Easter VI [C] (May 26) Homily Jn 14:23-29 (One-page summary) L/22
Easter VI [C] (May 26) Homily Jn 14:23-29 (One-page summary) L/22
Introduction: Today’s readings show us the effects of the abiding presence of God in His Church and of His indwelling in each one of us. Scripture lessons: The first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, tells us how the Holy Spirit, indwelling in the Church, helped the apostles to solve a major doctrinal problem about the Gentiles becoming Christians, which shook the very foundation of the early Church. The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 67) prays that all the nations on the earth may recognize their God and praise Him. The second reading, taken from the Book of Revelation, describes the Church as the Heavenly Jerusalem which replaces the holy presence of God in the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem. This New Jerusalem is a city united in love, with the victorious Jesus residing in it and in each of its members. The Gospel passage reminds us that the Holy Spirit, abiding within us, is our Teacher, our Advocate, and the Source of our peace and joy. The passage offers a vision of hope as well. Jesus promises his followers that the Holy Spirit will come and instruct them in everything they need to know.
Life messages: 1) Let us be aware of the abiding presence of God within us: We live in the New Covenant of Jesus, daily facing uncertainty, conflict, and temptations. It is the abiding presence of God within us that enables us to face the future with undying hope and true Christian courage. The Holy Spirit Whom the risen Lord asked His Father to send upon His Church prompts us to turn to His Holy Scriptures for support and encouragement, enables us to learn the Divine truths, and grants us His peace at all times. However, to be able to receive these gifts, it is necessary for us to spend a little time each day in personal prayer, talking to God and listening to Him. We must deepen our relationship with Jesus, learn to get in touch with him, and sincerely love him. When we listen to the Holy Spirit, we will know His plan for our life and His solutions to whatever problems we face. We will be able to love our fellow human beings, and there will be a core of peace within us. The Holy Spirit teaches us through the Scriptures and preaching during the Holy Mass. Jesus loves us and comes to us in Communion. When the Mass is ended, we go forth in the peace of Christ -- all this under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
2) We need to have the conviction that we are not alone: One of the great social and ethical problems of our time is isolation. Today approximately 25% of all adults live alone. Spouses, parents, and children often live as virtual strangers to one another. This is unfortunate because we never need to be alone. Jesus can always be present to us. He shares his joy with us and replaces the burden of our guilt with the freedom of forgiveness. He takes our grief and turns it into joy. We need only allow Jesus into our lives to be rid of this loneliness. Oneness with Jesus is the greatest gift we can give our children, our friends, or those who see no purpose in life. We can help to bring people into unity with Jesus, a unity that will change their lives. As we celebrate this Eucharistic meal, our Mass, let us celebrate in a special way the price Jesus paid for our redemption. May this Eucharistic celebration empower us to lead a true Life of the Spirit!
Easter VI [C] (May 26): Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Rv 21:10-14, 22-23; Jn 14:23-21
Homily Starter Anecdotes: #1) “Temples of the Holy Spirit”: Francis of Assisi was an ardent advocate of the doctrine of the indwelling of God in man. It enabled him to love everyone equally whatever his status in life. One day he met a fellow who had no love for God. As they walked along, they met a man who was blind and paralyzed. St. Francis asked the sightless cripple: “Tell me if I were to restore your eyesight and the use of your limbs, would you love me?” “Ah,” replied the beggar, “I would not only love you, but I would be your slave for the rest of my life.” “See,” said Francis to the man who maintained that he could not love God, “this man would love me if I gave him his sight and his health. Why don’t you love God who created you with eyesight and strong limbs?” -- That is what Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel. If we love Jesus because of the countless blessings he has given us, and so keep his word as the center of our life, he will start dwelling within us in the company of his Father and the Holy Spirit, making us the temples of the Triune God. (Msgr. Arthur Tonne). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
# 2: Helen Keller’s indwelling God? The story is told that after Helen Keller’s teacher, Annie Sullivan, had given her the names of physical objects in sign language, Miss Sullivan attempted to explain God and tapped out the symbols for the name "God." Much to Miss Sullivan’s surprise, Helen spelled back, "Thank you for telling me God’s name, Teacher, for He has touched me many times before." -- How could Helen Keller have known about God? Although she was blind and deaf, Helen Keller knew God, for God had shown Himself to her. That is the “revelation” of an indwelling God about whom today’s Scripture readings speak. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
#3: “The most unpromising boy in my class” A schoolmaster in France was discouraged with one of his students. He wrote in his roll book concerning this student: "He is the smallest, the meekest, the most unpromising boy in my class." Half a century later, an election was held in France to select the greatest Frenchman. By popular vote, that meekest, smallest, most unpromising boy was chosen. His name? Louis Pasteur, the founder of modern medicine. When he was seventy-three, a national holiday was declared in his honor. He was too weak to attend the ceremony in Paris, so he sent a message to be read by his son. The message read: "The future belongs not to the conquerors but to the saviors of the world" [Edward Chinn, Wonder of Words (Lima, Ohio: C.S.S. Publishing Co., Inc., 1987), p. 18.] -- Louis Pasteur was driven by a great purpose. Your name and my name may never be household words as is Pasteur's, but we, too, can be driven by a great purpose. Christ can give us that purpose. But there is one thing more Christ gives us. He gives us the presence of the Holy Spirit as promised in today’s Gospel. A healthy sense of identity and a driving purpose are not enough in themselves. One thing more is needed. It is the in-dwelling Spirit of the living God. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
Introduction: Today’s readings show us the effects of the abiding presence of God in His Church and of His indwelling in each one of us. The first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, tells us how the Holy Spirit, dwelling in the Church, helped the apostles to solve a major doctrinal problem, which shook the very foundation of the early Church. The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 67) prays that all the nations on the earth, not just Israel, may recognize their God and praise Him. The second reading, taken from the Book of Revelation describes the Church as the Heavenly Jerusalem, a city united in love, with the victorious Jesus residing in it and in each of its members, replacing the holy presence of God in the Holy of Holies of the Temple in Jerusalem. The Gospel passage reminds us that the Holy Spirit abiding within us is our teacher and the Source of all peace. The passage offers a vision of hope. Jesus promises his followers that the Holy Spirit will come and instruct them in everything they need to know.
The first reading: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29, explained: The first major controversy in the infant Church was about "what one must do to be saved." For the first 15 to 20 years of the Christian era, all Jesus’ followers were Jewish. During that period, any Gentiles who wanted to become Jesus’ disciples were expected first to become Jews. They had to attend Sabbath synagogue services and keep the 613 Torah laws. This situation began to change when a few “liberal” Christian communities like the newly founded Church of the Gentiles in Antioch, began to admit Gentiles into their number without demanding that they first be converted to Judaism. Some of the Judeo-Christians from Judea and Jerusalem argued that the new Gentile converts must observe the Mosaic Law of circumcision, dietary regulations, purification rituals, etc. The issue couldn't be settled on a local level, although Paul and Barnabas tried that at first. Hence, they had to go to Jerusalem to consult the apostles. The apostles convened the first Cburch Council at Jerusalem and, with the clear leading of the Holy Spirit, decided that the Gentiles need not become Jews first, to be saved as Christians. The decision was momentous for two reasons. First, it marked a significant break of Christianity with Judaism. Second, it put the burden of salvation on God rather than on man. In other words, it is God’s love and His gift to us of Faith in Jesus that save us when we receive it and live it out. Our prayers, sacrifices or keeping of the Law, are only expressions of our gratitude to God, which foster our Faith. We see Saint Paul wrestling with this question, first in Galatians, then, in a more polished way, in Romans. (The New Covenant was sealed not with the blood of circumcision, but with the blood of Jesus Christ (CCC #610, 613). This and other dogmas are examples of the exercise of authority given to the Church Magisterium by Christ. Belief in -- acceptance of -- such dogmas is obligatory since they are truths contained in divine Revelation or have a necessary connection with them (CCC #88).
(A question on dissension answered: The early Church seems to be embroiled in dissension less than one decade after the Resurrection of Jesus. Can the Holy Spirit really be at work in those circumstances? Perhaps the question could be rephrased this way: “Is there a place for both controversy and peace in our Church?” There are a lot of ways to nuance the meanings of “dissension” and “debate,” but the underlying thrust is the same: disagreement over a matter of importance, at least to the parties engaged in debate. The year is only about 49 or 50 AD when this occurred, which shows that lively arguments were arising whenever “changes” occurred that would alter or even threaten to modify “established” rituals and practices. The answer is a resounding “YES.” The Church grew and still grows in understanding its Faith through lively discussions and debates among qualified theologians. Those discussions have been going on ever since the vision of St. Peter (Acts 10) which led to the baptism of the first Gentiles (Cornelius’ household), around 43 AD. It is important to recognize the wording of the Apostles’ decision regarding the waiver of the former discipline of circumcision: “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit AND to us to lay upon you no greater burden than…necessary things…” (Acts 15:28). Clearly, the dietary laws, variations in certain rituals, and similar disciplines were deemed eligible for change as circumstances warranted. Every suggested change creates healthy discussions and is preceded by healthy discussions. Closure is then brought to the discussion at some point in time, when the Apostles (or their successors, the united Bishops) reach a decision. Cultural conditioning plays a large part in some decisions (e.g., Paul insisting that women had to wear hats in church), as it does today; these are also identified as matters of “discipline.” ( Fr. Robert F. McNamara).
The Catechism on healthy debates: Perhaps it is better to leave the debates in the hands of the theologians, who are schooled in the ways of theological research (CCC #94), and who know the difference between debate and dissension. At some point in time, the Magisterium — the official and recognized teaching office of the Catholic church — reaches a decision on a subject, and to that decision we owe the obedience of Faith (CCC#144, 85, 88) or assent of Faith (optimally), or as a minimum the religious respect of intellect and will; and the Christian faithful are called upon “to take care to avoid whatever is not in harmony with that teaching” (Canon Law #752).
The second reading, Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23, explained: The Book of Revelation was written to bolster the Faith of the persecuted Christians of all ages. Everything John described via symbols, signs, numbers, etc. has already happened except, of course for the second advent of Jesus in glory. John’s vision of a new Jerusalem should be understood as a description of the Church, rooted initially in time and space, but growing and evolving toward an eschatological future. It describes the Church as the Heavenly Jerusalem, a city united in love, with the victorious Jesus residing in it. While the earthly Temple was often thought of as a reflection of the Heavenly Temple, there will be no Temple in the New Jerusalem because the Almighty and the Lamb will be the Temple. They will provide all the light that is necessary, so there will be no need for the sun or the moon. Ancient Jerusalem had long been for the Jews a token of God's presence with them. God had aided them in capturing and holding it, in making it their capital, in building the Temple there, and in returning to it after their exile in Babylon. Within the holiest chamber of the Jerusalem Temple, they kept the stone tablets of the Law, given by God, in an enthroned chest known as the Ark of the Covenant. God dwelt in a particular way in the space above the ark. This is, in the end, a metaphor for the Church, which is called to reveal to the human race God's presence among us.
Gospel exegesis: John (Chapter 14) continues to recount Jesus’ farewell discourse after the Last Supper. Today's Gospel passage explains the doctrine of the indwelling of the Holy Trinity in the human soul, and the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
1) The abiding presence of God in the human soul: The promise of God's abiding presence must have been of great comfort to John's community who knew that the Temple in Jerusalem -- the symbol of God's presence with His people -- had been destroyed by the Roman army. In today's Gospel passage, Jesus tells us that the one thing in life which we can always trust is God’s presence. God inhabits our hearts so deeply and intimately that we become the visible dwelling place of God. His living and life-affirming Presence is always with us, yet '"hidden" in the very things we so often take for granted. Thus, we are invited to look for and encounter -- "God-with-us," yet "hidden" -- in the person sitting next to us, in the words we speak, and in the songs we sing at worship.
2) Condition for the indwelling of the Holy Trinity: Jesus teaches us the condition for this indwelling of the Holy Trinity, namely, we have to show our love of God by keeping his word. And this keeping of his word will be facilitated by the Holy Spirit, God's Holy Breath.
3) The role of the Holy Spirit is twofold: a) to "teach" the disciples and b) to “remind" them of what Jesus has already taught them” (v. 26). “At work since creation, having previously ‘spoken through the prophets,’ the Spirit will now be with and in the disciples, to teach them and guide them ‘into all the truth’” (CCC #243). Jesus affirms that even though He will no longer be visibly with them, he will continue to be present among them through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Truth will continue teaching them and helping them to understand and to build on what Jesus has already taught them. The Advocate will bring no new revelation because God has already revealed Himself in Jesus. But the Advocate will deepen their understanding of the revelation given by Jesus.
4) Jesus gives his followers four gifts: First, he gives them his love, which will enable them to keep his word. Next, he gives them the Holy Spirit, who will teach them everything they need to know. The Holy Spirit is the abiding love of God available to us, enabling us to accept the friendship of Jesus, while imitating Him, the Master. Third, he gives them His peace to strengthen them against fear in the face of trouble. Here "peace" is not just the absence of conflict, but also the far wider concept of shalom, the total well-being of the person and community. The promise of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will bring a peace that will quell their fears of the unfolding darkness ahead. “In Johannine language, peace, truth, light, life and joy are figurative terms reflecting different facets of the great gift that Jesus has brought from God to the world. 'Peace is my gift to you,' is another way of saying, 'I give them eternal life' (Jn 10:28) (Raymond E. Brown). The Holy Spirit is available as Comforter and Guide to those who believe in Jesus and follow in his way. The One God -- the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – is pure Love. This Love, the Triune God, comes and lives in us, takes up residence in us and lives in our body. When God’s love lives in us, and we live in Him, there is much more peace in our families, our Churches, our offices. Fourth, Jesus rewards them with the assurance of his second coming.
Life messages: 1) Let us be aware of the abiding presence of God within us: We live in the New Covenant of Jesus, daily facing uncertainty, conflict, and temptations. It is the abiding presence of God within us that enables us to face the future with undying hope and true Christian courage. The Holy Spirit, sent upon the Church by the Father at the request of the risen Lord, prompts us to turn to His Holy Scriptures for support and encouragement, enables us to learn the Divine truths, and grants us His peace at all times. However, to be able to receive these gifts, it is necessary for us to spend a little time each day in personal prayer, talking to God and listening to Him. We must deepen our relationship with Jesus, learn to get in touch with him, and sincerely love him. When we listen to the Holy Spirit, we will know His plan for our life and His solutions for whatever problems we face. We will be able to love our fellow human beings, and there will be a core of peace within us. The Holy Spirit teaches us through the Scriptures and preaching during the Holy Mass as well as in our prayer and our private reading of Scripture. Jesus loves us and comes to us in Communion. When the Mass is ended, we go forth in the peace of Christ -- all this under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
2) We are not alone: One of the great social and ethical problems of our time is isolation. Today approximately 25% of all adults live alone. Spouses, parents, and children often live as virtual strangers to one another. This is unfortunate because we never need to be alone. Jesus can always be present to us. He shares with us his joy and replaces the burden of our guilt with the freedom of forgiveness. He takes our grief and turns it into joy. We need only allow Jesus into our lives to be rid of this loneliness. Oneness with Jesus is the greatest gift we can give our children, our friends, or those who see no purpose in life. We can help to bring people to unity with Jesus, a unity that will change their lives. As we celebrate this Eucharistic meal, our Mass, let us celebrate in a special way the price Jesus paid for our redemption. May this Eucharistic celebration empower us to lead a true Life in the Spirit.
JOKE OF THE WEEK
1) Here is an Irish lyric: "Paddy Murphy went to Mass, never missed a Sunday. But Paddy Murphy went to hell, for what he did on Monday."
2) Don’t lose your mental peace: The Sunday school children had all been photographed with pastor sitting in their center. The pastor was trying to persuade the children to buy a copy of the group photo. "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer; she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael; he's a doctor.' A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's our Pastor; he's dead."
3) Peace and Relaxation: Did you know that.....If you can start the day without caffeine, if you can get going without pep pills, if you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains, if you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles, if you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it, if you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time, if you can take criticism without resentment, if you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him, if you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend, if you can conquer tension without medical help, if you can relax without liquor, if you can sleep without the aid of drugs, ...Then you are probably the family dog!
USEFUL WEBSITES OF THE WEEK
1) Fr. Don’ collection of video homilies & blogs: https://sundayprep.org
2) Video Sunday-Scripture study by Fr. Geoffrey Plant:
https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoffreyPlant2066
3) Dr. Brant Pitre’s commentary on Cycle C Sunday Scripture for Bible Class: https://catholicproductions.com/blogs/mass-readings-explained-year-c)
20 Additional anecdotes 1) The ‘Butterfly Effect’ “Today’s real borders are not between nations, but between powerful and powerless, free and fettered, privileged and humiliated. Today no walls can separate humanitarian or human rights crises in one part of the world from national security crises in another. Scientists tell us that the world is so small and interdependent that a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon forest can generate a storm on the other side of the earth. The principle is known as the ‘Butterfly Effect.’” (Kofi Annan –“Excerpts from Nobel Prize acceptance speech”). -- Today we realize more than ever, that the world of human activity also has its own ‘Butterfly Effect’ for better or for worse. The classical example is the history-making growth of Christianity in the first century by the Spirit-transformed lives of the apostles and early Christians. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
2) Two loves in our lives: Jimmy Carter, in his book, Sources of Strength, tells about interviewing Eloy Cruz, an admirable Cuban pastor, who had tremendous rapport with poor immigrants from Puerto Rico. “What is the secret to your success?” asked Carter. -- Pastor Cruz replied, “Señor Jimmy, we need to have only two loves for our lives, love for God and love for the person who happens to be in front of us at any time.” (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
3) "You were walking with Mary Susanna Brown, a child of God": Retired Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, (the eldest son of Boston physician, poet, and polymath, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes), was walking down a street one day. A little girl joined him. When the girl started to turn back home, the famed jurist said, "When your mother asks you where you've been, tell her you've been walking with Oliver Wendell Holmes,” to which the little girl replied confidently, "And when your folks ask you where you've been, tell them you were walking with Mary Susanna Brown, a child of God." -- There's a little girl with a healthy sense of who she is! Psychologists tell us that a healthy sense of identity is one of the most valuable gifts we can give our children. We are God’s children and our God is an indwelling God. First, however, we need that gift ourselves. And if we did not receive it from our parents, we will need to look to God. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
4) Head and tail fight of bulldog ants: The philosopher Schopenhauer once compared us to a Bulldog Ant. If we cut a Bulldog Ant in half, the front and rear segments will enter into a savage fight. The head will seize the tail with its teeth, while the tail will sting the head with fury. The fight might last for hours. -- That is the way some of us are on the inside. There is part of us that wants to move ahead and a part that wants to stand absolutely still. There is a part of us that wants success and recognition. There is another part that wants to sit on the river bank and while away the hours. There is a part of us that wants to serve Christ. There is another part that says, "No, I've enough to do right now. Let someone else take their turn." There is a fierce battle going on within many of us. Few of us know what it is to live lives of contentment and peace. -- Jesus said to his disciples, "I am leaving you with a gift -- peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give isn't fragile like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid"(Jn 14:27) What a promise! What a gift! Peace of mind and heart. He can give it to us. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
5) Love as Jesus loved: Jesus said, "I love you just as the Father loves me; remain in my love." (John 13:9). During World War II, a prisoner escaped from a labor detail in Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp in Poland. The camp commander announced that if he were not found in 24 hours, 10 of the 600 men in Block 14 would be picked at random to starve to death. Next morning the prisoners were lined up and stood all day in the burning heat of the sun. At 6 pm, 10 were selected at random. One was the father of a family. As they were being marched off, a Franciscan priest among the prisoners, St. Maximilian Kolbe, offered to take his place. The Nazi officer in charge was stunned, but he regained his composure and said, "Accepted." -- The priest's heroic act of love for a fellow prisoner is a faint reflection of Jesus' love for us, and of the Father's love for Jesus. Can I recall a time when I went out of my way and offered to help someone in need? The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them. (Jn 15:13). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
6) "Were we shot down?" A commercial airline pilot on one occasion made a particularly bad landing. The wheels of the big jet hit the runway with a jarring thud. Afterward, the airline had a policy, which required that the pilot stand at the door while the passengers exited. He was to give each of them a smile and say, "Thanks for flying with us today." In light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment, but no one seemed annoyed. Finally everyone had gotten off except for one little old lady walking with a cane. She approached the pilot and asked, "Sonny, mind if I ask you a question?" "Why, no, Ma'am, what is it?" said the pilot bravely. "Did we land," she asked, "or were we shot down?" --- Maybe you've had days like that, days when it felt like you were shot down. Even worse, maybe things are going quite well for you, really. Your friends and your family tell you how fortunate you are. But you don't feel fortunate. In fact, your life is somewhat tortured by a nagging fear that you cannot even define. It is at those moments that God wants us to turn to Him. He is our Peace, always. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
7) "Mommy, are you there?": I recall the story of a little girl who, when trains were popular transportation, was taking her first train ride with her parents. As night descended, the mother took the girl, who was clearly quite anxious, and placed her on the upper bunk of the sleeper. She told her little one that up there she would be nearer to God and that God would watch over her. As silence enveloped the young lady she became afraid and called softly, "Mommy, are you there?" "Yes dear," came the response. A little later, in a louder voice, the child called, "Daddy, are you there, too?" "Yes dear," was the reply. After this had been repeated several times one of the passengers sharing their sleeper car finally lost his patience and shouted loudly, "Yes, we're all here, your father, your mother, your brother, and all your aunts and cousins; now settle down and go to sleep!" There was a moment of silence and then, in hushed tones a little voice asked, "Mommy, was that God?" -- Jesus, in offering peace, does not say, "I'm here, the Holy Spirit's here and God is here, now be at peace!" The peace that Jesus offers cannot be had simply by desiring it. The peace of God is a gift; it can only be received as a by-product of Faith. That's why the world is largely a stranger to it. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
8) Brendan Behan, an Irish playwright, virtually drank himself to death. His biographer attributes it to an unrelenting sense of guilt. Behan went to England on a mission for the I.R.A. One day he planted a bomb set to go off during rush hour. It exploded as a young woman with her baby was passing by. Both died in the blast! Brendan Behan was overwhelmed with guilt for killing that innocent woman and her baby. And as time went on he increasingly tried to drown his memories and silence his conscience in a bottle, without success! -- Guilt is a terrible thing. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a guide in life a guide Who will help us avoid those things that we know are wrong, those things that fill us with regret? Christ has promised us such a guide. That guide is the Holy Spirit. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
9) Loving grandpa and the naughty grandchild: Grandpa walked into the family room and found his little grandson, Jeffy, standing up in his playpen, crying. He looked so pitiful, standing there in his little baseball T-shirt and diaper. His face was red and tear-stained from crying. When Jeffy saw his grandpa, his face lit up in a way that smote the old man’s heart. He immediately reached up his chubby little hands in supplication. “Take me out, Papa, out!” What grandpa could resist such a plea? Not this one! He walked over to the playpen and reached down to lift his little buddy out of captivity and distress. Just then, however, Law and Order stepped into the room. Jeffy’s mother walked out of the kitchen with a dishtowel in her hand and spoke sternly. “No, Jeffy! You are being punished. You have to stay in bed! Leave him right there, Dad.” Oh, fine. Now what’s a grandpa to do? His grandson’s tears and reaching little hands tugged mightily at his heart – but he didn’t want to interfere with a mother’s discipline either. What could he do? Love found a way. Since Grandpa couldn’t take Jeffy out of the playpen, he climbed in with him. “If you’re in the playpen, Buddy, I’m in the playpen. What’s your sentence? How long are you in for?” -- And finding a big, jolly grandpa suddenly filling his little prison cell, the little boy found comfort even in his captivity. Today’s readings explain God’s indwelling in the Church and in the believers in terms of God’s love for His children. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
10) The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky regarded by many as one of the greatest literary geniuses of all time. His books are classics. The Brothers Karamazov is regarded by many as the greatest novel ever written. His stories all have a similar theme, that our redemption is to be found through suffering, not simply physical suffering, but in the anguish of our selfhood. We become fully human, Dostoyevsky believed, by being tested and being strengthened through it [Pulpit Resource, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Logos Art Productions, Inver Grove, Minnesota) pp. 14-15.] -- The peace which Jesus gave to the disciples involved very little contentment. They had to endure persecutions, misunderstanding, and hardships of every kind. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
11) “But Papa, I love him; he loves me.” In the Broadway play and movie of the same name, Fiddler on the Roof, the chief protagonist is Tevye, a poor Russian Jew struggling to make a life for himself and his family. Economically and politically strapped by the harsh conditions of life prior to and during the Russian Revolution (ca. 1917), Tevye the milkman can hold onto little else except his traditions. However, even these began to crumble when his eldest daughter refuses to acquiesce to an arranged marriage and opts for love in poverty rather than wealth without love. Further shaken by the marriage of his second daughter to a Russian who favors the revolution, Tevye seems unable to bear anything more. But the final blow comes when his youngest daughter chooses to marry Christian. When Tevye argues with his daughters in favor of the centuries’ old traditions of their people, they counter him on every point with the simple explanation, “But Papa, I love him; he loves me.” -- Love proved to be a force powerful enough to overcome separatism and the distrust of others and their ways on the grounds that they did not share the same roots, background and beliefs. In Tevye's family, love began to establish new traditions, though not easily or rapidly. The family which was the early Church also struggled with the tasks of surrendering old ways (as described in the first reading) and of learning and establishing new ones as it grew and developed. Based on love and founded in peace, the Church’s new traditions were inspired, supported and guided by none other than the Holy Spirit. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
12) Conversion: Joshua, a young Jew, fell in love with Mary, a devout Catholic. When Joshua proposed to Mary, she sought counsel from her parents, each of whom advised her differently. “Convert him to Catholicism!” commanded Mary’s dad, but her mum said, “Love him tenderly and God’s Spirit will work wonders!” Mary’s dad wouldn’t give in and ordered her to work hard at converting Joshua to Catholicism. Mary obeyed and Joshua was duly converted. Weeks later Joshua called off the marriage. “What’s up?” asked Mary’s dad. Mary sobbed: “Joshua wants to be a priest!” (Francis Gonsalves in Sunday Seeds for daily Deeds). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
13) The little mediator, Wee Willie Winkie: John Ford's superb family action-adventure film, Wee Willie Winkie (1937), is loosely based on Rudyard Kipling's popular story from his Tales of British India. The setting of this movie is 19th century British-occupied India. Little Priscilla Williams and her widowed mother travel to India to live with their relative, Colonel Williams. The colonel ruled his British Army base in India with an iron fist making of it an oppressive place. Priscilla is a very curious, precocious child, who gains the nickname of "Private Wee Willie Winkie.” The little girl quickly charms everyone around her, including a tough Scots Sergeant. After a series of adventures, she wins the hearts of everyone by challenging the prejudicial assumptions of both friends and enemies. Her innocent, yet challenging questions are instrumental in helping Colonel Williams and Islamic freedom fighter, Khoda Khan, to see the senselessness of violence. This leads them to a negotiated peace. -- Today’s Gospel assures us that it is the abiding presence of God the Father with God the Incarnte Risen Son in the Holy Spirit within us, which gives us lasting peace. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
14) A New Advocate: When the heartbroken Nathaniel Hawthorne went home to tell his wife that he had been a failure and had been fired from his job in a customhouse, she surprised him with an exclamation of joy. “Now,” she said triumphantly, “you can write your book!” “Yes,” replied Nathaniel, “and what shall we live on while I am writing it?” To his amazement, she opened a drawer and pulled out a substantial sum of money. “Where on earth did you get that?” he exclaimed. “I have always known you were a man of genius,” she told him. “I knew that someday you would write a masterpiece. So every week out of the housekeeping money you gave me I saved a little. So here is enough to last us a whole year!” From her confidence and encouragement came one of the greatest novels of United States literature, The Scarlet Letter. –- As a farewell, gift Jesus spoke of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate he would give us. On the Divine level, deeper experiences of God do not make Christians immune to human problems and pain, but Jesus showed that his peace can be present even in the midst of insults, persecution, and approaching death. (Harold Buetow in God Still Speaks: Listen!) (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
15) "Padre, padrecito," he exclaimed, "I knew you would come." It happened that a missionary priest was visiting his extensive parish, high in the Andes Mountains. The best way to reach certain parts of the parish was on horseback. Once, toward sunset, the priest got disoriented and could not find the way back to his base camp. Rather than risk exposure at such an altitude, he decided to give his horse free rein and hope to find shelter. After a couple of hours of wandering, he saw a welcome sight. In the distance a lamp burned in a hut. This was unusual because the native people went to bed shortly after dark in order to get up at an early hour. When the priest got near the hut, a man ran out, "Padre, padrecito," he exclaimed, "I knew you would come." Surprised, the priest asked how he knew that. The man said, "My mother has been praying all day that a priest would come. She is dying." The priest went inside, heard the woman's confession, then gave her Holy Anointing and Holy Communion. The woman softly spoke these final words, "Taita Dios heard me." -- Taita Dios is not easy to translate. Dios of course means God, but Taita is hard to translate. It is an intimate, affectionate way of addressing one's father. Taita is like "daddy," except that a grown-up man could say it with no embarrassment. Taita Dios, my dear Father, has heard me. In today's Gospel, Jesus tells us that if someone keeps Jesus' word, "the Father will love him." He then describes an intimacy impossible for us to imagine. He tells us that he and the Father will dwell within us - by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Phil Bloom). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
16) "I would obey the commandments of God." When Jimmy Carter was running for President of the United States, one of the more vivid moments in the campaign passed by almost unnoticed. One Sunday morning, candidate Carter had been worshipping at the Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. When the service was over, he exited the church into the swarm of press encamped on the church's front lawn. Cameras whirring, video lights glaring, microphones thrust forward, the media mavens moved in for interviews, pushing themselves to think of clever questions to ask a presidential candidate on the way out of a Southern Baptist Church. Suddenly, a reporter, probably in a stroke of luck, shouted out a question that genuinely mattered: "Mr. Carter, suppose when you are President, you get into a situation where the laws of the United States are in conflict with what you understand to be the will of God. Which will you follow, the laws of the state or the commandments of God?" Carter stopped, looked up, and blinked into the bright Georgia sun, obviously turning the question over in his mind. Then, perhaps still "in the Spirit on the Lord's Day," perhaps with the Spirit gently whispering the lyrics of the Gospel into his ears, he turned toward the reporter and replied, "I would obey the commandments of God." Alert aides, alarmed by this candor, unnerved by their candidate's near-treasonous remark, hurriedly whisked him away from the press and into a waiting car. -- Carter the politician should have avoided the question, or hewed closely to the law of the land, but Carter the Christian had the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ whispering in his ear, "Do you love me? The world cannot see or know me, but do you love me? Do you keep my commandments?" The reason we need the Holy Spirit murmuring the Gospel in our ears, of course, is that we are notoriously forgetful. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
17) The true peace Christ brings us, according to St. Francis Assisi: The Little Flowers of St. Francis, composed at the end of the 14th century by a Tuscan, is based on Actus beati Francisci et sociorum eius in divided into 53 short chapters. Here is a gripping story told in the book. “Walking one day in the bitter cold with Brother Leo, St Francis began to teach him about perfect joy and perfect peace. He called to Brother Leo, who was walking on before him, and said to him: 'If we monks were great holy men who edified all those around us, this would not be perfect joy.' A little further St. Francis called to Brother Leo again: 'O Brother Leo, if we monks were to make the lame to walk, if we should make straight the crooked, chase away demons, give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, and, what is even a far greater work, if we should raise the dead after four days, write that this would not be perfect joy.' ….After some two miles of this Brother Leo finally spoke up and said: 'Father Francis, I pray thee teach me wherein is perfect joy.' Francis then teaches him this: 'If, when we shall arrive at St Mary of the Angels, all drenched with rain and trembling with cold, all covered with mud and exhausted from hunger; if, when we knock at the convent-gate, the porter should come angrily and ask us who we are; if, after we have told him, "We are two of the brethren," he should answer angrily, "What ye say is not the truth; ye are but two impostors going about to deceive the world, and take away the alms of the poor; begone, I say"; if then he refuse to open to us, and leave us outside, exposed to the snow and rain, suffering from cold and hunger till nightfall - then, if we accept such injustice, such cruelty and such contempt with patience, without being ruffled and without murmuring, believing with humility and charity that the porter really knows us, and that it is God who maketh him to speak thus against us, write down, O Brother Leo, that this is perfect joy. And if we knock again, and the porter come out in anger to drive us away with oaths and blows, as if we were vile impostors, saying, "Begone, miserable robbers! To the hospital, for here you shall neither eat nor sleep!" - and if we accept all this with patience, with joy, and with charity, O Brother Leo, write that this indeed is perfect joy. And if, urged by cold and hunger, we knock again, calling to the porter and entreating him with many tears to open to us and give us shelter, for the love of God, and if he come out more angry than before, exclaiming, "These are but importunate rascals, I will deal with them as they deserve'; and taking a knotted stick, he seize us by the hood, throwing us on the ground, rolling us in the snow, and shall beat and wound us with the knots in the stick - if we bear all these injuries with patience and joy, thinking of the sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which we would share out of love for him, write, O Brother Leo, that here, finally, is perfect joy.’ -- I believe that what St Francis was saying to Brother Leo was that the Peace of Christ comes through our acts of obedience especially obedience in times of suffering. We will do well if we remember that true peace is the assurance that one day our Brother Jesus will return to take us back, back to our Father's house. “So, do not let your hearts be troubled neither let them be afraid.” (Jn 14:1) Amen. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
18) Peanut in our pocket: There is a story told about a young lady named Sally. Sally was growing up, becoming a woman, preparing to go off to college. Her mother had struggled to provide for her education, an especially difficult task since her father had died several years earlier. Her mother had made every effort within her power to raise Sally right. Now Sally would be on her own, an exciting and frightening time. Sally had strong reservations about leaving her mother alone to mind the farm and do the chores. She was also nervous about having to find her own way without her mother's guidance. As she prepared to meet the bus, bags packed and ready, her mother took her arm and said to her, "You're gonna see things an' do things you ain't never heard of, and you won't know which way to turn sometimes. You 'member how you used to tug on my apron string when you wanted something, and I'd see to what you was after? You 'member how when you was too close to the road, and I'd holler to you to tell you to get away from there'?" her mother gently reminded her. "Well, I'm gonna be there with you in your heart, but it'll be up to you to listen to what I told you. I can't kiss your hurts when you fall down an' skin your knee or quiet you when the big storms come rollin' through. But, I'll be close as a peanut in your pocket when you need me. If you're afraid, I'll stand with you. And if you are hurting, you can feel me close, and if you do wrong, I'll whisper the truth to ya, so you won't do it no more." The tears came to both their eyes. Her mother opened the dresser drawer and took out a neatly folded handkerchief and placed it in the pocket of Sally's dress. Upon leaving, Sally felt completely alone. As she fought back the tears, she reached into her dress pocket to take out the handkerchief her mother had placed there. Then she noticed a knot in one corner just like her mother used to tie her milk money in her handkerchief. Upon untying the knot, she found a single peanut. She knew that her dear mother would always be with her in her heart (3. Parables submitted by Ron Alberston). -- The Good News is that God wants to dwell in our lives. God wants to take up residence in our hearts. God wants to be with us always, as close as a peanut in our pocket. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
19) "Watch Jimmie in chapel:" In his book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, Oliver Sacks tells the story of Jimmie, a former sailor, now a patient in a nursing home, whose severe neurological disorder had left him with a profound and permanent amnesia. He simply had no memory of anything from 1945 on. Having no ability to retrieve the past and no ability to construct a meaningful present, Jimmie lacked the continuity that makes for a sense of the self. He was, wrote Sacks, a person who "wore a look of infinite sadness and resignation." However, when Sacks asked the Sisters who ran the nursing home whether Jimmie had lost his soul, the Sisters were outraged by the question. "Watch Jimmie in chapel," they said, "and judge for yourself." So Sacks did watch Jimmie in chapel, and there he observed an astounding transformation. He saw an intensity and steadiness in Jimmie that he had not observed before. As he received the Sacrament, there was "perfect alignment of his spirit with the spirit of the Mass." There in worship, Jimmie was no longer at the mercy of a faulty and fallible memory. "He was wholly held, absorbed ...." He whose mind was broken was given in worship, "a continuity and unity so seamless it could not permit any break." . (Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, is reported in Craig Dykstra, "Memory and Truth," Theology Today, XLIV/2, p. 162). -- Jimmie in his own way is like all of us. In the final analysis, none of us is able to construct a self. We must all be given a story and a continuity not of our own making. Where we have no faithful memory, God remembers, and by the grace of God, the Spirit whispers the lyrics of the saving Gospel in our ears. (https://frtonyshomilies.com/)
20) The City Sparkled Like a Diamond: We pray for the dead, “May perpetual light shine upon them”. Have you ever wondered what sort of light perpetual light would be? Soft and white, perhaps, like the light of a frosted bulb? Piercing, like the headlight of a motorcycle? Scary electric blue, like a flash of lightning? Too dazzling even to look at, like the glare of the summer sun? It might resemble any of these. But somehow, I believe that the light in heaven will be more gracious. -- Today’s second reading suggests what I mean. St. John had a preview of the “new Jerusalem” to be sent down by God. He says, “The city had the radiance of a precious jewel that sparkled like a diamond.” In other words it shone with a glittering, amiable, transparent light. John used similar descriptions elsewhere in the Book of Revelations: “The city was of pure gold, crystal clear” and “The streets of the city were of pure gold, transparent as glass. The floor around (God’s) throne was like a sea of glass that was crystal clear.” Centuries before St. John’s days, the prophet Ezekiel had described the sky above God, whom he too saw in a vision, as shining “like glittering crystal.“ From 1915 to 1917 the three children of Fatima, Portugal – Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta – had several visions of Our Lady and of angels. They, too, described the light in these visions as something you could see through. Lucia has recorded that the angel they saw in 1916 “was a young man, about 14 or 15 years old, whiter than snow, transparent as crystal when the sun shines through it.” And when Our Lady appeared to them on May 13, 1917, Lucy said “she was more brilliant than the sun, and radiated with a light more clear and intense than a crystal glass filled with sparkling water when the rays of the burning sun shine through it.” I think I would like that sort of light. (Father Robert F. McNamara). (https://frtonyshomilies.com/) L/22
“Scriptural Homilies” Cycle C (No. 33) by Fr. Tony: akadavil@gmail.com
Visit my website by clicking on http://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed or previous Cycle C homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Contact me only at akadavil@gmail.com. Visit also https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies under Fr. Tony’s homilies and under Resources in the CBCI website: https://www.cbci.in for other website versions. (Vatican Radio website: http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html uploaded my Cycle A, B and C homilies in from 2018-2020) Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Chaplain, Sacred Heart Residence of the Little Sisters of the Poor, 1655 McGill Ave, Mobile, AL 36604 .

O. T. XXIX (Oct 17) Mk 10:35-45: 8-minute homily in one page
O. T. XXIX (Oct 17) Mk 10:35-45: 8-minute homily in one page
Central theme: Today’s Scripture readings describe leadership as the sacrificial service done for others and offer Jesus as the best example. They also explain the servant leadership of Jesus, pinpointing service and sacrifice as the criteria of greatness in Christ’s Kingdom.
Scripture lessons summarized: The first reading is a Messianic prophecy taken from the Fourth Servant Song in the second part of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. It tells how the promised Messiah will save mankind by dying in atonement for our sins. Jesus has done this out of love for us, becoming the Suffering Servant crucified as an offering for sin, interceding for us and taking our punishment on Himself. The second reading, taken from the letter to the Hebrews, tells us that, as God-man and Mediator-High Priest, Jesus has offered a fitting sacrifice to God to ransom us, liberating us from enslavement to sin. In the time of Jesus, ransom was the price paid to free someone from slavery. Sometimes the ransomer offered himself as a substitute for the slave, as Jesus did. The reading also speaks of a High Priest who is able to sympathize with us in our weakness because Jesus has been tested in every way, though sinless, and so we can “confidently” hope for God’s mercy.
Today’s Gospel explains how Jesus has accomplished the Messianic mission of saving mankind from the slavery of sin by becoming the “Suffering Servant.” In the context of the selfish request made by James and John for key positions in the Messianic political kingdom Jesus would establish after overthrowing the Roman rule, Jesus challenged his followers to become great by serving others with sacrificial agape love: “Whoever wishes to be great must be a servant." Jesus commands us to give ourselves to others in loving and humble service, and so to liberate them, just as we were freed by Jesus’ death.
Life Messages: 1) We are challenged to give our lives in loving service to others. As Christians, we are all invited to serve others – and to serve with a smile! We are challenged to drink the cup of Jesus by laying down our lives in humble, sacrificial service for others, just as Jesus did. The best place to begin the process of service by “self-giving" is in our own homes and workplaces. When parents sacrifice their time, talents, health, and blessings for the welfare of others in the family, they are serving God. Service always involves suffering, because we can’t help another without some sacrifice on our part. We are rendering great service to others also when we present them and their needs before God daily in our prayers.
2) We are invited to servant leadership: In order to become an effective Christian community, we need lay leaders with the courage of their Christian convictions to work for social justice. We need spiritual leaders who can break open the Word for us, lead us in our prayer, offer us on the altar, and draw us together as sacrament.
O. T. 29 SUNDAY (Oct 17): Is 53:10-11; Heb 4:14-16; Mk 10:35-45
Homily starter anecdotes: #1: "Sir, I am a Corporal!" During the American Revolution, a man in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers who were busy pulling out a horse carriage stuck in deep mud. Their officer was shouting instructions to them while making no attempt to help. The stranger who witnessed the scene asked the officer why he wasn't helping. With great anger and dignity, the officer replied, "Sir, I am a Corporal!" The stranger dismounted from his horse and proceeded to help the exhausted soldiers himself. When the job was completed, he turned to the corporal and said, "Mr. Corporal, next time you have a job like this and don’t have enough men to do it, inform your commander-in-chief, and I will come and help you again." Too late, the proud Corporal recognized General Washington. -- Washington understood that those who aspire to greatness or rank first among others must serve the needs of all. America’s first president found himself in a situation that invited him to demonstrate servant leadership. Where did Washington learn such leadership skills? I have no doubt he learned them here, in these words of Jesus: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” The young corporal had these words modeled for him by the man at the top. Jesus' disciples, likewise, receive from their leader a picture of servanthood. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
# 2: True Greatness: Nobel prizes are awarded every year in literature, economics, and science, among others. People who have made outstanding contributions in these fields are given due recognition for their achieved greatness. Excellence is recognized in the sports world, too. For example, when Pete Rose surpassed Ty Cobb’s record number of hits in 1985, he assured himself a place in baseball’s Hall of Fame. -- We all aspire to greatness in some form or another. It is a desire which our Lord addresses in today’s Gospel. But if we look deeper into enduring examples of greatness, we see that the Lord is right. Alexander the Great was a remarkable leader because he stood by his men in battle. Albert the Great was an intellectual giant because he disciplined himself for study. Beethoven was a master composer because he struggled long hours to get the right note. (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds; quoted by Fr. Botelho.) Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
#3: "I discovered that Service is Joy": It may sound unbelievable, but it is true that Asia's first Nobel Prize winner in Literature (1913), Rabindranath Tagore, was behind the three great national anthems of three nations, viz. Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. He was also the first non-Westerner to win the Nobel Prize in literature. He did so in 1913. He wrote this short poem:
I slept and dreamt that life was Joy;
Then I awoke and realized
that life was Service.
And then I went to work - and, lo
and behold, I discovered that
Service is Joy. -- Today’s Gospel teaches us that true happiness comes from surrendering ourselves completely in humble service to God through Christ. And all we need is a servant's heart, mind, eyes, and touch. So, "How's Your Serve?" Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
Introduction: Today’s Scripture readings describe leadership as the service of others and offer Jesus as the best example. They explain the servant leadership of Jesus, pinpointing service and sacrifice as the criteria of greatness in Christ’s Kingdom.
Scripture lessons summarized: The first reading is a Messianic prophecy taken from the Fourth Servant Song in the second part of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. The Servant of the first reading intercedes with God for the people, taking upon himself their wrongdoings and accepting the punishment their sins have incurred. This passage speaks of the servant as giving “his life as an offering for sin.” The prophecy was realized in Jesus who lived and died for others. Out of love, Jesus, the servant, lived and died so that the unjust might know God’s justification. Today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 33) instructs us, “See, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear Him, upon those who hope for his Kindness, / to deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine,” The second reading, taken from the letter to the Hebrews, notes that Jesus, as God willed, became the mediator or priest for the people. The reading speaks of a High Priest, able to sympathize with us in our weakness. Because Jesus was tested in every way, though sinless, we can “confidently” hope for God’s mercy. Today's Gospel lesson explains how Jesus accomplished the Messianic mission of saving mankind by becoming the “Suffering Servant” and challenged the disciples to become great by serving others: “Whoever wishes to be great must be a servant." In the time of Jesus, ransom was the price paid to free someone from slavery. Sometimes the ransomer offered himself as a substitute for the slave. Jesus’ death on the cross was just such a liberating offering made for mankind. The “slavery” mandated by Jesus is a loving service of liberation for others.
First reading, Isaiah 53:10-11, explained: The first reading about the “Suffering Servant” prepares us to hear today's Gospel teaching (Mark 10:35-45), on ambition versus humility. Jesus predicts, for the third time, that the Messianic mission would be accomplished by the Messiah’s suffering, dying and rising, taking on the sins of all mankind to set us free. The concluding words of Jesus in today’s Gospel, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give giving His life as a ransom for many,” refer to the Messianic prophecy of the prophet Isaiah. This reading forms part of one of the famous four passages from the second part of Isaiah known as the Songs of the Suffering Servant, foreshadowing aspects of Jesus’ life and mission.. In Isaiah, the Suffering Servant probably refers to a single individual, or to the remnant of the faithful within Israel, or to some other religious reformer who will bring about peace and restoration. Isaiah speaks of God crushing the Suffering Servant (Jesus) with suffering. "By His sufferings shall My servant justify many." We are invited to see the death of Jesus as the fulfillment of this passage because Jesus dies as a willing sacrifice for our sins, making us righteous by taking our sins away. Out of love, Jesus the servant lives and dies so that the unjust may know God’s justification. The passage also gives us the assurance that if we work for righteousness, we will be able to receive the loving care of our Father, God, who will never abandon us.
Second Reading, Hebrews 4:14-16, explained: The Letter to the Hebrews was written to bolster the Faith of Jewish converts to Christianity. They suffered the contempt of former Jewish friends who had not been converted, and they felt nostalgia for the institutions of Judaism, such as rituals, sacrifices, and the priesthood . This letter tries to show them how they still have all these “missing” things, and in a better form in Christianity than they had them in Judaism. While the first reading from Isaiah prophesies the necessary, sacrificial role of God’s servant, Jesus, in the plan of salvation, the author of Hebrews affirms Jesus’ priestly activity. Since the Jewish converts to Christ did not have the priests they were used to, the author of Hebrews argues that Jesus is the true High Priest, superior to and far better than the Jewish priests because He, the Son of God, shares our fragile, suffering humanity. Thus, we can “approach his throne of grace confidently to receive mercy,” because Jesus understands us. Later, in Heb 9:10-14, St. Paul presents Jesus as both sacrificial victim and priest. In both death and Resurrection, Jesus functions both as the Priest sacrificing the victim and as the Victim sacrificed.
Gospel exegesis: The context: Our Gospel reading for today is another classic text on the question of ambition. For the third time, (Mk 8:31, 9:31, 10:32), Jesus predicts swiftly approaching sufferings ending in death, but followed by resurrection on the third day. In spite of Jesus’ two previous predictions, James and John are still thinking of Jesus as a revolutionary freedom-fighter. They share their contemporaries’ Jewish belief that the Messiah will be a political king, sitting on David's throne and ruling over a re-united Israel. They are sure that the purpose of Jesus’ final trip to Jerusalem is to overthrow the Roman rulers. Hence, they want an assurance from Jesus that they will be the first- and second-in-command in the coming Messianic Kingdom of God. According to Middle Eastern custom, the seats on the right and left sides of the host were the places of honor, granted to the host’s closest friends and associates, or those the host wished particularly to recognize.
The high price of servant leadership: The request of James and John reveals their lack of understanding of true leadership. They are looking for positions of power and prestige. They think that leadership comes from where one sits rather than from how one serves. Jesus gives them a sharp rebuke, saying, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They answer Jesus’ question with a very quick, “You bet we can!” That’s the kind of answer you give when you envision the ‘cup’ in question to be a bejeweled golden goblet filled with good wine at the feast of Jesus' inauguration as the replacement for the Caesar.” (Center for Excellence in Preaching; online). “The request of James and John for a share in the glory (Mark 10:35-37) must of necessity involve a share in Jesus’ sufferings, the endurance of tribulation and suffering for the Gospel” (Notes to the New American Bible). The cup was a symbol of the life experience allotted to each person by God. To “drink the cup” Jesus drinks is to accept the reality of suffering and to do God’s will in the midst of it, as Jesus did in Gethsemane and on Calvary. Those who follow the way of Jesus and seek to imitate the Master’s example of servant leadership must be willing even to suffer for others. During royal banquets, it was customary for an ancient king to hand the cup to his guests. Thus, the cup became a metaphor for the life and experiences that God gives to men. Jesus insisted that the disciples must drink from Jesus’ cup if they expected to reign with Jesus in his kingdom. The cup Jesus had in mind was a bitter one, involving crucifixion. For Jesus, to take this cup was to suffer the judgment all mankind’s sin had earned. Baptism was also linked to the Divine judgment that will come as a result of human sinfulness. Jesus had in mind the cup of the sacrificial death and the baptism of fire which would be met in Jerusalem.
Troubleshooting: Without fully understanding what Jesus meant, James and John quickly affirmed that they could share in their Master’s cup and baptism. They had no understanding of the personal cost that lay behind these two images. [History tells us that James was beheaded by Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:2), and John suffered deeply when he heard regularly for years, of the persecution of his fellow Christians, while he himself was forced into exile.] Naturally, the request of James and John angered the other disciples. They were upset that James and John had tried to gain some advantage over them. So, Jesus called them all together to give them yet another lecture on real leadership in the kingdom of God. Jesus further explains that to sit on his right hand and on his left “is not Mine to give” to give, for these places are reserved for those for whom they are prepared by his Father. The passage thus declares that “Christ would give rewards to his followers; but only to such as should be entitled to them according to the purpose of his Father.” (Notes on the New Testament)
A challenge to achieve greatness through humble, sacrificial service: Jesus tells the apostles plainly what the nature of the Messianic mission is, how it will be accomplished and what should be the criteria of greatness among the disciples. Jesus summarizes the Messianic mission in one sentence: “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” It is in service and humility, Jesus says, that one will find true greatness in the eyes of God. Jesus also explains that the accomplishment of the Messianic mission demands the Messiah’s freely accepting and undergoing crucifixion, as a sacrifice to save people from their sins. Here, Jesus challenges the apostles to share not only the power, but the service, sacrificing themselves for others as Jesus will do. According to Jesus, greatness consists not in what we have, nor in what we can get from others but in what we give to others. The CEO in Jesus’ kingdom is the one who serves the needs of all the others. The test of greatness in the reign of God is not how many people are in one’s service but how one may serve the many. Jesus thus overturns all our values, teaching us that true greatness consists in loving, humble, and sacrificial service. Jesus has identified authority with selfless service and loving sacrifice. For Jesus, true service means putting one’s gifts at the disposal of others. Service is sacrifice: extending a helping hand to those in need translates love into meaningful deeds. Jesus clearly teaches that when power and authority are used in selfish ways, for personal gain, pleasure or advantage, instead of on behalf of others, they cease to be Christian, and those who make this error become “like the leaders of the Gentiles.” St. Paul, in Rom 1:1, says: “From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus.” No wonder the official title of the popes down through the centuries has been, “Servant of the servants of God”! For our contemporary, St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa), greatness lay in the giving of her whole self to the very lowest, treating them as brothers and sisters and living close to them.
Authority exercised by sacrificial service: Very often, people in authority act as if others exist only to serve them. Even in our democratic form of government, our elected officials, although called “public servants,” frequently strut around like monarchs, interested in serving their own appetites for power, prestige, and wealth. They forget the fact that authority is different from power. Power is something a person has and forces on people. Authority is something one first receives from a higher power (ultimately God Who is the Source of Authority). That authority is recognized in one by the people who choose, receive and obey one as their Leader. One can exercise authority over those one leads, only through service and sacrifice, for this is God’s own pattern, shown in Christ Jesus. When people see that a person has their best interests at heart and is willing to sacrifice and serve them, they will be willing to follow. That’s real leadership and authority. Jesus presents authority as one’s opportunity to serve others rather than to promote one’s own honor and glory. Jesus connects authority with selfless service. He considers authority exercised without sacrificial love as merely self-service. A noted Italian sociologist Francis Alberoni in his Art of Commanding, listed the qualities of a true gifted leader: “inspiration, humility, a spirit of service, serenity, good example, determination, availability, and the capacity to expend oneself.” Such a leader is seen in Jesus who stoops down and wash the feet of the apostles (John 13).
Life messages: 1) We are challenged to give our lives in loving service to others. To become an authentic disciple of Jesus means to put ourselves in the humble, demanding role of servant to others, to seek intentionally the happiness and fulfillment of those we love regardless of the cost to ourselves. The best place to begin the process of “self-giving" service is in our own homes and in the workplace. We have to look upon our education, training, and experience as preparation for service to others. Whatever may be our place in society -- whether important or unimportant -- we can serve. We should learn to serve with a smile. This is possible whether we are in military service, social service, law, medical service, government, or business. We get chances to serve others every day. Nurses serve their patients, teachers serve their students, parents serve the needs of their children, and spouses serve each another and their children as well as their own parents in old age. In our parishes, we are also called to serve not to be served. We can here apply the famous “ask not” of John Kennedy: “Ask not what your parish, what your Church, your God can do for you; rather ask what you can do for your parish, for your Church, your God!” If we want to be leaders, we must learn to be available, accountable, and vulnerable. This triad --- availability, accountability, and vulnerability --- qualifies us for what Robert Greenleaf has called Servant Leadership. “Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.” —Albert Schweitzer
2) We serve by suffering: In today’s Gospel, Jesus connects service with suffering. Suffering and service go hand in hand. First, service always involves suffering because one can’t help another without some personal sacrifice. Second, God always invites those who suffer to put their suffering at the service of others by uniting it with the salvific suffering of Jesus. Third, we must learn to be sensitive to the suffering of those around us. One way to cultivate this sensitivity is to focus on the needs of others rather than on our own needs. Another way is through prayer, as explained in St. Francis of Assisi’s famous Prayer for Peace.
3) We are invited to drink from the cup of Christ’s suffering: People often tailor their religious beliefs to fit their own needs. In Christianity, this represents a false approach. The Church needs true disciples who are cross-bearers and servants. They seek and follow wherever Christ leads. A happy family is the result of true sacrifice and humble service. The husband and wife sacrifice convenience, comfort, and time. There can be no success without sacrifice. We are challenged to drink the cup of Jesus by laying down our lives in humble and sacrificial service for others, just as Jesus did.
4) We are invited to servant leadership: We are a community of equals and we share in the responsibilities of being community. In order to be effective, we need leaders – both ordained, as ministerial priests, and lay. These servants have been raised up from among us to call us to order, to be the ground on which the rest of us can move around, refining our lives as followers of Jesus. We need leaders who will help us to form personal relationships with God and with each other that will assist us to become what we must be in order to wash one another’s feet. We require leaders to call us to the ways of social justice. We need leaders who tie us to other communities and groups who share similar values. Finally, we need leaders who can break open the Word for us, who can lead us in our prayer, offering us on the altar, and who can draw us together as sacrament. No one of us possesses all that we as a community need. Our job as servant leaders is to evoke, to recognize, to nurture, to celebrate, and to help unify the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work here in our community. Jesus, our model of selflessness, surrendered entirely to the Father’s will out of love for us (CCC #536). We have this possibility of becoming “partners” with Jesus, to be a servant just like Him – “there is no other ladder by which we may get to Heaven” (CCC #618).
Joke of the Week #1: Support your senator doing free service: A priest went into a Washington, D. C. barber shop for a haircut. When the barber finished, the priest asked him what the charge was and the barber responded, “No charge, Father, you are serving the Lord and I consider my service rendered to you as a service to the Lord.” The next morning when the barber arrived at his shop he found at his front door a stack of usable Christmas cards and a note of thanks from the priest. A few days later, a police officer went to the same barber for a haircut. When he went to pay, the barber said, “No charge, officer. I consider it a service to our community because you serve our community.” The next morning when the barber arrived at his shop there were a dozen donuts at the front door and a note of thanks from the policeman. A few days after this an influential senator came in for a haircut. “No charge, Senator, I consider it a service to my country.” The next morning when the barber arrived at his shop there were two congressmen waiting for their chance for the barber’s free service, carrying a note of thanks from the Senator!
# 2: Good old days: George Bernard Shaw was once asked in what generation he would have preferred to live. The witty Irishman replied: "The age of Napoleon, because then there was only one man who thought he was Napoleon.
USEFUL WEBSITES OF THE WEEK(The easiest method to visit these websites is to copy and paste the web address or URL on the Address bar of any Internet website like Google or MSN and press the Enter button of your Keyboard).
1) Catholic Radio: http://www.catholicradiointernational.com/index.php
2) EWTN radio: http://www.ewtn.com/audiovideo/index.asp
3) Catholic pages: http://www.catholic-pages.com/default.htm
4) Theological Resources: http://www.diocs.org/Faith/index.cfm
5) Tutorial on Latin Mass: http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/index.html
6)Dr. Bryant Pitro’s commentary on Cycle B Sunday Scripture: https://catholicproductions.com/blogs/mass-readings-explained-year-b
7) Video Sunday-Scripture study by Fr. Geoffrey Plant:
8) https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoffreyPlant2066
9) Fr. Don’ collection of video homilies & blogs: (Type https://sundayprep.org on the Address bar (topmost column) in Google search or YouTube Search and press the Enter button. Do not type it on You Tube Search column or Google Search)

32- Additional anecdotes: 1) NBA superstar on service: Nearly a decade after leaving professional basketball, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar decided to return to the sport he loved, by accepting a coaching position with the Alchesay Falcons - a high-school team of mostly White Mountain Apaches. As an African American among Native Americans, Abdul-Jabbar had a great deal to learn about these people. He discovered surprising cultural traditions that made it difficult for him to coach them, such as the Indian discomfort at being singled out for criticism as well as their extreme sensitivity. By working with these people, however, and sacrificing his time and talents, Abdul-Jabbar learned to appreciate them and form them into a super team. He did not try to lord it over them as an NBA superstar. Instead, he served them. In the end, he may have learned more than he actually taught. He became a good example of servant leadership. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2) Servant leader in a serving community: In his book, Dr. George Burns' Prescription For Happiness: Buy Two Books and Call Me in the Morning, George Burns writes: "If you were to go around asking people what would make them happier, you'd get answers like a new car, a bigger house, a raise in pay, winning a lottery, a face-lift, more kids, less kids, a new restaurant to go to. Probably not one in a hundred would say a chance to help people. And yet that may bring the most happiness of all. I don't know Dr. Jonas Salk, but after what he's done for us with his polio vaccine, if he isn't happy, he should have that brilliant head of his examined. Of course, not all of us can do what he did. I know I can't do what he did; he beat me to it. But the point is, it doesn't have to be anything that extraordinary. It can be working for a worthy cause, performing a needed service, or just doing something that helps another person." [George Burns, Dr. George Burns' Prescription for Happiness, (New York, NY, USA: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 1984), p. 141] -- We need lots of people like those George Burns was describing, Dr. Salk and others like him who saw a need and tried to fill it. They were living a servant life. In our passage of Scripture for today, we find James and John wanting to race ahead of the others and jump into prime positions in the kingdom of God. But Jesus saw through their little ploy. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3) Methodist & Baptist “servant-leader politics”: A Methodist pastor once wrote about power and politics in his denomination. Methodist preachers, he notes, are under the care of a bishop. Bishops, in turn, are Methodist preachers who are elected by fellow Methodist preachers after an extensive campaign for the office in which the candidate tries not to be caught campaigning. As he observes, "It is a long-standing Methodist tradition that bishops must not appear to have sought their office and, once elected, the new bishop must make a public declaration, saying, 'I didn't seek this office, and I didn't want it but, once the Lord calls….'" Methodist preachers take all of this with a grain of salt, the same way Baptist congregations have learned to be somewhat skeptical when one of their preachers moves on to a better Church claiming, "I hate to leave this Church and I would rather stay here, but the Lord calls." Baptists note that the Lord rarely calls someone out of one Church into another Church unless that Church has a higher salary. Methodists have likewise noted that there have been few preachers who, once they are elected bishop, turn the job down. [William H. Willimon, And the Laugh Shall Be First (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1986), p. 94] Also found in William G. Carter, No Box Seats in the Kingdom, CSS Publishing, with this ending: "Teacher, we want you to put us on your right and on your left. But keep it quiet. Don't make it too obvious. Others may become offended that we asked first." -- By telling us this story, Mark knows what you and I know: we are prone to the same desire for privilege and protected status. We want a Jesus who will give us what we want, a Lord who can shower a little power on us, a Savior who can make us better than we are. (Fr. Kayala). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4) "Here comes the man God sent us." When Doug Meland and his wife moved into a village of Brazil's Fulnio Indians, he was referred to as "the white man," an uncomplimentary term. Other white men had exploited the villagers, burned their homes, and robbed their lands. But after the missionaries learned the language and began to help people with medicine and in other ways, they began to call Doug, "the good white man." And when the Melands began adopting the customs of the people, the Fulnio spoke of Doug as the "white Indian." Then one day, as Doug was washing the dirty, blood-caked foot of an injured boy, he heard a bystander say, "Who ever heard of a white man washing an Indian's foot? Certainly, this man is from God." From that day, whenever Doug entered an Indian home, it would be announced, "Here comes the man God sent us." [Stephen Olford, Committed to Christ and His Church (1991, Paperback).] -- That's the secret of greatness: Service. That's also the chief characteristic of those who follow Jesus. "For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10: 45; Matthew 20: 28). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
5) “Landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” In their influential book, Built to Last, James Collins and Jerry Porras coined the term BHAG (pronounced "bee-hag"). BHAG describes a bold, well-nigh impossible vision. BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal, B-H-A-G. Common sense would tell you that a BHAG would intimidate many people and discourage them from trying. But BHAGs are paradoxical, according to Collins and Porras. The idea of attempting the impossible is so exciting and energizing that organizations usually experience an upsurge of motivation when a leader presents a BHAG to his people. A great example of a BHAG is the vision announced by President John F. Kennedy in a speech on May 25, 1961: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish." [Linda Watkins, God Just Showed Up (Chicago: Moody Bible Institute, 2001), pp. 127-136.] -- JFK was challenging our country to put a man on the moon, and we did! Jesus was trying to get the apostles to forget their petty power games for a moment and focus on the Biggest, Hairiest, Most Audacious Goal of all--to join with Jesus in redeeming this world. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
6) “Then there was only one man who thought he was Napoleon." George Bernard Shaw, the famous author, was once asked in what generation he would have preferred to live. The witty Irishman replied: "The age of Napoleon, because then there was only one man who thought he was Napoleon." -- What James and John are asking for is nothing less than the power to command the army of Israel. Rabbis and scholars at the time taught that the Messiah when he came would be the new David, King of Israel. He would rule with a mighty sword and vanquish all of Israel's enemies. The disciples were under the same impression. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
7) "I want to compete with IBM." When Michael Dell was in college, his parents drove up for a surprise visit. They were concerned that Michael's "hobby"--building computers in his dorm room--was distracting him from his studies. His father demanded that he get more serious about his college work, asking Michael, "What do you want to do with your life?" And the young college student infuriated his dad by replying, "I want to compete with IBM." At the time, IBM was the dominant computer company in the world. Not long after that, Michael Dell dropped out of college and raised the capital to start his own computer business. By 1999, ten years after Michael Dell began his company, Dell Computers overtook IBM as the nation's largest seller of personal computers. [John Eliot, Ph.D., Overachievement (New York: Portfolio, 2004), pp. 38-40.] -- If you're going to dream, why not dream big? It's true. Our dreams are too small. That was the problem with James and John in today’s Gospel. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
8) "Neither of us got our wish.” : Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States says that when he was a small boy in Kansas, he went fishing with a friend of his. Young Eisenhower confided to his friend that his dream was to be a major league baseball player one day. Interestingly, Eisenhower’s friend said that his dream was to be President of the United States. Eisenhower said wistfully, “Neither of us got our wish.” (Play Ball, Uhrichsville, OH: Barbour Publishing.) Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
9) Determined Dreamer: In 1976, motivational speaker Steve Chandler interviewed an aspiring young actor named Arnold Swarzenegger. Swarzenegger was promoting his first film. “Now that you have retired from body-building,” Chandler asked him, “what are you going to do next?” With a calm voice, Arnold Swarzenegger said, “I’m going to be the No. 1 box office star in all of Hollywood.” Chandler said he tried not to show his amusement. Swarzenegger’s first attempt at movies hadn’t shown much promise, and his Austrian accent and monstrous build didn’t suggest instant acceptance by audiences. “It’s the same process I used in body-building.” Schwarzenegger went on to explain. “What you do is create a vision of who you want to be, and then live into the picture, as if it were already true.” “It sounded ridiculously simple,” says Steve Chandler, “Too simple to mean anything. But I wrote it down and never forgot it.” [Steve Chandler, 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself (Franklin Lakes, NJ: The Career Press, 2004), p. 22.] -- I wonder what Chandler would have thought if Arnold had said his dream was to become governor of California. Most of us at one time or another have had our dreams. Some of those dreams were childish. Many were unrealistic. James and John, the sons of Zebedee had dreams, ambitions. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
10) Carrot flight to heaven: Rev. Anthony DeMello S. J. shares this tale: An old woman was dying. While examining her records, the Heavenly court could not find a single act of charity performed by her except for a carrot she had once given to a starving beggar. Such, however, was the power of a single deed of love that the merciful Lord decreed that she be taken up to Heaven on the strength of that carrot. The angel brought back the carrot from heaven and gave it to her soul which was leaving her body. The moment she caught hold of the carrot, it began to rise as if pulled by some invisible string, lifting her up toward the sky. The soul of a beggar appeared. He clutched the hem of her garment and was lifted with her; a third person caught hold of the beggar’s foot and was lifted too. Soon there was a long line of souls being lifted up to Heaven by that carrot. And, strange as it may seem, the woman did not feel the weight of all those people who held onto her. In fact, since she was looking Heavenward, she did not even see them. Higher and higher they rose until they almost reached the Heavenly gates. That was when the woman looked back to catch a last glimpse of the earth and saw this whole train of people behind her. She was indignant! She gave an imperious wave of her hand and shouted, “Off! Off, all of you! This carrot is mine!” In making her proud gesture, she let go of the carrot for a moment – and down she fell with the entire train. -- De Mello concludes: There is only one cause for every evil on earth: the “’This is mine!’ attitude!” Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus handled greed in two disciples. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
11) “I wish every child could say the same.” In his book, Hide or Seek, James Dobson tells of a time when John McKay, the great football coach at the University of Southern California, was interviewed on television, and the subject of his son’s athletic talent was raised. Son John was a successful player on his dad’s team. Coach McKay was asked to comment on the pride that he felt over his son’s accomplishments on the field. His answer was most impressive: “Yes, I’m pleased that John had a good season last year. He does a fine job, and I’m proud of him. But I would be just as proud if he had never played the game at all.’ Dr. Dobson goes to on to say this: “Coach McKay was saying, in effect, that John’s football talent was recognized and appreciated, but his human worth did not depend upon his ability to play football. John’s place in his dad’s heart was secure, being independent of his performance. I wish every child could say the same.” (quoted by William J. Vamos, First Presbyterian Church, Elkhart, Indiana, “What Happens When You’re Not Number One?”, Pulpit Digest, p. 2117). -- In today’s Gospel Jesus warns James and John that what is important is not higher positions but willingness to do humble service. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
12) First Baptist , First Presbyterian, First United Methodist Church: Drive through any town or suburb in America and you will see signs announcing the names of local churches. There will be a “First Presbyterian, a “First United Methodist,” a “First Baptist,” a “First United Church of Christ.” Only after the “First” designation has been snapped up do later churches start to shop around for a different name. “Second” isn’t very popular. Better to be “Third” or “Fourth.” There is even one “Twelfth Presbyterian Church” that I know of. Every Church wants to be “First.” And if they can’t be first, most abandon being numbered altogether. There is a Church in Dayton, Ohio, founded and pastored by the Rev. Dr. Daryl Ward, that has taken a step out of that traditional lineup. They call themselves “Omega Baptist Church.” What is “Omega?” “Omega” is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. The Divine declaration of being “the Alpha and the Omega” is another way of saying “the first and the last.” In other words, “Omega Baptist Church” isn’t claiming “first” place for itself. It is putting itself at the end of the line. It’s another way of calling itself the “Last Baptist Church.” It appears to get the teaching in today’s Gospel. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
13) "Dad, did you realize that you treated the president of the hospital and the janitor just alike?" James Moore tells about a man named George. George was a peacemaker with a big heart and wonderful sense of humor. George claimed he was, "so tenderhearted that he cried at supermarket openings!" Everyone at Church loved George. He was respected at the hospital where he worked. The reason so many people loved George was because he was always kind and always respectful to everyone he met. His children vividly remember the days George spent in the hospital before he died. The president of the hospital paid him a visit. He and George talked like they were old friends. A couple of minutes later one of the janitors came to visit. And they spoke like they were old friends. When the janitor left, one of George's children said to him, "Dad, did you realize that you treated the president of the hospital and the janitor just alike?" George smiled, chuckled and said, "Let me ask you something -- if the president left for two weeks and the janitor left for two weeks, which one do you think would be missed the most?" Then George called his children around his bed. "Let me show you something I carry in my pocket all the time, even when I mow the lawn." George pulled out a pocket-sized cross and a marble. George said, "On the cross are written these words, 'God Loves You,' and on the marble are these words, 'Do unto Others as You Would Have Them Do unto You.' The cross reminds me of how deeply God loves me, and the marble reminds me of how deeply God wants me to love others." [James W. Moore, When All Else Fails (Nashville: Dimensions for Living, 1993), p. 78.] -- That's A SERVANT'S HEART. That's the Heart Jesus wants us all to have as we seek to serve Him and become more and more like Him each day by giving Him our heart. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
14) The lamp-lighter was a good example of the genuine Christian: The following story is told about John Ruskin, the 18th century English writer, when he was quite old. He was visiting with a friend, and he was standing looking out the front window of the house. It was night-time, and the lamp-lighter was lighting the streetlamps. From the window one could see only the lamps that were being lit, and the light the lamp-lighter was carrying from one lamp to another. The lamp-lighter himself could not be seen. Ruskin remarked that the lamp-lighter was a good example of the genuine Christian. His way was clearly lit by the lights he lit, and the light he kept burning, even though he himself might not be known or seen. -- At the beginning of the Gospel, Jesus said that He was the light that had come into the world. Today, Jesus tells us that we are to become that Light for others…. (Jack Mc Ardle in And that’s the Gospel Truth; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
15) Incarnating God’s love: When the great Japanese Christian Kagawa first heard about the life of Jesus, he cried out, “O God, make me like your Christ!” To be more like Christ, Kagawa left a comfortable home and went to live in the slums of Tokyo. There he shared himself and his possessions with whoever needed help. In his book Famous Life Decisions, Cecil Northcott says that Kagawa once gave away all his clothing. He was left standing in only a tattered kimono. On another occasion, even though deathly sick, he continued to preach to people in a rain, repeating over and over: ‘God is love! God is love! God is love! Where love is, there is God.” William Barclay gives us an insight into the heart and mind of Kagawa when he quotes the great man as saying: “God dwells among the lowliest of men.. He is there with beggars. He is among the sick, He stands with the unemployed. Therefore let him who would meet God visit the prison cell before going to the temple. Before he goes to Church let him visit the hospital. Before the reads his Bible let him help the beggar.” (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
16) Muhammad Ali “the greatest.” Muhammad Ali, the boxer, used to call himself “the greatest!" There was something comical about his arrogance. Once he declared: "I float like a butterfly, I sting like a bee." The story is told of him that once when he was on an airplane about to take off, the flight steward said, "Sir, would you please fasten your seat belt?" Muhammad Ali replied, "Superman doesn’t need a seat belt." The steward replied, "In that case, Superman doesn’t need an airplane to fly." -- Today’s Gospel tells us of two of Jesus’ disciples who wanted to be supermen—to sit at the right hand and the left hand of Jesus in the Messianic kingdom-- to be the greatest, to be the first. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
17) Inflated Ego: Some American tourists one day visited the home of Beethoven. A young woman among them sat down at the great composer’s piano and began to play his Moonlight Sonata. After she had finished, she turned to the old caretaker and said: “I presume a great many musicians visit this place every year.” “Yes,” he replied. “Paderewski was here last year.” “And did he play on Beethoven’s piano?” “No,” he said, “he said he wasn’t worthy.” (Anonymous; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
18) Greatness at What Price: If we look at the enduring examples of greatness, we see that the Lord is right. Alexander was a remarkable leader because he stood by his men in battle. Albert the Great was an intellectual giant because he disciplined himself to study. Beethoven was a master composer because he struggled long hours to get the right note. Martin Luther was a great reformer because he persisted in spite of opposition. Archbishop Romero was great because he was ready to stand against the corrupt leaders and die for his people. St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) was great because she was able to give up the security of her convent life and open herself to the poorest of the poor. Mahatma Gandhi was great because he worked for freedom for his people and died practicing non-violence as a form of protest. (Quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
19) Converting or sharing the best? In the recent past I read that St. Teresa of Kolkata (Mother Teresa), was once summoned to court on a trumped charge that she was converting children in her care to the Catholic Faith. Standing before the judge, she was asked if that was true. Turning to one of her Sisters, who were cradling a little baby in her arms, Mother Teresa asked for the infant. Then turning to the judge, she replied: "Your honor, I picked this little baby from the garbage bin. I don't know the religion of the family into which this innocent infant was born, nor do I know the language that its parents speak. All that I do is that I give this child my love, my time, my care, my food and the best thing that I have in my life -my faith in Christ Jesus. Can't I give this child the best that I have in life?" The case was dismissed in favor of Mother Teresa. (James Valladares in Your Words, O Lord, Are Spirit, and They Are Life; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
20) Power from Above: In 1764 James Watt invented the steam engine, and steam power was used for the first time to drive machinery. In 1830 George Stephenson built the famous locomotive called the 'Rocket' which could carry heavy loads and move faster. It was the first real railway engine. The first motor car was built by Daimler in 1891 using petrol power to run on roads. The year 1903 opened the era of air flights, again with engines powered by petrol. Now space flights have become possible with power produced by other sources including liquid oxygen. -- But there is a greater power which is mightier than these powers, the power of God. This power lives in men empowering them to live victorious lives even in this present world. The clay vessels are made into vessels of glory driven by His power for the Master's use. (Daniel Sunderaraj in Manna for the Soul; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
21) To serve with love: A boy was consistently coming home late from school. There was no good reason for his tardiness, and no amount of discussion seemed to help. Finally, in desperation, the boy's father sat him down and said: "The next time you come late from school you are going to be given bread and water for your supper -and nothing else. Is that perfectly clear son?" The boy looked straight into his father's eyes and nodded. He understood perfectly. A few days later the boy came home even later than usual. That night however, when they sat down together at the table there was only a single slice of bread in his plate and a glass of water. His father's and mother's plates were full of food. The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then, quietly took the boy's plate and placed it in front of himself. He took his own plate and put it in front of the boy. The boy understood what his father was doing. His father was taking upon himself the punishment that he, the boy, had brought upon himself by his own delinquent behavior. Years later the boy recalled the incident and said: "All my life I've known what God is like by what my father did that night." -- "The Son of Man came to give his life to redeem many people." (J. Allan Peterson in Leadership Magazine; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
22) Caring Service and Its Impact: A room-service waiter at a Marriott hotel learned that the sister of a guest had just died. The waiter, named Charles, bought a sympathy card, had hotel staff members sign it, and gave it to the distraught guest with a piece of hot apple pie. "Mr. Marriott," the guest later wrote to the president of Marriott Hotels, "I'll never meet you. And I don't need to meet you. Because I met Charles. I know what you stand for. ... I want to assure you that as long as I live, I will stay at your hotels. And I will tell my friends to stay at your hotels." Roger Dow and Susan Cook, “Turned On” (New York: Harper Business, 1996). (Fr. Kayala). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
23) Operation Omega: Today’s Gospel message
We should be the last to leave the side of a sick bed.
We should be the last to let a grieving spouse sit alone.
We should be the last to write off the children whose parents have failed them or thrown them away.
We should be the last to ignore the homeless camped out along our streets.
We should be the last to allow hunger to gnaw at the bellies of our neighbors.
We should be the last to shrug our shoulders at ongoing environmental degradation.
We should be the last to let despair grind down the powerless.
We should be the last to condone cruelty of any kind, to any living thing.
We should be the last to let human hatred triumph over Divine love.
Here are some suggestions of how you’d conduct Operation Omega:
1) Purposely let others get in line before you.
2) Try to be the last in line. And pray for those who seem most hurried and stressed because they’re not first in line.
3) If someone in back of you at the check-out line has fewer items than you do, or even if they don’t but seem in a hurry, let them go in front of you.
4) Let other cars “in” when they need an assist.
5) Measure your success at sporting events not by how many points you can score, but how many assists you can generate. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
24) Who wears the authentic royal ring? Once upon a time in a far-off country, a king had twin sons. One was strong and handsome. The other was intelligent and wise. As the ruler grew old, everyone speculated about which son the king would choose as his successor – the strong son or the wise son. In this land the sign of kingship was a royal ring. Just before the king died, he had a copy of the royal ring made and presented both rings to his twin sons. The chief advisors to the king asked him, “How shall we know which son wears the authentic royal ring?” “You shall know,” answered the king, “because the chosen one will reveal his right to rule by his self-giving service to our people.” [Richard Carl Hoefler, Insights, October 1988]. And Jesus said, Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. [Mark 10: 43,44]. -- Many congregations declare at the conclusion of their liturgy .. the worship has ended – now the service begins. Let that be our hope as we hear those words, Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. For if that is our intention, then we can truly say and mean .. Thanks be to God. Amen. (Fr. Almquist). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
25) “He gave us all he had and gave gladly.” There is an old story of a rice farmer who saved an entire village from destruction. From his hilltop farm he felt the earth quake and saw the distant ocean swiftly withdraw from the shore line. He knew that a tidal wave was coming. In the valley below, he saw his neighbors working low fields that would soon be flooded. They must run quickly to his hilltop or they would all die. His rice barns were dry as tinder. So, with a torch he set fire to his barns and soon the fire gong started ringing. His neighbors saw the smoke and rushed to help him. Then from their safe perch they saw the tidal wave wash over the fields they had just left. In a flash they knew not only who had saved them but what their salvation had cost their benefactor. They later erected a monument to his memory bearing the motto, “He gave us all he had, and gave gladly.”-- This poor farmer finished first in the eyes of his community, but it cost him everything he had. There are not many people in our world like that farmer. He willingly sacrificed himself that others might succeed. Most people do everything they can to better themselves and think nothing of the people they step on, leaving them behind as they climb to the top of the heap. This text is designed to teach us the truth that not everyone who finishes first is victorious. Sometimes those who take the last seat, those who willingly finish last, are the real winners in the game of life. (Sermon Notebook). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
26) The man was seen having a bagel and coffee: I have a story of servanthood to leave you with this morning. A woman found a stack of checks all made out to someone named Stacy, with a bank deposit slip for an amount over $3,000. Rather than call the woman, she decided to take the checks to the bank and deposit them in the woman's account. She told the teller that the owner would likely come in soon all upset about losing the checks. Tell her the money was found and deposited. Then tell her to read this note, which said, "Hi, Stacy, I found your deposit and brought it to the bank. I don't know if you take the train to work in the morning, but there is a homeless man who sits by the station nearby here every morning, and if you would like to pass on the good deed, he could use a cup of coffee and a bagel.” --- That was a Tuesday. The man was seen having a bagel and coffee on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It seems Stacy was very happy about having the lost money deposited in her account. That's an example of the kind of service God wants us to perform and is so needed, especially with people losing jobs today. (Rev. James F. Wright). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
27) The Narcissism Epidemic…Living in an age of entitlement. Perhaps you have heard of the ancient Greek legend of Narcissus. He was supposedly the son of a river god. A seer had told his mother that her son must never see his reflection if he were to mature into manhood. For that reason, everything that threw off an image, such as metal, was removed from her son's grasp. But one day Narcissus found a spring that formed a pool filled with crystal-clear water. As he stooped down to take a drink from the pool, he saw his reflection on the surface of the pool. He fell desperately in love with himself, and seeking to embrace himself, he fell into the water and he drowned. We don't speak much anymore of the legend of Narcissus. We do, however, use his name to describe those who are hopelessly self-centered and self-absorbed. In fact, narcissism is now identified and catalogued as an official personality disorder by the medical profession. In a broader sense, we use the name to describe one of the great maladies of our 21st century American culture. Ours, in many ways, is a narcissistic culture. We live in an age of entitlement. In fact, about 10 years ago there was book written on the subject. It was titled, The Narcissism Epidemic…Living in an Age of Entitlement. The authors give us a few examples of how our culture has turned in on itself. They write, five times as many Americans undergo plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures as did ten years ago, and ordinary people hire fake paparazzi to follow them around to make them look famous. High school students physically attack classmates and post YouTube videos of the beatings to get attention. And for the past several years, Americans have been buying McMansions and expensive cars on credit they can't afford." -- None of this, of course, should surprise us. Consider the contrast set before us this morning in the Gospel reading from Mark 10. James and John versus Jesus--selfish ambition versus self-sacrifice; wanting to be a lord over others versus being Lord of all, and yet, desiring only to serve. These are two completely different ways of life, two opposing mindsets, two contradictory purposes, even, for life itself. (Rev. Alan Taylor). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
28) Servant leadership: This passage also tells us about the standard of Greatness in the Kingdom of God, when Jesus places before us the concept of the servant leader. In the Kingdom of God, the standard is that of service. Greatness consistsnot in reducing other men to one’s service, but in reducing oneself to their service. Hannibal Barca was a military commander of the Carthage army in 247 BC. He led a famous campaign in the second Punic War against the Roman army, remaining undefeated until the very gates of Rome. His most famous military accomplishment was the battle of Cannae, where he defeated a Roman army size double of his. What was the secret of his success? He was a man who led by example. He would sleep among his soldiers and would not wear anything that made him distinct above his soldiers. He would lead the armies into battle and be the last to leave the battlefield. Even today he stands as a model for leadership. Ernest Shackleton is another great example of a servant leader. He was an early 20th century explorer whose ship was crushed in Antarctic ice. After countless brushes with death, including an 800-mile journey in open boats across the winter Antarctic seas, Shackleton brought every one of his 27 crew members home alive. It took two years, but his sense of responsibility toward his men never wavered. One of the many tactics he used to serve his men was to share sleeping quarters with those who were most disgruntled instead of his favorite people to be around. -- These leaders put the needs of the people they lead ahead of their own. So, they became great. (Fr. Bobby Jose). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
29) Rudyard Kipling has a poem called "Mary's Son" which is advice on the spirit in which a man must work.
If you stop to find out what your wages will be
And how they will clothe and feed you,
Willie, my son, don't you go on the Sea.
For the Sea will never need you.
If you ask for the reason of every command,
And argue with people about you,
Willie, my son, don't you go on the Land,
For the Land will do better without you.
If you stop to consider the work, you have done
And to boast what your labor is worth, dear,
Angels may come for you, Willie, my son,
But you'll never be wanted on Earth, dear! [Quoted by William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark, p. 267]. (Fr. Bobby Jose). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
30) He Gives His Life: One of the most remarkable medical developments in the 1930’s and 1940’s was the blood-bank. Blood was taken from donors to be stored for later transfer into the bodies of those who had themselves suffered a major loss of blood. Rarely, since then, have we heard of the givers of blood charging for that service. Blood giving has rather struck people as an act of charity and compassion towards those whose life is endangered. Particularly during World War II those who were donating to the American Red Cross blood banks would vie with each other to become “gallonaires” – donors (at medically prescribed intervals) of a gallon of their lifeblood. Blood-banks were not restricted to the United States. The practice of donating one’s blood spread everywhere. To the Christians of the world the gift of blood was not only something humane, but something Christ-like. Pope Pius XII pointed this out in the fall of 1948. During and after World War II, many Italians had given generously of their blood to save the lives of the thousands who had been wounded or otherwise stricken in the Italian Campaign. In Autumn 1948 a group of these Italian blood donors had a special audience with the Holy Father. Praising their true Christian generosity, he told them “Christ, the Supreme and Divine Donor of His Blood, is your example in a particular way.” -- In today’s first reading, the prophet Isaiah foresees that the death of Christ will be the cause of life for mankind. “If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long line…” (53:10). A moment before, Isaiah had said “By his stripes we were healed” (53:5). Know then, whenever you give blood to your fellowman that you, like Jesus, are giving of your very self so that others may live. (Father Robert F. McNamara). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
31) Eagle among the Prairie chicken: Do you remember the story of the eagle’s egg that was placed into the nest of a prairie chicken? The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them. All his life, the eagle, thinking he was a prairie chicken, did what the prairie chickens did. He scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat. He clucked and cackled, and he flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry of feathers no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, that’s how prairie chickens were supposed to fly. Years passed, and the eagle grew very old. One day, he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings. “What a beautiful bird,” said the eagle to his neighbor, “what is it? ”That’s an eagle–the chief of the birds,” the neighbor clucked. “But don’t give it a second thought. You could never be like him.” So the changeling eagle never gave it another thought, and it died, thinking it was a prairie chicken. -- I believe far too many Christians are just like that eagle, living far below their great, sweet, soaring, massive potential. For far too many believers, God says, “Run,” but we walk. God says, “Obey,” and we consider our options. God says, “Serve,” and we’re content to be served. So which path are you on? Are you on the path of true spiritual greatness–the eagle? Or are you on the path of worldly greatness–the prairie chicken? (Rev. Chris Mueller). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
32) He was proud of his humility: I knew a guy once who worked really hard at appearing humble. In public, he was always putting himself down, always declining praise when he’d done something good. But in private, it was a different story. One time he told me of a particularly generous thing he’d done for someone we both knew. And then he said, “But of course, I don’t want anyone to know it was me. Jesus says to give alms in secret.” And I thought, “but you just told me.” This same friend complained to me – privately, of course – when he didn’t receive an award for service that he was hoping to get. He thought the person who did receive the award “didn’t go above and beyond the call of duty” as much as he did, and wasn’t humble enough. -- In reality, my friend was pretty proud of his humility. He didn’t understand that true humility comes from thinking less of yourself, and more of someone else. Real humility is the foundation of real greatness, particularly because it doesn’t care at all about recognition or glory; it only cares about the good of others. (Jo Anne Taylor). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/). L/21
“Scriptural Homilies” Cycle B (No 55) by Fr. Tony: akadavil@gmail.com
Visit my website by clicking on http://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed or previous Cycle B homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Contact me only at akadavil@gmail.com. Visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies under Fr. Tony’s homilies for my website version. (Special thanks to Vatican Radio website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020) Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Chaplain, Sacred Heart Residence of the Little Sisters of the Poor, 1655 McGill Ave, Mobile, AL 36604 .
O.T. XXIII [B] (Sept 5) Eight-minute homily in one page (L/21)
O.T. XXIII [B] (Sept 5) Eight-minute homily in one page (L/21)
Introduction: Today’s readings offer two challenges: 1) Become humble instruments of healing in Jesus’ hands by giving voice to the voiceless and caring love to the needy and the marginalized in our society. 2) Open your ears to hear the word of God, open your eyes to see God’s presence in everyone, and loosen your tongue to praise and worship God loudly and to convey the Good News of God’s love and salvation to others. (Anecdote of the “little monk” who opened blind eyes & deaf ears).
Scripture lessons summarized: In the first reading (Is 35:4-7), the prophet Isiah reminds us that God's eyes are constantly focused on the helpless. “He comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.”
Today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 146) sings of a God who gives sight to the blind, raises up those who are bowed down and welcomes strangers.
That is why, in today’s second reading (Jas 2:1-5), the apostle gives us some basic and challenging principles of social justice. He exhorts Christians to show no partiality based on external appearance and to practice God’s “preferential option” for the poor. He warns the faithful against scorning or shaming the poor while showing special consideration to the rich.
Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus, by healing a deaf man with speech impediment, fulfilled Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy, "The eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped." The ailments listed by Isaiah are symbolic of our interior illnesses: blindness to the needs of our neighbor, unwillingness to hear God’s voice and the inability to speak words of praise, apology, forgiveness, and gratitude. Through this miracle story, Mark also reminds us that no one can be a follower of the Lord without reaching out to the helpless (“preferential option for the poor”).
Life messages: 1) We need to allow Jesus to heal our spiritual deafness, muteness, and blindness. We may find it hard to speak to God in prayer and harder still to hear Him speaking to us through the Bible and through the Church. Let us ask God’s help to open our ears so that we may hear Him while reading the Bible, and praise and worship Him loudly in our family prayer and in our public worship by actively participating in the Holy Mass, singing with the choir and praying with the congregation. Jesus’ compassionate touch will help us to hear the cries of the poor and the sick, and to show kindness, mercy and consideration to others. His healing touch will also help us convey peace and hope to those around us.
2) We need to help Jesus to heal the deaf and the mute today. Let us lend Jesus our hands to give the touch that heals the sick. Let us lend Jesus our tongues to speak to the spiritually hungry through us. Let us lend Jesus our hearts to touch the lives of people in our day through us, just as Jesus touched the lives of millions through saintly souls like St. Francis of Assisi, St. Damien of Molokai, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Jeanne Jugan, and St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa).
OT XXIII [B] (Sept 5) Is 35:4-7a; Jas 2:1-5; Mk 7:31-37
Homily Starter Anecdotes: # 1 The “little monk” Telemachus who opened blind eyes of an empire: At the Annual National Prayer Breakfast on February 2, 1984, Ronald Reagan, the former president of the United States, told the old story of "the little monk," Telemachus, a martyr whose self-sacrificial commitment to Christian ideals opened the blind eyes and deaf ears of the Romans and their fifth century Christian Emperor Honorius. According to the story, this Turkish monk was led by an inner voice to go to Rome in order to stop the cruel and inhuman gladiatorial fights between slaves. He followed the crowds to the Coliseum where two gladiators were fighting. He jumped into the arena and tried to stop them, shouting, "In the name of Christ, hold back!" The gladiators stopped, but the spectators became indignant. A group of them rushed into the arena and beat Telemachus to death. When the crowd saw the brave little monk lying dead in a pool of blood, they fell silent, leaving the stadium, one by one. Three days later, because of Telemachus' heroic sacrifice of his own life, the Emperor decreed an end to the games. -- In today's Gospel, which describes the miraculous healing of a deaf mute, we are invited to open our ears and eyes, loosen our tongues and pray for the courage of our Christian convictions to become the voice of the voiceless. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
# 2: "The Touch of the Master’s Hand": In the poem, “The Touch of the Master’s Hand,” (for lyrics & music watch Myra Brooks Welch), tells the story of the auctioning of an old, dusty violin. The violin was about to be sold for a mere $3 when a grey-haired man stepped forward, picked it up, dusted it off, tuned it and began to play. The man played such sweet music that, when he finished, the bidding jumped into the thousands of dollars. What transformed the dusty old violin into a precious instrument? The touch of the Master’s hand. -- The same “touch of the Master’s hand” continues to transform our lives today. By God’s touch we become His instruments to accomplish the marvelous works described in today’s Psalm 146: to secure justice for the oppressed, give food to the hungry and set the captives free. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
Well it was battered and scarred and the auctioneer felt
It was hardly worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin
But he held it up with a smile
He said, “It sure ain't much but it's all we've got left
I guess we oughta sell it too.
Oh, now who'll start the bid on this old violin
Just one more and we'll be through.”
And then he cried:
“One, give me one dollar, who'll make it two?
Only two dollars, who'll make it three?
Three dollars twice, now that's a good price
Who's gonna bid for me?
Raise up your hand now, don't wait any longer
The auction's about to end
Who's got for just one dollar more to bid on this old violin?”
Well, the air was hot and the people stood around
As the sun was setting low
And from the back of the crowd, a gray-haired man
Came forward…(Source: Musixmatch). Music: https://youtu.be/JYgAsSyIibY & https://youtu.be/s8Ud34hc_l0
# 3: The “Ephphatha prayer:” There is a little ritual in the rite of Baptism — alas it is often omitted — whose name and form are taken from today’s Gospel: “The Ephphatha.” The celebrant touches the ears and then the lips of the one to be baptized saying: “The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak. May He soon touch your ear to receive His word and your mouth to proclaim His Faith.” This simple ceremony captures not only the kernel of today’s Gospel, but a most profound aspect of our Faith: its ‘giftedness’. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
#4: "Five past two." Two older men were talking. One of them was bragging just a little bit. "I just purchased the most expensive hearing aid ever made," he said. "It is imported and is guaranteed for life." The second man asked: "What kind is it?" The first man answered, "Five past two." -- We can laugh about the hearing loss that comes with aging. It is a minor problem that will affect most of us sooner or later. In fact, experts predict that years of rock music, leaf blowers, and noise pollution in general will result in millions of baby boomers with hearing loss. According to a recent study by the National Institutes of Health, there has been a stunning 26 percent increase in those suffering permanent hearing loss between the ages of 35 and 60, compared to 15 years earlier. [With Adam Hanft, Dictionary of the Future (New York, NY: Hyperion, 2001), p. 3.] Today’s Gospel passage tells us how Jesus healed a deaf man who was mute. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
Introduction: Today’s Scripture readings offer us an invitation to become humble instruments of healing in Jesus’ hands by giving voice to the voiceless, the needy, and the marginalized in our society. Today’s Scripture also invites us to open our ears to hear the word of God and to allow the Holy Spirit to loosen our tongues to convey the Good News of God’s love and salvation to others. The first reading (Is 35:4-7), reminds us that God's eyes are constantly focused on the helpless. God especially cares for "the frightened, the blind, the deaf, the lame, the mute," and He encourages the powerless to "be strong and fearless." Today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 146), sings of a God who gives sight to the blind, raises up those who are bowed down and welcomes strangers. The Psalmist thanks God and asks us to rejoice because “the God of Jacob keeps Faith forever,” keeping His promise of peace and fullness of life for His people. That is why, in today’s second reading (Jas 2:1-5), the apostle gives us some basic, challenging principles of social justice. He exhorts Christians to show no partiality based on external appearance and to practice God’s "preferential option for the poor." He warns the faithful against scorning or shaming the poor while showing special consideration to the rich. Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus, by healing a deaf man with a speech impediment, fulfills Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy, "The eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped." The ailments listed by Isaiah are symbolic of our interior illnesses: blindness to the needs of our neighbor, unwillingness to hear God’s voice and the inability to speak words of praise, apology, forgiveness, and gratitude. Through this miracle story, Mark also reminds us that no one can be a follower of the Lord without reaching out to the helpless (“preferential option for the poor”).
First reading, Isaiah 35:4-7, explained: “When the words, ‘Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing,’ were first spoken by Isaiah of Jerusalem, the immediate reference was the hoped-for return and restoration of Israel after the Babylonian Exile. By the time of Jesus, those words were understood as pointing to the further restoration of Israel in the messianic age.” (Dennis Hamm S. J.) The Jews are returning to their homeland after decades of exile in Babylon. Their arrival causes great friction with the other tribes already there, especially the Edomites. Hence, Isaiah reminds Israelites that when God leads his people home, He will work miracles on behalf of those who need it most: blind, deaf, lame, and mute persons. The Lord God’s message expresses the promised redemption in terms of health, healing, and well-being for the disabled. Through Isaiah, He assures them that He blesses their return, and that they should be confident and not fearful. The prophetic admonition opens with one of the most frequent Biblical commands, “Fear not.” The life-giving “streams of water bursting forth in the desert” symbolize whatever is needed to achieve peace and fullness of life. The prophecy gives the Israelites the assurance that God will continue to save them from their enemies, will open their eyes to the reality of what He is providing for them, and will open their ears to what He has to tell them through His priests and prophets. This reading from Isaiah echoes the words of compliment given to Jesus by the people in today’s healing story, "He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak." Mark presents Jesus as the kind of Savior prophesied by Isaiah, one who “makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Second Reading: James 2:1-5, explained: In this very practical pastoral letter, James points out to the members of the Church that they should treat others, whether they are rich or poor, with equal honor and courtesy. James is not writing speculative theology, but reacting to real hurts inflicted on real people, and calling real Christians to a higher level of charity and responsibility. He exposes the sad irony of a Christian's giving special consideration to someone who is fashionably dressed and wearing gold rings, while shaming the poor man in his shabby dress. The poor man, James says, is poor in the eyes of the world but rich in Faith because he recognizes his dependence on God for everything and acknowledges that dependence in the way he lives and acts. James insists that Christians “should show no partiality.” In a society like ours, which values people who have much money, great power, and/or celebrity status, James's admonition turns our cultural assumptions upside-down and inside-out. That's what makes our showing respect to everyone we encounter, despite social and/or economic status, and our treating all people as children of God, our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, a most valuable, living witness to Jesus who died to save us all. Wealthier Christians, then, should show concern for the poorer members because (in Baptism) God has chosen the poor to inherit the kingdom. At times, the Church was the only place in the ancient world where social distinctions did not exist. Master sat next to slave, poor beside rich.
Gospel Exegesis: The human touch and the symbolism of Baptism: Today’s section from Mark’s Gospel begins with the healing of a deaf man with a speech impediment and ends with the healing of a blind man in the non-Jewish area of the Decapolis. (Mark 7:31-10:52). “Mark uses the highly unusual word mogilalon (literally: with difficulty of speech) to describe the deaf-mute whose healing is recounted in today’s Gospel reading, for mogilalon is precisely the same Greek word used in the Septuagint for the word dumb in Isaiah 35:6.”(Reginald H. Fuller). In a culture where physical disabilities and sickness were commonly interpreted as signs of a person’s sinfulness (as a “curse” from God), many Jews would have considered this man to be stricken by God -- a sinner. Hence, Jesus shows tender consideration for the weak by leading the man away from the crowd so as not to embarrass him. The miracle is described in seven ritual-like steps: (1) Jesus leads the man away from the crowd, (2) puts His fingers into the man's ears, (3) spits on His own fingers, (4) touches the man's tongue with the spittle, (5) looks up to Heaven, (6) sighs, (7) and speaks the healing command: "Ephphatha" ("Be opened.") “Jesus humbles himself to share the limitations of this one deaf man. By undignified dumb show, the love of the Lord heals the deaf man’s soul as well as his ears.” (Eleonore Stump). Jesus’ listeners, who were familiar with Hebrew Scriptures, would have recognized another signal in Jesus’ command, “Ephphatha! Be opened!” The ancients believed that words contain power. If translated, the word would lose its power. ‘By reporting the original Aramaic word, Mark underscores Jesus’ power as a traditional healer.’ (Jon J. Pilch). Six centuries earlier, Ezekiel had prophesied, “that day your mouth shall be opened, and you shall be dumb no longer” (Ez 3:27). David in Psalm 40:6 praised God by saying, “You have opened my ears and given me the capacity to hear [and obey Your word]” Why does Jesus carry out this elaborate ritual, while in other miracles simply speaking a word or touching the individual? It is probably because the man cannot hear Jesus' voice or express his needs. People of that day also believed that the spittle of holy men had curative properties. The early Church Fathers saw an indirect reference to Baptism in the way Jesus healed the man. In Baptism, the priest or deacon who baptized us touched our ears and mouths that we might hear the word of God and speak about Christ to others, sharing the “Good News” with the poor, the imprisoned, the fearful, and the broken-hearted.
God’s love in action: What we see is not simply the healing of a physical defect, but a concrete sign of the transforming power of God's Love. The power of God's Love is working in our lives to transform sorrow into joy, sickness into health, death into new life. The dumb man who is unable to communicate also symbolizes our own communication problem vis-à-vis God. In order to perceive and proclaim God's message, we need to be transformed. The miracle is not only about the physical healing of a person who was deaf and dumb. It also points to the opening of a person’s ears so that he may hear the word of God and loosening of his tongue so that he may speak his profession of Faith in Jesus. The miracle has great relevance to us, because a person can have perfect hearing, and yet not hear the word of God, have perfect speech, and yet be unable to make an act of Faith. God wants the ears of your heart to be opened. He wants you to hear what He is saying. He wants you to listen to His Words. Be opened to receive His truth. God wants your mouth to be opened. He wants you to talk to Him. He wants your mouth to open with praise, thanksgiving, request, and intercession for others. God wants your life to be opened. Open to where God would send you. Open to what God wants you to do. Open to changes and new directions for your life.
A challenge for the Church: All three readings speak of a God Who is partial to the voiceless and the afflicted. Today, however, many of us have lost the ability to recognize the Voice of God calling us for action in our modern society. We are asked to give hearing and voice to the deaf and the mute. The person healed becomes a living witness to the power of God. A Church that is to bear witness to the example of Jesus' love must not neglect “those who are bowed down.” Through its healing presence the Church must give voice to the voiceless.
Instruction to Keep Silence: Why did Jesus ask the man to keep silence? Jesus knew that there was still more to be accomplished before the final showdown with the religious leaders in Jerusalem. If the crowds were to attempt to make Jesus the leader of a revolt, a probable result of spreading the story of this healing around, it would spoil the Heavenly Father’s holy plan. Also, it seems likely that Jesus realized that people could easily misunderstand the healings and could see Jesus simply as a human Messiah figure, a great miracle-worker and healer. In doing so, they would fail to grasp the larger message Jesus had come to preach and live, which included humility and the necessity of suffering and the Cross before Resurrection (Dr. Watson).
Life messages: 1) We need to help Jesus to heal the deaf and the mute today. Jesus desires to touch and heal us by loosening our tongues in order to speak to the spiritually hungry through us, and to touch the lives of people in our day through our surrendered hearts, just as Jesus touched the lives of millions through saintly souls like Francis of Assisi, Damien of Molokai, Vincent de Paul and Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa). Like them, we are also invited to become the voice of the “poorest of the poor,” the helpless, the downtrodden and the unwanted who are set aside by the “new economy,” or who cannot even “speak plainly and fearlessly” about their concerns. Jesus’ touch will reveal to us how we neglect, scorn or shame some people while showing favor to others. Jesus’ compassionate touch will help us to hear the cries of the poor and the sick, and will teach us to show kindness, mercy and consideration to others. Jesus’ healing touch will also help us convey peace and hope to those around us.
2) We need to allow Jesus to heal our spiritual deafness and muteness. Today Christ continues to touch us and heal us in the Sacraments – visible signs of invisible grace (CCC #1504). We need to learn how to have Faith, trusting in our Savior’s words and actions. In times of grief, despair, and failure, we can be “deaf” to the presence of God in the love and compassion of others; or we can become so preoccupied with the noise and clamor of the marketplace that we are unable to hear the voices of those we love and who love us. We may find it hard to speak to God in prayer and harder still to hear Him speaking to us through the Bible and through the Church. This may be because many of us are satisfied with what we have learned in catechism class about the Seven Sacraments, the Ten Commandments of God, the Six Commandments of the Church and the seven deadly sins. We don’t want to hear more about our Faith through further study of the Bible or the teachings of the Church. It is not infrequent to meet Catholics who are highly qualified in their secular professions but are basically illiterate in their Faith. Hence, let us imitate the dumb man in the Gospel by seeking out Jesus, following Jesus away from the crowd, spending more of our time in coming to know Jesus intimately as we study Holy Scripture and experiencing Jesus directly in our lives in personal prayer. Our growing awareness of the healing presence of Jesus in our lives will open our ears and loosen our tongues
3) Let us bring Jesus’ holy word “Ephphatha” to a generation blighted by the materialistic cultural aggression of our times: We are reminded that Jesus has the power to heal the spiritual deafness caused by habitual sin. Hearts that have become hardened by a refusal to hear, to be changed by, and then live out Jesus’ words are once again challenged: “Ephphatha! Be opened!” In their day, the Romans imposed their language and culture on Palestine. Modern secular culture, in fact, is no better. Religion and God are being evicted from schools, colleges, courtrooms, politics and public life. One cannot speak of virginity or marital fidelity without a contemptuous laugh from others. The unborn child with a precious soul is often considered a “mere nuisance," a “product of conception,” a “fetus,” “a blob of tissue,” or a “tumor that can be gotten rid of,” with no human rights. In today's motion pictures, all religious gestures are either forbidden or relegated to the ignorant or superstitious. We are told that sixty-five percent of our Catholic youth have no formal religious education beyond the eighth grade. They are exposed to the culture of free sex, loose relationships, liquor, drugs, and violence. No wonder, then, if they become deaf and blind to Christian ideals of morality, holiness in life and social justice! May our Lord touch us through this Gospel so that we also can say “Ephphatha” (“Be thou opened!”) to everything and everyone shut in from or closed to God and His loving Providence.
JOKES OF THE WEEK: “Being cheerful keeps you healthy. It is slow death to be gloomy all the time” {Proverbs 17: 22}.1) Who is deaf? An old man is talking to the family doctor. "Doctor, I think my wife's going deaf." The doctor answers, "Well, here's something you can try on her to test her hearing. Stand some distance away from her without facing her and ask her a question. If she doesn't answer, move a little closer and ask again. Keep repeating this until she answers. Then you'll be able to tell just how hard of hearing she really is." The man goes home and tries it out. He walks in the door and asks, "Honey, what's for dinner?" He doesn't hear an answer, so he moves closer to her. "Honey, what's for dinner?" Still he gets no answer. He repeats this several times, until he's standing just one foot away from her. Finally, she answers, "For the eleventh time, I said we're having meat loaf!"
2) The new hearing aid: An elderly gentleman had had serious hearing problems for a number of years. He went to the doctor, and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the gentleman to hear 100%. The elderly gentleman went back in a month to the doctor and the doctor said, "Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again." The gentleman replied, "Oh, I haven't told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to the conversations. I've changed my will three times!"
3) Using Webster’s English in the first century! Helena, a member of the Providence, Rhode Island Women's Club went to a fund-raising "carnival" staged for the benefit of the Women's Club. One of the events took place in a tent which had been set up for a medium to conduct séances. Helena bought a ticket, went inside, and sat down at a large round table, presided over by the medium. The medium asked if anyone would like to make contact with a departed person. "Very well," said Helena, "there is a Bible story about Jesus curing a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. I would like to contact that man." After much bellringing, moaning and groaning, and humming which seemed to be coming from all directions, a voice from the chandelier announced distinctly, “I am the man whom Jesus cured of deafness and a speech impediment." To which Helena replied, "I know you can hear me because Jesus cured you of your deafness, and I can tell you that your speech is coming through most clearly, but I have one question." "Ask me anything," the voice came back. "All right, then," said Helena, "tell me, where did you, the Aramaic-speaking, first century Palestinian learn to speak American English?"
WEBSITES OF THE WEEK ((The easiest method to visit these websites is to copy and paste the web address or URL on the Address bar of any Internet website like Google or MSN and press the Enter button of your Keyboard).
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The Catholic Information Service : http://www.catholic.net/
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Catholic Teenagers: http://www.faithfirst.com/
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Catholic online: http://www.catholic.org/
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Morality in Media: http://www.moralityinmedia.org/
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All about angels: http://www.catholic.org/saints/angel.phpCatechism of the Catholic church summarized: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm
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Dr. Bryant Pitro’s commentary on Cycle B Sunday Scripture: https://catholicproductions.com/blogs/mass-readings-explained-year-b
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Video Sunday-Scripture study by Fr. Geoffrey Plant:
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https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoffreyPlant2066
8) Fr. Don’ collection of video homilies & blogs: (Type https://sundayprep.org on the Address bar (topmost column) in Google search or YouTube Search and press the Enter button. Do not type it on You Tube Search column or Google Search)

24- Additional anecdotes: 1) Ludwig van Beethoven: Did you know, by the way, that the three most popular languages in the United States are English, Spanish, and American Sign Language? There are more non-hearing people in our land than you might imagine. One of the saddest instances of deafness that I know is that of the immortal composer of classical music, Ludwig van Beethoven. For a musician, deafness would be the tragedy of tragedies. As he himself wrote on one occasion, "How sad is my lot! I must avoid all things that are dear to me." There was a terrible time when Beethoven was struggling to conduct an orchestra playing one of his own compositions. He could not hear even the full orchestra. Soon he was beating one time and the orchestra was playing another, and the performance disintegrated in disaster. There is a pathetic picture of him after he had given a piano recital, bent over the keyboard, oblivious to the applause that thundered about him. He wrote on another occasion, "For two years I have avoided almost all social gatherings because it is impossible for me to say to people ‘I am deaf.’ If I belonged to any other profession it would be easier, but in my profession it is a frightful state." -- Beethoven died a broken, bitter man. You and I who have our hearing, have our vision, who are able to get around with a minimum of impediments, ought to thank God every day, and we ought to salute those who overcome obstacles that we cannot even imagine. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2) "You have turned to medicine and drinking, and you are killing yourself." W. Moore, in his book, When All Else Fails, Read the Instructions, tells about a "made-for-TV" movie years ago titled The Betty Ford Story. The movie was produced with the help, the support and the encouragement of former First Lady Betty Ford, to reveal, out of her own personal experience, the dangers of drugs and alcohol. Mrs. Ford was overwhelmed by the demands and stresses of being this nation's first lady and by the debilitating pain of arthritis. Consequently, over time, she became addicted to pain medication and alcohol. In the most powerful scene in that movie, her family confronts Mrs. Ford, and one by one, her children express their love and their concern for her. And then straightforwardly, they tell her what they are seeing--that she has become a prescription-medicine addict and an alcoholic. At first, she denies that she has a problem, but eventually she realizes what is happening and gets help. In that poignant intervention scene, one of the children says this to her, "Mother, always before, when you had a problem, you turned to God and to your family, but lately you have shut us out. You have turned to medicine and drinking, and you are killing yourself." -- Sometimes the most loving thing you can do for someone is to tell him or her --in love--the brutal truth. Betty Ford's family loved her enough to help her see herself as she really was. As long as there is someone who cares for us, there is hope. That is the first thing we need to see. And here is the second thing: No one is hopeless who is open to Jesus. That is why someone brought this non-hearing man to Jesus. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3) Deaf Heather Whitestone did that. When Heather was a child, Daphne, her mother, was advised to send Heather to a school for the deaf and not to expect her to receive more than a third-grade education. But her mother had greater ambitions for Heather. With her mother's encouragement Heather has been able to turn a hearing disability into an asset. Many of you will recognize Heather Whitestone's name as Miss America 1995. In Heather's hometown there is a poster featuring a photo of Heather, taped on a storefront. The poster reads: "They said she would only be able to get a third-grade education. Fortunately, she wasn't listening!" (Denise George, "Capturing a Nation's Heart," Pursuit, Vol. III No. 4, p. 26). -- Today’s Gospel tells us how a deaf and mute man receives Jesus’ healing touch. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4) The healing touch: The Elephant Man, is a play about a real person. The "Elephant Man" was terribly deformed. People who saw him were repelled. If you saw the play, you will remember his meeting with Mrs. Kendall, an actress who befriended him. He offered her his less-deformed hand, but Mrs. Kendall shakes her head, making it clear that she wants to hold his horribly deformed hand. It takes several minutes for him to summon up the courage to hold out the other hand. Finally, Mrs. Kendall takes it into her hand and holds it affectionately for a minute. Then she leaves. Just before the curtain falls on Act I, the Elephant Man says, "This is the first time I have ever held a woman's hand." And much of the spiritual healing that occurs in his life follows this very simple incident. -- The medical community has been telling us about the therapeutic value of touching. For example, monitoring equipment can measure the effects of the healing touch of a nurse on a patient. The heartbeats of intensive care patients often can be stabilized when a caring nurse holds a patient's hand. The effects are measurable. A few years ago, in some orphanages in South America, many of the young children were dying mysteriously although they were well fed. Dr. Rene Spitz, who studied this phenomenon, concluded that the babies were dying for lack of touch, for lack of the love that is communicated through touching. Henri Nouwen, author of many spiritual books, has written about his experiences in South America, working among the poor. He talks about the children who come and stand beside him, not looking for a handout, but hoping to be hugged, to be touched, to be loved. They want that more than anything else, he says. Today’s Gospel tells us a story of Jesus’ healing touch, conveying the transforming power of God’s love, which healed a dumb man. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
5) "It simply depends on what you are listening to." A number of years ago, I heard a story about a Native American, a Cherokee, who was in downtown New York walking with a friend who lived in New York City. As they were walking along all of a sudden the Native American stopped and said, "I hear a cricket." His friend replied, "Oh, you're crazy." "No, I hear a cricket. I do! I'm sure of it," he said. The New Yorker said "It's noon. There are people everywhere headed to lunch, cars are honking, taxis squealing, there's all the noise from the city. Surely you can't hear a cricket above all that." The Native America said, "Well, I'm sure I hear a cricket." So he listened attentively and then walked about 10 feet to the corner where there was a shrub in a large cement planter. He dug beneath the leaves and found a cricket. His friend was astounded. But the Cherokee said, "My ears are no different from yours. It simply depends on what you are listening to. Here, let me show you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of change, a few quarters, some dimes, nickels, and pennies. And he dropped it on the concrete. Every head within half a block turned. "You see what I mean?" as he began picking up all the coins. "It all depends on what you are listening for." -- I wonder what the deaf man in the passage today started listening for! Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
6) Some of you know the name Max Cleland. Cleland is a former United States Senator from the state of Georgia. Max Cleland is a genuine war hero. He lost three limbs in Vietnam. How did he keep going? He says that one of the books that inspired him after his devastating injuries was an incredible story titled Reach for the Sky. This book is about Doug Bader, a fighter pilot of World War II. Doug Bader was a gifted young pilot in the British Royal Air Force before World War II. Just before the war, he was involved in a plane crash that changed his life forever. Both of his legs were amputated, and he was discharged from the R.A.F. as "totally disabled." However, as Hitler hammered Great Britain in the blitz, England needed every available, trained pilot who could be found. Bader was proficient with his artificial limbs by this time, and desperately wanted to return to active duty. In an amazing and unbelievable turn of events, Bader was returned to active duty in the R.A.F. He had an incredibly successful record as a pilot. He shot down 26 enemy planes and achieved the rank of wing commander. But then he himself was shot down behind enemy lines. As his plane went down in flames, he managed to parachute to safety, but he left one of his artificial legs behind. On the ground, he was easily captured by the Germans. He became a P.O.W. But the story doesn't end there. He escaped from the P.O.W. camp. When he was recaptured the Germans placed him in a maximum-security prison. He remained there until the war was over. The Germans were so impressed by his courage that they allowed the R.A.F. to send Bader an artificial leg to replace the one he left in his crashing plane. When he strapped on the limb, the German officers raised their glasses in a toast of respect. The British celebrated the fifth anniversary of what Churchill called "The Battle of Britain" at the end of the war. Wing Commander Doug Bader was chosen to lead the fly past over London in honor of the occasion. For his incredible courage in World War II, Bader received the Victoria Cross, England's highest military decoration. [Max Cleland, Going For The Max! 12 Principles for Living Life to the Fullest (Nashville, TN, 1999).] -- These stories of people who overcame the loss of one of their physical abilities are amazing. Have you ever noticed that Jesus seemed to have had a special love for people with handicapping conditions? Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
7) "There's no bill now.” : One of the sad truths of life is that people with physical disabilities are often the recipients of abuse and humiliation from others. From a very young age, Henry Viscardi learned this cruel lesson. Henry was born with stumps instead of fully developed legs. He learned to walk well on his stumps, and he was capable of living a normal life, but the prejudices of others hurt him very much. When Henry was reduced to crying out, "Why me?" his mother told him a story that may trouble us theologically, but it helped young Henry. She said, "When it was time for another crippled boy to be born, the Lord and His councils held a meeting to decide where he should be sent, and the Lord said, "I think the Viscardis would be a good family to take care of him.'" It was just a simple story, but it made Henry feel he had a place and a purpose in life. He stopped asking "Why me?" and began making the most of his abilities. Henry did very well in school, and eventually graduated from Fordham University. After years of trying to walk like a normal person, Henry had damaged the skin and tissue of his stumps. He knew that without prosthetic legs, he would have to use a wheelchair. But no prosthesis could be found to fit him properly. Doctor after doctor said it was hopeless. But then one day, a German doctor committed himself to inventing a prosthesis that would work for Henry. It took a few months, but the German doctor finally created a workable pair of legs. For the first time in his life, Henry Viscardi looked and walked like a normal man. But when he tried to pay for the legs, the doctor refused to accept it. Here's what he said to Henry, "There's no bill now. But someday, if you'll make the difference for one other individual--the difference between a life dependent on charity and one rich with dignity and self-sufficiency--our account will be squared." Henry joined the Red Cross during World War II, and he dedicated himself to helping new amputees deal with their situation. When the war ended, Henry witnessed the problems that many disabled veterans had in getting jobs. So he gathered together a group of sympathetic business leaders and created Just One Break--or JOB--an organization that finds jobs for people with disabilities. Next, Henry started Abilities, Inc., with the same goal in mind. That was over forty years ago. Today, Abilities, Inc. has grown into the National Center for Disabilities Services. They run a school for children with disabilities. All their efforts are aimed at educating, empowering, and rehabilitating those with physical disabilities. As Henry Viscardi says today, "I can't help but believe that the Lord had a plan for my life that made me the way I was and let me become who I am." [Eric Feldman, The Power Behind Positive Thinking (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996), pp. 153-155.] -- Do you hear what he is saying? Henry Viscardi looked for God's hand in his life, and he yielded himself to that leading hand and he accomplished far more than the majority of people with two good legs accomplish in their lifetimes. As long as somebody loves you, there's hope. As long as you are willing to yield yourself to Jesus' touch there is hope. This deaf man with the speech impediment had people who cared about him. They brought him to Jesus. And then this deaf man yielded himself to the Master's touch. Looking up to Heaven, Jesus sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And immediately this man's ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
8) "Something in me wants to live." Rachel Naomi Remen who has written a popular book titled Kitchen Table Wisdom is a medical doctor. She has learned through the years that the best healing of the human body takes place when the mind, body and spirit work together. She is "one of the earliest pioneers in the mind/body health field." Dr. Remen understands the importance of Faith within the field of medicine because her first and most important mentor was her grandfather, a rabbi. Dr. Remen speaks of the "life force" in people. It is very similar to Schweitzer’s doctor within. She tells about Max, a sixty-three-year-old man who was sent to her because he had metastatic colon cancer. In the words of Dr. Remen, "The experts had given him daunting statistics and offered only a guarded prognosis." Their work together had to do with helping Max to see where his life force was. You see Max had been born prematurely. As a tiny, weak baby, he had absorbed his mother’s time and energy in the first few years of his life, which, for some reason, had enraged his father. As a little boy Max overheard an argument between his parents in which his father said, "If that little runt was one of the animals, I’d have put it out to starve." That comment was devastating for Max. For the next 60 years he lived a self-destructive life that would have destroyed a weaker man. Dr. Remen reminded Max that despite his many brushes with death, the broken bones, the accidents, the risks he took almost daily, he was still here. She asked him what he thought had brought him through. "Luck," he said quickly. She shot him a skeptical look. No one was that lucky. He sat for a while with his thoughts. Then in a choked and almost inaudible voice, he confessed that he had always wanted to live. She could hardly hear him. "Can you say that any louder?" He looked at the rug between his boots. Unable to speak, he just nodded. Almost in a whisper he said, "I feel ashamed." Dr. Remen said that her heart went out to him. In a shaking voice he said, "Something in me wants to live." His eyes were still fixed on the rug. "Say it, Max," Dr. Remen thought. "Say it until it becomes real." She wondered if she dared to push him a little further. "Do you think you could look at me and tell me that?" Dr. Remen asked Max. She could sense the struggle in him. Had she gone too far? He had never confronted his father. Most likely, saying such a simple thing out loud, "I want to live," went against a lifelong pattern. Perhaps he would not be able to free himself even this little bit. With an effort Max raised his eyes, his voice still choked but no longer inaudible. "I want to live," he said evenly. They stared at each other for a few moments but he did not drop his eyes. Dr. Remen smiled at him. "I want you to live too," she said. And he did. Max went on to live eight more years. [(Penguin, 1996), pp. 12-13. Cited by Jean A. F. Holmes, http://www.npcpearl.org/Sermons/Sermon10292000.htm.] -- Imagine! If a conversation with Dr. Remen could have such an effect on a person, what could a contact with Jesus of Nazareth have done for him? Jesus’ works of healing should be the least controversial part of his ministry. Of course Jesus could heal, and still heals today -- sometimes bodies, sometimes marriages, sometimes broken hearts -- but Jesus does heal. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
9) “And now, God, what can I do for you?" The story is told of a four-year-old saying her night prayers. She asked God to take care of mommy, daddy, and her cat. Then she asked, "And now, God, what can I do for you?" -- A question still hotly debated is how do we take care of the poor. Three billion people exist on $3 a day. Over one half billion on $1 daily. A quarter billion children work sometimes in dreadful conditions. Five people will die from malaria in the time it takes you to read this homily. Do we help the poor and ill just by paying our taxes? Or do we give at the office? Or do we get our own hands dirty? The answer to these questions is found in today's Gospel? (Fr. James Gilhooley) Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
10) "The Country of the Blind" is a short story written by H.G Wells. While attempting to summit the unconquered crest of Parascotopetl, a fictitious mountain in Ecuador, a mountaineer named Nunez slips and falls down the far side of the mountain. At the end of his descent, down a snow-slope in the mountain's shadow, he finds a valley, cut off from the rest of the world on all sides by steep precipices. It was an unusual village with windowless houses and a network of paths, all bordered by kerbs. Upon discovering that everyone is blind, Nunez begins reciting to himself the refrain, "In the Country of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King". He realizes that he can teach and rule them, but the villagers have no concept of sight and do not understand his attempts to explain this fifth sense to them. Frustrated, Nunez becomes angry but they calm him and he reluctantly submits to their way of life because returning to the outside world is impossible. Nunez is assigned to work for a villager named Yacob, and becomes attracted to Yacob's youngest daughter, Medina-saroté. Nunez and Medina-saroté soon fall in love with one another, and having won her confidence, Nunez slowly starts trying to explain sight to her. Medina-saroté, however, simply dismisses it as his imagination. When Nunez asks for her hand in marriage he is turned down by the village elders on account of his "unstable" obsession with "sight". The village doctor suggests that Nunez's eyes be removed, claiming that they are diseased and are affecting his brain. Nunez reluctantly consents to the operation because of his love for Medina-saroté. But at sunrise on the day of the operation, while all the villagers are asleep, Nunez, the failed King of the Blind, sets off for the mountains hoping to find a passage to the outside world and escape the valley. -- Sight is one of the greatest blessings that we enjoy. Since we are able to see from our birth we may not appreciate its value. Today's Gospel tells us how Jesus, by healing a deaf and mute man, fulfills Isaiah's Messianic prophecy, "The eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped." (Fr. Bobby Jose). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
11)
Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan: We all know Helen Keller, whose story we read or watched in the play or movie The Miracle Worker. Helen wrote in her autobiography the key experience in her life: "The most important day I remember in all my life is the one in which my teacher, Annie Mansfield Sullivan, came to me. I stretched out my hand as I supposed it to be my mother. But someone took it, and I was caught up and held close in the arms of someone who had come to reveal all things to me, and more than all else to love me." Annie Sullivan did give the child enormous love, but she also gave her firm and, at times, violent discipline. Annie's combination of very tender and warm love and very stern and uncompromising discipline touched this child deeply and made her into a human being and a very great one at that. Even a cynical soul like Mark Twain, who got to know Helen Keller, reckoned her as one of the most interesting figures in the nineteenth century, because she had conquered her own physical limitations to become a beautiful and noble lady. -- In today's Gospel, we see Jesus dealing with the man who was deaf and dumb, and we can receive many insights for our own life from contemplating the scene. (William Bausch in Telling Stories, Compelling Stories; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
12) Miraculous transformation: A working man was strongly drawn towards a beautiful vase he saw in a stall down in the town market. He bought the vase and brought it home. The vase was so beautiful that it made his front room look drab, dull, and indeed plain ugly. So. he got bright paints and transformed the whole house. He got colorful curtains to match the paint, a brightly patterned carpet, and he even stripped down and varnished the furniture. Because of the beauty of the vase the whole room was transformed. -- When Jesus enters my heart, the areas in need of attention become, oh, so obvious. Holiness consists in discovering that I am a much bigger sinner than I ever thought I was! The closer I come to God the more obvious the contrast! When Jesus comes to our lives, His touch, and His presence make all the difference! (Jack McArdle in More stories for Preachers and Teachers; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
13) The Buzzard, the Bat, and the Bumblebee: If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top. The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash. A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself. -- In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up! That's the answer, the escape route and the solution to any problem! Just look up. (Sermons.com). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
14) Joshua Bell’s violin performance in a subway station: On January 12, 2007, at 7:12 AM, The Washington Post conducted an experiment you might have heard about. The experiment involved Joshua Bell, one of the world’s greatest violinists who performed for almost all the world’s orchestras. He was commissioned to play his $ 4,000,000 Stradivarius violin in a subway station in Washington, DC. So he dressed like a street musician looking for tips and sat in the subway station playing for 43 minutes. The Washington Post had a hidden camera to video the entire event. Out of the 1097 people who passed by him, seven stopped to listen! He received $32.17 in tips, not counting $20 he received from one person who recognized him. -- The story is an excellent illustration of what James tells us in the second reading and what Jesus teaches us by healing a deaf man. (Fr. Joe Robinson; from Guiding Light). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
15) “I visualize where I want to be.” During a recent interview, American basketball star, Michael Jordan was asked to explain the reasons for his undaunting optimism and perseverance. He replied candidly, “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it. I visualize where I want to be, what kind of player I want to become. I know exactly where I want to go and I focus on getting there.” -- In today’s first reading, Isaiah’s prophetic message offers his original audience a similar Jordan-like optimism and willingness to persevere. The people had run into a wall, as it were, and Isaiah was offering advice on how to scale it. (Sanchez files). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
16) “I’ve always thought our Lord Jesus was a bit of a liberal.” With regard to the proper Christian understanding of law and regulations: “Ernst Käsemann (Jesus Means Freedom) tells the delightful story of a Church in Holland in a year which had seen rising tides and collapsing dikes. One particularly bad weekend, it was necessary for the town mayor to ask the pastor of the local Reformed Church to bring all of his people out to help repair the dikes on Sunday morning or else they might lose the entire town. The pastor called the Church elders together who discussed the matter and concluded that they had been commanded to keep the Sabbath holy, so if they perished it was God’s will, but they would not cancel services. The pastor then mentioned Jesus’ violation of the Sabbath law, hoping it might stimulate some further thought. To which one old elder says ‘Pastor, I have never before ventured to say this publicly, but I’ve always thought our Lord Jesus was a bit of a liberal.” (http://www.preachingpeace.org). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
17) Found at a Church door: “May the door of this Church be wide enough to receive all who hunger for love, all who are lonely for fellowship. May it welcome all who have cares to unburden, thanks to express, hopes to nurture. May the doors of this Church be narrow enough to shut out pettiness and pride, envy, and enmity. May this sanctuary welcome all who seek serenity, renewal, and truth; may it be, for all of us, the gateway to a richer and more meaningful life.” (Dr. Murray Watson). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
18) What brought about the sudden change? During World War II, there was in Poland a brilliant and Popular pianist, named Marta Korwin-Rhodes. As a matter of fact, she was in Warsaw when the city was bombarded. The devastation to both life and property was so horrible, that the brave and noble musician decided to stay and help the wounded in crowded hospitals instead of fleeing to safely. One night as Marta was walking through the wards, she heard a soldier sobbing loudly and pathetically. Going over to his side, she watched helplessly as his heart-rending cries literally broke her heart. What was she to do? And how was she to console such a disconsolate person? Suddenly she looked at her hands, and a most interesting thought crossed her mind. “If these hands can produce harmony from the keys of a piano, then surely God can use them to comfort and reassure a person in extreme pain.” Instantly she bent down and gently placed her hand on his forehead and earnestly prayed: “O God, help this man, for he is in pain and misery. Give him your comfort and peace in this moment of trial.” To her stunned disbelief, the man’s sobbing stopped, and he soon fell into a peaceful sleep.
(James V. in “Your Words, O Lord, Are Spirit, and They Are Life; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
19) Crippled hearts-- handicaps of the Normal: One day while listening to a talk given by Jean Vanier (Founder of L’Arche) I learnt a great lesson. It was a disturbing one, but I am glad I learnt it. Until that day I thought I had no handicaps. I had two good hands, two good feet, two good ears, and so on. In other words, I was what is considered ‘normal’. But in listening to Vanier I discovered I too had handicaps – of a different kind. The Gospel concerns the cure of a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. In other words, a handicapped man. If, because the man was handicapped, we might think that the miracle has little relevance for us, we would be mistaken. The man’s handicaps were physical. But there are other handicaps besides the physical ones. In truth all of us are handicapped in one way or another. The fact that our handicaps are not visible as those of the man in the Gospel doesn’t make them less real. The greatest handicap of all, however is that of a crippled heart. A paraplegic observed: “Living as a cripple in a wheelchair allows you to see more clearly the crippled hearts of some people whose bodies are whole and whose minds are sound.” (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho) Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
20) The eyes of the blind…. Opened: Back in the 1940’s the newspapers carried the story of a boy who was born blind. He was a lively and imaginative child, full of interest in everything around him. Unfortunately, since he could not see the world in which he lived, he could only guess what things were like from their shape and texture as he felt it or their sound as he heard it. When they were too far away to be felt or smelt or listened to, he would have to guess at what they looked like. Then his parents asked a certain eye surgeon whether an operation could remedy the blindness of their cheerful but sightless son. The doctor said he thought it was now possible to perform surgery that would make him able finally to see. On the day scheduled for the operation, his folks drove the lad to the hospital in the family car. The father and mother hoped the doctor was right. Still, they were torn by the inner, unexpressed question, “What if the operation fails?” Maybe their little son had the same inner fear, but his strongest emotion that day was a joyful hope. In the operating room the surgeon set deftly about his work. Then he bandaged the child’s eyes until they healed. Finally, the crucial day of the “unveiling” came. The doctor sat the boy by a window that looked out on the hospital parking lot and the green landscaped lawn beyond. He unrolled the bandage down to the gauze pads and set it on the table. Then he took the pads carefully off the closed eyes. Finally, he said, “Now, open your eyes.” The little boy opened his eyes and looked straight ahead of him. He blinked a couple of times but said nothing. Those seconds were like years to those present, and the father and mother were almost frantic. Then a smile spread across the lad’s face. “There’s the car I came in,” he exclaimed. “I know it! And there’s a tree. Oh, it’s beautiful! It’s beautiful!”-- “The eyes of the blind had been opened.”(Isaiah 35:5. Today’s first reading). Do we who have always seen God’s trees and His other wonderful creatures really appreciate the beautiful things He has given us for our delight? (Father Robert F. McNamara) Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
21) Welcome change of society’s attitude: Society’s attitudes regarding its physically and/or mentally impaired members have evolved considerably through the centuries. Each generation, motivated by an ever-growing sensitivity and respect for another’s differences, has coined new words for referencing these special people among us. Mental retardation, for example, has been replaced by the term, mentally challenged. Those with physical limitations, such as deafness or blindness are now described as hearing or visually challenged. Children with learning disabilities are no longer called dumb, slow or stupid; they are appreciated as having special needs. At times, and in the interest of what has come to be known as “political correctness”, some of this newly devised vocabulary appears to be extreme, as for instance, when diminutive people are referred to as vertically challenged and those with receding hairlines are described as follicly challenged! For the most part however, although discrimination still exists and must be dealt with whenever it arises, contemporary society is learning to value people for who they are and what they can do rather than devalue them for what they are not and what they cannot do. In large measure, this lesson has been taught to us by those who have struggled against the worst obstacles. (Sanchez Files). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
22) Challenge to change our attitudes to the disabled: Helen Keller (1880-1968), who overcame blindness, deafness, and muteness once wrote: “They took away what should have been my eyes, but I remembered Milton’s Paradise. They took away what should have been my ears; Beethoven came and wiped away my tears. They took away what should have been my tongue; but I had talked with God when I was young. He would not let them take away my soul; possessing that I still possess the whole!” A mother of a brain-injured child offers a similar lesson: “We would have called our daughter’s handicap the greatest tragedy of our lives, if it were not for the fact that through it we came to know God much better. Words cannot express our initial disappointment when our daughter failed to develop normally. However, she enriched our lives and we found strength in God. As we struggled, our Faith deepened, and we knew a peace that we had never before experienced.” -- The insightful testimony of those two women invites us to consider our own attitudes toward the handicapped, impaired, or otherwise challenged members of the human family. The readings for today’s liturgy do likewise. (Sanchez Files). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
22) Are you Christ? Cardinal Sin, as told in the homily of Bishop Bacani, tells the story of a blind vendor selling some candies and other items on a sidewalk during the Christmas season. As people were rushing, her “bilao” (bamboo tray) was bumped. She tried to grope for her wares. Nobody seemed to mind her as they hurried past her. Then a man stopped and then stooped to pick up her things and returned them to her in her bilao. She asked the kind gentleman, “Are you Christ?” -- Yes, this good gentleman, for this blind woman, was Christ. There are many opportunities given to us by which we are faced with people who need help, but how often do we respond? Let us be more vigilant for those opportunities and allow Christ to reach out, through us, to others in need by the love we show. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
23) Jesus “sighed”. One day a little boy came home from school and he looked rather sad. His mother said, “Honey, is everything all right?” He said, “Well, I guess so. But, Billy came to school today and told the class that his daddy had died. They just buried his daddy yesterday, mama.” Then he said, “Mama, Billy was so upset about his daddy dying that he just cried and cried.” His mother said, “Well, what did you do?” He said, “I just laid my head on my desk and cried with him!” That is the kind of heart that Jesus had, and that is the kind of heart that we need! In the healing of the deaf man the Scripture tells us that after looking toward Heaven, Jesus “sighed”. This word means “to groan”. The deaf man could not hear the sigh, but he could see Jesus when He did it and it spoke volume to him. The sigh said “I care about you and what you are going through!” (SNB Files) Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
24) " I suppose we should have told him where the rocks were." A Catholic priest, a Baptist evangelist, and an Assembly of God minister were in a row boat in the middle of a pond fishing. None of them had caught anything all day. The evangelist stands up, says he needs to go to the bathroom climbs out of the boat and walks on the water to shore. He comes back ten minutes later the same way. Then the minister needs to go to the bathroom, too, so he climbs out of the boat and walks on the water to shore. He comes back the same way ten minutes later. The priest looks at both of them and decides that his faith is just as strong as his fishing buddies and that he can walk on water, too. He stands up and excuses himself. As he steps out, he makes a big splash down into the water. The evangelist looks at the minister and says," I suppose we should have told him where the rocks were." 2. The line between faith and presumption is an important line. God does not work miracles for our convenience, but he does answer prayer in accord with his will.
“Scriptural Homilies” Cycle B (No 49) by Fr. Tony: akadavil@gmail.com
Visit my website by clicking on http://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed or previous Cycle A homilies, 141 Year of Faith “Adult Faith Formation Lessons” (useful for RCIA classes too) & 197 “Question of the Week.” Contact me only at akadavil@gmail.com. Visit https://www.catholicsermons.com/homilies/sunday_homilies under CBCI or Fr. Tony for my website version. (Special thanks to Vatican Radio website http://www.vaticannews.va/en/church.html -which completed uploading my Cycle A, B and C homilies in May 2020) Fr. Anthony Kadavil, Chaplain, Sacred Heart Residence of the Little Sisters of the Poor, 1655 McGill Ave, Mobile, AL 36604 .

Aug 23-28: Aug 23 Monday
Kindly click on http://frtonyshomilies.com/ for missed Sunday and weekday homilies.
Aug 23-28: Aug 23 Monday (St. Rose of Lima, Virgin): https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-rose-of-lima Mt 23:13-22: 13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. 16 "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, `If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, `If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.' You blind ones, which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?20i One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it;21one who swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it;22one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who is seated on it. USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/
The context: It is the third day of the original "Holy Week" in Jerusalem, a day of controversy and personal attacks. The Master is under fire, and challenges the religious leaders of Israel, pronouncing the first three of the eight woes Jesus would levy levies against the religious leaders, calling them hypocrites and publicly humiliating them. The Judeo-Christians of Matthew’s early Christian community argued that the Gentile Christians should follow all Torah laws, oral laws and oral traditions. Matthew’s account reminds them of the criticism Jesus laid against the scribes and Pharisees in today’s Gospel passage. Sins of the Scribes and Pharisees: Matthew 23 gives us the Master’s scathing condemnation of the Jewish leadership, expressing the rolling thunder of Jesus’ anger and sorrow at the hypocrisy or double standard of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus levels three accusations against the Pharisees: 1) they do not practice what they preach, 2) they adopt a very narrow and burdensome interpretation of the Torah, and 3) they seek public acknowledgment and glory for themselves rather than for God. Jesus calls them hypocrites because i) although they know that the essence of religion is loving one’s neighbors, seeing God in them, they teach that external observance of man-made laws alone is the real essence of religion; ii) although they are zealous missionaries in inviting converts to Judaism, they overburden the converts with man-made laws and regulations as the essence of Judaism; and iii) they try to bluff God by misinterpreting the Law and misleading the people. Jesus gives the example of swearing and accuses them of cleverly evading binding oaths and solemn promises by falsified interpretations.
Life message: 1) What Jesus wants is a pure heart, with no element of deceit. We should not follow the dog-in-the-manger policy of the Pharisees by not keeping God’s commandments ourselves and not allowing others to keep them. 2) Let us avoid frivolous swearing and oaths and all forms of hypocrisy and superstition in our religious life. (Fr. Tony) http://frtonyshomilies.com/ (L/21)
Aug 24 Tuesday (St. Bartholomew, Apostle) https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-bartholomew Jn 1; 45-51: 43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. And he found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" 48 Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49 Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these." 51 And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/
The context: In today’s Gospel of John (John 1:43-51), Nathanael, also called Bartholomew or “son of Tholomay,” is introduced as a friend of Philip. He is described as initially being skeptical about the Messiah coming from Nazareth, saying: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" But he accepts Philip's invitation to meet Jesus. Jesus welcomes him saying, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" (RSV2 Catholic) Jesus' comment, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you"(RSV 2 Catholic), is probably based on a Jewish figure of speech referring to studying the Torah because the rabbi used to give Bible classes for small groups under the shade of fig trees. Nathanael immediately recognizes Jesus as "the Son of God" and "the King of Israel." Nathanael reappears at the end of John's Gospel (John 21:2), as one of the disciples to whom Jesus appeared at the Sea of Tiberius after his Resurrection from the tomb. The Gospels thus present Bartholomew as a man with no malice and lover of Torah with openness to truth and readiness to accept the truth. Nathanael was the first Apostle to make an explicit confession of Faith in Jesus as the Messiah and as the Son of God.
Life messages: 1) Let us pray for the grace to love the word of God as Bartholomew did. 2) Let us also pray that we may accept the teaching of the Bible and the Church with open heart and open mind, without pride or prejudice. (Fr. Tony) http://frtonyshomilies.com/ (L/21)
Aug 25: Wednesday (St. Louis https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-louis-of-france , St. Joseph Calasanz, Priest https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-joseph-calasanz ): Matthew 23:27-32: 27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, `If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' 31 Thus you witness against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/
The context: Today’s passage, again taken from chapter 23 of Matthew’s Gospel, gives the seventh and eighth accusations made against the Pharisees on the third day of the original “Holy Week” in Jerusalem, as Jesus addressed them in the Temple precincts. Jesus told them plainly that they were whitewashed tombs containing rotten stuff inside.
Hypocrisy exposed: Jesus compared the scribes and Pharisees to the tombs on the sides of the road leading to Jerusalem. In preparation for the three major Jewish feasts, the Scribes and Pharisees used to have these tombs whitewashed, so that the pilgrims would not be ritually defiled by unknowingly walking over one. In this seventh charge, Jesus accused the Pharisees of moral filth, of hiding injustice and immorality inside themselves and covering the corruption with “whitewash” -- the pretenses of piety and religious fervor. In his eighth and final indictment, Jesus also criticized their false zeal in decorating the old monuments and rebuilding new monuments for the past prophets who had been persecuted and murdered by the forefathers of the Pharisees because these modern Pharisees had neither learned nor been changed by the messages of the now-dead prophets.
Life messages: 1) We need to be men and women of integrity and character without any element of hypocrisy in our Christian life. 2) We should not make a show of holiness and religious fervor when we are not internally holy. Here is St. John Chrysostom’s (4th century) comment on the matter: “You have been counted worthy to become temples of God. But you have instead suddenly become more like sepulchers, having the same sort of foul smell. This is dreadful. It is extreme wretchedness that one in whom Christ dwells and in whom the Holy Spirit has worked such great works should turn out to be a sepulcher, a place for death, carrying a dead soul - a soul deadened by sins, a soul paralyzed – in a living body(Fr. Tony) http://frtonyshomilies.com/ (L/21)
Aug 26 Thursday: Matthew 24: 42-51: 42 Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 45 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, `My master is delayed,' 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with the drunken, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, 51 and will punish him, and put him with the hypocrites; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/
The context: The central theme of today’s Gospel passage is the necessity for Faith and vigilant preparedness in the lives of Christ’s followers. The passage contains a pair of short parables in which the chief characters are a master (representing the risen Jesus), and his servants (Jesus’ followers, ourselves). Jesus warns the disciples that they must be prepared at all times because the Son of Man will come at an unexpected hour. According to the Fathers of the Church, Jesus' words in this passage have two senses. In the narrower sense, the words refer to the Second Coming of Jesus, but in the broader sense they refer to the time of our own death, when God will call us to meet Him and to give Him an account of our life on earth. Jesus wants all of us to be ready at every moment to do God’s will by loving others through humble, sacrificial service.
Steadfast Faith and eternal vigilance: In the first part of this discourse, prior to today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches the disciples the need for constant vigilance, using the mini parable of the thief and the treasure. We should not lose our treasure of Divine grace or close relationship with Jesus, like the man who awoke one morning to discover that a thief had stolen his wealth in the night. In the second part (today’s Gospel), Jesus exhorts the disciples to be steadfast in their Faith and ever vigilant. When he had to be away from home, a master would make a servant his steward and entrust to him the management of the household. A trusted steward was expected to run his master's house well, to govern the master’s servants, and to administer the master’s estate. When his master was not at home, a wise and trustworthy steward was ever vigilant. He prepared himself for his master’s return at any time of the day or night by always doing his duties faithfully. Jesus illustrates the same point by using another mini parable of the foolish and wicked steward who got drunk and was caught red-handed by his master.
Life message: 1) These parables encouraging "wakefulness" and “preparedness” are addressed to all believers. Since the time of our death is quite uncertain, we, too, must be ever ready to meet our Lord at any moment. Our Master should find us carrying out our tasks of love, mercy and service, rather than leaving things undone or half-done or postponed. He should also find us at peace with God, ourselves and with our fellowmen (Eph 4:26) (Fr. Tony) http://frtonyshomilies.com/ (L/21)
Aug 27 Friday (St. Monica): https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-monica Mt 25:1-13: 1 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be compared to ten maidens who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, `Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' 7 Then all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, `Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 9 But the wise replied, `Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.' 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast; and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other maidens came also, saying, `Lord, lord, open to us.' 12 …13 USCCB video reflections: http://www.usccb.org/bible/reflections/index.cfm; https://catholic-daily-reflections.com/daily-reflections/
The context: Today’s parable, taken from Matthew’s Gospel, brings the usual warnings about preparation for the end of our own world, the end of our own times, and our own passage to another world. The parable tells us that a searching, watching, and growing heart is essential for a lively, dynamic Faith in God; it also asks us whether we are ready for these events and how we are preparing for them.
The parable: Since a wedding was a great occasion, the whole village would line up at the sides of the road to wish God’s blessings on the bride and groom in procession. The invited ones would join the procession, which started from the bride’s house, and ended at the groom’s house to take part in the week-long celebration. Since the bridegroom might come to the bride’s house unexpectedly, the bridal party had to be ready at any time, with virgins carrying lighted torches and reserve oil in jars. The five foolish virgins who could not welcome the groom’s party lost not only the opportunity of witnessing the marriage ceremony, but also of participating in the week-long celebration that followed. The local meaning is that the foolish virgins represent the “Chosen People of God” who were waiting for the Messiah but were shut out from the Messianic banquet because they were unprepared. The universal meaning is that the five foolish virgins represent those who fail to prepare for the end of their lives and for the Final Judgment. They do not put their Faith in Jesus and live it out by keeping Jesus’ Commandment to love others as Jesus Himself did.
Life messages: 1) We must be wise enough to remain ever prepared: Wise Christians carefully make their daily choices for God. They are ready to put the commandment of love into practice by showing kindness and forgiveness. 2) Let us be sure that our lamps are ready for the end of our lives: Spiritual readiness, preparation and growth come as a result of intentional habits built into one’s life. These include taking time for prayer and being alone with God; reading God’s Word; leading a Sacramental life; cooperating with God’s grace by offering acts of loving service to others; practicing moral faithfulness, and living always in loving obedience to Him(Fr. Tony) http://frtonyshomilies.com/ (L/21)
Aug 28 Saturday (St. Augustine, Bishop, Doctor of the Church) https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-augustine-of-hippo : Matthew 25:14-30 : 14 "For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. 17 So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, `Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.' 21 His master said to him, `Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.' 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, `Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.' 23 His master said to him, `Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.' 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, `Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' 26 But his master answered him, `You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.'
The context: The three parables in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew (The Wise and Foolish Virgins, The Talents, The Last Judgment) are about the end times, the end of the world, and the end of our lives. The parable of the talents is an invitation for each one of us to live in such a way that we make the best use of the talents God has given us. Then, at the hour of our death, God will say: “Well done, My good and faithful servant! Come and share the joy of your Master.” The parable challenges us to ask the questions: Are we using our talents and gifts primarily to serve God? Are we doing everything we can to carry out God’s will? The story: A very rich person, about to set off on a journey, entrusted very large sums of wealth (talents), to three of his slaves, each according to his personal ability: five, two, and one. Through skillful trading and investing, the first and second slaves managed to double their master's money. Afraid of taking risk and lazy by nature, the third slave buried his talent in the ground. On the day of accounting, the master rewarded the two clever slaves ("Come, share your master's joy."), but punished the third slave whom he calls "wicked and slothful" (v. 26). Life messages: 1) We need to trust God enough to make use of the gifts and abilities we have been given. Everyone is given different talents and blessings by God. So, we should ask ourselves how we are using our particular gifts in the service of our Christian community and the wider society. 2) We need to make use of our talents in our parish. We should be always willing to share our abilities in the liturgy, in Sunday school classes and in social outreach activities like feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, visiting the sick and the shut-ins. 3) We need to trade with our talent of Christian Faith: All of us in the Church today have received at least one talent. We have received the gift of Faith. Our responsibility as men and women of Faith is not just to preserve and “keep” the Faith but to live it out daily and pass it on faithfully to the next generation in our family and in our parish community. (Fr. Tony) http://frtonyshomilies.com/ (L/21)
O.T. V [C] (Feb 10) Homily - One-page Summary (L-19)
Introduction: The central theme of today’s readings is God's call to a person, and the positive response to this call which leads the person to discipleship. As in our own lives, God’s call has three steps: 1) the revelation of God Himself in the Old Testament, or of Jesus as the Messiah sent from God in the NT; 2) the recognition and confession of one’s unworthiness and inadequacy to receive this call; and 3) the word of reassurance from God, or Jesus, and a call to share in His life-giving mission. Today’s readings tell us that God has His own criteria for selecting people to be prophets and ministers. Presenting the special calls, or vocations, of Isaiah, Paul and Peter as life-changing events, the readings challenge us to examine our own personal calls and responses to conversion and discipleship.
Scripture lessons: Isaiah in the first reading and Peter in today’s Gospel express their unworthiness to be in the presence of God’s great holiness, and Peter and Isaiah both immediately receive their Divine calls. The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 138) gives us a prayer that could reflect the gratitude experienced by those who follow God’s call. Today’s second reading describes the call of another great apostle, Paul, who judges himself to be unworthy of the name or the call as he was a former persecutor of the Christians. It was by giving these three men a strong conviction of their unworthiness and of their need for total dependence on His grace that God prepared them for their missions. The Second Vatican Council teaches that we are all called to ministry by virtue of our Baptism into Jesus Christ.
Life Messages: 1) We need to pray that our encounters with the holiness of God may lead us to recognize our sinfulness. God, who calls us and commissions us for His service, wants us to realize His presence everywhere and in everyone, to repent of our sins, and to remain in readiness to speak and act for Him in our life circumstances as He shall direct us through His grace and His Holy Spirit. 2) We need to teach and practice expressions of reverence for the Lord. We need to express our reverence for God through appropriate bodily gestures. For example, when we come into Church, we need to show reverence for Jesus’ presence in the tabernacle by making a deep bow or by genuflecting and blessing ourselves with sign of the cross. Then we need to honor Him by listening to the word of God and by actively participating in the liturgy's prayers and singing. This same sense of reverence can be expressed by keeping the Bible, God’s living word to us, in a prominent place in our homes and by kissing it each time we read from it. True reverence for God naturally leads us to the reverent, respectful love of our neighbors, as God dwells in them.
3) Each of us has a unique mission in the Church. This is why God has a different call for each of us. Each of us is unique, so each of us has a mission which no one else can fulfill. Let us accomplish this mission by radiating the love, mercy, and forgiveness of Jesus and by participating in the various ministries of our parish.
OT V [C] (Feb 10): Is 6:1-2a, 3-8; I Cor 15:1-11; Lk 5:1-11
Anecdote 1: “Ours is total commitment!” There was a story about the hen and the pig bragging to each other about their contribution and commitment to humanity. The hen bragged: “We hens supply thousands of eggs for the market every day. Ours is the best selfless gift.” Not satisfied, the pig countered, “And who lay down their lives so that people may eat bacon, lechon, barbecue, ham and sausages? Pigs. Ours is total commitment of our lives in the service of humanity!” In all the readings for today, especially the Gospel, the message is one – a Call from God and the Commitment expected from those God has called.
# 2: Divine calls answered: Agnes Bojaxhiu was born in Macedonia in 1910. At the tender age of 12 she strongly felt the call of God and knew she was called to spread the love of Jesus Christ. At age 18 she entered a convent and joined the sisters of Loreto. While teaching at a high school in Calcutta she was so moved by the extreme poverty she saw from her window that she sought and received permission to work among the poorest of poor in the slums. The story of her work became well known to all because this woman we know as Mother Theresa, now St. Teresa of Calcutta, continued to obediently answer God's call to serve God's people until her death. About 5 years ago a very successful attorney from Atlanta was sitting on the cloister porch at a monastery in New York. He had just spent three days in prayer, and quiet listening for God. He made a decision at that time to leave his comfort zone of high income, recognition in the legal community, power and prestige and enter seminary. He was ordained Deacon in this place in December and will be ordained Priest later this year. God said "follow me"� and in faith and obedience, this man did exactly that. There was a special blessing for me in all of that because I was sitting next to him on the cloister porch when he made and announced his decision. (Rev. Ed Fuller).
# 3: A call rejected: Reverend Billy Graham tells of a time early in his ministry when he arrived in a small town to preach a sermon. Wanting to mail a letter, he asked a young boy where the post office was. When the boy had told him, Dr. Graham thanked him and said, “If you’ll come to the Baptist church this evening, you can hear me telling everyone how to get to Heaven.” “I don’t think I’ll be there,” the boy said. “Why?” Billy Graham asked him. “Because you don’t even know your way to the post office! How can you show me the way to Heaven?” Today’s readings tell us about the calls of the prophet Isaiah, Paul, and Peter to God’s ministry.
# 4: Divine call daily executed: One day, author and educator Howard Hendricks was on a plane that was delayed from takeoff. As passengers became irritated and demanding, Howard noticed how gracious one of the flight attendants continued to be with each passenger. When they were finally in the air he continued to be amazed at her poise and control. When she came by his seat, Howard asked if he could write a letter of commendation to the airline on her behalf. “I don’t work for the airline,” she replied, “I work for Jesus Christ. My husband and I prayed this morning that I would be a good representative of Jesus Christ on this flight.” Do you have a career or a calling? You see, somewhere out on Lake Galilee, a handful of fishermen were transformed in such a way that they would eventually change the world because Christ had come and had given them a mission for eternity.
Introduction: The central theme of today’s readings is God's call and people's response. The Scripture readings present three of the greatest witnesses in the Bible—Isaiah, Paul and Peter—expressing their own worthlessness. A seraph cleanses Isaiah lips with a burning coal and Jesus has a cleansing word for Peter. When Isaiah had his vision and Peter had his epiphany, each experienced deep humility, fear, respect, and reverence—in short, awe. Today’s readings teach us that Christian spirituality is discipleship, which means a positive response to God’s call. Discipleship has three steps: 1) The revelation: The miraculous, catch of fish described in today’s Gospel was a revelation of Jesus’ identity as the One sent from God. 2) The recognition and confession of one’s unworthiness and inadequacy: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” 3) The word of reassurance from Jesus and a call to share in his life-giving mission. Today’s readings are “epiphany-call stories” which tell us that God has His own criteria for selecting people to be prophets and ministers. Presenting the special calls, or vocations, of Isaiah, Paul and Peter as life-changing events, the readings challenge us to examine our own personal calls to conversion and discipleship. When faced with the awesome power of God, Isaiah, Paul, and Peter are all struck dumb by a sense of their own unworthiness. Peter in today’s Gospel and Isaiah in the first reading express their unworthiness to be in the presence of God’s great holiness, and Peter and Isaiah both immediately receive their Divine calls. The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 138) gives us a prayer that could reflect the gratitude experienced by those who follow God’s call. Today’s second reading describes the call of another great apostle, Paul, who judges himself to be unworthy of the name or the call as he was a former persecutor of the Christians. It was by giving these three men a strong conviction of their unworthiness and of their need for total dependence on His grace that God prepared them for their missions. The calls of these various ministers of God are set before us so that we can reassess our own call from God and our response to Him. The Second Vatican Council teaches that we are all called to ministry by virtue of our Baptism into Jesus Christ.
First reading, Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8, explained: In the late eighth century BC, God's people in the Promised Land had become divided into a northern kingdom, Israel, and a southern kingdom, Judah. Among outside hostile forces, Assyria was the dominant power in the region. A fourth nation, Syria, was also vying for power, and trying to recruit Israel to support its ambitions. The kings of Israel and Judah started cooperating in political schemes to insure their nations’ safety, instead of relying faithfully on the Lord God to sustain them. This was the situation in which Isaiah received God’s mission to speak God’s word to the kings and people of Judah and Israel. Yahweh permitted Isaiah to experience His magnificence in a vision in the Temple of Jerusalem. Experiencing the glory of God, Isaiah at once confessed his unworthiness, calling out, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips.” In the presence of God’s holiness, Isaiah became painfully aware of his own sinful human nature. However, when cleansed by God, he was ready for His ministry: "Here I am. Send me!" God gave him the courage to speak His word, interpret His will, and call His people and their leaders to repent and return to God’s ways. “Today’s scene from Isaiah is recalled in every Mass. Before reading the Gospel, the priest silently asks God to cleanse his lips that he might worthily proclaim His Word.” (Scott Hahn).
Second Reading, 1 Corinthians 15:1-1, explained: Some Corinthian Christians questioned Paul's authority and disputed the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Paul silenced them by presenting the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus. Then he recounted the story of how he had been chosen to be an apostle to the Gentiles by the Risen Lord who appeared to him on his trip to Damascus. But Paul confessed his unworthiness to be an apostle because of his former persecution of Christians and gave the full credit to God for his call to the ministry: "By the grace of God I am what I am.” That is, it was only by the grace of God that Paul was claiming the designation of "apostle" and only by that authority that he proclaimed the Gospel, toiling harder than the other apostles. He reminded the Corinthians that he had already passed on to them the traditional confession of Faith about Jesus’ death and Resurrection, which he had received personally from Christ Himself. Hence, the Corinthians should not doubt his teaching about the resurrection, lest they forfeit salvation and wind up having believed in vain. A real Faith not only accepts the content of God's message but involves a total surrender of one's self and all one has into God's hands. Our response to God’s grace must be like that of Paul.
Gospel Exegesis: Epiphany on the sea: The story of the miraculous catch of fish described in today’s Gospel is similar to the post-Resurrection appearance of Jesus recounted in John 21:4-14. In both accounts, the apostles at first fail to recognize who Jesus is, then receive a revelation of his true identity. This prompts a full confession of Faith from Simon Peter to which Jesus responds by commissioning him as the representative of the disciples. In this sense, both narratives are Epiphanies in which Jesus reveals himself to the world as the Messiah —for Jesus does what only God can do. The point of this story lies, not in the miraculous catch, but in the confession of Peter and his commissioning by Jesus.
The fishermen and fishing: The scene is the Sea of Galilee (Gennesaret in Greek and Tiberias in Latin). This body of water is thirteen miles long and seven and a half miles wide. In Jesus’ time, there were ten prosperous towns situated around the lake. Most of the people residing in them made their living from the waters in front of them. Thus, one gets the idea of how rich the lake was in fish. The Sea of Galilee was the site of many manifestations of Jesus’ Divine power. In the incident in today's Gospel, Jesus preached from Peter's boat to a large crowd jammed together at the edge of the water. When the teaching had ended, Jesus told Peter to pull out into deeper water for a catch of fish. In matters of fishing, Peter was an expert, while Jesus was only a carpenter. Hence Peter, perhaps not wanting Jesus to look foolish, explained, "Master, we have worked hard all night long, caught nothing." Peter might have added that fish come to the surface in the Sea of Galilee only at night, or that the presence and noise of people would frighten the remaining fish away. Instead he said, “Nevertheless, if You wish it, I will lower the nets.”
Hope against hope: That declaration of trust was what made the miracle that followed possible. We may assume that Jesus smiled a little, indicating that he understood Peter’s point and still wanted the fisherman to take the boat out into deeper water. So, Peter obeyed. This time, however, instead of pulling up an empty net, Peter and Andrew found the net was filled to bursting point, and they had to ask the help of their partners, Zebedee’s sons, James and John, to help them bring in the catch. Simon Peter understood the message very quickly. Confronted by the size of the catch, he recognized the presence of God before him and became convinced of his own pride and self-centeredness, that is, of his sinfulness. We find the same response in all three readings today. Isaiah, seeing the glory of God in his vision, says, "What a wretched state I am in! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips... and my eyes have looked at the King, the Lord of hosts." Paul, not particularly known for his modesty, says, "I am the least of the apostles... I hardly deserve the name apostle." Peter begs Jesus to go away. His simple confession --“Leave me Lord. I am a sinful man.” -- marks a turning point in his life and becomes the model for our response to Jesus. Jesus seized the opportunity to proclaim Peter's mission, a call Peter was able to receive because he had seen the tremendous power of God. Thus, Peter became the first person in the Gospel to acknowledge his sinfulness. He is also the first apostle to be called by Jesus. Today’s Gospel concludes with an inspiring image of commitment: “When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him” (Lk 5:11).
The abundance miracle: The miraculous catch of fish is a miracle of abundance and resembles other "abundance" miracles such as the sending of manna to Israel in the wilderness (Ex 16), the widow’s never-empty meal jar and oil jug (1 Kgs 17:8-16), the necessary supply of oil for the lamps for the rededication ceremony of the Temple (2 Kgs 4:1-7), and Elisha's feeding of a hundred men with twenty loaves of bread (2 Kgs 4:42-44). Later in this same Gospel, we will see Jesus feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish (9:12-17). The Gospel of John reports another abundance miracle, the wine Jesus supplied at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11). All these "abundance" miracles have two common characteristics: (1) they meet human needs and (2) they demonstrate God's power. The spiritual outcome of this particular miracle was that the disciples, "left everything and followed [Jesus]" (v. 11).
Dimensions of discipleship: The Gospel reading today displays the three dimensions of discipleship: (1) the recognition of the power of Jesus, (2) the response of confession, and (3) the assurance of success when we follow God’s word. Peter's commission is one which is repeated often in the New Testament (Lk 9:20, 22:32; Jn 21:1ff; Mt 16:16ff). Peter and the other disciples were given the privilege of sharing in Christ's work of gathering people to God. As they shared in gathering the fish, so now they would share in gathering "lost" human beings. Simon’s response was similar to the responses made in Old Testament human encounters with God. As he stood before the burning bush, Moses confessed his disqualifications for leadership, particularly his inability to speak well. (Ex 3:11-4:17, esp. 4:10). Later in the Bible, when God came to Solomon in a dream, Solomon declared that he was not wise enough to govern God’s people and asked for an “understanding heart” (1 Kgs 3:7-9). Likewise, when God called Jeremiah, the prophet recognized the inadequacy of his youth to take on this mission (Jer 1:6).
Who are called as the fishers of men? It is not true that Christ’s invitation to become “fishers of men” is addressed only to the apostles and their successors (the bishops together with the priests and religious). Every Christian is commissioned to a ministry of love and justice by virtue of his/her Baptism. One of the documents of Vatican II, Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church ), in paragraph no. 31 describes all of us very clearly as, “the faithful who by Baptism are incorporated into Christ’s Body and are placed in the people of God and in their own way share the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ and to the best of their ability carry on the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world.” In addition to this, Vatican II’s Apostolicam Actuositatem (The Apostolate of the Laity), no. 3 says, “Incorporated into Christ’s Body through Baptism and strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit through Confirmation, the laity are assigned to the apostolate by the Lord Himself.” It is even stated that where lay involvement is lacking, “the apostolate of the pastors will frequently be unable to obtain its full effect; where lay responsibility is absent, the Church is incomplete,” (Apostolicam Actousitatem nos. 10, 21, PCP II).
Life Messages: 1) We need to pray that our encounters with the holiness of God may lead us to recognize our sinfulness. The Good News of today’s Gospel is that our sinfulness -- our pride and self-centeredness – does not repel God. Our God is a God Who gives sinners a new start. It is important that we acknowledge our sinfulness. Our response must be modeled on that of the tax collector in the parable: "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner" (Lk 18:13). The recognition of our inadequacy and sin is necessary for us, if we are to be willing and able to receive transformation through God’s grace. Isaiah, Paul, and Peter teach us that even the greatest person among us stands in need of conversion. God, Who calls us and commissions us for His service, wants us to realize His presence everywhere and in everyone, to repent of our sins and to remain in readiness to speak and act for Him in our life-circumstances as He shall direct.
2) We need to teach and practice expressions of reverence for the Lord. Today’s world desperately needs a "revival of reverence." We need both to recognize God as God and to express that reverence for God through appropriate bodily gestures. For example, when we come into Church, we enter the presence of Jesus dwelling in the tabernacle. We need to remember that this is His house, a part of Heaven, and we need to express that remembrance by making a deep bow toward the tabernacle, or, if we are able to kneel, by genuflecting on the right knee before we enter the pew. We should offer him the same reverent recognition when we leave the Church and His Sacramental Presence. We might also remember to give a slight bow of the head whenever we hear, or say, the name of Jesus. The new regulation of bowing one’s head before receiving Communion is another beautiful act of reverence. This same sense of reverence can be expressed by keeping the Bible, God’s living word to us, in a prominent place in our homes and by kissing it each time we read from it. True reverence for God naturally leads us to the reverent, respectful love of neighbor. St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa), loved people because she saw Jesus in them. That was the same Jesus Whom she reverenced and experienced in the Holy Eucharist. We, too, will have many opportunities for daily experiences of Christ. So the heart of our mission as Christians is really to find Jesus hidden in our neighbors, and to accept his challenge to us – to love him, to have compassion on him, to practice justice toward him, to be kind to him there. Then it becomes easier for us to forgive injury as Jesus did, and to be reconciled to those with whom we have difficulties. Thus, our mission as Jesus’disciples is to seek, to find, and to respond to Him in all people and events.
3) Each of us has a unique mission in the Church. God has a different call for each of us. Because each of us is unique, each of us has a mission which no one else can fulfill. God will use all of us, and particularly what is unique in us, to bring this mission to fulfillment. Our response must be like that of Isaiah: “Here I am, Lord…send me." "I’ll do it. I’ll play my part. I’ll speak to that neighbor, that coworker, that friend, that relative. I’ll talk to my daughter about the way she is rearing her children. I’ll keep my mouth shut and refuse to gossip or criticize my co-workers or my bosses. I’ll pray every day. I’ll learn to listen patiently to those in need. With Your help, I’ll do it.”
Joke of the week
1) Catching fish from the shop: A man had spent fruitless day fishing. He didn't want to go home empty-handed. He decided to stop at a local fish market. "I'd like three good sized fish," he said to the clerk. "But before you wrap them, toss them to me, one by one." The clerk looked puzzled at his request, "Sir? That's a strange thing to ask." Smiling the man said, "This way I'll be able to tell my wife truthfully that I caught them!"
2) “I am a fisher of men." The Reverend Dr. McStuffed-Shirt encountered one of his less-than-faithful parishioners returning from a day's fishing and engaged him in conversation. "Ah, Brother Jones," he began in his best preaching tone, "You are a fine fisherman, but I am a fisher of men." Jones, determined to get home after a long day, replied, "So I have heard. But I was passing your Church last Sunday, looked in the window, and noticed you had not caught too many..."
3) Priest Plays Hooky: The pastor was a fisherman, but he hadn't fished in months. One perfect Sunday morning he couldn't resist. He called up his associate priest and claimed he had laryngitis. The priest then headed out to his favorite spot. The hook hadn't been in the water five minutes before he got a strike and landed the biggest fish he had ever caught - although he had seen bigger ones caught by others. A half hour later, he caught the biggest fish he had ever seen. Another forty-five minutes later he landed a fish that broke the world record. All this time St. Peter and God have been watching the priest from Heaven. St. Peter turned to God, and said, "How can you reward this priest? He lied. He doesn’t observe the Sunday obligation." God smiled at St. Peter, and replied, "I'm punishing him." St. Peter was confused, so God continued, "Well, after he finishes, whom can he tell his story to?"
4) Walking on water: Three ministers were out on a lake fishing one fine afternoon in a boat, a Protestant minister, an Episcopalian priest and a newly-arrived Catholic priest. They were sitting out in the middle of the lake and the Protestant minister said he had to relieve himself, so he got out of the boat and walked across the water to shore, relieved himself behind a tree. Then walked back to the boat. The Episcopalian priest did the same thing. The Catholic priest thought to himself, if they can do it, so can I. So he stepped out of the boat and started sinking. After saving him and bringing him back on the boat one minister commented: "We should have told him where the rocks are under the water!"
Useful Websites of the week for Catholic world news & views
1)http://www.cwnews.com/ 2) http://www.catholic.org/
3) http://www.catholicnews.com/ 4) http://www.zenit.org/english/
4) http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/headlines.asp
5) http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/DailyNews/todays.asp
6) Text Week homilies on Lk 5: 1-11: http://www.textweek.com/mtlk/lk5.htm

26- Additional anecdotes:
1) Call answered as a continuous process: There is a story about a sophomore who worked in the library at Princeton, New Jersey to earn money to help with his education. One night about closing time, he was walking around the empty halls of the library when he noticed in the very back corner amid an old stack of books, an old man reading and taking notes furiously. The old man was very intent. The librarian became a little curious, so he went back to the old man and said, "My, what are you studying so intently?" The old man looked up long enough to say, "Well, I'm a student of physics." The young librarian said, "Well, last year I took a course in physics and I think I have all I need for an understanding of physics." He then turned and walked back to his desk. You can imagine his chagrin a few minutes later when the old man checked out some books, and on his library-card was the name Albert Einstein. God's call is a calling to a process, not to a single task. Today’s Scripture readings about the calls of Isaiah, Peter and Paul remind us that our calling is to a lifelong process of obedience, service and surrender to God in which we grow daily more like Jesus. There is nothing in the world more joyful than that. There is nothing in the world more challenging.
2)Impala problem: One of the few creatures on earth that can out-jump Michael Jordon is the Impala. This is an African deer with a supercharged spring. It has a vertical leap of over 10 feet and can broad-jump over 30 feet. You would think that the zoos of the world would find it impossible to keep such an animal enclosed. Not so! It's rather easy. The experts discovered something about the Impala. It will not jump unless it can see where it is going to land. Therefore, a solid wall even 6 feet tall is a sufficient enclosure. Lots of Christians have the Impala problem. They won't take a leap of Faith unless they have all the answers in advance about where the leap will take them. But God is looking for some bold believers who, even in the face of the unknown, will leap when the Spirit says leap, will fly when the Spirit says fly, will launch when the Spirit says launch, all to the glory of the Lord. Why must we be willing to launch out into the deep with the Lord? Because our Lord was willing to launch out into the deep for us. Today’s Scripture passages present Isaiah, Paul and Peter who dared to make a leap of Faith.
3) "Hop into my wheelbarrow. I'll wheel you across!" There's a wonderful story of a tightrope walker, who was challenged to walk a tightrope across Niagara Falls. Everything was in place. There were huge steel struts on either side of the canyon and a strong, steel tightrope. There were television cameras, reporters and a massive crowd. But there was no safety net. The tightrope walker appeared with a wheelbarrow, which he had decided to push in front of him across the rope. The crowd cheered him on, although some begged him not to make this foolish attempt. One voice in the crowd was more vociferous than the rest: "Go on! You can do it! I know you can! Don't listen to these pessimists. I have complete faith in you." The tightrope walker turned to the speaker and asked, "You have faith in me? You're certain? You know I can do it?" The speaker emerged from the crowd and nodded. "I'm absolutely certain. I have no doubts at all. You can do it!" "OK," said the tightrope walker. "Hop into my wheelbarrow. I'll wheel you across!" Amazingly, the speaker climbed into the wheelbarrow. And the tightrope walker wheeled him safely across to the other side. What incredible, courageous, foolhardy faith! Today’s Gospel describes Peter's leap to a much deeper and stronger Faith in Jesus and His ministry through Jesus’ response to Peter’s trusting obedience, His gift of a miraculous haul of fish at the Lake of Gennesaret.
4) "Can you balance a ball on the end of your nose?" There was a man who took great pride in being a former Navy Seal. And why not? This is an elite group. It takes a special sailor to qualify as a Navy Seal. This man tells about sharing his military exploits with his grandson's kindergarten class. This former Seal regaled the children with his war stories. After he finished, hands shot up into the air all over the classroom. The kids were eager to ask questions. "So," asked one little girl, "can you balance a ball on the end of your nose?" Well, to be sure, a Navy Seal ought to be able to balance a ball on the end of his nose. Life has a way of humbling us, doesn't it? We think we are impressing people, and all they want is to see us balance a ball on the end of our nose. Our Scriptures for today all have one thing in common: Isaiah, Paul and Peter met God and were humbled.
5) Failure of Leonardo da Vinci. Failure is not a dirty word--and yet we sometimes act as if it is. Every great person fails at some time in his or her life. Leonardo da Vinci did. In addition to his incredible talents in painting and sculpting, da Vinci was also a mathematician, philosopher, master chef, architect, athlete, and inventor. But even great geniuses can experience failures, sometimes, great ones. One of da Vinci's biggest blunders occurred when he was working in the household of an Italian nobleman, Ludovico Sforza. Sforza put da Vinci in charge of planning a banquet for two hundred guests. Leonardo intended to sculpt all the food into tiny artistic masterpieces. He created a fully automated kitchen in Sforza's mansion in order to feed that many people. But the night of the banquet, everything fell apart. The conveyor belt da Vinci had installed broke down and started a fire. Next, the sprinkler system he had created kicked in to put the fire out. Soon, the whole kitchen was flooded. The banquet had to be called off. [Michael J. Geb. How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci (New York: Dell Publishing, 1998), p. 79.] Have you known failure? Have you felt you were a failure? Have you had nights when the fish just don't bite? I have. I have felt I was a failure. I have been like Simon Peter toiling all night, giving my best, maybe working too hard, yet at the end of the day, my nets felt empty!
6) "Oh God, here am I, send me. Send me!" William Bausch tells the story of a nun who received some extra grant money. She worked as a chaplain in a women's prison in Chicago. She went to the women and said, "I have some money that I want to spend on you and I'm going to give you some options: 1) I can hire an attorney to come and talk with you on how you can shorten your sentences; 2) I can hire a welder to come in and teach you to weld so that you can have a marketable skill when you leave the prison; or 3) I can hire a dancer and a painter to teach you how to dance and how to paint." Ninety-five percent chose the dancer and the painter because, as they said, "They always wanted to express themselves, but never had the chance." That puts God's calling where it should be and that is in a positive light. The most fulfilling, the most expressive, the most joyful experience you will ever know in your life is walking in the middle of God's will for your life. Hear the invitation, and say, "Oh God, here am I, send me. Send me!"
7) “Everything for sale” as Satan is going out of business: There is a legend that tells about the time the devil decided to close up shop in one part of the world and open up in another. A “going-out-of-business” sale was announced. One of the first customers, being quite fascinated with the various evil instruments on display, noticed that of all the devil’s tools, the highest priced one was called “discouragement.” “Why is this one so expensive?” he inquired. “Quite simple,” replied the devil. “It’s my favorite. With the tool of discouragement, I can pry into almost everyone’s life and cause all kinds of damage.” Today’s Scripture lessons tell us that God calls weak and sinful men like Isaiah, Paul, and Peter to His ministry and fills them with His Spirit to free them from all feelings of discouragement when this attack. All they have to do is to ask and receive His help.
8) Legal permanent resident: One hundred three miles of open water separates the most southern tip of Florida from the most northern coast of Cuba. It’s a stretch of water that has claimed hundreds of lives since the Cuban revolution. Flotillas of “boat people,” seeking freedom and family in the US, have created desperate “boats” out of anything that might possibly float long enough to reach US soil. The goal of these “boat people” is simple: hit dry land. As long as these refugees are in the water, they are Cubans. As of 1995 the US has agreed either to return rescued or captured "boat people" to Cuba or transport them to a neutral third country. But once these soggy sailors’ feet hit dry land they are instantly transformed. They have the right to stay in the US for at least a year. That qualifies them to get expedited “legal permanent resident” status and eventually even perhaps US citizenship. The moment a Cuban refugee has “dry feet,” a whole new future welcomes him or her. The first disciples Jesus calls in Luke’s Gospel are “dry feet” disciples. But they didn’t become dry-feet disciples until they were willing to be "boat people." They launched into deep water at Jesus’ command. Once out there, they saw and experienced things over which they had no control. Things they knew with their hearts and souls were sure evidence of God’s providence and sovereignty.
9) The challenging invitation: Many years ago, the great explorer, Sir Francis Drake, was attempting to recruit a number of young men for an upcoming exploration. He gathered them around and told the group that, if they came with him, they would see some of the most marvelous things their eyes could ever behold – sandy white beaches, juicy fruits, foreign peoples, priceless treasures, and gorgeous landscapes. And he told them that this wild adventure could be theirs if they came with him. Not one of them enlisted for the journey. The next day a different group came out. Drake told them that if they came with him they would encounter storms that would terrify them to tears. Tiger winds would hammer them and blow them off course for months. Water would frequently be scarce. At times they would be so thirsty that their very souls would cry out for simply one drop of water. In short, danger would always be their constant companion. Drake concluded by declaring that if they could handle these things, the joys of exploration would exceed their wildest dreams. Every single one of them in the group joined Sir Francis Drake that day. Some did not even go home to say goodbye to their families! They just boarded the ship, eager for the journey. What is it about Jesus' message that made the disciples eager for the journey? They were made eager because first, Jesus offered them a change. The paths that are offered to us must promise to shape us, build our character, change our world-view, if they are to have any appeal to us at all. If we are presented with a challenge that will change us, we will be eager for the journey.
10) Prompt response to God’s call: Dr. Paul Brand was a physician who volunteered in India as the first orthopedic surgeon to work with leprosy patients. He listed as his reference Henri Nouwen, a former professor at Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard, who ended up devoting his life to the mentally handicapped in institutions in France and Toronto. Neither of these men had a low opinion of his own worth or abilities. In spite of that, and because of their relationship with God, they chose to serve the least and the lowest. (Philip Yancey, "Humility's Many Faces," Christianity Today, December 4, 2000). Isaiah writes: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I; send me!'" That was Isaiah's response, "Send me." Paul's response was: "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me has not been in vain.”
11) “We could change the world." In James Goldman's novel, The Lion in Winter, there is a scene where three sons wrestle for the right to succeed King Henry. John tells his mother Eleanor that his brother Richard has a knife. Listen as she captures the base instinct of humanity and then offers a better way: "Of course (your brother) has a knife. We all have knives--we are barbarians--we are the origins of war--we breed war. For the love of God," she continues, "can't we love one another--just a little? That's how peace begins. We have such possibilities, my children. We could change the world" (James Goldman, The Lion in Winter, pp. 55-56). After Simon and Andrew, James and John had fished all night and failed to catch any fish, Jesus came to them and made life right. Jesus' order to Simon, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch," is both a challenge and a promise. Challenge: We must never be afraid to try again. Promise: the long night passes into day and we live to put our nets down for another day, expecting the providence of God. We have such possibilities. We could change the world.
12) “I’ll do it myself. I’ll do it myself.” It was just after midnight on November 20, 1988. A 19-year-old Los Angeles woman apparently fell asleep behind the wheel of her car. The car plunged through a guardrail and was left dangling by its left rear wheel. That one wheel was all that prevented the young woman from falling to a certain death. A half dozen passing motorists stopped and attempted to help. One of them had some ropes in his vehicle. They tied the ropes to the back of the young woman’s car and hung on until the fire units arrived. A ladder was extended from below to help stabilize the car while firefighters tied the vehicle to tow trucks with cables and chains. “Every time we would move the car,” said one of the rescuers, “she’d yell and scream. She was in pain. ”It took almost 2 1/2 hours for the rescuers, about 25 of them in all, to secure the car and pull the woman to safety. “It was kinda funny,” L.A. County Fire Capt. Ross Marshall recalled later. “She kept saying, “I’ll do it myself. I’ll do it myself.” (http://www.holwick.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=679:1-samuel-18-6-12 every-crutch-kicked&catid=38:1-a-2-samuel&Itemid=11.) People are funny like that. “I’ll do it myself.” Against all evidence to the contrary, we somehow think we don’t need other people. And we think we don’t need God. We are going to meet three men in today’s Scripture, Isaiah, Paul and Peter, three men who had their lives radically changed by God. We’re going to see how God changed their lives, and, with His help, we are going to ask God to do the same for us.
13) "Atlas complex” You may have heard the expression, "He has an Atlas complex." This usually refers to an individual who seems to have an exaggerated sense of his or her own importance. Or it may refer to the person who feels that he or she is the only one who can do a certain job, make important decisions, take care of himself/herself or other people. It is helpful for us to remember the Greek legend of Atlas. Atlas is the Titan of Greek mythology, guardian of the Pillars of Heaven who took part in the Titans' rebellion against Zeus and the gods. The great and powerful Zeus won the battle of course, in part because he was assisted by his famous 100-handed monster. The punishment which Atlas received was the job of replacing the Pillars of Heaven and holding up the sky on his own shoulders [M. C. Howatson and Ian Chilvers, The Concise Oxford companion to Classical Literature (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 72]. The story of Atlas is, of course, a myth. However, we both know that there are many people who go through life holding the weight of the world on their shoulders. Instead, let us learn to surrender ourselves to God, receive His strength and do what He commands us to do.
14) “But the fog is not on the maps." Several years ago, two land surveyors were sent from a large city in Wales to survey the mountains in North Wales. For a week, they stayed in an isolated cabin in shepherd country. Every day they went out with maps, compasses, and charts checking the countryside and the valleys. Several days into the first week, an old shepherd came up to them and said, "Might be best if I go with you tomorrow." They said, "No, there's no need for that. We have our maps and charts. We'll be fine. We have everything we need." The old shepherd said again, "It might be best if I went with you tomorrow." "No, we have our maps and charts. We know these hills just like you. We'll be okay." And the old shepherd said, "You may have your maps, but the fog is not on the maps." There come times in our lives when all the charts, maps, and other resources are insufficient. There come times when we can only do God's work in His power and in his strength. It is an awesome, humbling, and revealing experience to stand before the miracle worker as He reaches out and calls us.
15) "What fish?" A man was stopped by a game-warden in a State Park with two buckets of fish leaving a lake well known for its fishing. The game warden asked, "Do you have a license to catch those fish?" The man replied to the game warden, "No, sir. These are my pet fish." "Pet fish?" the warden replied. "Yes, sir. Every night I take these here fish down to the lake and let them swim around for a while. I whistle and they jump back into their buckets, and I take 'em home." "That's a bunch of hooey! Fish can't do that!" The man looked at the game warden for a moment, and then said, "Here, I'll show you. It really works." "OK. I've GOT to see this!" The game warden was curious. The man poured the fish into the river and stood and waited. After several minutes, the game warden turned to the man and said, "Well?" "Well, what?" the man responded. "When are you going to call them back?" the game warden prompted. "Call who back?" the man asked. "The FISH!" "What fish?" the man asked.
16) "Roo raf roo reep ra rums rrarm." A cold winter day. An old man walked out onto a frozen lake, cut a hole in the ice, dropped in his fishing line, and waited patiently for a bite. He was there for almost an hour, without even a nibble, when a young boy walked out onto the ice, cut a hole in the ice next to him. The lad dropped his fishing line and minutes later he hooked a Largemouth Bass. The old man could not believe his eyes but chalked it up to plain luck. Shortly thereafter, the young boy pulled in another large catch. He kept catching fish after fish. Finally, the old man could take it no longer. "Son," he said, "I have been here for over an hour without even a nibble. You have been here only a few minutes and have caught a half dozen fish! How do you do it?" The boy responded, "Roo raf roo reep ra rums rrarm." "What was that?" the old man asked. Again the boy responded, "Roo raf roo reep ra rums rrarm." "Look," said the old man, "I can't understand a word you're saying." The boy leaned over, brought his hand to his mouth and spat out a mess of bait. He said again, "You have to keep the worms warm!" You know, there may well be a lesson in that for us too. If we are going to "catch people" as Jesus said, we had better use attractive bait.
17) "Nevertheless!" What a glorious Faith word is "Nevertheless!" Are you willing to say it today whatever your circumstances may be? An 80-year-old man says, "Lord, I have cancer and my chances of beating it are almost nil. I really would like for my doctor to help me overdose so I can just exit as quickly as possible. What possible purpose could I still have on this earth? (But here comes that word) ..."NEVERTHELESS, if You want me to model a Faith that not even cancer can touch, if You want me to cast my burden upon You and allow You to sustain me, if You want me to show all these younger people how to die as well as live, with courage and conviction. ..Then Lord, I will launch into the deep with You."
Consider another example. A middle-aged couple is heartbroken. Their 19-year-old son is hooked on drugs. He even steals items from the home in order to pawn them and buy drugs. These distraught parents cry out to God in all honesty, saying, "Lord, we don't deserve this misery. We gave the boy every advantage. He grew up in the lap of luxury. Sure, we made some mistakes; perhaps we were overly indulgent. But, who doesn't make mistakes? We are tempted not only to kick him out of the house, but also to kick him out of our hearts. He no longer deserves to be called our son." Then here comes that word again! "NEVERTHELESS, if You want us to persevere with that boy, we will try. If You will help us demonstrate tough love, we will. If You can break into his hard, cold, addicted heart, we will keep up our vigil of love and prayer."
The Scriptural message should be abundantly clear. At crucial living, Jesus calls us to take risks, to launch out with him into the deep. Everything that is prudential, timid, and conservative tells us to play it safe. Dare we step up with Simon Peter and declare boldly, "NEVERTHELESS, I will launch out into the deep with my Lord!"?
18) Best Fantasy Film of the Year." In the spring of 1978, the film, Oh God! was given an award. It was a film that portrayed the message that God cares about people, that God comes to people, and He wants people to be happy. Do you know the award that film received? "Best Fantasy Film of the Year." To some people, it is a fantasy that God cares for us; that God loves us and comes to us in the ordinary affairs of our life. To some, it is a fantasy! Why? If we truly believe that God comes to us, speaks to us, calls out to us, then we, too, have to place the net where He tells us, in spite of the fact that we think we know better. That is what this Church is trying to do. When Simon saw the miracle and stood face-to-face with the miracle worker, he fell to his knees at Jesus' feet and said, "Get away from me! I am unclean! Get away from me! I am a sinful man!" Confrontation with Jesus was not a fantasy for him.( https://youtu.be/ORgQ-i1eFdw)
19) Victor not vanquished: Many years ago a little boy in the U.S.A. was badly burnt in a school fire. So severe was the damage to his limbs and muscles that the doctors predicted that he would never walk again. To his good luck, however, that little boy had a mother, who, though illiterate, was staunch in her Christian faith. Against all odds she believed her son would recover and get well. Day after day, sometimes for hours, that devoted mother would massage the scarred, seemingly lifeless legs of her little boy, even as he cried with pain, and would say to him: “Don’t worry, my boy, you will not only walk someday, but you will run.” To the cynical and the pessimistic, that was mere wishful thinking, in fact absolute nonsense. But that noble mother firmly believed her son was going to be victor and not the vanquished. And he was – in 1934 he set the world’s record for running a mile in 4 minutes 6.7 seconds. His name? Glen Cunningham! –After spending an entire night fishing without success, the apostle Peter, a seasoned fisherman, was very disappointed and depressed. He was ready to brand himself a failure. Then Jesus who was not a fisherman stepped in and urged him not to give up but try another strategy. So Peter could choose between being branded a failure or hailed a success. And Peter decided wisely on the latter – he was going to be a victor and not the vanquished. In the words of a Yiddish saying, ”From success to failure is one step. From failure to success is a long road.” (James Valladares in Your Words O Lord, are Spirit and They Are Life; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
20) Strengths and weaknesses In a certain Church there was a man in the choir who couldn’t sing very well. The choir director suggested that he should leave the choir. Others felt that he should be given more time to improve. The choir director then decided to go to the pastor and complain. “You have got to get that man out of the choir or else I am going to resign.” So the pastor went to the man and said to him, “Perhaps you should leave the choir.” “Why should I leave the choir?” the man asked. “Well” said the pastor, “four or five people have told me you cannot sing.” “That’s nothing,” the man replied, “forty or fifty people have told me you cannot preach!” – Our lives are a mixture of strengths and weaknesses. We certainly try to maximize our strengths, but at the same time we may try to conceal our weaknesses so people can appreciate our strengths. We can even talk about the weaknesses of others, so people are not likely to notice ours. This weekend’s readings talk to us about ‘strengths’ and ‘weaknesses’. (John Pichappilly in The Table of the Word; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
21) Faith is a gift: The famous author of The Song of Bernadette, Franz Werfel, gave an enthusiastic graduation talk at Mundelein College for girls in Chicago about the Blessed Virgin. This was all the more remarkable since the students knew that he was a Jew. During the short question period after the speech, one student asked him, “Mr. Werfel, if I am not getting too personal, could you explain how it is that you seem to know so much about the Catholic Church and its teachings and still you are not a Catholic?” “Yes,” he answered. “I can explain. Faith is a gift, and I have not yet received that gift.”(Frank Michalic in Tonic for the Heart; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
22) Film: Fisher King: This excellent movie is an exploration of the way in which the central character, a shock-jock radio host, seeks for forgiveness, having unwittingly incited a man to commit a massacre in a restaurant. He meets someone who has suffered a breakdown as a re