August 7, 2019
R. Living in the moment –
This is the only moment I have
that I can live in.
What have you in store for me
now, Lord, so I can deeply
live this moment.
The moment is now, when it is
gone, I can't have it back.
I watched those people who have
lost a limb or are paralyzed –
they need others to help them –
they must work and live in
their loss or paralyzation to
keep on keeping on.
It is such a beautiful moment –
the moment we have because
I can live in it –
Life is in living in these precious
moments –
Christ came and lived with Mary
and Joseph as a baby, then
a child, working, playing –
living life.
The Divine Almighty God lived
here in a normal day –
moments, with Mary and
Joseph –
All the moments God gives us are
to be lived to serve Him –
He is always with us in
sleep and awake – He is
with us –
His life was important – moments
of miracles, the multiplication
of the loaves and fish,
curing a blind man,
raising Lazarus from the dead,
teaching the apostles about
love and kindness –
The Christ shows us, the bitter
Passion, the Agony in the Garden,
etc. The Mass is the sacrifice of
Calvary, sacramentally made
present. We unite to the Mass,
unite in oneness with God:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Pray through the intercession
of Mary, in the Holy Spirit,
with all the angels and saints
and souls in purgatory.
Life is to be lived - in suffering
and in joy. In these days
of tweeting and texting –
we can be so one with
the Mass praying about the hatred
and unloving ways in the
world.
God we cry, we are sorry for
our sins.
Can you even imagine a little
the enormous sufferings
of Jesus in the Garden –
Life is in Him – in suffering
and in joy – in heartache
and pain –
I watch love given by some
so unselfish others –
I watch anger and bitterness
poured out like vomit
from the dark heart –
God lives deeply in those who
are living in Him.
And others can keep opening
themselves to the deadly
sins and denying their
Creator and Maser –
to nurse their evil,
unloving ways –
God is with us –
The beauty of the Eucharist –
The lives given in our priests –
Song: A Priest is a Gift from God
Song: A Song from Jesus
Song: The Rosary Song
Song: Teach Me to Love with Your Heart
Song: I Am Your Sacred Heart
Song: Live This Day
From a Lenten Homily, March 24, 2000
Live in the Moment
Today’s Gospel in its story certainly points ahead to Jesus in His Passion
and death. And as we read passages such as this during the Lenten season, we
are reminded once again that the Church in her Liturgy of the Word gives us
an opportunity to undergo a purification, an ever deepening cleansing of
ourselves so that we may be a more fit instrument for receiving the great
graces which are to be given to us at the time of the Resurrection memorial
on Easter. And so all in all, Lent is a time of purification to prepare us
for ever-greater gifts of the Lord. It’s a time of self-discipline, a time
to renew our efforts to be self-disciplined in the service of the Lord.
Self-discipline is an aspect of purification. And I suggest that one of the
most difficult acts of self-discipline in the spiritual journey is to
concentrate on the present moment. We have a very strong tendency to
disregard the importance of the present moment by focusing in a wrong way on
the past or in a wrong way on the future. There are proper occasions for
thinking of the past and the future. For example, we have to learn from the
past and we have to prepare for the future, but our great emphasis has to be
upon the present. There is a Latin axiom which says, age quod agis, age
quod agis, which means: do what you are doing, concentrate on the
present. And of course we are familiar with that term in the history of
spirituality: the sacrament of the present moment. And so the discipline of
Lent certainly encourages us to include in a deeper self-discipline a
greater determination to get as much as we can out of the present moment.
People with a terminal illness have an opportunity as they prepare for death
for increased prayer, contrition, love of God. However, some are taken very,
very quickly. But for those who have the opportunity of knowing with some
certainty the time of their death, I’m sure as they look back on their
lives, they are saddened by the many times they did not use time and
opportunities for the service of the Lord properly, and are overjoyed at
those times in which they did use the present opportunity properly. A great
means we have of living in the present properly is a greater focus upon our
Lord. For if I have that awareness of the fact I am united with Jesus here and now, why should I be concerned so much
about the future or the past? Yes, a great help in living in the present and
deriving all the good we can from it for ourselves and others is an ever
greater focus upon Jesus, because the more I focus upon Jesus and the more I
live with Him in the present moment, the more I am satisfied with the present
moment. And so let us in our Lenten activity resolve to grow in that
self-discipline - which is very difficult at times - to really live in the
presence with the fullness of our being as much as is possible, with the help
of God’s grace. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the day of salvation.
end of Father Carter's homily
R. Dear God, I am sorry for our sins,
and unfaithfulness, Thank you
for this day with all its
possibilities –
Thank You for the people
You put in my life to
love and to love me –
Thank You for my life -
God –
Thank You for Your Word,
and the Church and
the Eucharist!
Thank You Holy Spirit for Your gifts
You give to me –
Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel,
Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety
and Fear of the Lord.
I pray for an increase in the
virtues of faith, hope, love,
humility, temperance,
fortitude, justice, prudence
and obedience –
Dear God thank You for
Fr. Carter and all he did
for us and all our priests.
Dear God, thank You for our
deacons, thank You for our
Centers, China and Florida
and all the Shepherds of Christ
people who answer Your call.
Thank You God –
Please help us –
Dear God I love You, dear God I
need You –
Dear God, thank You, You are
my Savior and my God –
You are my strength in due season,
You are with me always –
Though I walk in the valley
of darkness, I shall not fear,
for You are with me with
Your rod and Your staff
and I shall dwell in the
house of the Lord for years
upon years.
Amen. I love You Jesus –
I learned a lot about Jesus
from watching those around
me that serve and are so
loving – I am blessed by
those who are so saintly –
Do you see saintly people in your
life – that just love in
kind and giving ways
because you know Christ
in them –
They give and give and love
and love just automatically –
I see Jesus in them –
in their hearts –
in their motives –
in their faithfulness to
their vocation –
They live in Him –
They say "yes" to God –
"yes" God – they say –
over and over again –
consistent – loving – giving –
wanting to serve and give
Sing: Servant Song
Can you take what others
do for us and thank God
who is giving through
them –
Do you know how to give love and
Do you know how to receive
love in great gratitude?
Can you acclaim a year, a lifetime
of favor from God –
Are you gracious to God in the
love and gifts He gives –
unconditionally in love
through others –
Jeremiah 1: 4-10
The call of Jeremiah
The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
‘Before I formed you in the womb
I knew you;
before you came to birth
I consecrated you;
I appointed you as prophet to the nations.’
I then said, ‘Ah, ah, ah, Lord
Yahweh;
you see, I do not know how to speak: I am only a child!’
But Yahweh replied,
‘Do not say, "I am only a child,"
for you must go to all to whom I send you
and say whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of confronting them,
for I am with you to rescue you,
Yahweh declares.’
Then Yahweh stretched out
his hand and touched my mouth,
and Yahweh said to me:
‘There! I have put my words
into your mouth.
Look, today I have set you
over the nations and kingdoms,
to uproot and to knock down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.’
Jeremiah 7: 24-28
But they did not listen, they did not
pay attention; they followed their own devices, their own stubborn
and wicked inclinations, and got worse rather than better. From the
day your ancestors left Egypt until today, I have sent you all my
servants the prophets, persistently sending them day after day. But
they have not listened to me, have not paid attention; they have
deliberately resisted, behaving worse than their ancestors. So you
will tell them all this, but they will not listen to you; you will
call them, but they will not answer you." Then you are to say to
them, "This is the nation that will neither listen to the voice of
Yahweh its God nor take correction. Sincerity is no more, it has
vanished from their mouths."
Jeremiah 17: 9-10
'The
heart is more devious
than any other thing,
and is depraved;
who can pierce its secrets?
I, Yahweh, search the heart,
test the motives,
to give each person what his conduct
and his actions deserve.
Jeremiah 25: 34-38
"Howl,
shepherds, shriek, roll on the ground, you
lords of the flock, for your days have come
to be slaughtered and to be scattered, and
like a choice vase you
will fall.
No refuge then for the shepherds, no escape
for the lords of the flock! Listen! A shriek
from the shepherds, a howl from the lords of
the flock! For
Yahweh has
laid their pasture waste, the peaceful
sheepfolds are reduced to
silence
owing to Yahweh's furious anger. The lion
has left his lair and their country is a
wasteland now, owing to the devastating
fury, owing to his furious anger." '
Jeremiah 26: 4-6
Say
to them, “Yahweh says this: If you will not listen to me and follow
my Law which I have given you, and
pay attention to the words of my servants the prophets whom I have
never tired of sending to you, although you never have paid
attention, I shall treat this Temple as I treated Shiloh, and make
this city a curse for all the nations of the world.” ’
Jeremiah 26: 11-13
The priests and prophets
then said to the chief men and all the people, ‘This man deserves to
die, since he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard
with your own ears.’ Jeremiah, however, replied to all
the chief men and all the people as follows, ‘Yahweh himself sent me
to prophesy against this Temple and this city all the things you
have heard. So now amend your behaviour and
actions, listen to the voice of
Yahweh your God, and
Yahweh
will relent about the disaster that
he has decreed for you.
Jeremiah 30: 16
But
all those who devoured you
will be devoured,
all your enemies, all, go into captivity,
those who despoiled you
will be despoiled,
and all who pillaged you be pillaged.
Sing: Hosea
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.
Copyright
© 2019 Shepherds of Christ.