May 4, 2010

                God created the world —
                    the seen and unseen - out of nothing 

                The serpent is symbolic of evil
                The devil is cunning
                The devil makes good look evil and
                The devil makes evil look good

                Man disobeyed God
                Man abused His freedom

                Death is the consequence of sin
                When man sins he prefers himself to God —
                The man who sins wants to live independent
                    of God —

                A person is responsible to God for their
                    disobedience —

                Abraham was blessed by God
                God blesses those who bless Abraham
                Curses those who curses Abraham

                Abraham will have descendants
                    as numerous as the stars
                    in the sky —

                FR. JOE Genesis 15: 5-12

Second Sunday of Lent

March 4, 2007

INTRODUCTION – (Gen 15:5-12, 17-18; Phil 3:17–4:1; Luke 9:28b-36) Almost 4000 years ago, God made awesome promises to a man named Abram about how he would inherit much land, would have so many descendants they could not be counted, even how the whole world would be blessed through him. Abram had no evidence that these promises would ever be fulfilled. He asked God for some assurance that they would. So God gave Abram a special sign. It may seem complicated to us but it would have been easily understood by Abram. It was the way people made covenants or contracts in those days. The ritual of cutting an animal in half and walking between the halves was a symbolic way of saying “may the same thing happen to me as to this animal if I am unfaithful to my word.” God is often represented as fire, and in this experience only God moved in-between the two halves of the animals. This indicated that God was not asking Abram to promise anything. God asked only for Abram’s trust.

HOMILY – As our lives move along, there are disappointments but there are also hopes and promises that we look forward to. Abram (later named Abraham) looked forward to the promise of land, many descendants and numerous blessings. In an ecstatic experience God assured him his hopes would be fulfilled. Jesus had several times warned his apostles that he would suffer and die. Now he gave three of them a special experience to help them know what was ahead, that his death would lead to glory. It was a glory so wonderful that they didn’t want it to stop. They wanted to set up tents on the mountain, not for themselves but for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, and they wanted to stay there indefinitely. But it wasn’t to be. They still had to go through challenging and difficult times before they came to the glory they had seen. Matthew and Mark leave us in the dark regarding what Jesus was talking about with Moses and Elijah, but Luke tells us they were talking about Jesus’ departure from this world by his death in Jerusalem. That departure is translated here by the word “exodus.” Jesus had to leave this world to enter into the glory that was ahead. Luke has thus allowed us to see there is a definite connection between the transfiguration and Jesus’ passion. Perhaps the experience of the transfiguration was meant to give strength and hope to Peter, James, and John, to help them survive Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. Perhaps it was a gift from God the Father to Jesus to help bolster his commitment to be faithful to his mission. Whatever it was, it was a promise of future glory and an assurance that God would not let down those who trusted in him. When Peter wanted to put up three tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, it is always understood that he was enjoying this ecstatic experience and didn’t want it to end, and this is true. But I wonder whether Peter, in his way of thinking, was making Jesus equal to Moses and Elijah. He said: “Let us make three tents,” as if Jesus were a great leader on a par with Moses and Elijah. God the Father’s words: “This is my chosen Son” let the apostles know that Moses and Elijah were great men and great prophets, but Jesus is God’s Son and no one could ever be on the same level with him. If the transfiguration is a promise of future glory for Jesus and the Apostles, St. Paul gives us a promise of future glory for us when he tells us today “our citizenship is in heaven.” We are only tourists in this world and it’s not our true home. We must always have our bags packed because we never know when we will be called to move on. And we will be called. Paul tells us God “will change our lowly bodies to conform with his glorified body.” We will be transfigured also. Lent helps us remember to be ready to move on and to make any changes in our lives we need to make, so we will be ready to meet our God in eternal glory. Mass is always an assurance and a promise of what’s ahead, especially in Communion. The consecrated bread and wine are Jesus’ body and blood. We are reminded of his death for us. We are also assured that he hasn’t left us orphans, but he is still with us and in Communion he wants us to be more closely united with himself. Someday we will enjoy perfect union when we will not have to experience him through signs and sacraments. We will know him directly and intimately. When we come to that stage, like the three apostles at the transfiguration, we won’t ever want to leave. Unlike the apostles, we won’t have to.

                Sing: Psalm- The Lord is kind and merciful
    

Third Sunday of Lent
March 11, 2007

INTRODUCTION – 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.”

Fourth Sunday of Lent
March 18, 2007

We just heard the story of a young boy whose life was misdirected by love of riches and pleasure. After his so called friends abandoned him and he suffered hunger and want for a period of time, he came to his senses and returned to his father. He returned a changed person. Fortunately, he had a loving and forgiving father who accepted him unconditionally. The point of the story is abundantly clear when we consider the relationship between the father and his younger son. As regards the relationship between the father and the older son, Jesus leaves the conclusion open-ended. We have to reflect on what might have happened, whether the older son gave in to his father’s pleading to be forgiving or whether he refused. How we end the story will tell us a lot about ourselves.

I want to tell you about another young man whose story is somewhat similar. He was Catholic to start with but admits that he was not a very good one. His father was a government official and this young man enjoyed the comforts of those who were well off. He described himself at sixteen as a scatterbrained youth who had “turned away from God and did not keep his commandments.” As his story goes, he was kidnapped and sold as a slave and made to labor on a farm for six years. Like the prodigal son who was without friends and who suffered without adequate food or shelter, this young man came to his senses and he learned obedience through what he suffered. He discovered (and we quote) ”God showed me how to have faith in him forever, as one who is never to be doubted.” After six years God spoke to him in a way that he heard with his own ears. He would escape and God audibly told him when to leave and what direction to go in order to accomplish his escape. Miraculously God protected him along the way until he arrived back home. Like the prodigal son, he came home a new person. Although his parents wanted to keep him at home with them, his love for God led him to want to serve God as a priest. Even more than serving as a priest, his love for others led him to want to return to the people who captured and enslaved him and teach them about God. And that he did. After overcoming many obstacles, including rejection by the hierarchy, a breach of confidence by a friend to whom he entrusted a confession of his past life, his lack of education and social graces, he returned as a bishop to the people who had enslaved him. Once he arrived he wasn’t greeted with open arms. Again, in his own words, he said “daily I expect either murder, or robbery, or enslavement.” He writes elsewhere “they seized me with my companions. And on that day they most eagerly desired to kill me; but my time had not yet come. And everything they found with us they plundered, and myself they bound in chains.” He feared nothing, for even if he were to be put to death, he felt that would have been the supreme act of love for his God. But God had other intentions than that he should be a martyr. For 30 years he served God and the people who once enslaved him and his work was blessed. He ordained many bishops and priests, established convents, monasteries and schools and in thirty years saw the conversion of almost all of Ireland. And of course you all know I’ve been talking about St. Patrick, who is one of our patronal saints and whose statue is under the choir loft. His work was so successful that in a short time Ireland was sending out missionaries to revitalize the faith of Europe which had fallen into decline. Irish missionaries have been a blessing to the Church ever since.

For those who are Irish and who honor Patrick, the best way to truly honor him is not by drinking a Guinness. We should respond to his example and his call to holiness. Again quoting Patrick, he asks those who believe in him and love him to “strengthen and confirm your faith…That will be my glory, for a wise son is the glory of his father.”

And for those who are not Irish and who think too much is made of St. Patrick on March 17th, I would like you to think of how our faith has been strengthened by the witness of many Irish saints and how our civilization has been preserved by the scholarship of the Irish during the days when mainland Europe was being overrun by barbarians. The great heritage of western civilization, from the Greek and Roman classics to Jewish and Christian works, would have been utterly lost were it not for the holy men and women of unconquered Ireland. These Irish recorded the great works of western civilization in their monasteries and convents (remember all books had to be written by hand). They brought this learning back to Europe after it began to stabilize in the eighth century under Charlemagne. Whether you’re Irish or not, we all owe a great debt to the Irish and we pray that our patron, St. Patrick, blesses our parish and our families.

  

Matthew 21: 33-43, 45-46

Parable of the wicked tenants

‘Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them thinking, "They will respect my son." But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, "This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance." So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They answered, ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him at the proper time.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:

   The stone which the builders rejected
   has become the cornerstone;
   this is the Lord’s doing
   and we marvel at it? 

‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.’ 
   When they heard his parables, the chief priests and the scribes realised he was speaking about them, but though they would have liked to arrest him they were afraid of the crowds, who looked on him as a prophet.

                God gives promises to Abraham —

                He tells him he will have protection
                    and greatness —

                Abraham suffered
                Abraham was faithful

                God told Abraham he would
                    be the father of many
                    nations

                Abraham put his faith in God —
                Abraham let God have His way

                    Abraham had a deep sleep —
                It is like Adam who had a deep
                sleep — The Lord told Abram
                that his descendants will be
                enslaved in an alien land
                for 400 years — but in the end
                they will depart with great wealth
                and freedom —

                God makes a covenant with Abram —

                God is patient
                God is patient to let people reform —

                Abram will have a son
                Abram will have numerous descendants —

                We do not live in a vacuum — what we
                    do for the Church — how holy our
                    lives affect others for generations
                    to come —

                The books Fr. Carter wrote still speak —
                The writings of St. Paul still speak
                The sacrifices of St. Peter still speak

                Fr. Carter said February 13, 1997

                We see the burning bush in Exodus 3: 2

Exodus 13: 21

    Yahweh preceded them, by day in a pillar of cloud to show them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could march by day and by night.

                Fire we see to represent God's
                    presence and His holiness

                Fire can be used to show
                    purging and purification

                The covenant with God reaffirmed
                    Abram will be the father
                    of many nations

                Abram's new name Abraham —

                God promises this covenant is
                    everlasting —

                God promises the land of
                    Canaan —

                 are to be faithful to the covenant — 

                Here is a covenant God made with
                    Noah —

shipped from the printers December 17, 1996

Mary appeared December 17, 1996

                Mary appeared to me every day for
                    14 months and Jesus sometimes

                I was told to put this rainbow
                    on the cover of these rosary
                    meditations Jesus and Mary
                    gave to me —

                    On the day the book left the printer
                December 17, 1996 Mary's image appeared on
                the building and remained there for 7 1/2 years
                until someone with a sling shot
                broke the image head —

                    Abraham and Sarah had Isaac
                he too became the father of many
                nations —

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 22, 2007

INTRODUCTION: One of the themes of today’s readings is hospitality. Jesus, and most likely his disciples, share the hospitality of Martha and Mary, his friends in Bethany. Our first reading is about Abraham who welcomes three strangers with a lavish banquet. The Bible said he was 100 years old, but he was still pretty energetic as we hear. He doesn’t realize it at the time that it is God whom he is entertaining. God must have enjoyed the feast, for God tells him that his lifelong desire that he and his wife, Sarah, would have a son would finally be fulfilled.

                    3 men appear to Abraham —
                Yahweh is one of them —

                    3 represents the Trinity

                    There are 3 Persons and one God —

                We see the blessings of Abraham —

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 29, 2007

INTRODUCTION: Last Sunday’s first reading told us about a visit Abraham had from three strangers. It turns out one of the three visitors was God himself. God was on his way to two cities near the Dead Sea, Sodom and Gomorrah, and he invited Abraham to go with him. On the way God took Abraham into his confidence and told him the cities were about to be destroyed because of their depravity and immorality. Notice the comfortable yet respectful familiarity that existed between God and Abraham.

                We see the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah —

                God punishes the sinners —
                God is just to those faithful to Him —

                Abraham is tested with his son —
                Abraham is faithful to God —
                Abraham would not withhold
                    his own beloved son —

                    Jesus — the Son of God would be
                sacrificed for us —

                The whole world is blessed by the
                    descendants of Abraham

                Jacob was simple and stayed in the tent —

                Rebekah preferred Jacob
                Isaac preferred Esau

                Esau sells his birthright for
                    lentil stew

                This is showing again the
                    shepherd and their gentleness
                    preferred —

                Jacob is concerned with his
                    eternal destiny —

                Esau — concerned with
                            here and now

                Abraham had been promised by
                    God: land, people and blessings

                Isaac is rich in land and animals —

                The Philistines are jealous of
                    Isaac and they fill all
                    Abraham's wells —

                    Esau marries Judith an intermarriage
                        this embittered Isaac and
                        Rebekah —

                    On Holy Saturday night we have many
                beautiful readings

                The first reading is about creation —
                    about light
                    "Let there be light"

                    God saw that what He made was good —

                The second reading is the account
                    of Abraham being told to
                    sacrifice his son Isaac —
                    we see his faithfulness

                The third reading — we see the dividing of
                    the red sea —
                    a prefiguring of baptism

                The fourth reading — we see
                    Isaiah 54: 5-14
                    God's enduring love for us

                The fifth reading
                    Come to the Lord for life —
                    Come to the Water

                Sing: Come to the Water

                The sixth reading from Baruch —
                    You need to walk with the Lord —
                    Not abandon Wisdom —
                    Listen — Learn —
                    Obey say — Here we are
                        like the stars shining for
                        their Maker

                The seventh reading Ezekiel 36
                    God will sprinkle us with
                        water
                    He will give us a new heart

                The altar candles are then lighted —
                The Gloria is sung
                The Church bells are rung

                Holy Saturday —

                I — The Service of light

                    The lights in the Church are out
                    A large fire is outside Church
                    The priest and ministers greet the people
                    One carries the Easter candle

                    Then the Procession

                        Christ our light      Thanks be to God

                        All light their candle from the
                            Easter candle — deacons
                            ministers

                        3 times — Christ our light — Thanks be to God

                        all candles of people
                        in pews are lit by Easter
                        Candle through others' candles

                    The Exultant is sung

                II. Then the Liturgy of the Word begins

                    At least 3 Old Testament readings are
                        required

                    After the Gospel
                        the Homily

                III. Then Christian Initiation
                        Celebration of Baptism
                        Blessing of Water
                        Renunciation of Sin
                        Profession of Faith
                        Celebration of Reception
                        Celebration of Confirmation
                        General Intercessions

                IV. Liturgy of the Eucharist

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