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Exodus 3: 1-8a, 13-15

Moses was looking after the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led it to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame blazing from the middle of a bush. Moses looked; there was the bush blazing, but the bush was not being burnt up. Moses said, 'I must go across and see this strange sight, and why the bush is not being burnt up.' When Yahweh saw him going across to look, God called to him from the middle of the bush. 'Moses, Moses!' he said. 'Here I am,' he answered. 'Come no nearer,' he said. 'Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your ancestors,' he said, 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.' At this Moses covered his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Yahweh then said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying for help on account of their taskmasters. Yes, I am well aware of their sufferings. And I have come down to rescue them from the clutches of the Egyptians and bring them up out of that country, to a country rich and broad, to a country flowing with milk and honey,

Moses then said to God, 'Look, if I go to the Israelites and say to them, "The God of your ancestors has sent me to you," and they say to me, "What is his name?" what am I to tell them?' God said to Moses, 'I am he who is.' And he said, 'This is what you are to say to the Israelites, "I am has sent me to you."' God further said to Moses, 'You are to tell the Israelites, "Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you." This is my name for all time, and thus I am to be invoked for all generations to come.

Psalm 103: 1-8, 11

Bless Yahweh, my soul,
from the depths of my being, his holy name;
bless Yahweh, my soul,
never forget all his acts of kindness.

He forgives all your offences,
cures all your diseases,
he redeems your life from the abyss,
crowns you with faithful love and tenderness;
he contents you with good things all your life,
renews your youth like an eagle’s.

Yahweh acts with uprightness,
with justice to all who are oppressed;
he revealed to Moses his ways,
his great deeds to the children of Israel.

Yahweh is tenderness and pity,
slow to anger and rich in faithful love;

As the height of heaven above earth,
so strong is his faithful love for those who fear him.

1 Corinthians 10: 1-6, 10-12

I want you to be quite certain, brothers, that our ancestors all had the cloud over them and all passed through the sea. In the cloud and in the sea they were all baptised into Moses; all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, since they drank from the spiritual rock which followed them, and that rock was Christ. In spite of this, God was not pleased with most of them, and their corpses were scattered over the desert. Now these happenings were examples, for our benefit, so that we should never set our hearts, as they did, on evil things;

Never complain; some of them complained, and they were killed by the Destroyer. Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were described in writing to be a lesson for us, to whom it has fallen to live in the last days of the ages. Everyone, no matter how firmly he thinks he is standing, must be careful he does not fall.

Luke 13: 1-9

It was just about this time that some people arrived and told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. At this he said to them, ‘Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than any others, that this should have happened to them? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell, killing them all? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.’

He told this parable, ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none. He said to his vinedresser, "For three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?" "Sir," the man replied, "leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down." ’

^{^{Third Sunday of Lent
February 28, 2016}}

INTRODUCTION – (Ex 3:1-8,13-15; 1 Cor 10:1-6,10-12; Luke 13:1-9) ) Our psalm refrain is: “The Lord is kind and merciful.” Those few words give us our theme for today. God’s kindness and mercy is seen in our first reading as we hear about God calling Moses to lead God’s people from slavery in Egypt to freedom. It was on that occasion that God gave Moses a special gift. God revealed God’s name as Yahweh, a name usually translated as “I AM.” Why is that so special? It was like giving someone your private phone number. God was assuring Moses of a special relationship Moses would have with him and letting Moses know he could call on God whenever he needed him.

    In our second reading Paul reflects on the many blessings and marvels God's people experienced as God led them through the desert to the Promised Land. But in spite of all the wonderful things God did for them, when they arrived at the Promised Land, they would not cross the Jordan and enter for they were afraid. They were afraid because they lost their faith in God’s protection. So God had them wait for the next generation before they could move into the Promised Land. Paul tells us to learn a lesson from them and not to be like them.

    In today’s gospel Jesus tells us God is merciful but we must not take his mercy for granted.

HOMILY – Here’s a story you might enjoy. A preacher started his sermon by showing his congregation four glass jars. The first jar contained some alcohol, the second was full of cigarette smoke, the third had chocolate syrup and the fourth good garden soil. Then he produced four worms and put a worm in each jar. He put the jars aside as he preached on the evils of drinking alcohol, of smoking and of chocolate. After about ten minutes, he finished and said “now lets see what happened to the worms.” He took the worms from the first three jars, each of which contained alcohol, tobacco smoke or chocolate, and they were dead. He took the worm from the last jar with the good garden soil and it was just fine. So he asked his congregation, “what does this show you?” A person in one of the front rows said: “if you drink alcohol and smoke and eat chocolates, you won’t have worms.” That was the end of the sermon. It’s not the end of this one, though. The story shows how different people can interpret the exact same thing in totally different ways.

    People came to Jesus to ask him what he thought of one of Pilate’s cruel and brutal acts of violence against the Jews. The people who were questioning Jesus expected Jesus to say that those whom Pilate killed were the greatest sinners in Galilee. Jesus, instead, brought up another situation about 18 people meeting their death accidentally when a tower, most probably a part of the old city wall, fell on them. Perhaps they were trying to shore it up. Jesus used both cases to say that bad things do happen and it doesn’t necessarily happen because someone has sinned. Bad things can happen to anyone, accidently or otherwise, but Jesus said the important thing is to live a good life; in other words, to repent as John the Baptist preached, which means “to accept in faith the saving word of God that Jesus has come to announce.” (The Anchor Bible, The Gospel According to Luke X-XXIV, Joseph Fitzmyer, pg 1005)

    Jesus reinforced his message with another parable about an unproductive fig tree. The tree represents us and demonstrates how God has given us his grace and his love. He has given us time to do something with what he has given us. He may even give us extra time like the merciful gardener begged for from the owner of the land. The time will come when we have to account for what we have been given. This is not something any of us like to think about. God is merciful, but we must use his mercy in such a way that we can live a life that pleases him. Our culture likes to believe everyone is going to get to heaven in the end. As much as we would all like to believe that, that’s not what Jesus is telling us today, and it’s not what he has told us many other times in the gospels. It is through the Scriptures that God speaks to us, and that is one reason we are here at Mass, so we can hear his word and that our lives can be formed by his word. There is one more thing Jesus said to us that we must remember - it’s not our place to judge a person’s heart. How often do we make judgments about people’s fate when they pass away, deciding they will never make it to heaven, or surely they have gone to heaven. Quite possibly we are right most of the time, but we can judge only by externals. Only God can look into a person’s heart. Amen.

Third Sunday of Lent

March 11, 2007

INTRODUCTION – (Exod 3:1-8a, 13-15; 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9) Our psalm refrain, “The Lord is kind and merciful,” describes our theme for today. We hear about God’s desire to bring his people, suffering as slaves in Egypt, into freedom. He chooses Moses to be the one to demand and obtain their freedom. Moses wasn’t happy to have to do this. He had escaped from Egypt himself because he had killed an Egyptian who had attacked an Israelite. Now God tells him he has to go back and deal with the Egyptian king. God gives Moses a special gift, God’s name: “Yahweh,” translated as “I AM.” What is so special about that? It was like giving someone your private phone number. God was assuring Moses of a special relationship Moses would have with him and letting Moses know he could call on God whenever he needed him.

    In our second reading Paul reminds us of how many blessings and marvels God’s people experienced as God led them through the desert to the Promised Land. But in spite of all the wonderful things God gave them, they were unable to enter into the Promised Land. In the end they had failed to continue trusting in God. He tells us not to be like them.

    The theme that “the Lord is kind and merciful” shows up again in the gospel in a short parable about a fig tree. It was given opportunities of every kind to produce fruit, but it failed to do so. “The Lord is kind and merciful,” but he expects us not to take his mercy for granted. With the help of his kindness, he expects us to grow in goodness and holiness.

HOMILY – A young girl brought her boyfriend home to meet her parents. The parents couldn’t find many good qualities about him. When the parents had the opportunity to talk to their daughter later, by herself, the girl’s mother said: “Dear, he doesn’t seem like a very nice person.” “Mom,” the daughter answered, “if he wasn’t nice, why would he be doing 500 hours of community service?” It’s stretching things a bit to say “community service” fits into the theme of today’s liturgy, but our readings remind us not to be like the fig tree in Jesus’ parable today. We are to produce good works. God didn’t create us just to take up space in this world. He wants more from us than that. He wants us to trust him, to love him and to do good for others.

    I said in my introduction that the theme for today is “the Lord is kind and merciful.” He is kind and merciful in many ways. One of the ways he is kind and merciful is in calling us to repentance and renewal. In the book of Revelation Jesus said: “Whoever is dear to me I reprove and chastise. Be earnest about it, therefore. Repent! Here I stand, knocking at the door. If anyone hears me calling and opens the door, I will enter his house and have supper with him, and he with me.” This assumes that we all have room for improvement. God asks that of us and he also gives us the help we need to be better. That is kindness to us. He would not be kind if he didn’t stimulate us to keep improving ourselves. The fact that he challenges us to change comes from his love as a caring parent. The parable of the fig tree is a call to live a positive life according to the gospel - doing good by loving God and others.

    The conversation Jesus had about tragic events at the beginning of today’s gospel was interesting. Sometimes people think when something bad happens to someone it is God’s punishment. Jesus said that’s not always true. He does not try to explain suffering here, but he is telling us not to be complacent, which we sometimes are. We can’t think “well, if nothing bad is happening to me, it must be because I am so good.” He tells us we all need to repent, i.e., to work to be better than we are. This season of Lent keeps reminding us of our need to grow in holiness and goodness. Many people I have talked with do nothing special during Lent. They think they’re good enough. Others start off Lent with a great deal of enthusiasm praying more, making sacrifices or doing good work. But as the weeks drag on, they ease up with their good resolutions. We still have four more weeks of Lent. Our readings today are encouraging us to do what we can so we can come to Easter with mind and heart renewed.

    Today we have the first of three Scrutinies. Our community prays for those who are preparing to come into the Church at Easter so that they are better able to live the Christian way of life. May we all do a better job of living up to what God wants of us. We must remember, though, at all times, whether God is comforting us, forgiving us, healing us, blessing us, encouraging us or correcting us, “The Lord is kind and merciful.”

February 9, 2016

Dear Friends,

I give my heart to Jesus and Mary with you in love.

If you read Fr. Joe's book like I did on the 13th you can see how awesome it is.

It helps me understand what is happening in the writings during the liturgical year.

It is so very good, it makes me so eager to live the liturgy in my life,
live in the liturgical year.

Well we have sent over 13,000 of Fr. Joe's new cycle books since the beginning of November to priests and hierarchy
all over the world.

It can enrich so many lives with the weekly sermon rooted in the Word, the Eucharist,
the liturgy,
the Mass,

Baptism, love and unity.

When a priest uses the book weekly he focuses on the Bread of Life to feed the people.

Say a priest says 4 or 5 Masses weekly
Think of how many souls could be reached with the people attending Mass.

Fr. Joe speaks of love and being a member of the body of Christ, living in relationships
all in the context of the scripture.

We see salvation history and its ups and downs -
we see our calling from God
and we see our part in salvation history.

God calls - we respond.

The body of Christ can help the world to raise up to greater perfection.

What are you doing to help this coming election in the United States.

This book of Fr. Joe's can help so many people every week.

We have sent over 13,000 books out to priests and hierarchy to every priest in your state.

We have sent the books to so many priests in the United States and all Bishops.

Can't you help us.

We also send a Prayer Brochure with the Shepherds of Christ prayers praying for the priests, the Church and the world.

We pray in adoration 8 days a month with usually 6 Masses for you, your family and the priests the Church and the world.

We pray in 24 hour adoration before the Exposed Blessed Eucharist in China for all this and for you.

The China mortgage is due tomorrow

and we are struggling because of giving so much money to the Ministries.

Can anyone help us with a donation.

Also we are printing another 20,000 of Fr. Joe's books
going to all the priests in the United States.

This can enormously help for this coming election.

A weekly Priestly Newsletter used about the scriptures and everything at Sunday Mass.

Please we need your help.

If you want to know what to do to help the world and especially all active priests in the United States please help us with a donation.

We need your help today.
Thanks for your prayers and help in advance.

God Bless you and love you.

Rita Robinson Ring

Given October 29, 2016

                R. Please spread blessed holy water
                (You can also mix Jesus and Mary water
                with your blessed Holy Water if you have it.)
                in your yard, around your house,
                in the state you live in.

And ask God to bless your state
Ask God to bless the United States

Pray all prayers through the intercession of
Our Lady of CLEAR – WATER.

Ask the Lady of CLEAR - WATER
to help with the blessed water.

Mary has appeared to me for 22 years,
in Ohio and Florida.