ourselves disciples. The word disciple means learner. When we’ve quit learning, we’ve quit being a disciple.

1st Sunday of Advent

Jeremiah 33: 14-16

    “Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall fulfil the promise of happiness I made to the House of Israel and the House of Judah:

        In those days and at that time,
        I shall make an upright Branch
            grow for David,
        who will do what is just and upright
            in the country.
        In those days Judah will triumph
        and Israel live in safety.
        And this is the name the city will be called:
        Yahweh–is–our–Saving–Justice.”

December 3, 2006 

INTRODUCTION

The prophet, Jeremiah, lived during one of the most devastating times in the history of Israel.  He witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians.  He saw many of his fellow citizens enslaved and taken into exile.  Yet his words reflect hope and not despair.  His hope is based not on human capabilities but on God's faithfulness to God’s promises.  Jeremiah recalls God’s promise to his people made over 400 years earlier, during the time of King David, that God would bring to the throne a successor to the King who would bring peace and security to Jerusalem.  We still wait for peace and security not only in Jerusalem but all over the world, but the promised one, a descendant of the House of David has begun his reign.  The gospel tells us one day he will come in great glory to establish the kingdom of God forever.   

Baruch 5: 1-9

Jerusalem, take off your dress of sorrow 
    and distress, 
put on the beauty of God’s glory 
    for evermore, 
wrap the cloak of God’s saving justice 
    around you, 
put the diadem of the Eternal One’s glory 
    on your head, 
for God means to show your splendour 
    to every nation under heaven, 
and the name God gives you 
    for evermore will be, 
‘Peace–through–Justice, 
    and Glory–through–Devotion’. 
Arise, Jerusalem, stand on the heights 
and turn your eyes to the east: 
see your children reassembled 
    from west and east 
at the Holy One’s command, 
    rejoicing because God has remembered. 
Though they left you on foot 
driven by enemies, 
now God brings them back to you, 
carried gloriously, like a royal throne. 
For God has decreed the flattening 
of each high mountain, 
    of the everlasting hills, 
the filling of the valleys 
    to make the ground level 
so that  Israel can walk safely 
    in God’s glory. 
And the forests and every fragrant tree 
    will provide shade 
for Israel, at God’s command; 
for God will guide Israel in joy 
    by the light of his glory, 
with the mercy and saving justice 
    which come from him.

2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

 Isaiah 62: 1-5

January 14, 2007

INTRODUCTION: Five hundred thirty years before Christ the Jews were exiles in Babylon. You’ve heard me mention this many, many times. Today’s first reading is an announcement from the prophet that the Persians, who had conquered the Babylonians, were going to let God’s people go home. Their cities and homes were in ruins during the time of their exile and the Persians were even willing to give them some material help to rebuild. God said he would forgive the sins of his people, their sins that brought on their exile, and God would take them back. God would make Jerusalem and Judea his spouse. The image of God marrying his people is an important biblical image and is the best symbol from our human experience that can be used to describe the love and intimacy God desires to have with his people. The image prepares the way for gospel account of the marriage feast of Cana.
 

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Nehemiah 8: 2-4a, 5-6, 8-10 

Accordingly, on the first day of the seventh month, the priest Ezra brought the Law before the assembly, consisting of men, women and all those old enough to understand. In the square in front of the Water Gate, in the presence of the men and women, and of those old enough to understand, he read from the book from dawn till noon; all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

    The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden dais erected for the purpose;

In full view of all the people — since he stood higher than them all — Ezra opened the book; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed Yahweh, the great God, and all the people raised their hands and answered, 'Amen! Amen!'; then they bowed down and, face to the ground, prostrated themselves before Yahweh.

Ezra read from the book of the Law of God, translating and giving the sense; so the reading was understood. Then His Excellency Nehemiah and the priest-scribe Ezra and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all the people, 'Today is sacred to Yahweh your God. Do not be mournful, do not weep.' For the people were all in tears as they listened to the words of the Law. He then said, 'You may go; eat what is rich, drink what is sweet and send a helping to the man who has nothing prepared. For today is sacred to our Lord. Do not be sad: the joy of Yahweh is your stronghold.'

January 21, 2007 

INTRODUCTION – You’ve heard frequently of the Babylonian exile and how the Persians conquered the Babylonians fifty years later and allowed the Jews to return home. Many of the Jews in Babylon had become rather comfortable there and they did not return to Israel all at once. Little by little they came. Even a hundred years after they began to return they were still struggling to rebuild their cities and their civilization. The Persians were still in control of the entire Middle East which included Israel. Nehemiah, a Jew, had been a high level servant to the king of Persia and he asked his king to allow him to return to Israel to help his people rebuild. So the king of Persia appointed him to be governor of Israel. In Nehemiah’s efforts to rebuild the nation, he had to start with what was most important and that was to remind the people that God had to take first place in their lives. He realized much of the trauma his people had gone through at the time of their exile was because they had forgotten their God. In today’s first reading Nehemiah called for a general assembly of the people and the priest Ezra read God's word to them. Remember, ordinary people did not have books in those days. Books were very rare and very expensive, since each one had to be individually written word by word. So, if the ordinary person were ever to know God's word, someone had to read it or preach it to them. Ezra, thus, read God's word to the people and interpreted it for them. The reading was most probably from the first five books of the bible. Notice that there was active participation on the part of God’s people as they heard the word, possibly for the first time: raising their hands, answering “amen,” bowing to the ground, listening attentively, weeping and rejoicing.


HOMILY - The central theme of today’s liturgy is God's word. The people were saddened by God's word in today’s first reading. Perhaps they recognized how they had failed to live up to it. But Ezra and Nehemiah told the people God's word should bring us joy. Even if they had not been living by God’s word, on hearing it they could learn from it and start living as God instructed them. When we break the laws of our society, we may get thrown into jail. God doesn’t send the police around when we break his laws, but when we ignore his word, it’s going to catch up with us in the long run. So many people rationalize bad behavior by saying Jesus is a good guy. He won’t punish me for this or that. But they forget, Jesus didn’t come to punish us. He came to show us the way to happiness and eternal life. When we choose a way contrary to his teaching we bring unhappiness upon ourselves.

One of my favorite psalm verses is: “Your word is a lamp for my steps and a light for my path.” (Ps 119, 105) If you have to go somewhere in the dark, it’s nice to have a flashlight to help you see where you’re going. You can walk in the dark if you wish, but that would not be very smart and you might be likely to end up hurting yourself. When we try to make it through life without God's word, we’re walking in the dark. We can’t say God is punishing us if, while we’re walking in the dark, we run into something or we fall. We did it to ourselves. ...

 

 

6^th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Jeremiah 17: 5-8

Yahweh says this,
Accursed be anyone
     who trusts in human beings,
who relies on human strength
and whose heart turns from Yahweh.
Such a person is like scrub
    in the wastelands:
when good comes, it does not affect him
since he lives in the parched places
    of the desert,
uninhabited, salt land.

‘Blessed is anyone who trusts in Yahweh,
with Yahweh to rely on.
Such a person is like a tree by the waterside
that thrusts its roots to the stream:
when the heat comes it has nothing to fear,
its foliage stays green;
untroubled in a year of drought,
it never stops bearing fruit.

February 11, 2007

INTRODUCTION:

Life is full of options for people in the world today, but the Bible tells us that all our options ultimately will be reduced to two.  We either make God the center of our lives or we don’t.  Choosing to make God the center of our lives will lead to true happiness, making any other choice may satisfy us temporarily, but it will in the end leave us disappointed and unhappy.  This was crystal clear to Jeremiah the prophet who lived at the time of the Babylonian exile.  His way of expressing this truth is crystal clear too.

Isaiah 43: 16-21

Thus says Yahweh, 
who made a way through the sea, 
a path in the raging waters, 
who led out chariot and horse 
together with an army of picked troops: 
they lay down never to rise again, 
they were snuffed out, put out like a wick. 
No need to remember past events, 
no need to think about 
    what was done before. 
Look, I am doing something new, 
now it emerges; can you not see it? 
Yes, I am making a road in the desert 
and rivers in wastelands. 
The wild animals will honour me, 
the jackals and the ostriches, 
for bestowing water in the desert 
and rivers on the wastelands 
for my people, my chosen one, to drink. 
The people I have shaped for myself 
will broadcast my praises.

March 25, 2007

INTRODUCTION - Imagine you have been captured by radical Moslems in Iraq, and turned into a slave. Then God sends you a message through a holy person that you will soon be liberated and would be able to come back home. Well, if you can imagine how you would feel, you can imagine how the Jews felt when Isaiah the prophet spoke to them the words in today’s first reading. At that time in history, 500 years before Christ, the land we now know as Iraq was known as Babylon. The Jews were their captives and slaves. God tells them their release from the Babylonians would be no less spectacular than their release from slavery in Egypt centuries earlier. Even as the prophet speaks, he tells them the road back to their own land is being made ready. God’s statement “see, I am doing something new” leads us into the gospel, where we see Jesus taking a new approach to sinners. He did not come to condemn but to save. His kindness to a woman caught in adultery freed her from both the death sentence and from her sins.


 

 
22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

You have seduced me, Yahweh,
    and I have let myself be seduced;
you have overpowered me:
    you were the stronger.
I am a laughing-stock all day long,
they all make fun of me.
For whenever I speak, I have to howl
and proclaim, ‘Violence and ruin!’
For me , Yahweh’s word has been the cause
of insult and derision all day long.
I would say to myself,
    ‘I will not think about him,
I will not speak in his name any more,’
but then there seemed to be a fire
    burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones.
The effort to restrain it wearied me,
I could not do it.

 

August 28, 2005

INTRODUCTION: (Jeremiah 20, 7-9) Our first reading goes back about 600 B.C. The author of our passage is the prophet Jeremiah. Apparently he thought that people would be grateful to him for speaking God’s word to them. But his job of telling them to change their ways and get right with God only made them hate him. The people ridiculed him, threw him in jail and even tried to kill him. We hear him complaining to God “You duped me! You tricked me, God!” I’m sure it wasn’t the first time God heard the complaint that life is not fair. Jesus’ faithfulness to his mission would bring him suffering too, but Jesus was well aware of what was going to happen to him as we hear him warn his disciples in today’s gospel. In last Sunday’s gospel Jesus praised Peter for acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus even promised Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven. But Peter wasn’t ready for all this talk about suffering and when Peter tried to talk Jesus out of the idea Jesus called him Satan. That’s because Peter was trying to tempt Jesus away from being faithful to his calling.

  

23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ezekiel 33: 7-9

Son of man I have appointed you as watchman for the House of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, warn them from me. If I say to someone wicked, "Evil- doer, you are to die," and you do not speak to warn the wicked person to renounce such ways, the wicked person will die for this guilt, but I shall hold you responsible for the death. If, however, you do warn someone wicked to renounce such ways and repent, and that person does not repent, then the culprit will die for this guilt, but you yourself will have saved your life.

 

September 4, 2005 

INTRODUCTION - (Ezekiel 33, 7-9) (Romans 13, 8-10) (Matthew 18, 15-20) Our first reading takes us back six hundred years before Christ as God explains to his prophet Ezekiel his responsibility as a prophet. He must warn God’s people of their sinful ways or he will be held accountable. It is a prelude to the gospel where Jesus instructs his followers how to help each other stay on the right track. St. Paul’s teaching on love in our second reading reminds us that if we should try to correct one another it should be done out of love.

 

 

Ezekiel 18: 25-28

    ‘Now, you say, "What the Lord does is unjust." Now listen, House of Israel: is what I do unjust? Is it not what you do that is unjust? When the upright abandons uprightness and does wrong and dies, he dies because of the wrong which he himself has done. Similarly, when the wicked abandons wickedness to become law–abiding and upright, he saves his own life. Having chosen to renounce all his previous crimes, he will most certainly live: he will not die.

  

September 25, 2005

INTRODUCTION – (Ezekiel 18, 25-28) (Matthew 21, 28-32) In 587 B.C. when the Babylonians conquered the Jews, destroyed their cities and Temple and farms and took them off to Babylon as their slaves, the conquered Jews concluded they were being punished for the sins of their ancestors. They complained God was unfair. In today’s first reading from Ezekiel, God addresses the Jews during their exile. God tells them they brought this disaster on themselves by their own sins. But the situation was not hopeless. They could always turn back to God if they wanted. This reading prepares us for the gospel where we hear a similar message. If we have damaged our relationship with God, we can always turn back.

Isaiah 45: 1, 4-6

Thus says Yahweh
    to his anointed one,
to Cyrus whom, he says,
    I have grasped by his right hand,
to make the nations bow before him
and to disarm kings,
to open gateways before him
so that their gates be closed no more:

It is for the sake of my servant Jacob
and of Israel my chosen one,
that I have called you by your name,
have given you a title
    though you do not know me.
I am Yahweh, and there is no other,
there is no other God except me.
Though you do not know me,
    I have armed you
so that it may be known from east to west
that there is no one except me.
I am Yahweh, and there is no other,

October 16, 2005

INTRODUCTION: (Isaiah 45, 1.4-6; Mt. 22, 15-21) The Babylonians lived in the land we now know as Iraq, 600 years before Christ. The capital city of Babylon was just less than 100 miles south of modern day Baghdad. 587 years before Christ the Babylonians conquered the Jews and enslaved most of the Jews and took them as captives to Babylon. At that time the Persians lived in modern day Iran. Fifty years after the Babylonians conquered the Jews, the Persians conquered the Babylonians. The Persian king, Cyrus, allowed the Jews to return to their Israel. He even encouraged them to rebuild their temple to Yahweh. The prophet Isaiah, in today’s first reading, sees the hand of God at work in all these events. He calls this pagan king, Cyrus, God's anointed. And although Cyrus thought it was by his own strength and shrewdness that he conquered the Babylonians, Isaiah said this was God’s doings. Isaiah stresses the absolute supremacy of God, a theme in today’s liturgy.

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