tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30988724950263575402024-03-28T05:24:38.762+05:30Homily StoriesStories, Gospel Reflections, SundaysUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1809125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-72515165759137858352024-03-26T16:42:00.006+05:302024-03-26T16:42:52.749+05:30Easter<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="588" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_M7M6jg9PVE" title="Easter Sunday" width="778"></iframe> <iframe frameborder="0" height="588" scrolling="no" src="https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=93789A8146D4FC9D&resid=93789A8146D4FC9D%2196291&authkey=AMY22gFk8o2iwvE&em=2" width="776"></iframe></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p></p>The first reading from the Acts is part of an early sermon of St. Peter on the feast of Pentecost, his very first after the resurrection. He tells us how he is a witness of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Without the resurrection, Jesus' life and ours would be a total failure, with the resurrection every moment of His ministry has a new meaning and every moment of our own can take on a new significance. Peter in this sermon reminds his listeners that Jesus is Lord of all and that his message is a message of hope and peace. He emphasizes that every believer is called to be a witness of the Lord's life, death and resurrection. We are called to be witnesses of the resurrection, but the glory of the resurrection is realized in us only when we have accepted the many crosses that come our way leading us to new life.<p></p><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><strong>Broken and made more beautiful</strong><br />A story is told of an eastern village that, through the centuries, was known for its exquisite pottery. Especially striking were its urns; high as tables, wide as chairs, they were admired around the globe for their strong form and delicate beauty. Legend has it that when each urn was apparently finished, there was one final step. The artist broke it - and then put it back together with gold filigree. An ordinary urn was then transformed into a priceless work of art. What seemed finished wasn't, until it was broken<br />Steve Goodier<br /><br />The Gospel begins with Mary Magdalene coming to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. She knows the stone has to be rolled away, and she also knows that she cannot do it by herself. Maybe she believes that the Lord will provide and he will take care of it all- and he does! Maybe Mary's attitude should be a great encouragement for us all. We can't remove the boulder that blocks us and prevents us from bursting forth into new life. But the Lord is there for us and He will do it for us! She saw but she did not believe. The Apostles would not accept the conclusion that Jesus must have risen from the dead. It takes wonderful news a long time to seep into our consciousness, and convince us that Jesus has risen from the dead. Peter and John did not believe but ran to the tomb to check out for themselves and remained baffled in their unbelief. Finally, they both went into the tomb, they began to understand the scriptures, they saw and they believed. The Gospel<br />tells us that Mary stood outside the tomb, weeping and looking into the tomb to see where they had laid his body. She sees Jesus but still does not recognize him. Finally Jesus reveals himself to her as he calls her by her name: "Mary!" This narrative of the resurrection reminds us that we come to the full understanding of the resurrection not through our intelligence but purely through the gift of the Spirit. Left on our own we look for the Lord in the wrong places, among the dead. Even when the Lord comes to us we are sometimes so caught up in our own world that we fail to recognize him. But the good news is that the Lord does not give up on us. He will reveal himself to us and call us by name so that like Mary we can say: "I have seen the Lord!" and once we have experienced the power of the resurrection nothing will ever be the same again.<br /><br /><strong>My son is alive!</strong><br />There was a Russian Cossack, who had two sons in the First World War. Their names were Peter and Gregory. One day the father got a letter from the front. Being unable to read he handed it to his daughter. It was from Gregory's commanding officer and began like this: "I regret to inform you that your son Gregory was killed in action on July 10th. Gregory was an excellent soldier and died the death of the brave. You have every reason to be proud of him, etc." The effect of this news on the father was immediate and alarming. He seemed to wilt visibly. In a matter of days he aged, turning grey almost overnight. His memory began to fail and even his mind was affected. He began to drink to excess. He kept the letter under an icon in the kitchen. Each day he would take it down and ask his daughter to read it to him once more. After the local priest had offered a Requiem Mass for his son he felt a little better, only a little. Twelve days went on like this. On the thirteenth day a second letter arrived from the front. It contained a fantastic piece of good news. His son wasn't dead after all! He had been wounded and left for dead on the battlefield. Next morning he had come to and crawled four miles back to his own lines, dragging a wounded officer with him. He was to be raised to the rank of a corporal, and had been awarded the Cross of St. George in recognition of his bravery. Right now he was recovering in hospital, and they could expect a visit from him in a month's time. Once again the effect on the father was immediate, except this time it was for the better. He was a sight to see. He was scalded with joy. He grabbed the letter and went into the village with it. He stopped everyone he met. "What do you think?" he would ask. "My son is alive! He's been awarded the St. George's Cross for bravery!" -This story should give us some idea of the joy the disciples experienced on Easter Sunday morning. At the Resurrection the Father as it were cries out: "My son is alive!" As we celebrate this same resurrection we also can cry out: "He is alive! I have seen him! I have experienced His power! We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!<br />Flor McCarthy in 'Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies'<br /><br /><strong>Witness to the Resurrection</strong><br />In the darkest days of Stalinist Russia a special League of the Godless was established to stamp out the last vestiges of religion from people's lives. One Easter morning the Commissar of this League addressed a huge rally in Moscow's Red Square. He ranted along his usual lines that religion was the instrument of the bourgeoisie and the opium of the proletariat. At the end of his harangue he generously offered the mike to anyone who wished to debate with him. Nobody wanted a one-way ticket to Siberia until one old man made his way forward. He surveyed his huge audience, cleared his throat and began to sing: "The Lord has risen." It was the traditional Orthodox Easter greeting. Moved by the old man's courage, voices from the square swelled up in reply: "He has truly risen." Religion in Russia was not dead as long as belief in the Resurrection of Christ was not dead in people.<br />Sylvester O'Flynn in 'The Good News of Mark's Gospel'<br /><br /><div class="quoted_post quoted_post_failed quoted_post_level_1"><strong>From death to life</strong><br />Movie director Cecil B. DeMille was drifting in a canoe on a lake reading a book. He glanced from the book momentarily and saw a water beetle crawling up the side of the canoe. When it got halfway up, the beetle stuck the talons of its legs to the wood of the canoe and died. DeMille returned to reading his book. Three hours later he happened to look down at the beetle again and what he saw amazed him. The beetle had dried up, and its back had started to crack open. As he watched something began to emerge from the opening: first a moist head, then wings, then a tail. It was a beautiful dragonfly. As the dragonfly flew away, DeMille took his finger and nudged the dried-out shell of the beetle. It was like a tomb. -This beautiful death-resurrection experience from nature helps us to appreciate better what happened on Easter Sunday.<br />Mark Link in 'Sunday Homilies'<br /><br /><strong>Risen from the dead</strong><br />Roger Bolduc was a victim of cancer. Until he died in 1977, he never ceased to believe that his illness was a precious gift from God. Shortly before his death he wrote: "Many things upon which I placed importance in the past seem so trivial now, they just don't seem to matter anymore. This has become precious. God has become so real. I can feel his power - it's always there. I feel that God has answered my prayers." Bolduc concluded by saying that he always knew God loved him, but he had no idea God loved him so much. -This is a beautiful example of the power of the risen Jesus at work in someone's life today. Roger Bolduc literally died and rose spiritually. And so we don't have to wait until we die to share in the risen life and risen power of Jesus. We can share in it right now, at this moment.?<br />Mark Link in 'Sunday Homilies'<br /><br /><strong>All that God does he does well</strong><br />Rabbi Moshe took a trip to a strange land. He took a donkey, a rooster, and a lamp. Since he was a Jew, he was refused hospitality in the village inns, so he decided to sleep in the woods. He lit his lamp to study the holy books before going to sleep, but a fierce wind came up, knocking over the lamp and breaking it. The rabbi decided to turn in, saying, "All that God does, he does well." During the night some wild animals came along and drove away the rooster and thieves stole the donkey. Moshe woke up, saw the loss, but still proclaimed easily, "All that God does, he does well." The rabbi then went back to the village where he was refused lodging, only to learn that enemy soldiers had invaded it during the night and killed all the inhabitants. He also learned that these soldiers had traveled through the same part of the woods where he lay asleep. Had his lamp not been broken he would have been discovered. Had not the rooster been chased, it would have<br />crowed, giving him away. Had not the donkey been stolen, it would have brayed. So once more Rabbi Moshe declared, "All that God does, he does well!"<br />Anonymous<br /><br /><strong>Jesus gives us Hope</strong><br />Michael Faraday was a famous scientist. One day his servant came into his drawing room, dropped his silver vessel on the ground and broke it into pieces. Michael collected all the pieces of the vessel and put them into a chemical solution and made one mass of it and then shaped a beautiful cup from the same material. This new creation was much more beautiful than the earlier one. It was the same silver that appeared in a different form. The Resurrection of Christ tells us that our earthly bodies will be transformed into a new life.<br />Elias Dias in "Divine Stories for Families"</div>****<br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><strong>That old man knows the Shepherd</strong></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A group of men sat around debating good and bad memories. As a result of the discussion, an impromptu contest began, to test their memories. One young man, with some artistic talent and training in voice production, recited Psalm 23, 'The Lord is my Shepherd'. His rendition was very effective, and it drew thunderous applause, so he had to recite the psalm a second and a third time. The second 'contestant' was difficult to hear every word as he, too, recited 'The Lord is my Shepherd'. When he was finished, there was total silence in the room. Something strange had happened. Unconsciously, many people felt a sense of inner stirring, and a few began to whisper a quiet prayer. The young man, who recited the psalm first time around, stood up and explained the different reception to the two recitals of the same psalm. 'I know the Psalm,' he said, 'but it is obvious that old man knows the Shepherd.'<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><em><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Jack McArdle in 'And that's the Gospel truth'</span></em></h1><div><em><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In today's gospel love is portrayed as mutual knowledge -the Father knowing the Son and the Son knowing the Father. Likewise, Christ the Good Shepherd knows his sheep and his sheep know him. Of course the knowledge talked of here is not mere intellectual knowing but knowledge that comes from love and leads to care and concern for the other. The good shepherd has laid down his life so that all might hear his voice.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><h2 style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Recognizing the Master</span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of the memories I have of the home of my birth was a dog we had, called Roxy. We lived on a fairly quiet road but, as the years went by, the number of cars increased. Irrespective of how many passed by, Roxy was quite indifferent. Then, suddenly, the ears were at full stretch, up he sprang, and he raced at full speed along the road. There was no sign of anything coming, but we all knew that my mother was on her way, driving back from town, and was probably several hundred yards away. With all the cars, this is the sound that Roxy recognized from a distance. By the time he met the car, my mother had rolled down the window on the passenger side, slowed down slightly and, with the car still moving, Roxy sprang right into the front seat and accompanied her on the latter part of the journey. I'm sure most of us have known unique relationships between animals and humans.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><em><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Jack McArdle in 'And that's the gospel truth'</span></em></h1><div><em><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the final part of this gospel Jesus invites those who are touched and saved by the love of the Shepherd, to shepherd and care for others. "There are other sheep that are not of this fold and these I have to lead as well." Though he cares for his own, he does not discriminate and ultimately dies because he cares for all peoples. He also reminds his followers that whatever he suffered he did not endure out of a sense of obligation but because he wanted to do so out of love. Whenever we care and go out of the way for others we should not do so because of a sense of obligation but joyfully out of love.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I lay down my life for my sheep." He here vows that he is prepared in every way to fight and face danger on behalf of his friends and kindred; confirming by the emphatic repetition of his intention that he is indeed the good shepherd. For they who abandon the sheep to the wolves are rightly named cowards and hirelings. But he is prepared to defend them, so that he does not falter even in the face of death, is with just reason called the good shepherd.......... We must keep in mind that Christ did not suffer death for us unwillingly; rather he seemed to walk towards it of his own will, though he could with ease have avoided suffering had he wished not to suffer. Therefore, in that he freely and of his own will suffered for our sakes, we behold the greatness of his love and goodness towards us." - St. Cyril of Alexandria, The Good Shepherd<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the first book of Samuel, David, who volunteers to fight Goliath, describes to the king how he takes care of his sheep: "Your majesty, I take care of my father's sheep. Any time a lion or a bear carries off a lamb, I go after it, attack it, and rescue the lamb. And if the lion or bear turns on me, I grab it by the throat and beat it to death. I have killed lions and bears, and I will do the same to this heathen Philistine." 1Sam 17:34-36<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><h2 style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Does anyone care?</span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Broadway musical 1776 dealt with those critical days and weeks in our history when our forefathers debated the Declaration of Independence. At one point in the debate, the fate of our great nation was like a pole standing in wet sand. It could fall either way: backwards into the past and continued domination by England, or forward into the future and newfound freedom. One night John Adams, one of the freedom fighters, was terribly worried about the outcome. Standing all alone in the darkness of Independence Hall, where the great debate was being held, he began to sing in words like these: "Is anyone out there? Does anyone care? Does anyone see what I see?" -These are the same words Jesus is singing in our darkened world. He is singing all alone, hoping greathearted people will hear him: "Is anyone out there? Does anyone care? Does anyone see what I see?"<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><em><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Mark Link in 'Decision'</span></em></h1><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">****</div>As Vice President, George Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest. There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband.<br /><span style="color: blue;">Gary Thomas, <i>Christian Times</i>, October 3, 1994, p. 26.</span><br /><hr />Well over three hundred verses are concerned with the subject of Jesus' resurrection in the New Testament. We are told that this event is a sign for unbelievers (Matthew 12:38-40); cf. John 20:24-29) as well as the answer for the believer's doubt (Luke 24:38-43). It serves as the guarantee that Jesus' teachings are true (Acts 2:22-24; 1 Corrinthians 15:12-20) and is the center of the gospel itself (Romans 4:24-25, 10:9; 1 Corrinthians 15:1-4). Further, the resurrection is the impetus for evangelism (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 10:39-43), the key indication of the believer's daily power to live the Christian life (Rom. 6:4-14, 8:9-11; Phil. 3:10) and the reason for the total commitment of our lives (Rom. 7:4; 1 Cor. 15:57-58). The resurrection even addresses the fear of death (John 11:25; 1 Cor. 15:54-58; cf. Hebrews 2:14-15) and is related to the second coming of Jesus (Acts 1:11; Revelation 1:7). Lastly, this event is a model of the Christian's resurrection from the dead (Acts 4:2; 1 Cor. 6:14; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) and provides a foretaste of heaven for the believer (Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Peter 1:3-5). For a popular treatment that addresses these and other aspects, see Gary R. Habermas, The Centrality of the Resurrection.<br /><span style="color: blue;">Gary R. Habermas & J.P. Moreland, <u>Immortality - The Other Side of Death</u>, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1992, p. 245.</span><br /><hr />In one of his lighter moments, Benjamin Franklin penned his own epitaph. He didn't profess to be a born-again Christian, but it seems he must have been influenced by Paul's teaching of the resurrection of the body. Here's what he wrote: The Body of B. Franklin, Printer Like the Cover of an old Book Its contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Guilding, Lies here, Food for Worms, But the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believ'd, Appear once more In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and amended by the Author.<br /><span style="color: blue;">Source Unknown.</span><br /><hr />Little Philip, born with Down's syndrome, attended a third-grade Sunday School class with several eight-year-old boys and girls. Typical of that age, the children did not readily accept Philip with his differences, according to an article in leadership magazine. But because of a creative teacher, they began to care about Philip and accept him as part of the group, though not fully.<br />The Sunday after Easter the teacher brought L'eggs pantyhose containers, the kind that look like large eggs. Each receiving one, the children were told to go outside on that lovely spring day, find some symbol for new life, and put it in the egg-like container. Back in the classroom, they would share their new-life symbols, opening the containers one by one in surprise fashion. After running about the church property in wild confusion, the students returned to the classroom and placed the containers on the table. Surrounded by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. After each one, whether a flower, butterfly, or leaf, the class would ooh and ahh.<br />Then one was opened, revealing nothing inside. The children exclaimed, That's stupid. That's not fair. Somebody didn't do their assignment."<br />Philip spoke up, "That's mine."<br />"Philip, you don't ever do things right!" the student retorted. "There's nothing there!"<br />"I did so do it," Philip insisted. "I did do it. It's empty. the tomb was empty!"<br />Silence followed. From then on Philip became a full member of the class. He died not long afterward from an infection most normal children would have shrugged off. At the funeral this class of eight-year-olds marched up to the altar not with flowers, but with their Sunday school teacher, each to lay on it an empty pantyhose egg.<br /><span style="color: blue;">Source Unknown.</span><br /><hr /><div align="left">The home of Paul Laurence Dunbar, noted poet, is open to the public in Dayton, Ohio. When Dunbar died, his mother left his room exactly as it was on the day of his death. At the desk of this brilliant man was his final poem, handwritten on a pad.</div>After his mother died, her friends discovered that Paul Laurence Dunbar's last poem had been lost forever. Because his mother had made his room into a shrine and not moved anything, the sun had bleached the ink in which the poem was written until it was invisible. The poem was gone.<br />If we stay in mourning, we lose so much of life.<br /><span style="color: blue;">Henry Simon, Belleville, Illinois.</span><br /><hr />Why We Believe Jesus Rose from the Dead:<br />If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the Christian faith is a foolish fantasy. However, if the resurrection of Christ did occur, it confirms His life, message, and atoning work. It is the basis of our hope of life beyond the grave. Christ is alive, and the evidence is overwhelming. Here are some of the reasons we can be so sure.<br />1. Jesus predicted His resurrection (Matt 16:21; Mark 9:9-10; John 2:18-22).<br />2. The Old Testament prophesied it (Psalm 16:10; compare Acts 2:25-31; 13:33-37).<br />3. The tomb was empty and the grave clothes vacant. if those who opposed Christ wished to silence His disciples, all they had to do was produce a body, but they could not (John 20:3-9).<br />4. Many people saw the resurrected Christ. They looked on His face, touched Him, heard His voice, and saw Him eat (Matt. 28:16-20; Luke 24:13-39; John 20:11-29; John 21:1-9; Acts 1:6-11; 1 Cor. 15:3-8).<br />5. The lives of the disciples were revolutionized. Though they fled and even denied Christ at the time of His arrest, they later feared no one in their proclamation of the risen Christ (Matt 26:56, 69-75).6. The resurrection was the central message of the early church. The church grew with an unwavering conviction that Christ had risen and was the Lord of the church (Acts 4:33; 5:30-32; Rom. 5:24).<br />6. Men and women today testify that the power of the risen Christ has transformed their lives. We know that Jesus is alive not only because of the historical and biblical evidence but also because He has miraculously touched our lives.<br /><span style="color: blue;">Kurt E. DeHaan.</span><br /><hr />Order of the Events of the Resurrection<br />Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome start for the tomb, Lk 23:55-24:1<br />They find the stone rolled away, Lk 24:2-9<br />Mary Magdalene goes to tell the disciples, Jn 20:1-2<br />Mary, the mother of James, draws near and sees the angel, Mt 28:1-2<br />She goes back to meet the other women following with spices<br />Meanwhile Peter and John arrive, look in and depart, Jn 20:3-10<br />Mary Magdalene returns weeping, sees two angels, then Jesus, Jn 20:11-18<br />The risen Christ bids her tell the disciples, Jn 20:17-18<br />Mary (mother of James) meanwhile returns with the women, Lk 24:1-4<br />They return and see the two angels, Lk 24:5; Mk 16:5<br />They also hear the angel's message, Mt 28:6-8<br />On their way to find the disciples, they are met by the risen Christ, Mt 28:9-10<br />Post-resurrection Appearances<br />To Mary Magdalene Jn 20:14-18; Mk 16:9<br />To the women returning from the tomb Mt 28:8-10<br />To Peter later in the day Lk 24:34; 1 Cor 15:5<br />To the disciples going to Emmaus in the evening Lk 24:13-31<br />To the apostles (except Thomas) Lk 24:36-45; Jn 20-19-24<br />To the apostles a week later (Thomas present) Jn 20:24-29<br />In Galilee to the seven by the Lake of Tiberias Jn 21:1-23<br />In Galilee on a mountain to the apostles and 500 believers 1 Cor 15:6<br />At Jerusalem and Bethany again to James 1 Cor 15:7<br />At Olivet and the ascension Acts 1:3-12<br />To Paul near Damascus Acts 9:3-6; 1 Cor 15:8<br />To Stephen outside Jerusalem Acts 7:55<br />To Paul in the temple Acts 22:17-21; 23:11<br />To John on Patmos Rev 1:10-19<br /><span style="color: blue;">Merril F. Unger, <u>The New Unger's Bible Handbook</u>, Revised by Gary N. Larson, Moody Press, Chicago, 1984, pp. 397-398.</span><br /><hr /><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The day of resurrection?</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Earth, tell it out abroad;</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The Passover of gladness,</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The Passover of God.</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">From death to life eternal,</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">From this world to the sky,</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Our Christ hath brought us over</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">With hymns of victory.</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Now let the heavens be joyful,</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Let earth her song begin;</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Let the round world keep triumph,</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">And all that is therein;</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Let all things seen and unseen</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Their notes in gladness blend,</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">For Christ the Lord hath risen,</div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Our Joy that hath no end.</div><span style="color: blue;">John of Damascus.</span><br /><span style="color: blue;">-----------------</span><br /><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">The film Amadeus ends showing the funeral of the great musician Mozart. He died at the age of 35. A genius, he never re-copied his compositions. He never had to make corrections, so the first draft was also the final copy. A genius, he started playing several instruments at the age of four, wrote several symphonies by the age of eight and created at least 528 musical compositions before he died at age 35. He was a genius, whom one authority calls "one of the brightest stars in the musical firmament." What a waste, that he should have died so young! It makes you wonder: is this life all there is? Imagine a beloved spouse, a darling parent or grandparent, a close friend, lying cold in the coffin. Is this life all there is? We try to comfort ourselves with the doctrine of the resurrection. We say: the genius of people like Mozart is not going to be wasted. The love of dear ones - the squeeze of their hands and the music in their voices - that love will be enjoyed in even greater intensity. A Sadducee in Jesus’ time might say, "I don't believe it; the doctrine is absurd." That was the point the Sadducees wanted to make by challenging Jesus with an absurd story of a woman who married seven husbands, in today’s gospel. (From Tony Kadavil's collection)</span><br />***<br /><strong>Fr. Tony Kadavil:</strong><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><p class="MsoNormal">1: <b>“He<i> is not here</i>.</b>” The Egyptian pyramids are world-famous as one of the “seven Wonders” of the ancient world. But they are actually gigantic tombs containing the mummified bodies of Egyptian Pharaohs. Westminster Abby is famous, and thousands visit it, because the dead bodies of famous writers, philosophers, and politicians are entombed there. But there is a Shrine of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and pilgrims from all over the world visit a tomb there which is empty with a note at its entrance which says, “He<i> is not here</i>.” It is famous because Jesus Christ, Who was once buried there, rose from the dead, leaving an empty tomb, as He had told his disciples he would. Thus, Jesus worked the most important miracle in His life, defying the laws of nature and proving that He is God. We rejoice at this great and unique event by celebrating Easter. (Fr. J P) Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">2: <b>The phoenix:</b> The late Catholic Archbishop of Hartford, John Whealon, (d. August 2, 1991), had undergone cancer surgery resulting in a permanent colostomy when he wrote these very personal words in one of his last Easter messages: “I am now a member of an association of people who have been wounded by cancer. That association has as its symbol the phoenix, a bird of Egyptian mythology. The Greek poet Hesiod, who lived eight centuries before Jesus was born, wrote about this legendary bird in his poetry. When the bird felt its death was near (every 500 to 1,461 years), it would fly off to Phoenicia, build a nest of aromatic wood and set itself on fire. When the bird was consumed by the flames, a new phoenix sprang forth from the ashes. Thus, the phoenix symbolizes immortality, resurrection, and life after death. It sums up the Easter message perfectly. Jesus gave up His life, and from the grave He was raised to Life again on the third day. New life rises from the ashes of death. Today, we are celebrating Christ’s victory over the grave, the gift of eternal life for all who believe in Jesus. That is why the phoenix was one of the earliest symbols of the Risen Christ. The phoenix also symbolizes our daily rising to new life. Every day, like the phoenix, we rise from the ashes of sin and guilt and are refreshed and renewed by our living Lord and Savior with His forgiveness and the assurance that He still loves us and will continue to give us the strength we need.” Archbishop John Whealon could have lived in a gloomy tomb of self-pity, hopeless defeat, and chronic sadness, but his Faith in the Risen Lord opened his eyes to new visions of life. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">3: <b>The greatest comeback in history:</b> In its November 12, 2001 issue, <i>Sports Illustrated</i> ranked the 10 greatest comebacks in world history. Among those making the list, the following names are to be specially noted.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;">a)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Michael Jordan, 1995. Made his first triumphant basketball comeback after having quit basketball in 1993.</p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">b)</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Muhammad Ali, 1974. Seven years after being stripped of his title and his boxing license, defeated George Foreman in Zaire to win back the belt.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;">c)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Japan and Germany, 1950s. They were the former Axis Powers which rose from the ashes of World War II to become industrial superpowers.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;">d)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Jesus Christ, 33 A.D. Defied Jewish critics and stunned the Romans with his Resurrection. It was the greatest comeback of all time. And He’s been specializing in comebacks ever since. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021. </p><p class="MsoNormal">4. “TA-DA!”: A Sunday school teacher had just finished telling her third graders about how Jesus was crucified and placed in a tomb with a great stone sealing the opening. Then, wanting to share the excitement of the Resurrection, she asked: “And what do you think were Jesus’ first words when He came bursting out of that tomb alive?” A hand shot up into the air from the rear of the classroom. Attached to it was the arm of a little girl. Leaping out of her chair she shouted out excitedly “I know, I know!” “Good” said the teacher, “Tell us, what were Jesus first words?” And extending her arms high into the air she said: “TA-DA!”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">5. Mother-in-law in Jerusalem: George went on a vacation to the Middle East with most of his family including his mother-in-law. During their vacation and while they were visiting Jerusalem, George’s mother-in-law died. With the death certificate in hand, George went to the American Consulate to make arrangements to send the body back to the States for proper burial. The Consul, after hearing of the death of the mother-in-law, told George that the sending of a body back to the States for burial is very, very expensive. It could cost as much as $5,000. The Consul continued, “In most cases the person responsible for the remains normally decides to bury the body here. This would only cost $150.” George thought for some time and answered, “I don’t care how much it will cost to send the body back; that’s what I want to do.”<br />The Consul, after hearing this, said, “You must have loved your mother-in-law very much, considering the difference in price.” “No, it’s not that!” said George. “You see, I know of a case many years ago of a person, by name Jesus, who was buried here in Jerusalem. On the third day he arose from the dead. I just can’t take that chance.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">6. See what happens. One lady wrote into a question-and-answer forum. “Dear Sirs, our preacher said on Easter, that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back to health. What do you think?” Sincerely, Bewildered.<br />Dear Bewildered, Beat your preacher with a cat-of-nine-tails, nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear through his side…put him in an airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens.” Sincerely, Charles.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">7. Loaned for a weekend: Joseph of Arimathaea was a very wealthy Pharisee, a member of the Council, and a secret follower of Jesus. It was Joseph who went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body after the crucifixion. And it was Joseph who supplied the tomb for Jesus’ burial. I wonder if someone pulled him aside and said, “Joseph that was such beautiful, costly, hand-hewn tomb. Why on earth did you give it to someone to be buried in?” “Why not?” Joseph may have answered. “He only needed it for the weekend.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">8. Resurrection in election: Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was once asked if he believed in the Resurrection. “Of course, I do,” said Huckabee. “Dead people vote in every election we have in Arkansas. Resurrection is very real to us.” </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>24- Additional anecdotes:</b> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>1) “</b><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/goodbye-godfather-fitness-12746856" target="external"><b>The Godfather of Fitness</b></a><b>.”</b> You may recall years ago when fitness legend Jack LaLanne celebrated his seventieth birthday by towing 70 boats containing 70 people for a mile across Long Beach Harbor. Amazing! But wait. He did it by holding the rope in his teeth. Why? Well, he was handcuffed and wearing leg shackles! Unbelievable! LaLanne was still going strong in his nineties. But friends, this “<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/goodbye-godfather-fitness-12746856" target="external">The Godfather of Fitness</a>” and “First Fitness Superhero” died of pneumonia, on January 24, 2011, proving that this world is not our final destination. It is but a prelude to a grander production. This world is a preparatory school. Without the Resurrection, it is simply impossible to explain a world in which people suffer and die. But the Resurrection is real. Christ rose from the dead. Christ is still alive and He is available in our world today. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">2) <b>Bright light in the “black holes” of life:</b> Have you ever heard of a “black hole”? If you have ever watched movies or TV programs about travelling in outer space, like the TV series <i>Star Trek,</i> you will know what a black hole is. Roughly speaking, it is a spot in the vastness of space, which astronomers believe is like a giant vacuum or whirlpool sucking everything around it into the hole. Using Newton’s laws, scientists first theorized black holes in the 1790s but it wasn’t until 1994 that the Hubble Space Telescope discovered a massive supersized black hole – fortunately a long way from our own galaxy. There is also a black hole in our galaxy, the Milky Way. What if scientists said that it was not beyond the realms of possibility that one day our sun and everything around it would be sucked into this “black hole,” and everything would be gone? “Black holes” are symbols of hopelessness, and the message of Easter tells us that there is something beyond those “black holes”. Maybe this “black hole” includes grief for a loved one, anxiety over a work situation or what is happening in our family. Maybe it is a “black hole” of depression and stress, and we feel there is nothing we can do to change what is happening. Maybe it’s the “black hole” of sickness and pain. Maybe it’s the “black hole” of guilt and failure. Whether those “black holes” are right here and now or show up at some time in the future, Easter tells us there is hope, there is a living Saviour and Friend who will help us when we feel as if we have been sucked into the deepest darkness. Easter tells us that there is nothing to fear. We have a Risen Saviour who promises never to leave us, to love us always, always to brighten our darkest paths, and to guide us from death to eternal life in Heaven. Even when we are in the middle of something deep and dark, our Risen Saviour will always be there with us. “I am the Living One! I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I have authority over death and the world of the dead” (Rv 1:8). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/universe/black-holes-article/">http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/universe/black-holes-article/</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>3) “We believe you.”</b> There is a beautiful story told recently about a woman named Rosemary who works in the Alzheimer’s Unit of a nursing home. Rosemary and a colleague named Arlene brought the residents of the home together one Good Friday afternoon to view Franco Zeffirelli’s acclaimed production, <i>Jesus</i> <i>of</i> <i>Nazareth</i>. They wondered whether these elderly Alzheimer’s patients would even know what was going on, but they thought it might be worth the effort. When they finally succeeded in getting everyone into position, they started the video. Rosemary was pleasantly surprised at the quiet attention being paid to the screen. At last came the scene where Mary Magdalene comes upon the empty tomb and sees that Jesus’ body is not there. An unknown man, in reality the Risen Christ, asks Mary why she is looking for the living among the dead. Mary runs as fast as she can back to the disciples and tells Peter and the rest with breathless excitement, “He’s alive! I saw Him, I tell you! He’s alive.” The doubt in their eyes causes Mary to pull back. “You don’t believe me . . . You don’t believe me!” From somewhere in the crowd of Alzheimer’s patients came the clear, resolute voice of Esther, one of the patients. “WE BELIEVE YOU,” she said, “WE BELIEVE YOU!” [Rosemary Kadrmas in Jeff Cavins, et.al, <i>Amazing Grace for the Catholic Heart</i> (West Chester, PA: Ascension Press, LLC, 2003), pp. 211-212.]. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>4) The killers asked her if there was anyone [in the classroom] who had faith in Christ.</b> A day after the terrible tragedy at Columbine High, CNN journalist Larry King did a live interview with a teenage girl named Mickie Cain, a student who had witnessed the massacre. Mickie was having a difficult time maintaining her composure and was able to blurt out only a few words before lapsing into uncontrollable sobs. Larry King was patient and gave her plenty of time to regain her composure. Mickie recounted the chilling story: “Let me tell you about my friend Cassie,” she said. “[Cassie] was amazing . . . She completely stood up for God when the killers asked her if there was anyone [in the classroom] who had faith in Christ. She spoke up [and said she did] and they shot her for it.” [Franklin Graham, <i>The Name</i> (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2002), pp. 14-15]. — Such a testimony as Cassie made that day makes our witness look pretty pathetic, doesn’t it? The critical question is, would you make such a sacrifice for something that you knew was patently untrue? Of course not. And neither would those early disciples of Christ. They had met Christ, risen from the grave, and they would not testify otherwise, even while being tortured. The witnesses are so credible, the change in their lives so dramatic, that their testimony cannot be disregarded. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>5) Cape of Good Hope:</b> You may remember a geography lesson from elementary school in which you learned that the southernmost point of Africa is a point which for centuries has experienced tremendous storms. For many years no one knew what lay beyond that cape, for no ship attempting to round that point had ever returned to tell the tale. Among the ancients it was known as the “Cape of Storms,” and for good reason. But then a Portuguese explorer in the sixteenth century, Vasco De Gama, successfully sailed East around that very point and found beyond the wild raging storms, a great calm sea, and beyond that, the shores of India. The name of that cape was changed from the Cape of Storms to the Cape of Good Hope. Until Jesus Christ rose from the dead, death had been the “cape of storms” on which all hopes of life beyond death had been wrecked. No one knew what lay beyond that point until, on Easter morning, Jesus arose. The ancient visions of Isaiah became the victory of Jesus over our last great enemy. — Like those sixteenth century explorers, we can see beyond human death to the hope of Heaven and eternal life with the Father. More than that, we dare to believe that we shall experience in our own human lives exactly what the Son of God experienced in His, for the Risen Christ says to us, “Because I live, you shall live also.” This is the heart of our Faith. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>6) “I choose death….by old age.”</b> Long ago, there was an exceedingly clever court jester at the court of the Caliph of Baghdad. For years he’d never failed to amuse the court whenever they called him. But one day, in a split second of carelessness, he offended the caliph who ordered him put to death. “However,” said the caliph, “in consideration of your many years of fine and faithful service, I’ll let you choose how you wish to die.” “Oh, mighty Caliph,” replied the jester. “I thank you for your great kindness. I choose death….by old age.” — Wouldn’t we all! But that just delays the big question: Then what? What comes after you finally die at the age of 110 on the tennis court? Only Jesus has the answer. He says, “<i>I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me, even though he die, will live with Me forever”(Jn 11:25).</i> <b>(Msgr. D. Clarke). Fr. Tony (</b><a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/"><b>http://frtonyshomilies.com/</b></a><b>) 2021.</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>7) He always whistled:</b> Have you heard the story of the man whose hobby was growing roses? When he worked in his rose garden, he always whistled. It seemed to everyone that he was whistling much louder than was needed for his own enjoyment. One day a neighbor asked him why it was that he always whistled so loudly. The man then took the neighbor into his home to meet his wife. The woman was not only an invalid but was completely blind as well. The man, you see, was whistling, not for his benefit, but rather for the benefit of his wife. He wanted his blind wife to know that he was nearby, and that she was not alone. — That story is a wonderful illustration of the significance of Easter Day. The affirmation, “Christ is risen!” reminds us that God is near, and the experiencing of His presence strengthens us in our weakness. (Donald William Dotterer, <i>Living the Easter Faith,</i>). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>8) And so, the Iron Lady wept.</b> On October 12, 1984, at a Conservative Party Conference held at the Grand Brighton Hotel in Brighton England, a long-delay time bomb planted in the conference room where many of the government meetings were held, exploded. The intention of the terrorists was to kill Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her Cabinet. Mrs. Thatcher survived this blast, but some of her cabinet members were killed. The following Sunday, Margaret Thatcher went to Church as she always did. But that particular Sunday seemed different. As Margaret Thatcher sang the hymns, listened to the message, saw the candles upon the altar and the sunshine streaming through the stained-glass windows, she began to weep. She wept because everything around her had been changed by the loss of her friends. The familiar had now become strange. The goodness and beauty of the world around her seemed almost too much to bear. She knew she would not only miss her friends, but also the wonderful times they had had together. And so, the Iron Lady wept. — If we can relate to Maggie Thatcher’s grief, maybe we can relate to the grief of Jesus’ disciples and friends on that first Easter morning. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>9) “I want to see your Resurrection!”</b> Father Basil Pennington, a Catholic monk, tells of an encounter he once had with a teacher of Zen. Pennington was at a retreat. As part of the retreat, each person met privately with this Zen teacher. Pennington says that at his meeting the Zen teacher sat there before him smiling from ear to ear and rocking gleefully back and forth. Finally, the teacher said: “I like Christianity. But I would not like Christianity without the Resurrection. I want to see your Resurrection!” Pennington notes that, “With his directness, the teacher was saying what everyone else implicitly says to Christians: You are a Christian. You are risen with Christ. Show me (what this means for you in your life) and I will believe.” Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021. [(<a href="http://www.stjohnslaverne.org/SermonReadingArchive/OmernickEasterSundaySermon20">http://www.stjohnslaverne.org/SermonReadingArchive/OmernickEasterSundaySermon20</a> 06.rtf.) Marilyn Omernick.] –That is how people know if the Resurrection is true or not? Does it affect how we live? Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>10) “Do you mean like Elvis?”</b> A father was explaining to his five-year-old son how Jesus died and then, on the third day, rose from the dead. “That’s what we believe,” the father said. “That’s how we know Jesus is the Son of God, because He came back from the dead just as He said He would.” “Do you mean like Elvis?” the boy replied. — Well, no. Not exactly like Elvis. This is a new world. People nowadays believe just about everything, except that which is most true. We have to work a little bit harder in this new world to help people. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">11) <b>From the empty tomb</b>: It was a hot summer afternoon. The famous Hollywood film director Cecil B. DeMille was drifting in a canoe on a lake in Maine, reading a book. He looked away from the book momentarily, down to the lake. There a bunch of water beetles were at play. Suddenly one of the beetles began to crawl up the side of the canoe. When it got halfway up, it attached the talons of its legs to the wooden side of the canoe and died. DeMille watched for a minute; then he turned back to his book. About three hours later, DeMille looked down at the dead beetle again. What he saw amazed him. The beetle had dried up, and its back was starting to crack open. As he watched, something began to emerge from the opening: first a moist head, then wings. It was a beautiful dragonfly. DeMille sat there in awe. Then the dragonfly began to move its wings. It hovered gracefully over the water where the other beetles were at play. But they didn’t recognize the dragonfly. They didn’t realize that it was the same beetle they had played with three hours earlier. DeMille took his finger and nudged the dried-out shell of the beetle. It was like an empty tomb (<b>Mark Link in<i> Sunday Homilies). </i></b>Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>12) Easter: surprising or amazing?</b> There is an old story about Noah Webster, who wrote the famous dictionary that bears his name. As you can imagine, he was a stickler for the precise use of language. He was also something of a womanizer. One day he was in the pantry kissing the maid when Mrs. Webster walked in on them. Mrs. Webster said, “Why, Noah, I’m surprised.” Noah said, “No, my dear. We’re surprised. You’re amazed.” [Mark Trotter, “Do You Amaze Anybody?” (May 22, 1988).] — I think the story is apocryphal. I’m sure Mr. Webster was a stickler for the right word, but when you look in his own <i>Webster’s Dictionary,</i> he says surprise is a synonym for amaze. Amaze is the stronger word. — Easter is both surprising and amazing. Here is God’s ultimate act of love and power. It is an act of love that has gone to its limit in Jesus’ gift of Himself on the cross. It is an act of power that burst the tomb and announced to the world that Love is stronger than hate, Good prevails over evil, and Life is triumphant over death. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>13)“Suppose he isn’t in there!”</b> Two famous Broadway producers were pallbearers at the funeral of the great escape artist, Harry Houdini. As they lifted the beautiful and heavy casket to their shoulders, one of them turned and whispered to the other, “Suppose he isn’t in there!” — He was, of course. Only one man in human history has conquered the grave, and it is He Whom we call Lord. “Christ has been raised from the dead,” writes St. Paul, <i>“the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (I Corinthians 15:20</i>). What deliriously Good News that is! No wonder our Church is full on Easter Sunday — that is news that turns the world upside down: Jesus Christ is risen! Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>14) Resurrection Bay:</b> In the movie The Hunt for Red October, the opening scene was filmed in Resurrection Bay, Alaska. This dramatic setting received its name in 1792 when the Russian trader and explorer Alexandr Baranov was forced to find refuge there during a vicious storm on Easter Sunday. Resurrection Bay has the distinction of remaining ice-free even in the dead of winter. Even in squalls and storms, it provides safe harbor. — As Christians, we anchor our souls in Resurrection Bay. The world may be caught in a thousand tempests, and storms may arise from all directions. But the empty tomb assures us of tranquility and a passageway to Heaven that will never ice over. Jesus died and rose again to give us peace with God and the peace of God — life both eternal and abundant. We anchor our souls in the haven of rest. (<i>Turning Point</i>). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>15) Many infallible proofs:</b> Albert L. Roper was a prominent Virginia attorney, a graduate of the University of Virginia and its law school, who eventually became mayor of the city of Norfolk. He once began a thorough legal investigation into the evidence for the Resurrection of Christ, asking himself the question: “Can any intelligent person accept the Resurrection story?” After examining the evidence at length, he came away asking a different question: “Can any intelligent person deny the weight of this evidence?” — Even those who traveled for three years with Jesus experienced disbelief over His Resurrection, but Jesus showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs. We don’t base our Faith on legends, myths, or fairy tales. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is well-documented, and many critics have been silenced (and even converted) when they’ve carefully investigated the evidence [Albert L. Roper, Did Jesus Rise From the Dead (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1965), foreword.] We have a Risen Savior! He offers Himself to us today with many infallible proofs. (<i>Turning Point-</i> 3/29/13). v<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>16) Joke Saturday:</b> According to an ancient Russian Orthodox tradition, the day before Easter was devoted to telling jokes. Priests would join the people in telling their best jokes to one another (presumably “clean” jokes!!) The reason was to reflect the joke God pulled on the devil in the Resurrection. Satan thought he had won on Friday, but God had the last laugh on Easter Sunday. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>17) “He is risen indeed!”:</b> You probably do not remember the name Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin. Many years ago, he was one of the most powerful men on earth. A Russian Communist leader, he took part in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. He was the editor of the Soviet newspaper <i>Pravda </i>and was a full member of the Politburo. His works on economics and political science are still read today. There is a story told about a journey he took from Moscow to Kiev in 1930 to address a huge assembly of Communists. The subject was atheism. Addressing the crowd, he attacked Christianity, hurling insults and arguments against it. When he had finished, he looked out at the audience. “Are there any questions?” he demanded. Deafening silence filled the auditorium, but then one man approached the platform and mounted the lectern. After surveying the crowd, he shouted the ancient greeting of the Russian Orthodox Church: “CHRIST IS RISEN!” The crowd stood up and shouted in a thundering voice: “HE IS RISEN INDEED!” Amazed and dejected, Bukharin left the stage in silence. Perhaps he had learned the lesson that Faith in Christ’s Resurrection was deeply rooted in his Russian Orthodox Communist followers! Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>18) He is no longer in the grave</b>: In 1887, twenty-two years after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, his coffin was dug up and opened because there were constant rumors that his body was not in the grave. So, they dug it up and the body was there. The rumors continued so 14 years later they had to dig it up again. Both times witnesses were present who testified that Lincoln was still in the grave. — Three days after the death of Jesus Christ, similar rumors began to spread throughout the land of Israel. Only this time there were no witnesses who could say that they had seen His body. In fact, to the contrary, many witnesses claimed to have seen him out of His grave and even talked with Him after the Resurrection. As great a man as Lincoln was, there were witnesses to prove he was still in the grave. If one of our Presidents or another leader in our government were to cry out today to Lincoln for help, there would be no response. If a scientist were to cry out to Einstein for help today there would only be empty silence. If someone were to call out to Mohammed or Buddha or Gandhi today there would be no help. But if you and I call out to Jesus Christ there is instant power available to us… power to change lives …why? Because He lives! (Rev. David Henderson). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>19) The parable of the butterfly:</b> As a butterfly soared overhead, one caterpillar said to the other, “You’ll never get me up in one of those things!” Yet for every caterpillar the time comes when the urge to eat and grow subsides and he instinctively begins to form a chrysalis around himself. The chrysalis hardens and you’d think for all the world that the caterpillar was dead. But one spring morning the life inside the chrysalis will begin to writhe, the top will crack open, and a beautifully formed butterfly will emerge. For hours it will stand stretching and drying its wings, moving them slowly up and down, up and down. And then, before you know it, the butterfly will glide aloft, effortlessly riding the currents of the air, alighting on flower after gorgeous flower, as if to show off its vivid colors to the bright blossoms. — Somehow, the miracle of the butterfly never loses its fascination for us. — Perhaps that is because the butterfly is a living parable of the promise of Resurrection. On Easter morning, the disciples saw Jesus’ graveclothes on the cold slab, empty, but still lying in the wrapped folds that had gone around and round the corpse. Only the corpse was gone, the grave clothes left behind, much like an empty chrysalis deserted by a butterfly which has left it to soar free<i>. “He is risen as He said,” (Mt 28:6)</i> an angel told the women who had come to the tomb to anoint His dead Body. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>20) “Which one would you ask which way to go?'”</b> Dr. Seamands tells of a Muslim who became a Christian in Africa. “Some of his friends asked him, ‘Why have you become a Christian?’ He answered, ‘Well, it’s like this. Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions, and you didn’t know which way to go, and there at the fork in the road were two men, one dead and one alive–which one would you ask which way to go?'” Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>21) A real Easter egg:</b> A small chick begins the long journey to birth. The not-yet-a-bird weighs little more than air; its beak and claws are barely pin pricks. The bird-to-be is in its own little world: protected by the rigid shell, warmed by the mother hen’s body, nourished by the nutrients within the egg’s membrane. But then the chick begins the work of life. Over several days the chick keeps picking and picking until it can break out from its narrow world — and into an incomparably wider one. But for this to happen, the egg has to go to pieces. New life demands shattering the old. — That is the real Easter egg. Not a complete egg dyed and painted with so many designs and colors. Not an egg that has been hardboiled, impossible to shatter. Not an egg made of chocolate. The real Easter egg is shattered and destroyed. The real Easter egg exists in broken pieces. The real Easter egg is cracked and opened, yielding new life that has moved out to live in the open. For centuries, the world has marked the Resurrection of the Lord with eggs. But the Easter meaning of the egg is found in the struggle of the chick to free itself from its confines so as to move into much bigger world beyond it. We struggle to break out of a world that we perceive is going to pieces; we pick away at an existence that leaves us dissatisfied and unfulfilled. The promise of the Easter Christ is that we can break out of our self-contained little worlds and move into a world where peace and justice reign, a world illuminated by hope and warmed by love, a world that extends beyond time and place into the forever of God’s dwelling place. [From a meditation by Brother David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B.]. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>22) Yes, There Is Hope</b> (Rev. Bill Self): In the early part of World War II, a Navy submarine was stuck on the bottom of the harbor in New York City. It seemed that all was lost. There was no electricity and the oxygen was quickly running out. In one last attempt to rescue the sailors from the steel coffin, the U.S. Navy sent a ship equipped with Navy divers to the spot on the surface, directly above the wounded submarine. A Navy diver went over the side of the ship to the dangerous depths in one last rescue attempt. The trapped sailors heard the metal boots of the diver land on the exterior surface, and they moved to where they thought the rescuer would be. In the darkness they tapped in Morse code, “Is there any hope?” The diver on the outside, recognizing the message, signaled by tapping on the exterior of the sub, “Yes, there is hope.” — This is the picture of our dilemma as we worship this glad Easter Day. Humankind is trapped in a dreadful situation. All around we are running low on hope, and we look for a word from beyond offering it to us. This world in which we live is plagued with war and famine, mounting debt and continual destruction. The more we try to rescue ourselves the more we seem to fall behind. We wonder. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">23) <b>Hold My Body Down: </b>The all-black musical Your Arms Too Short To Box With God (https://youtu.be/prPzL1bJkXY) is Vinnette Carroll’s vibrant version of what the Gospel of Matthew would have been like, if it had been written with a little bit more of that old-time religion. With buoyant Negro spirituals and exciting choreography, Your Arms Too Short To Box With God celebrates the life, death and Resurrection of Christ. In the final scene of the first act, Jesus has just arisen from the tomb and is standing high at the back of the stage in a glow of yellow celestial light. With a thunderous voice the risen Lord sings a song entitled, “Can’t No Grave Hold My Body Down.” That song sums up the joyous news of Easter. We hear an angel sing it for Jesus as he greets Mary Magdalene and the other Mary at the tomb: “Can’t No Grave Hold My Body Down.” You can almost sense its rhythm keeping pace with the two women as they hurry to tell the good news about Jesus to his disciples: “Can’t No Grave Hold My Body Down.” — The good news of Christ’s Resurrection is symbolized by the Easter lilies that decorate our homes and Churches. With the spring these lilies come alive, break through the ground and bloom. No ground can hold these lilies down. No ground can contain their new living blossoms. If we have Faith, no ground can hold our spirits down! (His Word Resounds; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>24) Easter gives us an eternal warranty for our Faith:</b> When we buy a product we want to make sure that we can count on it and trust it to work the way it is supposed to work. When you go and buy a car you are looking for reliability, a <a href="https://www.preaching.com/sermons/what-if-easter-didnt-exist/">car</a> that you know will carry you and your family safely for years to come. The car company tries to earn your trust by giving you a warranty. The warranty tells you how long and to what extent you can trust them and their product. Some are three years 36,000 miles, while others are 5- year 50,000 mile, some are 10-year 100,000 mile warranties. But the problem with these warranties is they eventually run out. You can trust them but only for a period of time. Our relationship with others is the same way. When looking for a husband or wife we look for someone who is trustworthy, someone we can trust, someone we know is going to be faithful to us over the course of a lifetime. But even in the best relationships people fail us and let us down. — I believe that it is in the heart of every person and is every person’s deepest longing to be able to completely trust someone — someone who won’t lie to you, someone who won’t let you down. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead then we cannot trust him with our lives and we certainly cannot trust him with our eternity.* — But fortunately for us, Jesus did rise from the dead. Easter does exist, it’s real not fake, it’s true, not a lie! We can trust Him with our lives and live for Him. (Rev. Jim Perdue). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>25) “The Case for Christ:”</b> In 1998, Lee Strobel, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune and a graduate of Yale Law School, published <a href="http://www.zondervan.com/more/top-book-series/the-case-for-christ/the-case-for-christ-movie-edition">“The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus.”</a> Strobel had formerly been an atheist and was compelled by his wife’s conversion to evangelical Christianity to refute the key Christian claims about Jesus. Paramount among these was the historicity of Jesus’ Resurrection, but other claims included the belief in Jesus as the literal Son of God, and the accuracy of the New Testament writings. Strobel, however, was unable to refute these claims to his satisfaction, and he then converted to Christianity as well. His book became one of the bestselling works of Christian apologetic (that is, a defense of the reasonableness and accuracy of Christianity) of all time. Later, <a href="http://caseforchristmovie.pureflix.com/">a motion picture adaptation of “The Case for Christ”</a> was released. The movie attempts to make a compelling case for historicity of Jesus’ Resurrection. As one character says to Strobel early in the movie, “If the resurrection of Jesus didn’t happen, it’s [i.e., the Christian Faith] a house of cards.” Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<b> (L-21)</b> </p></div><div>***<br /><span style="color: green;">Humor for<span lang="en-us"> </span>Easter</span><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEi0y7DXwmPuOs5nJUTu72fvvWTFP_kawP7nU3ElPQz6iOabJWkNOBJa2Tzsgeqh34IVsRmGeTAneLpCBWA0MDHqp7n_OJl3eS0xP-tSole5XSdVnyt0oDlIXAYXQZCcMYjeIfsAvxfKKYZKgebjUbJQfsrAT7B0q_fT=" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://www.desperatepreacher.com/images/eastercartoon.jpg" width="321" /></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="color: navy;">cartoon courtesy of www.reverendfun<span lang="en-us">.com</span></span></i></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Nothing is certain<span lang="en-us"> </span>except vat and taxes?!?</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"></span><br /><div align="left"><o:p><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: medium;"><b>Lasting Palm Sunday Impressions</b><br />My wife planned an activity for our two and one-half year old daughter during the week following Palm Sunday. After having her cut and paste brightly colored construction paper coats and palm branches on a picture of Jesus riding into Jerusalem, she spread coats in our hallway, and the three of us walked over them, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" A couple of days later, we reminded Jamie that the following Sunday was Easter. "Do you know what that means?" her mother asked. "Yes!" Jamie chirped enthusiastically. "We're going to church, and Jesus is going to come and walk on our coats!"</span></o:p></div><br /><o:p><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: medium;"><b>Good Friday Humor</b><br />This is a true story, told to me by a Sunday School teacher: She was teaching the children about the meaning of Good Friday and asked the group if any of them knew what happened to Jesus on that day. "Sure," piped up a little boy, "he got hammered!"</span></o:p><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: medium;"><b>The Gravestone Message</b><br />The following caption was found written on a gravestone...<br />"As I am now, you soon shall be, so be content to follow me."<br /><br />Then someone taped the following note on that gravestone...<br />"To follow you I'm not content, until I know which way you went!"</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>This happened a couple of Easters ago.</b><br />He comes to church once a year--always on Easter. I'm glad to have this local rancher join us in worship and I shook his hand heartily as he left the church.<br />"Great to worship with you today!" I said.<br />"Really?" he responded.<br />"Sure. It's always good to have you with us on Easter," I said.<br />He scratched his head. "Well, maybe I'd come more often if you'd preach about something different!" -- Rev. E. Marie Gasau</span><br /><div align="center"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: medium;"><b>The Show Must Go On</b><br />One Easter, a family (Mom, Dad, boy age 9) that seldom went to church, decided to go. After church the Mom said, "I thought the choir was a little off key." The Dad said, "Well, the preacher's message was bland, too." Whereupon the boy said, "I thought they put on a pretty good show for the nickel you put in the collection plate." BB-AL</span><br /><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: medium;"><b>Church Bulletin Blooper:</b><br />This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Jones to come forward and lay an egg on the altar.</span></div><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: medium;"><b>In the Secret Service</b><br />A gentleman was in front of me coming out of church one day. The preacher grabbed him by the hand, pulled him aside and said to him, "You need to join the Army of the Lord!"<br />My friend replied, "I'm already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor."<br />The Pastor questioned, "How come I don't see you except at Christmas and Easter?"<br />He whispered back, "I'm in the secret service. "</span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-38716334072161406632024-03-26T16:37:00.005+05:302024-03-26T16:37:38.944+05:30Easter Vigil - Reflections<p> <iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pd_l8MHC2Dw?ecver=2" style="height: 100%; left: 0px; position: absolute; width: 100%;" width="640"></iframe></p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a name='more'></a>1.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Darkness. </b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The Easter Vigil begins with darkness.<br /><div style="height: 0px; padding-bottom: 377.254px; position: relative;"><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RhA6f8qMMNU?ecver=2" style="height: 100%; left: 0px; position: absolute; width: 100%;" width="640"></iframe><br /></div><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The darkness itself is the first movement of the liturgy, so we begin our preparations with that darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It represents all darkness, and all the meanings of darkness - devoid of light; evil thoughts, motivations, deeds; all that is hidden and secret, deceitful and dishonest, divisive and abusive, immoral and sinful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's the darkness of our world and the darkness in my heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I come to the vigil and restlessly and impatiently fidget in the dark “until something happens,” I miss the power of what is about to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, we prepare by readying ourselves to experience the darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is distasteful and reprehensible, embarrassing and humbling, fearful and despairing. Then a light is struck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It breaks into the darkness. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“O God, who through your son bestowed upon the faithful the fire of your glory, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sanctify + this new fire, we pray, and grant that, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by these Paschal celebrations, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we may be so inflamed with heavenly desires <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that with minds made pure, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we may attain festivities of unending splendor.”<o:p> </o:p></div><o:p></o:p><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Light of Christ. </b><o:p> </o:p><br /><o:p></o:p><br />The candle lit from the new fire is then processed into the community, and we receive its light and experience the power of that light as it grows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the candle is brought front and center, we celebrate the Easter Proclamation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This prayer sounds like a Eucharistic Prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We give thanks and praise over this symbol of the Light of Christ in our midst and “consecrate” it as Christ's presence among us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reading this proclamation carefully and letting its joyful song into our hearts is a wonderful way to prepare to feel its exultant praise at the Vigil.<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“Dear brothers and sisters, now that we have begun our solemn Vigil, let us listen with quiet hearts to the Word of God.<o:p></o:p></div><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let us meditate on how God in times past saved his people and in these, the last days, has sent us his son as our Redeemer.<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let us pray that our God may complete this Paschal work of salvation by the fullness of redemption.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Word of Our Salvation History. </b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">There are nine readings and eight psalms or songs that have been prepared to help us with our night's vigil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each reading is followed by an invitation to pray in silence, which is followed by a special prayer designed for that reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The help that comes with the liturgy says this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The number of readings from the Old Testament may be reduced for pastoral reasons, but it must always be borne in mind that the reading of the word of God is the fundamental element of the Easter Vigil.”)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we have time on Saturday, a wonderful way to prepare for the Vigil would be to read the readings and psalms and then articulate prayer to the Lord, expressing gratitude to God for an extraordinary story of fidelity and love for us. <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">After the last reading from the Old Testament, the candles are lit and the bells ring as we sing our Glory to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now we are ready to hear the New Testament word in the light of Christ, and the good news, “He has been raised!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Powerful religious experience is prepared for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this point in the liturgy, we want to be prepared to be exultant with joy at the resurrection of Jesus - the victory of our God over sin and death - for us. <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Liturgy of Baptism. </b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The Presiders and ministers go to the font of baptism, thereby drawing us together there. (The ritual says that if the font can't be seen by the congregation, then “water is placed in the sanctuary.”)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who are to be baptized are called forward, along with their sponsors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In our excitement for them, we realize that this is very much about the renewal of our whole community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Initiation and revitalization become one this night. <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“Dearly beloved, with one heart and one soul, let us by our prayers come to the aid of these our brothers and sisters in their blessed hope, so that as they approach the font of rebirth, the almighty Father may bestow on them all his merciful help.” <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Litany </b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">We turn to the community of saints in glory to ask for their help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We remember that we do this same litany before the ordination of priests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we turn to each of these saints we recall how these very special women and men journeyed in situations very much like ours and let God transform their lives, and that they are now in glory interceding for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In our hearts we might also turn to the saints we have known, who are not part of this list, whose love we have known and to whom we can turn tonight to intercede for these candidates for baptism and for our whole community. <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“Give new life to these chosen ones by the grace of baptism.” <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Blessing of the Water </b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The Presider now blesses the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These wonderful prayers are like a mini lesson, both for those about to be baptized, and for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can prepare by praying this prayer before the Vigil, at the link to the right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the priest inserts the candle in the water and pull it out and lifts it up, we experience the ritual that announces the meaning of our baptism into these waters - one with him in dying that we might be one with him in rising. <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Profession of Faith and Renunciation of Evil</b> </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">We have renewed our baptismal promises many times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can prepare to make the Easter Vigil a powerful experience of grace if we make each of the renunciations and professions with a meaning that is personal to us.<o:p></o:p></div>“Do you reject sin, so as to live in the freedom of God's children?”<o:p></o:p><br />That question begs me to spontaneously say, “YES! Of course!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, reflection tells me that I long to be free at the same time that I cling to some of my unfreedoms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the next question takes me deeper.<o:p></o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“Do you reject the glamor of evil, and refuse to be mastered by sin?”<o:p></o:p></div>There really is a glamor to evil and it does claim a mastery over me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The renunciation that is asked of me is about freedom, so I am asked if I will personally choose to be free and reject the rules the sin and darkness.<o:p></o:p><br />“Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness?”<o:p></o:p><br />Now I am ready to profess the faith of the Church, choosing to believe in the One who gives me life.<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Baptism and the Rites Explaining Baptism</b>.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The candidates are baptized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if our church isn't able to immerse the baptized into the water, the ritual of pouring water over their heads is meant to be a sign of their entry into the waters of baptism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We should feel the power of this moment and open our hearts to its joy, for them and for ourselves.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p> </o:p><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The newly baptized are anointed, with the same oil used to anoint priests.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“He now anoints you with the chrism of salvation, so that, united with his people, you may remain forever a member of Christ who is Priest, Prophet, and King.” <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are then clothed in a white garment. </b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“You have become a new creation and have clothed yourselves in Christ. Receive this baptismal garment and bring it unstained to the judgment seat of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that you may have everlasting life.” <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Finally, they receive a candle lit from the Easter fire.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“You have been enlightened by Christ. Walk always as children of the light and keep the flame of faith alive in your hearts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the Lord comes, may you go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.” <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Celebration of Confirmation<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The newly baptized and those who are about to be received into full communion are ready to “share in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all pray in silence, and feel the power of God's Spirit among us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in silence, the Presider lays hands on each person, the same sign used in ordination to the priesthood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As they are anointed, we can imagine the gifts of the Spirit that we have received and can let ourselves feel the grace offered us to be strong witnesses to the union with Jesus in mission that we are offered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The newly confirmed take their places in the assembly of the faithful, ready to join us for the first time at the table of the Lord. <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">11.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Eucharist. </b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">All our preparations, all the power of this night's rituals and sacraments, lead us to celebrate the Eucharist, to “give God thanks and praise.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the newly confirmed receive the final Sacrament of Initiation, the Body and Blood of Jesus, we are ready to celebrate Easter. <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The tomb is empty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is Light in the midst of our darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We've been fed by the Word and given new life in the waters of baptism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now we eat his Body and drink his Blood and receive the life in him that he promises. <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Alleluia, Alleluia!<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">(From Creighton University Online Ministries)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>******************<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Love That Cannot Wait: An Easter Reflection</b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Celebrating A Love That Cannot Wait.”</b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The celebration of Easter is for all Christians the highpoint of our year of faith. At Easter we celebrate the fact that Christ has<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>risen from the dead and destroyed death for all who place their hope in Him. Easter means that, because of Christ’s resurrection, we shall not die but rather we are all invited to spend eternity with our loving God in heaven. At Easter we think of our loved ones who have died and we rejoice that they have been spared death because of Christ’s resurrection and are with Him in heaven for all eternity. Ultimately, at Easter we celebrate that God loves us so much that He destroyed death so that He might spend eternity with each of us. Easter is the greatest celebration of God’s unconditional and undying love for each of us; a love so strong that death cannot destroy it.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The Good News about Christ’s resurrection and His destruction of death is so overwhelmingly joyful that it can sometimes overshadow another aspect of Christ’s victory. Christ’s resurrection from the dead is so powerful that not only does it destroy death, it also destroys all other barriers which stand in the way of our encountering Him—even the barriers of time and space. Christ’s resurrection does not just<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>announce God’s desire to be with us in heaven; it also proclaims His passion to love and live with us today. God the Father raised Jesus from the dead not so that He could live with His disciples and apostles once they got to heaven. The Father rose Jesus up in order that all people of all times and places could live in communion with Himself and the other persons of the Holy Trinity at every moment in time and history. Easter celebrates the fact that God will not let anything stand in the way of His love for us. At Easter we celebrate that God’s love is so strong for us that He cannot wait to be with us in heaven. God loves us so much that He desires to be with us “today.” All that is required for this to happen is that we open our hearts to His presence.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The Easter Vigil is the most powerful celebration of God’s love for us that the Church knows. In this beautiful annual celebration, the Church celebrates Christ’s victory over death and recounts all that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have done to share their love with each of us today. The Easter Vigil proclaims that our God loves each of us so much that He cannot wait to be with us. He does not want to wait until we are in heaven with Him. The resurrection of Christ was intended to break down the barriers which stand in the way of us living in communion with Christ today. Understanding how this is celebrated at the Easter Vigil can help all of us to understand how Christ wishes to encounter us every day of our lives. The Easter Vigil is made up of four essential parts: 1) the Liturgy of Light; 2) the Liturgy of the Word; 3) the Liturgy of Baptism; and 4) the Liturgy of the Eucharist. It is worth spending a little time looking at each of these in order to appreciate how much God desires to relate to each us today. His is a love that cannot wait to be in communion with each of us.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Liturgy of Light:</b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The Easter Vigil begins with the blessing of the Easter Fire and the Paschal Candle and the singing of the Exultet, the great hymn of our Easter victory. As the Easter Candle is lit, we celebrate that Christ has destroyed the darkness of sin and death and become the light of the world. By sending the Holy Spirit on the Church as tongues of fire, God the Father illumines the hearts of all the Baptized. We enter the Church following the Paschal Candle, which represents Christ, just as God once led His people through the desert out of slavery in Egypt with a pillar of fire. The candles that are held by the Baptized testify to the gift of the Holy Spirit that we all received in Baptism and to the fact that God wishes to dwell within us today and lead each of us by His Holy Spirit. The individual candles that we hold also proclaim the responsibility that belongs to each Christian to be Christ’s witness in the world. The Liturgy of the Light is a testimony of God’s love by which we are to be guided today by the grace of God’s Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals Christ as the light by which we are to guide our pilgrim journeys to heaven, testifying to our brothers and sisters and illuminating the world today by our Christian witness. The light proclaims a God who is with us and active in the world today. The Paschal Candle used at the Easter Vigil is also used at our Baptismal and Funeral liturgies to proclaim the love of our God who wishes to be with us always.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Liturgy of the Word:</b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The Liturgy of the Word at the Easter Vigil recalls the history of salvation. It proclaims God’s tireless efforts to love and live in communion with His people. While this part of the Vigil may be shortened, when the seven Old Testament readings are proclaimed, an account is given of the extent to which God will go to love and relate to all of us. Since the human person first sinned and turned away from God, He has not given up on us. Everything God has done to reveal Himself in the Old Testament has been a preparation for that final victory over all that divides us, which we celebrate at the Easter Vigil. The emphasis that is placed on God’s Word reminds us how important it is that we pray and study the Scriptures in order to know God and understand how to relate to Him today. Discerning God’s presence in our lives today requires that we all study and pray the Scriptures regularly. Attending Mass every Sunday also helps us to know God’s Word as it exposes us regularly to different aspects of God’s revelation and weekly guides us and draws us closer to God. As at the Easter Vigil, no Mass is ever celebrated without God’s Word being proclaimed from the Lectionary which contains the Scriptures readings that are used at Mass. The Word is proclaimed at the Vigil and at each Mass because Jesus does not want to wait to speak to us only when we get to Heaven. He loves each of us so much that He does not want to wait that long. He desires to speak to us today in His Word and invites us to come to Mass every Sunday to hear it proclaimed in His community, which is the Church.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Liturgy of Baptism:</b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">At the Easter Vigil, the Church welcomes those adults who are to be baptized. As they are baptized they experience concretely that Jesus does not want to wait to share His life with us. All who are baptized share in the death and resurrection of Christ; they are freed from original sin; and receive the grace of the Holy Spirit so that they may live in communion with God now and for all eternity. Those who are baptized by submersion experience how close God wishes to come to them as they are surrounded by the saving water of the Baptismal Font. Those who are baptized also remind those of us who are already baptized that we have already received the gift of God’s Holy Spirit and are already called to be living our lives each and every day in communion with Him.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The renewal of our baptismal promises at the Easter Vigil and all of the other Easter Masses is a powerful reminder to all of us that, as we celebrate Easter, we are already living in relationship with the God who cannot wait to love us. While this is one of the more significant times that we renew our baptismal promises in the course of the year, it can help us to realize that we should and actually do remind ourselves of our baptisms quite frequently. Every time that we cross ourselves “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” we recall the words with which we were baptized and established in a relationship of grace with the Blessed Trinity. The Holy Water at the entrance to every church helps us to recall how it is that by Baptism we were brought into the Church and called into relationship with our God who desires to be in relationship with us today. It is through our Baptism that the Holy Trinity wishes to share eternity with us today.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></div><br /><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Liturgy of the Eucharist:</b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The importance of the Eucharist at the Easter Vigil as the highlight of the celebration points to the importance of the Eucharist at each and every Mass. Nothing speaks more powerfully of God’s desire to begin to spend eternity with us today than the gift which Christ gives us at every Mass of His Body and Blood. We can sometimes lose sight of the fact that every Sunday is a celebration of the day of Christ’s resurrection. Every Sunday, Christ invites us to celebrate His resurrection and to receive His Body and Blood so that He might share His life with us today.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Christians in our<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>society are losing sight of the importance of Sunday and what it is that we celebrate on this day. For so many people there is a mistaken notion that to be a Christian means only to be a “nice” person. Thankfully, the word “nice” is not used once in the Easter Vigil. To be a Christian is to recognize that God has loved us so much that He has sent His only Son into the world to save us by raising Him up after He died to forgive our sins. The Christian professes his or her faith in Christ’s resurrection by attending Mass on Sunday, the day on which He rose from the dead. Every Sunday is intended to be a little weekly celebration of Easter. By receiving Christ’s Body and Blood on Sunday, the Christian does what Christ has asked us to do “in memory of me.” The Eucharist at the Easter Vigil emphasizes beautifully what we celebrate at every Sunday Eucharist and shows us how we are to live our faith today in communion with the same Jesus who gave us the Eucharist because He loves us so much that He desires to be with us today. God does not wish to wait until we get to heaven to share His life with us. He wishes to do so every Sunday at the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist in our parish. Easter puts before us the question of how we are going to respond to His invitation.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">He loves us now and will always love us. He invites us to be in relationship with Him now, to give Him a place in our lives now and to open our hearts to the transforming power of His grace now. As we celebrate this Easter that God loves each of us so much that He cannot wait to be in relationship with us, let us also pray for the grace to respond to His invitation today. <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Because God desires to be in relationship with us today, He also asks us to respond to Him today. Because He does not wait to share His love, we are invited to accept His invitation to be with Him for all eternity, not when we get to heaven, but now. Easter is a celebration of God’s offer of salvation and an invitation to respond to this offer. We are not to renew our baptismal promises only in word. We are called to give God a place in our lives today. We do this as the Vigil shows us by: 1) allowing His Holy Spirit to be the light by which we are guided on our pilgrim journeys to heaven; 2) listening to His Word and being guided by the Scriptures; 3) living our baptismal faith in relation to God and our brothers and sisters in Christ; and 4) opening our hearts to Christ’s presence in our lives today by remembering Him every Sunday at the Eucharist where He gives us His Body and Blood so that we may love others as He has loved us. <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">May God bless all of us this Easter with an awareness of His love today so that we might spend all eternity with Him, starting right now.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Happy Easter! </b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Fr. Michael McGourty (Toronto Archdiocese)<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">****************<o:p></o:p></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Engaging Faith |</b><o:p> </o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">By John Bucki, S.J.<o:p></o:p></div>Source: Center of Concern<o:p> </o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Quotes</b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“Let us ask the Father of mercies to enable us to live fully the faith graciously bestowed upon us on the day of our Baptism and to bear witness to it freely, joyfully and courageously. This will be the best service we can offer to the cause of Christian unity, a service of hope for a world still torn by divisions, conflicts and rivalries.” <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">- Pope Francis, March 20, 2013<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“Christ is looking for men and women who will help him to affirm his victory using his own weapons: the weapons of justice and truth, mercy, forgiveness and love.”<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">- Pope Benedict XVI, “Urbi et Orbi Message,” Easter 2009 <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“It would be a contradiction to settle for a life of mediocrity, marked by a minimalist ethic and a shallow religiosity. To ask catechumens: ‘Do you wish to receive Baptism?’ means at the same time to ask them: ‘Do you wish to become holy?’ It means to set before them the radical nature of the Sermon on the Mount.”<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">- Pope John Paul II, “Novo Millennio Inuente” <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“Rising from the waters of the Baptismal font, every Christian hears again the voice that was once heard on the banks of the Jordan River: ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”<o:p></o:p></div>- Pope John Paul II, “Christi fideles Laici” (Apostolic Exhortation on the Vocation of the Laity)<o:p></o:p><br />“To experience Holy Week is to enter more and more into God’s logic of love and self-giving.”<o:p></o:p><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- Pope Francis, March 27, 2013 <o:p> </o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“Jesus no longer belongs to the past, but lives in the present and is projected towards the future; Jesus is the everlasting ‘today’ of God. This is how the newness of God appears to the women, the disciples and all of us: as victory over sin, evil and death, over everything that crushes life and makes it seem less human.”<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">- Pope Francis, homily at Easter Vigil, March 30, 2013 <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thoughts for your consideration</b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Easter Resurrection is about power, liberation and freedom, but not the power of dominating control or of manipulating others. It is not about the power of a large corporation or bank. It is not control by military force or the use of torture or the manipulation of the mass media or the triumph of money. It is not the power of the media or political insiders. Rather it is the power of non-violent, active, generous love and solidarity. It is the power that comes from a faith rooted in the great story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The readings at the Easter vigil highlight the great story of God working in our world over a long period of time for our liberation and life. This great story of liberation continues today even in the midst of our human frailties. <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">In the baptismal promises, the catechumens (and the entire community in their renewal of baptism promises) renounce sin and all those ideologies and ways of thinking that are contrary to the way of Jesus. They (we) renounce values that are taken for granted by or imbedded in parts of our culture – racism, materialism, consumerism, sexism, militarism, wealth, political power, etc. This renunciation is a source of freedom and new life for all of us and for the whole world. From the death and resurrection of Jesus flows a challenging vision that changes and challenges the social fabric of the whole world.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">As we leave our liturgical celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus, we hope to be living in a new way. We hope to be alive in the spirit of Christ, the Christ who shared our life, spoke up for the oppressed, healed the sick, fed the hungry, and even risked death. It is this spirit that we hope to share with our world.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“Let us ask the Father of mercies to enable us to live fully the faith graciously bestowed upon us on the day of our Baptism and to bear witness to it freely, joyfully and courageously. This will be the best service we can offer to the cause of Christian unity, a service of hope for a world still torn by divisions, conflicts and rivalries.” <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">- Pope Francis, March 20, 2013<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stories</b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">If Easter is about freedom, these humorous stories might be interesting starting point for our reflections:<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">A man escaped jail by digging a hole from his jail cell to the outside world. When finally his work was done, he emerged in the middle of a preschool playground. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">"I'm free, I'm free!" he shouted.<o:p></o:p></div>"So what," said a little girl. "I'm four."<o:p></o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Prayers of Intercession</i><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Response: Risen Jesus, bless us with newness of life.<o:p></o:p></div>For an end to the violence, terrorism, and war that divide and pain our world, we pray…<o:p></o:p><br />For an end to all the racism and discrimination that oppresses people in our world, we pray…<o:p></o:p><br />For an end to the materialism and consumerism that distorts our values and harms our environment, we pray…<o:p></o:p><br />For the sick who are denied quality health care, we pray…<o:p></o:p><br />For an end to hunger and all poverty, we pray…<o:p></o:p><br />For equal opportunities for employment at a living wage for all, we pray…<o:p></o:p><br />For a new spirit of justice and peace for all God’s people, we pray…<o:p></o:p><br />For a new spirit of hope and joy as we work to create a welcoming community, we pray…<o:p></o:p><br /><o:p> </o:p><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Prayers</b><o:p> </o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Let there be an end to the chain of hatred and terrorism,<o:p></o:p></div>which threatens the orderly development of the human family.<o:p></o:p><br />May God grant that we be free<o:p></o:p><br />from the peril of a tragic clash<o:p></o:p><br />between cultures and religions.<o:p></o:p><br />May faith and love of God<o:p></o:p><br />make the followers of every religion<o:p></o:p><br />courageous builders of understanding and forgiveness,<o:p></o:p><br />patient weavers of a fruitful inter-religious dialogue,<o:p></o:p><br />capable of inaugurating a new era of justice and peace.<o:p></o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p> </o:p>- John Paul II, "Urbi et Orbi” message, Easter, 2003<o:p></o:p></div><o:p> </o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">+++++<o:p></o:p></div><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">God of the universe, God of our hearts.</b><o:p> </o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">We thank you for the gift of Jesus, whose resurrection we celebrate this month. We thank you for the model he was to us while on earth - a model of wisdom, loving kindness, and mercifulness. We thank you for his fierce compassion for humankind.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">We ask that we will be mindful of Jesus' example as we engage with others, whether they are powerful or powerless. We ask that we remember to pray for our enemies and to bless those who mock, criticize, and persecute us.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">We pray for peace for this world. We ask you to breathe peace into those areas of profound generational conflict. Breathe your deep peace like an emergency medic breathes air into endangered lungs. Resuscitate hope for peace into the people living in these lands. Breathe hope for peace into us as well.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">We thank you for the gift of presenting these requests, these concerns, before you. We are grateful that you bend your ear, your heart, toward us. We are confident that you hear our prayers and will act on them. We praise and bless your holy name, Amen.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-25884140442789380112024-03-26T16:32:00.002+05:302024-03-26T16:32:19.637+05:30The Way of the Cross<p> <b style="text-align: center;">The Way of the Cross (The Stations of the Cross)</b></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The Stations of the Cross are usually observed during Lent, especially on Lenten Fridays and most importantly on Good Friday. It is one of the most popular devotions for Roman Catholics. The devotion consists of meditating on 14 events which form the 14 stations of the cross. The purpose of this devotion is to focus on the Passion of Jesus Christ. Here is the long version of “Stations of the Cross” or “Way of the Cross” with meditations and prayers.<b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Opening Prayer<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">O Jesus, our adorable Saviour, we now contemplate Your sacred passion. Help us to understand that the sufferings of our life are the continuation of Your passion. We ask for strength of our souls to go through our passion, in the spirit with which You went through Yours. Amen.<b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Station 1 – Jesus is condemned to death<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leaving the house of Caiaphas, where he had been blasphemed, and the house of Herod, where he had been been mocked, Jesus is dragged before Pilate, his back torn with scourges, his head crowned with thorns; and he, who on the last day will judge the living and the dead, is himself condemned to a disgraceful death.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Prayer</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">It was for us that You did suffer, O Blessed Jesus. It was for our sins that You were condemned to die. Oh, grant that we may detest our sins from the bottom of our hearts, and obtain your mercy and pardon by repentance.<o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/our-father-in-heaven-prayer-taught-by-jesus">Our Father in Heaven</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/mother-mary-prayers/hail-mary-prayer">Hail Mary</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/glory-be-to-the-father">Glory Be</a><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: Have mercy on us, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Have mercy on us. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Station 2 – Jesus is laden with the Cross<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">A heavy cross is laid upon the bruised shoulders of Jesus. He receives it with meekness and with a sense of commitment, for it is the instrument with which he is to redeem the world and to accomplish the mission for which his heavenly Father has sent him.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Prayer</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">O Jesus, grant us, by virtue of your cross, to embrace with meekness and cheerful submission the difficulties of our life, and to be ever ready to take up our cross and follow You.<o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/our-father-in-heaven-prayer-taught-by-jesus">Our Father in Heaven</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/mother-mary-prayers/hail-mary-prayer">Hail Mary</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/glory-be-to-the-father">Glory Be</a><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: Have mercy on us, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Have mercy on us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Station 3 – Jesus falls for the first time<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Bowed down under the weight of the cross, Jesus slowly sets forth on the way to Calvary, amidst the mockeries and insults of the crowd. His agony in the garden has exhausted his body. He is lacerated with blows and wounds; his strength fails Him. He falls to the ground under his cross.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Prayer</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">O Jesus, who for our sins did bear the heavy burden of the cross and did fall under its weight, may the thoughts of your suffering make us watchful over ourselves and save us from any grievous fall into sin.<o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/our-father-in-heaven-prayer-taught-by-jesus">Our Father in Heaven</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/mother-mary-prayers/hail-mary-prayer">Hail Mary</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/glory-be-to-the-father">Glory Be</a><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: Have mercy on us, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Have mercy on us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Station 4 – Jesus meets his Blessed Mother<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Still burdened with his cross, and wounded yet more by his fall, Jesus proceeds on His way. He is met by his loving mother. What a meeting must have that been! What a sword of anguish must have pierced the mother’s heart! What must have been the compassion of that Son for his holy mother!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Prayer</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">O Jesus, by the compassion which You did feel for You Mother, have compassion on us, and give us a share in her intercession. O Mary, most afflicted mother, intercede for us that, through the sufferings of your Son, we may be delivered from eternal death.<o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/our-father-in-heaven-prayer-taught-by-jesus">Our Father in Heaven</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/mother-mary-prayers/hail-mary-prayer">Hail Mary</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/glory-be-to-the-father">Glory Be</a><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: Have mercy on us, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Have mercy on us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Station 5 – Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry the cross<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">As the strength of Jesus fails, and he is unable to proceed, the executioners seize and compel Simon of Cyrene to carry His cross. The grace of that cross changes the Cyrene’s heart and from the compulsory task, it becomes a privilege and joy.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Prayer</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">O Lord Jesus, may it be our privilege to bear our cross. May we glory in nothing else; by the cross, may the world be crucified unto us, and we unto the world. May we never shrink from suffering but rather rejoice if we should be counted worthy to suffer for your name’s sake.<o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/our-father-in-heaven-prayer-taught-by-jesus">Our Father in Heaven</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/mother-mary-prayers/hail-mary-prayer">Hail Mary</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/glory-be-to-the-father">Glory Be</a><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: Have mercy on us, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Have mercy on us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Station 6 – Veronica wipes the face of Jesus<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.<br />All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">As Jesus proceeds along the way covered with the sweat of blood, a woman, moved with compassion, makes her way through the crowd, and wipes his face with a handkerchief. As a reward for her piety, the impression of His sacred countenance is miraculously imprinted upon the handkerchief.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Prayer</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">O Jesus, may the contemplation of your sufferings move us with deep compassion. Make us hate our sins and kindle in our hearts, more fervent love for You. May your image be graven on our minds until we are transformed into Your likeness.<o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/our-father-in-heaven-prayer-taught-by-jesus">Our Father in Heaven</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/mother-mary-prayers/hail-mary-prayer">Hail Mary</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/glory-be-to-the-father">Glory Be</a><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: Have mercy on us, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Have mercy on us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Station 7 – Jesus falls beneath His cross, the second time<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.<br />All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The pain of his wounds; and the loss of blood increasing at every step of his way, weakens him; and Jesus falls to the ground for the second time.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Prayer</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">O Jesus, who did fall a second time beneath the load of our sins and of your suffering for our sins, how often have we grieved you by our repeated falls into sin! Oh, may we rather die than ever offend You!<o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/our-father-in-heaven-prayer-taught-by-jesus">Our Father in Heaven</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/mother-mary-prayers/hail-mary-prayer">Hail Mary</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/glory-be-to-the-father">Glory Be</a><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: Have mercy on us, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Have mercy on us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Station 8 – Jesus consoles the women of Jerusalem<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">At the sight of the sufferings of Jesus, some holy women in the crowd were so touched with sympathy that they openly bewailed and lamented for Him. Jesus, knowing the things that would befall Jerusalem because of its rejection of him, turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep for yourselves and for your children”.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Prayer</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">O Jesus, we mourn and will always mourn for you and for ourselves, for your sufferings and for our sins which caused them. Oh, teach us to mourn, so that we may repent and be saved from the dreadful end to those who reject or neglect you, their God and their all.<o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/our-father-in-heaven-prayer-taught-by-jesus">Our Father in Heaven</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/mother-mary-prayers/hail-mary-prayer">Hail Mary</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/glory-be-to-the-father">Glory Be</a><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: Have mercy on us, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Have mercy on us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Station 9 – Jesus falls beneath His cross the third time<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Jesus has almost arrived at the summit of Calvary, but before he reaches the spot where he is to be crucified, his strength again fails Him, and he falls the third time.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Prayer</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">O Jesus, we entreat you by the merit of this your third and most painful fall, to pardon our frequent relapses and our long continuance in sin. May the thought of Your sufferings make us hate our sins more and more.<o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/our-father-in-heaven-prayer-taught-by-jesus">Our Father in Heaven</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/mother-mary-prayers/hail-mary-prayer">Hail Mary</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/glory-be-to-the-father">Glory Be</a><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: Have mercy on us, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Have mercy on us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Station 10 – Jesus is stripped of His garments<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Jesus at last arrives at Golgotha and they prepare to crucify Him. They strip Him of His garments and mock Him.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Prayer</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">O Jesus, strip us of all false esteem, conceit and pride and make us humble like you in this life, so that we share your glory with you in the life to come.<o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/our-father-in-heaven-prayer-taught-by-jesus">Our Father in Heaven</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/mother-mary-prayers/hail-mary-prayer">Hail Mary</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/glory-be-to-the-father">Glory Be</a><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: Have mercy on us, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Have mercy on us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Station 11 – Jesus is nailed to the cross<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The cross is laid upon the ground and Jesus is stretched upon His bed of death. With divine dignity and forgiveness, he lets himself be nailed to the cross. The blows are struck! The blood gushes forth!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Prayer</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">O Jesus, nailed to the cross, fasten our hearts to the cross, so that we may be united with you until we yield up our souls to you.<o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/our-father-in-heaven-prayer-taught-by-jesus">Our Father in Heaven</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/mother-mary-prayers/hail-mary-prayer">Hail Mary</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/glory-be-to-the-father">Glory Be</a><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: Have mercy on us, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Have mercy on us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Station 12 – Jesus dies on the cross<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">For three hours, Jesus has hung upon His pierced hands. His blood has run in streams down his body, and onto the ground. In the midst of excruciating suffering, he has pardoned his murderers, given heaven to the good thief, and committed his blessed mother to his beloved disciple’s care. His mission of love has been accomplished. He bows his head and gives up his Spirit to God.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Prayer</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">O Jesus, we devoutly embrace your saving cross, on which you died so that we may have eternal life. We hail your cross, and lovingly accept our own.<o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/our-father-in-heaven-prayer-taught-by-jesus">Our Father in Heaven</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/mother-mary-prayers/hail-mary-prayer">Hail Mary</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/glory-be-to-the-father">Glory Be</a><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: Have mercy on us, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Have mercy on us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Station 13 – Jesus is taken down from the cross<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.<br />All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The multitudes have left the hill of Calvary. There is no one except the beloved disciple of Jesus and the holy women with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus take down the body of Jesus from the cross and place him in the arms of his afflicted mother.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Prayer</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">O Mary, mother of Jesus, your grief was so great, being a helpless witness to the savage way your Son was put to death. By his death and resurrection, we have become your children in Jesus. Help us by your intercession to be like your son Jesus.<o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/our-father-in-heaven-prayer-taught-by-jesus">Our Father in Heaven</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/mother-mary-prayers/hail-mary-prayer">Hail Mary</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/glory-be-to-the-father">Glory Be</a><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: Have mercy on us, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Have mercy on us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Station 14 – Jesus is laid in the Holy Sepulchre<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The disciples take the body of her dear beloved Son Jesus from his mother, and place it in the tomb. The tomb is closed and in it the lifeless body remains until the hour of its glorious resurrection.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Prayer</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Lord, Your suffering is over. You have triumphed, though in the eyes of men, you may seem to have failed. Sin, death and hell have been conquered. The world is Yours, I am Yours. Be the King of my heart. I surrender myself to your Holy Will. May Your kingdom come.<o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/our-father-in-heaven-prayer-taught-by-jesus">Our Father in Heaven</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/mother-mary-prayers/hail-mary-prayer">Hail Mary</a><o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/glory-be-to-the-father">Glory Be</a><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal">Leader: Have mercy on us, O Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All: Have mercy on us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Concluding Prayer<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Heavenly Father, we have contemplated your Son, Jesus, on his Way of the Cross, in his Spirit which you have gifted to us. We accept our way of the cross. We know it will lead us to, where it led him to, our resurrection with him. We thank You for the joy of this vision of faith. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-26197317736199480812024-03-26T16:27:00.007+05:302024-03-26T16:28:10.464+05:30Holy Thursday - Liturgical Prayers<p> <strong>Greeting</strong></p><em>A. This Is I for You</em><br />“This is my body, which is for you,” says the Lord. “Do this as a memorial of me.” May the Lord Jesus be always with you.<br /><em>B. You Must Wash Each Other's Feet</em><br />“If I, the Lord and Teacher,” says the Lord, “have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.<br /><a name='more'></a> For I have set you an example<br />that you also should do as I have done to you.”<br />May the Lord and servant Jesus be always with you.<br /><br /><strong>Introduction by the Celebrant</strong><br /><em><br />A. This Is I for You</em><br />This evening we have come together to celebrate the memory of Jesus’ farewell meal: At this supper so heavy with meaning, he did and said unusual, shocking things. Like the lowliest of servants, he, the great Teacher and Lord, washed the feet of his disciples and told them to become, like him, servants of people. Then, as they were eating, he passed the bread and the wine to them, saying: “This is my body broken for you. This is the cup of my blood shed for you. Love one another as I have loved you.” These events happened long ago, and yet, he tells us here and now: “I have given you an example. As I have done, so you must do; as I have served, so you must serve. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”<br /><br /><em>B. You Must Wash Each Other's Feet</em><br />John the Evangelist does not tell the story how Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper. Instead, John tells us how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. In this way he showed and stressed what the Eucharist is all about. It meant for Jesus total commitment in love to the service of the people he came to save, that is, to make free for God and people. It means for us that with Jesus we have to dedicate ourselves completely to the service of God and of our brothers and sisters. Total, self-forgetting and serving love must be the mark of the disciple of Jesus. Jesus is here with us to give us the spirit of service.<br /><br /><em>C. Do This In Memory Of Me</em><br />When Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper, he said: “Do this in memory of me.” In memory of Jesus we are now remembering and celebrating what happened at the Last Supper and doing again what he did there, as we do, in fact, at every Eucharist. We, God's people, are now the disciples of the Last Supper. The priest, acting in Jesus’ name represents Jesus. The table around which the disciples were gathered is now the altar. The room of the Last Supper is the church. Like the disciples, we are gathered as a community around Jesus and eating with him. This is a basic act for our Christian communities: to be gathered around the Lord, to eat and drink with him and in this way to become more united with him and more like him. Let us celebrate with the Lord.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Penitential Act</strong><br />Our Lord gives himself to us in the Eucharist<br />that by his strength we may do as he did.<br />In his presence and before one another,<br />let us ask ourselves whether we have been faithful<br />to this task of love.<br /> (SILENCE )<br />Lord, in the Eucharist you call us together<br />to be one in you,<br />but we fail to set our differences aside<br />and to build up love and justice among us:<br />Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.<br />Christ our Lord, in the Eucharist you serve us,<br />but service and sacrifice for others<br />are often too humiliating and cost us too much:<br />Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.<br />Lord, in the Eucharist<br />you continue to share yourself with us,<br />but when we share<br />we often measure and weigh our gifts<br />and we don’t give ourselves:<br />Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.<br />May the Lord have mercy on us,<br />forgive us our lack of love and service<br />and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Opening Prayer</strong><br />Let us pray that we may celebrate the Lord’s Supper<br />with the Lord’s own attitude<br /> (SILENCE)<br />Our God and Father,<br />in this night<br />so different from all other nights,<br />we are gathered here to partake of the supper<br />which your only Son left us,<br />so that he could stay with us with all the fullness<br />of his liberating love.<br />He gave this meal to us<br />when he was about to die<br />and commanded us to celebrate it<br />as the new and eternal sacrifice.<br />We pray that in this encounter with your Son<br />he may share with us his life and love<br />and be our bread of strength<br />which enables us to do your loving will<br />to serve our neighbor far and near.<br />We ask you this through Christ our Lord.<br /><br /> <strong>First Reading Introduction</strong>: A Day Of Festival, For Ever<br /> As the Jews were saved by the blood of the paschal lamb, so we remember that Jesus is our saving Paschal Lamb. His death and resurrection brought us forgiveness and life.<br /><strong>Second Reading Introduction</strong>: This Is My Body For You<br /> Paul reminds us that we have to let Jesus do among us in his memory what he did at the Last Supper: give us his body to eat.<br />.<br /><strong>Gospel Introduction</strong>: Wash Each Other’s Feet: Serve!<br /> Jesus washed his apostles’ feet to impress them and us that service is at the heart of the Gospel, together with self-giving.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>General Intercessions</strong><br />On this night, which is very different from all other nights, we are invited with the apostles to the Supper of the Lord. Let us pray to him that we may enter into his own attitudes and dispositions of the night before he suffered, and let us say to him. R/ Stay with us, Lord.<br />• Lord Jesus Christ, Lamb of God, you do the will of the Father to the end; you are loyal to your mission of love. Give us the same loyalty, that we may not seek our headstrong self?will but, in whatever we do, the will of the Father. We pray you, therefore: R/ Stay with us, Lord.<br />• Lord, at the Last Supper you found a way to stay with those you love. Give us the strength to keep standing by the side of those in need of love, that we may support them in their misery and give them hope in life and in you. We pray you, therefore: R/ Stay with us, Lord.<br />• Christ, our Savior, at the Last Supper you gave us your commandment of love as your last testament. Commit us to do the works of love so that we can truthfully celebrate the Eucharist by working toward social justice, peace and respect for human dignity. We pray you, therefore: R/ Stay with us, Lord.<br />• Lord, on this night you showed that your love does not consist in mere words but that it is stronger than death, for you give your life for us. Give us the strength to love you and others with a love stronger than words, with a loyal and total love: We pray you, therefore: R/ Stay with us, Lord.<br />• Lord Jesus, tonight you show us that love means humble service. We ask you for the courage not to do works of “charity” to be seen by people but to help others quietly and unobtrusively, so as to respect their human dignity, and to give preference to the poor, to the unknown, to little people, to the outcasts of life. We pray you, therefore: R/ Stay with us, Lord.<br />Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of love, you said at the Last Supper, as you tell us again tonight, that a person can have no greater love than to lay down one’s life for ones’ friends. Give us the strength not to live for ourselves but, by the warmth of our hearts and our commitment to one another, to make your love a bit more visible on earth, that people may believe in you, now and for ever. R/ Amen.<br /><strong><br />Prayer over the Gifts</strong><br />Our God and Father,<br />your Son Jesus gave himself to his friends<br />as the new Paschal Lamb<br />in the taste of a piece of bread<br />and the joy of a cup of wine.<br />As he stays with us now,<br />may he nourish us with his body<br />to make us truly his body to the world,<br />the Church of his pilgrim people<br />on the march to the promised land<br />of everlasting joy and happiness.<br />We ask this through Christ our Lord.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer</strong><br />Today we are poignantly told by Jesus: this is my body and blood for you; this is I giving myself for you. Learn from me to give yourself to God and each other.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer</strong><br />Before we share the Lord’s table<br />as the people he has united,<br />let us pray with the Lord Jesus<br />the prayer which he himself has taught us.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Deliver Us</strong><br />Deliver us Lord, from every evil.<br />Give us today the bread of your Son<br />to lead us forward<br />on the road of love and service<br />and to be our strength<br />in the trials of life,<br />as we wait in joyful hope<br />for the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>For the Breaking of Bread</strong><br />We break bread together<br />for ourselves and for one another,<br />that the joy and peace<br />of our Lord Jesus Christ<br />may be with us for ever.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Invitation to Communion</strong><br />This is the Lamb of God<br />who laid down his life<br />to take our sins away<br />and to be our life.<br />Come to the table of the Lord<br />in peace and friendship.<br />It is the Lord who invites us<br />and the Lord who nourishes us;<br />it is the Lord who gives us his peace.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Prayer after Communion</strong><br />Our God and Father,<br />when he gave himself to his friends<br />as food and drink for the road,<br />your Son Jesus committed himself<br />to stay with us as the person?for?others<br />and the Lord?who?serves.<br />May we learn from him<br />to be committed to our neighbor,<br />to love and serve without counting the cost<br />and to set our brothers and sisters free<br />from all enslaving evil,<br />as a foretaste of the unending happiness<br />which you have prepared for us<br />through Jesus Christ our Lord.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Before the Procession</strong><br />After the Last Supper, Jesus went with the apostles to the garden of Gethsemane to pray before he would be taken prisoner and begin his passion, to die the next day on the cross. Like the apostles, we are asked by our Lord to watch and pray with him. We could reflect on how he accepted his suffering out of loyal love for his Father and for us. We could also thank him for staying with us in the Eucharist, to be among us the bond of unity and love.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-18826976144258816542024-03-26T16:22:00.006+05:302024-03-26T16:22:59.850+05:30Holy Thursday - Holy Hour<p> <b>Use appropriate Hymns at the beginning and in between</b></p><div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="layout-grid-mode: char; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><p style="text-indent: 0px;">Into our broken world you came, Lord Jesus. You embraced our darkness, even though you are pure light.</p><p style="text-indent: 0px;"><span></span></p><a name='more'></a></span><p></p><p style="text-indent: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">You were born in a cave and wrapped in flimsy cloth, you who cover the heavens with the sun, moon and stars. You cried for your mother's milk, you who feed the entire world. You needed the warm arms of a mother, you who stretch out to embrace the universe. You submitted to the Law, you who make all laws of nature. You were baptized as a sinner in the Jordan. You who are sinless and all pure. You traveled about preaching to the multitudes, you who are the silent, everlasting Word of God. You touched the lepers, gave sight to the blind, and opened the ears of the deaf, because you came to give them abundant life.</span></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You, the King of the universe, became like a humble servant. You were hungry and thirsty, you who provide food and drink for all. Sinners touched you and were healed of their loneliness. You were called a friend of harlots you the pure Bridegroom of Your Church. You were poor with no pillow for your head, you who possess the fullness of the Father. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You were the light, but the darkness did not comprehend. You offered love, but received rejection in turn.You wept for the sins of the world, you, the joy of the world. You washed the feet of sinful men, the Master who came to serve. Ours were the sufferings you bore, ours the sorrows you carried. You were struck low as a criminal, crushed for our sins. You were acquainted with sorrows, you who brought pleasure to Your Father. Your sufferings and punishment bring to us peace and forgiveness. And by Your wounds we can be healed.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">O, Jesus, radiant Light, you entered into our darkness of sin, violence and shame, that we might have a share in your healing light. <b>On the cross, like a valiant warrior, you entered into the battle of light against darkness, of love against selfishness, of giving against possessing, of forgiving against revenge, of letting go against holding on to.</b> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The soldiers looked upon you whom they had pierced for they saw that to break your bones was useless for you were total brokenness. You were taken down from the cross, wrapt again in flimsy cloth and held in the arms of Your Mother. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, what more could I do for you?" </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">God has reached the limit of giving, of self‑emptying. No shade of blackness could be added to your darkness. No more void to absolute Zero! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">O God, in Jesus may I learn that love becomes fiery light only in the total broken darkness.</span></p></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="layout-grid-mode: char; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="layout-grid-mode: char; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">WE ADORE YOU, LORD JESUS<o:p></o:p></b></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="layout-grid-mode: char; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="layout-grid-mode: char; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Our Response: We adore you, Lord Jesus, and we bless you<span><br /></span><o:p></o:p></b></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="layout-grid-mode: char; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt;"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="layout-grid-mode: char; margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We adore you, Lord Jesus, Firstborn of all creation. Fill the universe with your splendor and our hearts with your love. (R)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="layout-grid-mode: char; margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We adore you, Lord Jesus, first Word in the silence of the world. Be the praise on our lips and the love in our hearts. (R)</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="layout-grid-mode: char; margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">c)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We adore you. Lord Jesus, mercy of God on the road of our life. Give us your tenderness for the poor and love for our communities. (R)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="layout-grid-mode: char; margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">d)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We adore you. Lord Jesus, firstborn among the dead. Awaken us on the last Day for the eternal feast and be love in our hearts. (R)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="layout-grid-mode: char; margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">e)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We adore you. Lord Jesus, good Samaritan who has mercy on us. Be the healing of the wounds of our sins and the love in our hearts. (R)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="layout-grid-mode: char; margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">f)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We adore you, Lord Jesus, living water to refresh our dried-up lips. Be the living words on our lips to invite people to your well. (R)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="layout-grid-mode: char; margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">g)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We adore you, Lord Jesus, the invigorating wine that brings joy to our celebrations. Fill our empty jars with optimism and encouragement. (R)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="layout-grid-mode: char; margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">h)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We adore you, Lord Jesus, as you write our sins on the sand and your forgiveness on our hearts. Be our mercy on our brokenness. (R)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="layout-grid-mode: char; margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in -.8pt 35.15pt 71.15pt 107.15pt 143.15pt 179.15pt 215.15pt 251.15pt 287.15pt 323.15pt 359.15pt 395.15pt 431.15pt 467.15pt 503.15pt 539.15pt 575.15pt 611.15pt 647.15pt 683.15pt 719.15pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">i)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We adore you. Lord Jesus, last smile at the hour of our death. Be our first Joy upon entering into your Kingdom and the love in our hearts. (R)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: -.5in; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">*Our response will be <i>R:/ We adore you and praise you, O Lord.*</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></i><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">You alone, Lord Jesus, are light in our night. Guide the blind that we are toward the dawn of your eternal Day. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>R:/</i></b><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></i><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">You alone, Lord Jesus, are Master of wisdom and fountain of mercy. Instruct the students that we are in the wisdom of heaven. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>R:/</i></b><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">c)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></i><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">You alone, Lord Jesus, are brightness in our sight. Take away the straw and plank from our eyes; reveal your beauty to us on the faces of your children. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>R:/</i></b><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">d)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">You alone, Lord Jesus are the good tree which gives us the fruits of paradise. Tear out the thorns and briars from our souls, make us ready for the harvest of heaven. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>R:/</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">e)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">You alone, Lord Jesus, are a treasure buried in our heart. May the riches that you have placed in our heart flow from our lips in words of love and praise. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>R:/</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">f)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span></i><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">You alone, Lord Jesus, are the Good shepherd that seeks out the strayed sheep. Come Lord to bandage our wounds and carry us in your bosom <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>R:/</i></b><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">g)<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">You alone, Lord Jesus, are the Good Shepherd who leads the sheep to green pastures and running waters. Make us sit with you at the banquet you prepare for us <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>R:/</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Prayer</b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">As we come before you during this Holy Week with our sisters and brothers, we know you read our hearts; You see the secrets of our life, our lostness in lust and little things, not harmonized. We now realize that in loving worship of you alone, O Lord, we become truly Christians. Remaining within your loving embrace, a worshiper in spirit and in truth can we be a candle burning brightly for the Lord. Turn our days into a joyful celebration of the mystery, that is our origin and end. Unite us with you high priest of humanity, the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, Firstborn of all creatures.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">For you have chosen us before the foundation of the world; you are the vibration of our soul. Make us servants of the universe<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">blending all creatures inwardly into a song of praise and adoration. Let the radiance of' your worship shine upon our daily doings. Change the world before our inner eyes into a revelation of your splendour, shining forth most brightly. The destiny of all that is. This we make through Christ, our Lord. Amen. (Pause)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><b>***</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";"><b>Meditation on the Crucified Lord</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";"><p class="MsoNormal"><b>I look at the crucified Lord here and in life. I see him stripped of everything:</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p> -Stripped of dignity, naked before his friends and enemies...</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p> -Stripped of all his possessions: I remember the times when people wanted just to touch the fringe of his garments.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p> -Stripped of his reputation: I remember the times when he was spoken well off ...</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p> -Stripped of success : I recall the heady years when his miracles were acclaimed and it seemed as if the kingdom were about to be established</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p> -Stripped of credibility: so, he could not come down from the cross; so, he could not save himself; he must have been a fraud.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> -Stripped of support: even the friends and family who did not run away are powerless to reach him or help him ...<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> -Stripped of his God , the god he thought of as his father, who he hoped would save him in his hour of need ...<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> Finally, I see him stripped of life , this existence here on earth that he, like us, held on to tenaciously and was unwilling to let go of ...<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">As I gaze at that lifeless body, I slowly understand that I am looking at the symbol of supreme and total liberation. In being fastened to the cross Jesus becomes alive and free. Here is a parable of conquest, not defeat.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">So now I begin to contemplate the majesty of the man who has freed himself from all that makes us slaves, destroys our happiness ... In gazing at that freedom, I think with sadness of my own slavery:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> -I am a slave to the things that I possess : I think of the times I am controlled by the gadgets and things that I have or the way I appear before people<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> -I am a slave to public opinion : I think of the times I am controlled by what others/community will say and think of me ...<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> -I am driven to worldly acceptance : I see the times I run away from challenges and risks because I hate to make mistakes or fail ...the many initiatives that I fail to take …<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> -I am enslaved by the need for human consolation : how many times I was dependent on the approval and acceptance of others /friends/ community, their power to assuage my loneliness, the times I didn’t really express my opinion, I was possessive of my friends and lost my freedom ...<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> -I think of my enslavement to my God : I think of the times I try to use him to make my life secure and undisturbed and painless; also the times I am enslaved by fear of him, and by the need to insure myself against him through rites and exercises and ceremonies ...<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> -Finally, I think of how I cling to life : how paralyzed I am by fears of every kind, unable to take risks, for fear of losing friends or reputation, health, success or life or God ...<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">-And so, I gaze in admiration at the crucified who won his final liberation in his passion when he fought with his attachments and let go of them, and conquered<b>…..</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I too desire for myself the freedom and the victory that shine out in the body on the cross.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">And as I continue to contemplate the mystery of his cross, I hear again his words re-echo in my heart:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> "If you wish to follow me, you must follow with your cross..." and "unless it dies, the grain of wheat remains alone..." </p></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><b>Healing</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">Here is my love offered to you, a love of pain, suffering unto death. Take and receive my gift of self, my healing stillness that drives from out of your heart all noise and clamour, of love divine, pursuing, ever present.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">This healing love I give to you. Kneel down to receive this anointing as kings of old, as consecrated servants. I send you forth, healed and whole to be a healing touch of love to all you meet.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho";">You were broken, but always loved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now be love to those who still know not of my healing, loving power. Tell them the good news that darkness can be turned into light, loneliness can embrace and be united into a loving community of many in the oneness of my love. Absence is driven out by presence; brokenness can be healed by love!</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-9624872001587192452024-03-26T11:50:00.005+05:302024-03-26T11:50:54.381+05:30Good Friday<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="558" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y6bYFX3r97c" title="Good Friday - Reflection" width="778"></iframe> <iframe frameborder="0" height="588" scrolling="no" src="https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=93789A8146D4FC9D&resid=93789A8146D4FC9D%2196279&authkey=AMYxbk6y7msjtHs&em=2" width="778"></iframe></p><a name='more'></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Betrayal: Fr. Roger Swenson</b><o:p> </o:p><p></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The betrayals of so many people ended in a tragedy of cosmic proportions. Let us pay particular attention to all those seemingly insignificant decisions made by the supporting actors in this melancholy drama. It won't be difficult to see ourselves in this play; each of us commits the same little murders every day. <o:p> </o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></div>Peter, James, John<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-dozed<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p></o:p><br /></div>Judas<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-betrayed<o:p></o:p><br />Annas Caiaphas<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-plotted<o:p></o:p><br />Sanhedrin<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-connived<o:p></o:p><br />Herod<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-feared<o:p></o:p><br />Peter<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-denied<o:p></o:p><br />Witnesses<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-lied<o:p></o:p><br />Crowds<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-shouted<o:p></o:p><br />Pilate<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-lingered (demurred)<o:p></o:p><br />Guards<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-mocked<o:p></o:p><br />Onlookers<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-jeered<o:p></o:p><br />Simon of Cyrene <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- refused /balked<o:p></o:p><br />The Ten disciples<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-fled<o:p></o:p><br />Soldiers<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-gambled<o:p></o:p><br />One Thief<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-scorned<o:p></o:p><br />I<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-concurred/agreed<o:p> </o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">A contrary choice, a pause to reflect, a "no" to self-centeredness may have altered, not the outcome, of course, but the plot. But in real life the right choice, doing the right thing, accepting the consequence would have made a real difference in our lives. </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Father of mercy, You know my little betrayals. By themselves they don't amount to much. Taken together they pave the road to Calvary. Let me see the full effect of my sins and my choices so that I may renounce the evil done and resolve to do no more. Amen. </div>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Turning Point:</b><o:p> </o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The turning point lies dead ahead;<o:p></o:p></div>A moment's pause to make or break.<o:p></o:p><br />Each act affords an inch to flinch;<o:p></o:p><br />A time to ask can grace replace<o:p></o:p><br />The urges which betray His Way.<o:p></o:p><br />His strength awaits your best request;<o:p></o:p><br />Unless you ask, the sin will win.<o:p></o:p><br />The choice is clear - to call or fall.<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">All-powerful God, keep me from the evil which attracts me so. At the moment of temptation, I will call out to you and you will answer. Show me your path and give me the strength to follow it. Amen.<o:p></o:p></div>**********<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Concluding Prayer:</strong><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">You are the friend who holds me tenderly in the palm of your wounded hand. You share my sadness with moist eyes and gentle smile. You grieve with me in my distress; you share your life laid down and spent for me. You split apart the shell that shields my heart. <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">You shed my wasted days like used up skin. Embrace with me the suffering that bearing fruit entails. (This barren branch in slow decay begins to bear again the grapes that make a wine, which stirs the heart, the grace which makes divine.) </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">God, mysterious and hidden, it is in our captivity that you reveal yourself as the open door, it is in the midst of our pain that your suffering love heals us, and it is in the depths of our despair that you shine upon us as the morning star of hope. God crucified, God risen: come, transform the necessities that are laid upon us into freedom, joy and love.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**************<o:p></o:p></div>Daniel Mazur and his group of mountaineers stood at 8500 meters high in sub zero temperature looking though exhausted by the climb and the climate yet excited by the spectacular sight of Mount Everest. Another 300 meters they are there. A dream of a life time spending over a million dollars and months of preparation and training. He sits on a ledge and as he looks down he sees a bright yellow blur – Lincoln Hall. Difficult decision. They abandon the climb and go down, wait three hours for sherpas to arrive to carry him down. Everest will always be there.<o:p></o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">"Suffering," an author has penned, "can lead us into one of four lands. The barren land in which we try to escape from it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The broken land in which we sink under it. The bitter land in which we resent it. Or the better land in which we bear it and become a blessing to others."<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Albert Camus: </b></div>In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was within me an invincible summer.<o:p></o:p><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Helen Keller:<o:p></o:p></b></div>The world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it.<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">All violence is the result of people tricking themselves into believing that their pain derives from other people and that consequently those people deserve to be punished. </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">For the first two hundred years after Christ no follower of Jesus wore a crucifix dangling from a chain around his or her neck, no church had a crucifix. Why? Because in those early days of our church, people had witnessed crucifixions, they wanted no reminders. An awful death, re-enacted these days in movies filmed with special effects.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Scripture says Pilate had Jesus scourged. Actually, beaten by a whip made of leather thongs. Each thong had two small balls of lead attached near the end. Blow after blow cut first the skin, then into the underlying muscle tissue. The beating stops only when the prisoner is near death.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Crucifixion probably first began among the Persians. Alexander the Great introduced the practice to Egypt and Carthage, and the Romans appear to have learned it from the Carthaginians. Although the Romans did not invent crucifixion, they perfected it as a form of torture and capital punishment that was designed to produce a slow death with maximum pain and suffering.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Jesus did not die in order to spare us the indignities of the wounded creation. He died that we might see those wounds as our own. </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">There is no smooth path to God which we can ascend with all our expectations of life confirmed and fulfilled. There is only the way of the cross, where the condemned and crucified Jesus contradicts our expectations, forces us to see ourselves as we really are, ...</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Who was Jesus?</strong></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life.<o:p></o:p></div>Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water.<o:p></o:p><br />Jesus was weary, yet He is our rest.<o:p></o:p><br />Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King.<o:p></o:p><br />Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons.<o:p></o:p><br />Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our tears.<o:p></o:p><br />Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p><br />Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd.<o:p></o:p><br />Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">All the joy of being alive all the beauty you saw in earthen things all the people you knew and loved all the satisfaction of healing all the blessedness of your teachings all the love you knew and shared all of this - shattered on that hillside. You were torn apart, broken, smashed. All of life's joy seemingly destroyed, terrible pain stretching out your agony. Only a handful beneath your cross to remind you of your wholeness, and even this handful of loved ones could not take your brokenness away. You were a broken piece of pottery, dashed against the stones of life, a thing to be thrown away, your flesh a ghastly thing to see, your aching spirit a painful knowing. On the cross that Calvary day the sacred unity seemed torn apart. Like a broken dish, like a broken dish, you went to your grave. - Praying Through Our Goodbyes, Joyce Rupp</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">It is easy to misunderstand the meaning of the cross. It is easy to misunderstand what we are doing here. Spiritualities have developed over the years the focus on the suffering, the tears, the sin. That’s all part of it. But the meaning of the cross of Jesus is voice that says,<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">You stand in a power greater than yourself.<o:p></o:p></div>In every moment of life, including the moments when I am trapped, a voice says,<o:p></o:p><br />There is a power greater than myself who will show me the way.<o:p></o:p><br />There is a power greater than myself that will tell me I am not alone.<o:p></o:p><br />There is a power greater than myself that will lift me up.<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Every day we stand under the cross of Jesus. We stand in its power and each day we hear a voice that guides, that reassures, that makes a final promise:<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>VOICE THAT GUIDES<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Scripture is filled with stories of people who are trapped, stuck or worse. A woman at the well, a blind man and a dead man name Lazarus are just a few of the recorded stories. Think of all the ones that were not written down. Ours is one of them. Each of us has had a moment when we were lost, in a fog, unclear. The voice of Jesus guides us: you find your way through forgiveness; you find your way through service. You find your way by letting go. It is hard to do those things. It is hard to open your arms on the cross. But anyone who has every been lost, trapped or fallen and turned to that voice will tell you, it is the only way.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A VOICE THAT REASSURES.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I sometimes wish we could hear what Jesus really said; not the Gospel writers spin, or the memory of words written down a century after they were spoken. The things that were not recorded; the words he spoke to worried and frightened people. But I guess the words don’t matter. It was the fact that he sat down, when others ran away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact that he looked in people’s eyes, when others looked away. The fact that he held the hand of someone that others couldn’t stomach. In those moments, Jesus tells people, your life has meaning and there is nothing you could ever do to lose God’s love. And it is that voice that speaks to each of us: to the person who has cheated, lied, ignored, been unfaithful, said words she regretted, was an ungrateful man. Jesus’ voice says, that is not your true self, and he will help you find your true self.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A VOICE THAT MAKES A FINAL PROMISE<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Those two words: God is. I think of that operator, helpless in this terrible moment, and to repeat over and over again this final promise of Jesus: God is. God is. At the foot of the cross, that final promise becomes our mission—the purpose of our lives. We must be the ones who boldly and courageously<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and tenderly use our voices, our lives to tell others, God is.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">************<o:p></o:p></b></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">From the Connections:</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE WORD:</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">John’s profoundly theological Passion account portrays a Jesus who is very much aware of what is happening to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His eloquent self-assurance unnerves the high priest and intimidates Pilate (“You have no power over me”), who shuttles back and forth among the various parties involved, desperately trying to avoid condemning this innocent holy man to death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hanging on the cross, Jesus entrusts his mother to his beloved disciple, thus leaving behind the core of a believing community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He does not cry out the psalm of the abandoned (Psalm 22); rather, his final words are words of decision and completion:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It is finished.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The crucifixion of Jesus, as narrated by John, is not a tragic end but the beginning of victory, the lifting up of the Perfect Lamb to God for the salvation of humankind.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">HOMILY POINTS:</b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Today, Jesus teaches us through his own broken body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a Church, as a community of faith, we are the body of Christ -- but a broken body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We minister as broken people to broken people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The suffering, the alienated, the unaccepted, the rejected, the troubled, the confused are all part of this broken body of Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In God’s unfathomable love, the broken body of Christ is forever transformed into the full and whole life of the Risen Christ.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The cross repulses us and shames us, confronting us with death and humiliation, with the injustice and betrayal of which we are all capable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the cross is also the tree of life through which we are reborn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tree of defeat becomes the tree of victory; where life was lost, there life will be restored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tree of Good Friday will blossom anew, bringing life, not death; bringing light that shatters centuries of darkness; bringing Paradise, not destruction.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">As Jesus’ cross becomes a means of transforming death into life, we are called on this Good Friday to use the crosses that we shoulder in our lives as vehicles for “resurrection” in the Jerusalems and Golgothas of our own time and place.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Jesus is crucified every day in the betrayals, condemnations, and crosses taken up and endured by the poor, the sorrowing, the sick, the grieving and the dying -- but the “goodness" of Good Friday gives us reason to hope, reason to carry on, reason to rejoice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the grace of the Risen Christ we can transform our crucifixions into Easter victories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Today, “truth” stands in front of us in the figure of the humiliated Jesus, the suffering Jesus, the ridiculed Jesus, the crucified Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right in front of us is the truth about a God who loves us to a degree we cannot begin to fathom; a God who refuses to give up or reject or destroy his beloved creation — a creation that has hardly lived up to its promise; a God who humbles himself to become one of us in order to make us like him, to realize that we have been created in his image, created by his very breath blown into our hearts.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">This Good Friday is God’s calling us to a second Exodus journey, marked in the slaying of his Son, the Lamb, who becomes for us the new Passover seder — today is our exodus from the slavery of sin to the freedom of compassion and forgiveness, our “passover” from this life to the life of God.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">***************<o:p></o:p></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">From Fr. Tony Kadavil:</b><br /><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Life messages:</b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Message of the cross: The poet gets the message of the love of God from the cross. The business man views the cross as a ransom, a redemption price. The lawyers and judges prefer to remember the message of the cross as an expression of the justice of God for the wages of man's sin. The converted Jews prefer to compare the cross to the sacrifices of the Old Testament. For the martyrs and saints the cross of Christ gives meaning to our pains and suffering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">1) Message of sacrificial Divine love: To the poets and philosophers among us the cross of Christ represents the love of God as manifested to the whole world. That is why the apostle John writes, “For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (Jn. 3:16). Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans, "Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:7-8).The cross truly does demonstrate and reveal the love of God the Father who sacrificed His only Son for us. God showed us what real love is by giving his Son and made it possible for us to share and experience that love: "We love, because he first loved us" (1 Jn. 4:19). St. John continues: “In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.” (1 Jn. 4:9-10). In the cross God did something more than tell us he loved us. His love was expressed in action. The cross is also a symbol of the sacrificial love of God the Son and the renewing love of God the Holy Spirit. Good Friday is the day to assess how we return that love by loving God living in our fellow human beings. It is the day to remember the new commandment of love Jesus gave us after instituting the great sacrament of love, the holy Eucharist: “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">2) The message of redemption from our sins and salvation. For the business people among us the cross tells of a terrible price that Jesus had to pay as the horrible cost for our sin. That is why the Bible describes Christ’s cross in terms of a price that was paid. Jesus said, "For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mk. 10:45). Peter explains, "You know that you were ransomed...with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot" Paul tells the Corinthians, "Do you not know that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price." (1 Cor. 6: 20). “You were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb.” We were purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ (Acts 20:28). The cross shows us exactly that we are--sinners. The prophet Isaiah explains it: "Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whol;, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; But the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all” (Isa. 53:4-6). Our freedom was obtained by the price that Jesus paid for us on the cross.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Hence the cross of Calvary challenges us today to remember the gravity of our sins and the need to repent and return to God. Although it is not pleasant to have our sins and faults pointed out to us, the cross does this. When Peter preached his great sermon on the first day of Pentecost, he laid responsibility for the death of Jesus at the feet of his listeners and they were "pricked in their hearts" or "cut to the heart" (Acts 2:37). But we are living in a world which has lost the sense of sin and which ignores the price Jesus paid for it. The prophet Jeremiah lamented on this sad situation centuries ago, “No one repents of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done!’” On this Good Friday let us show the good will and generosity to ask God’s forgiveness for our sins along with the psalmist, “Have mercy on me, God, in your goodness; in your abundant compassion blot out my offense. Wash away all my guilt; from my sin cleanse me. For I know my offense; my sin is always before me. Against you alone have I sinned; I have done such evil in your sight.” (Ps 51: 3-6) <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">3) The message of justice and atonement: For lawyers and judges who are always concerned about the law and justice, the cross demonstrates that man has broken the law of God and hence deserved punishment for sin. Jesus took that punishment for us by dying our death thus fulfilling the demands of justice for us. Paul wrote, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 6:23). We were the guilty parties while Jesus was innocent, yet God laid our sin upon him that he might receive our punishment. Paul explains it: "For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. 5:21). Paul reminds the Hebrew Christians that "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (Heb. 9:22). Good Friday challenges us to make reparation for our sins by reflecting on the sufferings of Christ and to share in his atonement by actively doing good to others. <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">4) The message of eternal sacrifice: For Jewish Christians, the death of Jesus is the sacrifice of one life for another as animals were sacrificed in the Old Testament Period for sinful people as atonement for their sins. It is the blood of one for another. But the offering of a blood sacrifice of animals was not able to bring about man's salvation. Hence the scriptures teach that the death of Jesus redeems not only those under the New Testament but those under the Law of Moses (Heb. 9:15). You may have heard the story of soldiers who were prisoners of war on the River Kwai. At the end of a hard days work, a Japanese guard insisted that a shovel was missing. He ranted and raved, but no guilty party stepped forward. Finally in his anger he shouted, "All die! All die!" He raised his gun and prepared to start shooting. Suddenly a Scotsman stepped forward and said, "I did it." One guard kicked him. Then they hit him. They bashed his head with their rifles. Soon he was dead. The other prisoners picked up his bruised body to bury it. The shovels were counted and none was missing. The Scotsman, innocent of the accusation against him, had given his life as a sacrifice. You all know how the polish priest St. Maxmian Kolbe offered his life in the gas chamber to save another man. In the same way, the cross of Christ challenges us to do sacrificial service for others prompted by agape love. <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">5) The message of heroic suffering: Crucifixion was used early in history by the Phoenicians, then the Greeks and the Romans as a feared way of subduing conquered territories. The cross was the crudest instrument of torture used by the Romans to punish rebels and criminals, and the slow death by hanging on the cross was the most excruciating experience of pain in the world. But Jesus knew beforehand every detail of his cruel suffering, humiliation, rejection and death and welcomed it all wholeheartedly according to the eternal plan of God his Father. The challenge from the cross for us is to accept our unavoidable share of pain and suffering in this life, deriving strength and inspiration from the suffering of Christ and to offer it for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of the world. Jesus proved that voluntary acceptance of suffering has salvific value. It was in fact a condition for his disciples: "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16: 24, Mark 8: 34, Luke 9: 23). </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">But carrying one’s crosses does not imply the pre-eminence of mortification and denial. It does not refer primarily to the need to endure patiently the great and small tribulations of life, or, even less, to the exaltation of pain as a means of pleasing God. It is not suffering for its own sake that a Christian seeks, but love. When the cross is embraced it becomes a sign of love and of total self-giving. To carry it behind Christ means to be united with him in offering the greatest proof of love. That is how the martyrs and saints understood it and that is how we have to accept our crosses and carry them. Carrying Christ’s cross is suffering for others by sharing our blessings sacrificially with others. It is accepting the pain involved in controlling our evil tendencies in order to allow God and His love to become the real Center of our lives. It is the pain involved in standing with Jesus and gladly following him even if that means scorn and humiliation from the rest of the world. Hence let us learn to love the cross of Christ, venerate it and draw daily inspiration from it for our Christian life. “We adore you Christ and bless you, because it is by your holy cross that you redeemed the world.”<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ILLUSTRATIONS:</b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">1) “But you wear a cross.” On her first night there, the head counselor said that three of the boys had asked to escort her to dinner. Alone! How would she handle it if all three decided to act out at once? She swallowed hard. She desperately needed this job so she fought back the panic and walked with her charges to the dining hall. They passed through the cafeteria line as tantrums and fights erupted around them. Fortunately none of her boys exhibited any kind of behavioral outburst. They made their way to a table in the center of the busy cafeteria and the boys took their seats. Margaret picked up her fork and was about to take the first bite when she noticed that all three boys were staring at her. "What's the matter?" she asked. Aren't you going to ask a blessing?" asked eight-year-old Peter. "I didn't think I was supposed to," she responded. "This is a state school, isn't it?" "Yes," said David, his blue eyes brimming, "but you wear a cross." Her grandmother's words surged to the surface of her memory. "Never forget what this cross means," her grandmother said. "We thought that meant something," said Roman, clearly disappointed. "It does. Thank you for reminding me," Margaret said, as she bowed her head, no longer afraid. (CATHOLIC DIGEST, Feb. 92, p. 64) Margaret learned something about sainthood that day. Saints trust in God and God alone for their ultimate security. Saints submit their will to the will of God. Saints stand firm and witness to their faith. </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">2) What’s that plus sign doing up here? A young Jewish girl visiting a Catholic church for the first time, was puzzled at the cross on the altar. She asked her Catholic friend, “Marie, Why do you keep that plus sign on the altar? That’s one wrong understanding – the cross as a plus sign. It is an equally distasteful idea that the cross is the I, the capital “I” crossed out. The truth is that cross is “I” stretched out - reaching down into the ground of being, up in the infinity of becoming, and out toward as many others as it can touch. With the Cross as a plus sign shaping our lives, we can live while we wait, knowing that a) renewal comes through rejoicing; b) grace is communication by gentleness; c) peace comes through prayer; and d) attitudes produce action.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">3) You took my parking space at church:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One day, a man went to visit a church; He got there early, parked his car and got out. Another car pulled up near the driver got out and said, “I always park there! You took my place!" <o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The visitor went inside for Sunday school, found an empty seat and sat down A young lady from the church approached him and stated, "That’s my seat! You took my place!" The visitor was somewhat distressed by this rude welcome, but said nothing. After Sunday school, the visitor went into the sanctuary and sat down. Another member walked up to him and said, “That’s where I always sit! You took my place!" The visitor was even more troubled by this treatment, but still He said nothing. Later as the congregation was praying for Christ to dwell among them, the visitor stood up, and his appearance began to change. Horrible scars became visible on his hands and on his sandaled feet. Someone from the congregation noticed him and called out, "What happened to you?" The visitor replied, as his hat became a crown of thorns, and a tear fell from his eye, "I took your place.”<br /><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><u>Alzheimer's patient remembered the cross of Jesus</u></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. President Ronald Reagan’s family watched in pain as he lost different aspects of his brilliant memory due to Alzheimer's disease. First, he began forgetting ordinary things like how to turn on the shower or to use a toaster. Soon he could no longer remember people who were his old friends or close work associates. Then he began to forget even who his children were and finally his wife. As the Reagan’s life was drawing to an end, his family gathered around his bed. He knew none of them. Five day’s before his death his wife Nancy Reagan placed a small cross in his hand. At first he seemed puzzled, then looked intently and said, “Jesus” and closed his eyes. On the day he died after 1 p.m., as Nancy Reagan held his hand, Ronald Reagan opened his eyes, which he hadn‘t opened in five days, looked right at his wife of 52 years. Then he closed his eyes and he drew his last breath.</span> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Powdered Christian.<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">You might remember comedian Yakov Smirnoff. When he first came to the United States from Russia he was not prepared for the incredible variety of instant products available in American grocery stores. He says, "On my first shopping trip with my American friend , I saw powdered milk. What is it , I asked. My friend explained, “You just add water, and you get milk.” I was amazed. Then I saw powdered orange juice--you just add water, and you get orange juice! And then I saw baby powder, and I thought to myself, you add water and get a ready made baby!! “What a country!" So many Christian denominations claim that they can make powdered Christians. They preach: “Accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, surrender your life to him and confess your sins to him. You are saved.“ Once saved, you are always saved. Just add water and disciples are born not made. Unfortunately, there is no such powder, and disciples of Jesus Christ are not instantly born. We must understand what it really means to be a Christian disciple from the mouth of Jesus. He proclaimed in Mathew 16: 24, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16: 24).It means that a truly practicing Christian must be a self denying and cross carrying Christian who obeys the teachings of Jesus. That is why we ask the question on Good Friday: what is the real message of the cross?</div><br />****<br /><br /><b>From Fr. Tony Kadavil's Collection:</b><br /><br />#1: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Alzheimer’s patient remembered the cross of Jesus.</b> President Ronald Reagan’s family watched in pain as he lost different aspects of his brilliant memory due to Alzheimer’s disease. First, he began forgetting ordinary things like how to turn on the shower or to use a toaster. Soon he could no longer remember people who were his old friends or close work associates. Then he began to forget even who his children were and finally his wife. As the Reagan’s life was drawing to an end, his family gathered around his bed. He knew none of them. Five days before his death, his wife Nancy Reagan placed a small cross in his hand. At first, a he seemed puzzled, then looked intently and said, “Jesus” and closed his eyes. On the day he died after 1 p.m., as Nancy Reagan held his hand, Ronald Reagan opened his eyes, which he hadn‘t opened in five days, looked right at his wife of 52 years. Then he closed his eyes and he drew his last breath.<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">(A)The cross and the crucifix are meaningful symbols, as the dove symbolizes peace and the heart symbolizes love. The crucifix and the cross are the symbols of the loving and sacrificial offering of self for others. First, it is only in the cross that we see the face of God’s love. There is no greater love than that of a person who is willing to die for another, and the cross tells this love story. Second, the cross is the symbol of the remission of our sins: The Bible says that when Jesus died, he took all our sins on himself on the cross, and so he conquered sin and the devil’s power forever. Whenever we see the cross, we should realize that Jesus, bruised and crushed, died for our iniquities. “But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.” (Is 53:5). Third, the cross is the symbol of humble self-emptying for others. It is the symbol of the cross-bearing Christ leading us in our life’s journey of pain and suffering, carrying his heavier cross and still encouraging us, strengthening us, and supporting us. Fourth, the cross is the symbol of the risen Christ who promises us a crown of glory as a reward for our patient bearing of our daily crosses.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Anecdote #2 The Soviet premier’s cross: In 1962, President John F. Kennedy met USSR’s Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna. Their wives were present. The US State Department warned Mrs. Kennedy to avoid Mrs. Khrushchev. Mrs. Kennedy did not follow the advice. She gave a silver plate as a gift. Mrs. Khrushchev was embarrassed, for she had no gift. She searched through her large handbag. Finally she found a cross. The premier’s wife of the officially Godless USSR gave the cross to Catholic Jacqueline Kennedy. Though neither spoke each other’s language, the cross served as their translator.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Additional Anecdotes</b>:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b># 1: Trinket or Treasure: </b>Ann Thomas tells this story of herself. She was at a garage sale with her friend Betty. Ann had just sorted through a tray of trinkets. Betty came up and asked, “Any luck?” “No!” said Ann. “It’s just a pile of junk. She stepped aside to let Betty see for herself. Betty took one look at the pile, picked up a tarnished old cross and said, “I can’t believe it. I’ve found a treasure! This cross is made of antique silver.” When Ann’s friend got home, she cleaned the cross and polished it. It was indeed a treasure. Ann ended the story saying, “Betty and I both looked at the same cross. I only saw junk; Betty saw a treasure.” Later Betty’s seven-year-old son, Bobby picked up the cross, held it reverently in his hands, and looked at it for a long time. Suddenly he began to cry. “What’s wrong?” asked Betty. Bobby said, “I can’t help it. I was looking at Jesus on the cross.” Three people looked at the same cross. One saw junk, another saw a treasure; a third saw Jesus. (Mark Link in <i>Sunday Homilies</i>).<o:p></o:p><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b># 2: <u>Christian powder: </u></b> You might remember comedian Yakov Smirnoff. When he first came to the United States from Russia, he was not prepared for the incredible variety of instant products available in American grocery stores. He says, “On my first shopping trip, I saw powdered milk–you just add water, and you get milk. Then I saw powdered orange juice–you just add water, and you get orange juice. And then I saw <b>baby powder</b>, and I thought to myself, ‘What a country!’” Smirnoff is joking, but we make these assumptions about Christian Transformation. We go to church as if we are going to the grocery store to get some “<b>Christian powder.”</b> Just add water and disciples are born not made. No wonder, why some televangelists teach that you get the passport and visa to heaven by just accepting Jesus as the Lord and personal Savior and by confessing your sins to him. Unfortunately, there is no such powder, and disciples of Jesus Christ are not instantly born. We must understand what it means to be a disciple. Does this mean denying ourselves? YES. Does this mean that just saying that you follow Jesus is enough? NO, it is not. We read in Matthew’s gospel, <i>“Whoever wishes to come after Me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me” (Matthew 16: 24)</i> L/19<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Controversial:</b> If Jesus were here today he would be “wanted” by: The Liquor Licensing Board for turning water into wine without a license; the Australian Medical Association for practicing medicine without a license; the Health Department for feeding 5,000 people in the open with none of the servers wearing hairnets or gloves; the Education Department for teaching without a certificate; the Water Police for walking on water without a life jacket; the RSPCA for driving a herd of pigs into the sea; the Australian Board of Psychiatrists for giving free advice on living a guilt-free life; the Women’s Liberation Movement for not choosing a woman disciple; the Inter-Faith Movement for condemning all other religions. Jesus has always been controversial – even when He was walking this planet. His life was a paradox to his contemporaries.<br />*****<br /><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">From Fr. Jude Botelho:</b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">In today's first reading Isaiah paints a startling portrait of the suffering servant of Yahweh. This suffering servant has a dignity about himself and his spirit is intact and unbroken in the midst of all that he suffers. Physically he was abused and reduced to a subhuman condition, yet in the face of all that he suffered there is no bitterness, no anger, no resentment, no complaint. Isaiah is describing not only the suffering servant but in fact he gives us a pen portrait of Jesus himself as he goes to his passion and he also gives us a model of how the Christian is called to respond to suffering. Jesus would embrace the cross and transform it into an expression of love for all human beings. The cross, the object of death can become the object of life for us and for others, if it is embraced with faith, as coming from God's hands.</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">He risked his life, all he got back was…</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">One night a fisherman heard a loud splash. A man on a nearby yacht had been drinking and had fallen overboard. The fisherman leapt into the cold water and rescued the man and revived him with artificial respiration. Then he put the man to bed, and did everything he could to make the man comfortable. Finally, exhausted by the ordeal, the fisherman swam back to his own boat. The next morning the fisherman returned to the yacht to see how the man was doing. "It's none of your business," the man shouted defensively. The fisherman reminded the man that he had risked his life to save him. But instead of thanking him, the man cursed the fisherman and told him that he never wanted to see him around again. Commenting on the episode, the fisherman said: "I rowed away from the yacht with tears in my eyes. But the experience was worth it, because it gave me an understanding of how Jesus felt when he was rejected by those he saved."<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Mark Link in 'Journey'<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today's Gospel presents a mortal conflict between good and evil, a battle between the Prince of Peace and the prince of this world. Good Friday is a day of paradox because an instrument of death becomes the source of life. It is also a day of mystery because the sinless one became as sin; a day revealing mankind at its worst and God at His best. Ultimately on this day love conquers death. Jesus on the cross transforms the curse of the cross into an instrument of blessing and eternal life. In the Gospel we hear an account of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John. There are several facets of the passion we could successfully reflect upon: The agony in the garden and the fearless confrontation of Jesus with those who came to arrest him. The triple denial of Peter in the presence of a maid servant. The trial before Caiphas in the Pretorium and then his confrontation with Pilate, and the lingering unanswered question: "What is the truth?" We could meditate on the Way of the Cross and his final moments on the cross. We could ask the questions: Why did the Father permit the Son to suffer? Why does God seem to abandon Jesus? Does God abandon his people, his beloved when they suffer? For that matter is the Father oblivious to the passion of his Son and to all his sons and daughters who even now suffer in the world today? While God does not reveal always his power, he always gives us the assurance of his comforting presence. We want God to be a powerful God, one who does away with all suffering. In Jesus' suffering and dying on the cross, we see as it were, an impotent God, a God who is made vulnerable precisely because he loves us, is ready to suffer with us and for us. </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thy Will, Not Mine<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robert Grant's short story The Sign concerns a young man called Davidson. He wants to be a writer and has just mailed his first novel to a publishing house. Filled with fear about the publisher's decision, he goes outside and paces back and forth in an orchard. It was Holy Week. His thought went back and forth between Christ and himself, like a needle and thread: to Christ in the garden of Gethsemane kneeling in prayer, and to himself in the orchard; to Christ preparing for the supreme agony of hanging by nails, back to himself and his book with Dow Press. He stopped and said."Thy will, not mine." But then 'a bolt of awareness' struck him. He really didn't mean what he said. What he really meant was that he wanted God's will to be done if it coincided with his own will and worked out 'right', to the joint glory of the pair of them, God and Davidson. And for the moment he was nauseated. Then he sat down and cried.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Mark Link in 'Journey'<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Closed Doors<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the musical Sound of Music Sister Maria, when confronted with a momentous decision which was to change the entire course of her life, spoke the well-known line of assurance: "When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window." Millions of Christians who have faced many 'closed doors' (heartaches, trials and disappointments) in their lives will raise up a hearty 'Amen' to her confident expression of faith. In fact, many of the world's great have achieved their most heroic accomplishments in the face of 'closed doors'. John Milton wrote Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained after having been afflicted with total blindness. Beethoven wrote some of his greatest music, including his Ninth Symphony, after he was almost completely deaf.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Anthony Castle in 'More Quotes and Anecdotes'</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ready to Die<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The final sermon that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached before he was assassinated was the famous "I have been to the mountaintop" sermon. In it he declares, "I have seen the Promised Land, I am not afraid to die, I am ready to meet my Maker." He preached this sermon in the evening; he was killed the next day. Was it coincidence that he preached those words the day before he died? Or could he have had some mystic prevision of his death? It is said he preached that sermon very often, possibly a hundred times throughout the country. Andrew Young says: "The reason that he could preach that sermon so often was that he was always ready to die." He knew that death would come any moment because of the challenge that he was continually presenting to the conscience of America. He lived life fully and fearlessly. He was convinced of the rightness and goodness of what he was doing that he wasn't afraid to die. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had found something worth dying for. And so he lived passionately. He had something worth living for. In the crucifixion Jesus did not especially teach us how to die. He taught us how to live -fearlessly and passionately. The great message of the passion of Jesus is to live passionately.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Anon</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">He didn't have to say much<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Toyohiko Kagawa was born in Japan to well-to-do parents. He was converted to Christianity and renounced his treasure and buried himself in the slums of his native land. He developed cataracts on both eyes; his lungs became tubercular; his frame developed a stoop. He suffered much. Towards the end of his distinguished life he came to one of the seminaries to deliver a lecture. When he was finished, one of the first year seminarians turned to another of the freshly-arrived juniors and remarked, "you know, he didn't say much, did he?" A woman standing nearby overheard and moved between them and set the matter right. She said, "A man on the cross doesn't have to say much."<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">John Pichappilly in 'The Table of the Word'</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dry Martyrdom<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Harvard psychiatrist and author Robert Coles tells of interviewing a little black girl during the early years of the Civil Rights Movement in the South. The little girl was subjected to a great deal of harassment. Hate words were scrawled on nearby walls and fences along her street, and threats were made to her family. On her way to school each day she was subjected to catcalls and harsh stares and obscene gestures. At school she was shunned by white students. All of this amounted to a lot of pressure for anyone, much less a small child. During a visit to her modest home, Coles asked the girl how she kept her composure. Good book Christian that she was, the little girl replied that she knew all the Bible stories of holding fast to God no matter what people did to you. She knew what they did to Jesus and how he held fast. And so she just put everything in the hands of Jesus, she said. He was her rock. Still, that didn't make the pressure any less. People of honour like this student, whistle-blowers, those who sacrifice jobs and livelihood to hold on to principles; all bear the heavy cross of dry martyrdom.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">William Bausch in 'The Word -In and Out of season'<o:p></o:p></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Nothing More to Give<o:p></o:p></b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some years ago, divers located a four-hundred-year-old ship off the coast of Northern Ireland. Among the treasures found on the sunken ship was a man's wedding ring. When it was cleaned up, the divers noticed that it had an inscription on it. Etched on the wide band was a hand holding a heart. Under the etching was this inscription: "I have nothing more to give you." Off all the treasures on that ship, none moved the divers more than that ring and the beautiful inscription on it. The words on that ring, "I have nothing more to give you," could have been written on the cross of Jesus. For on the cross, Jesus gave us everything he had. He gave us his love. He gave us his life. He gave us all that one person could give to another. He had nothing more to give us.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Anonymous<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mark of the Nails<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A father wanted his son to realize the importance of making wise choices and their consequences. And so if his son made a bad decision, he'd give him a hammer and a nail to take out and pound it into a fence. Every day the son went through the whole day making good decisions, he'd let him go out and remove one of the nails. Until the boy was fifteen there were always two or three nails on the post -seems he'd be nailing new ones just as fast as he'd pull out others. The youth started to mature and make better decisions till one day all the nails were removed from the post. That was when his dad said, "I want you to notice something about the fence." Looking at the fence the boy realized that though the nails were removed there were some holes where the nails were driven in and removed. His dad said, Son, I want to tell you something about bad choices or decisions. Even though you may be totally forgiven from your bad choices or decisions, there are remaining effects, the consequences of those choices and decisions; just like the holes in the fencepost."</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-70332964757343795572024-03-24T18:23:00.002+05:302024-03-24T18:23:16.696+05:30Maundy Thursday<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="558" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T-pqCnfBuSk" title="Maundy Thursday" width="778"></iframe><b> <iframe frameborder="0" height="588" scrolling="no" src="https://onedrive.live.com/embed?resid=93789A8146D4FC9D%2196277&authkey=!ACwDIDfa8umedeQ&em=2" width="778"></iframe></b></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The Big Triduum</b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Well tonight we start the BIG three, better known as the Triduum. We wash feet, break bread, embrace our crosses and kick open the tomb again to the possibilities of a new life, an eternal life with our God so passionately in love with us. Here is a litany I found and will use on Easter. A blessed Easter for all of you.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">“Lord of Easter promise, I live in Faith of the Resurrection, but such is the nature of my Faith, that so much of me remains entombed. Break open the tomb. Please respond “Break open the tomb” to each of these prayers.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Where I have buried my compassion: Break open the tomb.<o:p></o:p><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Where I have buried my sense of mercy: Break open the tomb.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Where I have buried my sense of humanity: Break open the tomb.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Where I have buried my love for my Heavenly Father: Break open the tomb.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Where I have buried my sense of joy: Break open the tomb.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Where I have buried my willingness to forgive: Break open the tomb.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Lord in you I have found a Savior no grave can withstand.<br />Help me roll away this stone and find the miracle of a new life,<br />That I may live more fully in your grace.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Can I hear the Church say AMEN?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Be witnesses to the Resurrection of Christ. Amen.<o:p></o:p></div><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal">(Fr. Stephen Humphrey </div><b>****</b><br /><b>Tony Kayala, c.s.c.</b><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">1. Jesus was humiliated in the very heart of his own teaching by his own disciples when they were fighting for position. This is the last night. He was teaching them with his life example and stories for three years. They have to become the Church and continue his mission. So he does three things as a response: a. he exchanges the symbol of position with a symbol of service (stole with towel), b. they want to “take” and he says “Take this and eat” and he “gives”; c. finally he prays to the Father to keep them together in unity. These are the 3 symbols we used as we began the Lent on Ash Wednesday: a. fasting is what we do to ourselves (humility-washing – vis-à-vis love yourself), b. almsgiving is what we do for others (love your neighbour) and finally c. prayer is what we do with God (love God). These are the foundations of our faith – the two commandments lived, explained, understood differently.</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span><br /><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">2. Meals (food and drink) are so part and parcel of the life and ministry of Jesus because they are so integral to every human being and every community and family. As much as we would like to say that we are not here to live to eat we also like to include those whose struggle is to feed their families or put bread or rice on their tables. Jesus does not forget to include it in the “Our Father”. So, we should not only concentrate on the Eucharist, priesthood and service, but also family meals, outings, picnics where families are joined together and blessed with care, companionship through the great moments of family meals. Buzz Aldrin made sure that the first meal ever consumed on the surface of the moon was the communion elements (see story below).</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">3. Why did Jesus choose a meal to keep a memorial for himself? Because I guess we will never forget to eat. Gathering together over meals brings joy, fellowship, life. But it takes sacrifice, concern thoughtfulness to create a good meal. Nothing else becomes so part of us - biologically - as food. And it gives energy. In Samaria, it’s water, in Cana, it’s wine, in the outskirts, it’s bread and fish sandwiches of a boy, it’s fish again by the seashore for Peter, it’s the crumps for the Canaanite woman and Lazarus and it was bread on the Emmaus journey. Participation and thanks by meals meant attention by Martha, Peter’s mother-in-law serving a dinner, Simon’s house, “give them something to eat”. Participation meant also how you are dressed and welcomed: guests at the wedding feast, in Simon’s house, rich people inviting their friends, go to the by lanes, …..inclusion…..</span><b> </b></div><br /><b>The Meeting</b><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Years ago a <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:city> restaurant had specially printed place mats at all its tables.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">The mats were designed exclusively for the restaurant. And if you asked the waitress, she’d give you one to take home, frame, and hang on your wall.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Let me share with you the wording that appeared on those mats. It went something like this:<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">"In 1923 an important meeting took place at <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:city>'s Edgewater Beach Hotel. Attending the meeting were the following men:<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">"The president of the largest steel company, the president of the largest utility company, the president of the largest gas company,<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">The president of the New York Stock Exchange, the president of the Bank of International Settlements, the greatest wheat speculator, the greatest bear on Wall Street, the head of the world's greatest monopoly, a member of President Harding's cabinet."<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">That's a pretty impressive line-up of people. Yet, 25 years later, where were those nine industrial giants?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">According to the story on the place mat, the president of the largest steel company, Charles Schwab, died a bankrupt;<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">The president of the largest utility company, Samuel Insull, died penniless;<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">The president of the largest gas company, Howard Hobson, had gone insane;<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">The president of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Whitney, was just released from prison; the bank president, Leon Fraser, died a suicide; the wheat speculator, Arthur Cutten, died penniless;<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">The Wall Street bear, Jesse Livermore, died a suicide; the head of the world's greatest monopoly, Ivar Kruegar, died a suicide; the member of President Harding's cabinet, Albert Fall, was<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Practical Application:</b><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;"> Self-service is no service. We are programmed to look only to our own needs; we find it hard to include the needs of others. We are made to be served and waited upon; we find it difficult to serve and wait upon others. We are constituted to promote our personal advantage; we find it distasteful to promote the advantage of others. Yet the whole thrust of Holy Thursday is that to be Christian means to serve others. Self-service is no service.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Paul's community at <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Corinth</st1:place></st1:city> was a divided community. At the church suppers which preceded the Eucharist, individuals provided only for themselves to the point where some became intoxicated and others went hungry. For Paul, this community could not proclaim the death of the Lord. They did not act out in daily living the dying of Jesus for others. To celebrate Eucharist meant to embark upon a way of living in which one met the needs of others. For Paul, self-service is no service.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">The Johannine community believed in a theology of reaching out to the members of the community. The foot washing became, therefore, a symbolic action which had to be reproduced in the lives of the community. In John, the authentic follower of Jesus is one who will not eschew washing the feet of the other members. To hail Jesus as Lord and Master meant to make oneself servant and slave of all. Humble service became the Christian hallmark. In John, self-service is no service.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Husbands and wives who constantly look to each other's needs show their Christian way. Children who consistently seek to provide for the needs of the family reveal Christian values. Leaders who regularly spend their time and energies in promoting the good of their people give evidence of Christianity. The gifted, both married and single, who habitually donate their skills and talents to aid the less gifted demonstrate the following of Jesus. All those who look beyond themselves to meet the problems and needs of others live out the theology of Holy Thursday. In Christianity, concern for just oneself is inadequate. Self-service is no service.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Eucharist reflects a Lord and Master who makes himself servant and slave. Eucharist takes the death-style of Jesus and offers it as the life-style of the community. Eucharist compels the community to act as a community by meeting common needs. To eat and drink with Jesus means to rise and offer oneself as food and drink to others. Eucharist thereby announces that self-service is no service.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**********<br /><strong>From The Connections:</strong><br /><br /><span class="style3--sectiona"><strong><span style="color: #273d79;">THE WORD:</span></strong></span><strong><br /></strong><br />The centerpiece of John’s Gospel account of the Last Supper is the <strong>mandatum</strong> – from the Latin word for “commandment,” from which comes the traditional title for this evening, <strong>Maundy</strong> Thursday. At the Passover seder, the night before he died, Jesus established a new Passover to celebrate God's covenant with the new Israel. The special character of this second covenant is the <strong>mandatum</strong> of the washing of the feet -- to love one another as we have been loved by Christ.<br />(John makes no mention of the establishment of the Eucharist in his account of the Last Supper. Chapters 14, 15 and 16 recount Jesus’ last instructions to his disciples, followed by his “high priestly prayer” in chapter 17. The Johannine theology of the Eucharist is detailed in the “bread of life” discourse following the multiplication of the loaves and fish at Passover, in chapter 6 of his Gospel.)<br />Tonight’s first reading recounts the origin and ritual of the feast of Passover, the Jewish celebration of God's breaking the chains of the Israelites’ slavery in Egypt and leading them to their own land, establishing a covenant with them and making of them his own beloved people.<br />The deep divisions in the Corinthian community have led to abuses and misunderstandings concerning the “breaking of the bread.” In addressing these problems and articulating the proper spirit in which to approach the Lord’s Supper, Paul provides us with the earliest written account of the institution of the Eucharist, the Passover of the new covenant (this evening’s second reading). If we fail to embrace the spirit of love and servanthood in which the gift of the Eucharist is given to us, then “Eucharist” becomes a judgment against us.<br /><br /><div class="style3--sectiona"><strong>HOMILY POINTS:</strong></div>The Eucharist, instituted this night, comes at a price all must be willing to pay: We must become what we have received – we must become, for others, Christ the healer, Christ the compassionate and selfless brother, Christ the humble “washer of feet.”<br />Jesus, who revealed the wonders of God in stories about mustard seeds, fishing nets and ungrateful children, on this last night of his life – as we know life – leaves his small band of disciples his most beautiful parable<em>: As I have washed your feet like a slave, so you must wash the feet of each other and serve one another. As I have loved you without limit or condition, so you must love one another without limit or condition. As I am about to suffer and die for you, so you must suffer and, if necessary, die for one another.</em> Tonight’s parable is so simple, but its lesson is so central to what being a real disciple of Christ is all about. When inspired by the love of Christ, the smallest act of service done for another takes on extraordinary dimensions.<br /><br />*****<o:p></o:p></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>From Fr. Jude Botelho:</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The first reading reminds us that the Passover meal was a thanksgiving sacrifice, during which the Israelites recalled how the Lord had led them from the slavery of Egypt to the Promised Land. The Israelites were never to forget what God had done for them. To symbolize their readiness to journey to wherever the Lord was leading them, they had to eat the meal standing and in a hurry, they were a people on the move, ready to be led by their Saviour. We too recall our personal salvation history and so the Mass becomes a ‘looking back’ with gratitude and a ‘looking forward’ in hope. The Eucharist also reminds us that just as the angel of the Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites marked by the blood of the lamb, so the Lord passes over us, marked by the blood of Christ.<br /><br /><strong>Do this in memory of me…..</strong><br />Jesus asked his disciples to remember him and to celebrate the Eucharist in His memory. What are we celebrating each time we celebrate the Passover? Are we on purpose? Or have we forgotten where it all started? –It reminds me of the old hunting story of the deer hound which set off one morning chasing a magnificent buck. A few minutes into the chase a fox crossed that path and the hound veered off to chase the fox. A little later a rabbit crossed that path and the hound was soon baying after the rabbit. Then a squirrel crossed the path and the dog was pounding after him. Finally a field mouse crossed the path and the hound chased it into its burrow. The deer hound had begun chasing a great buck but would end up watching a mouse hole!<br /><em>Walter Bausch in ’Telling compelling Stories’</em><br /><br />The Gospel reminds us that just before he went to his passion, Jesus wished to celebrate his passing over with a farewell meal. His disciples sense that something is going to happen, there is tension in the air and to add to it all Jesus tells them that one with whom he is going to celebrate this meal is going to betray him. In spite of the rejection and the sense of failure, Jesus made the mighty decision to stay faithful to his mission from the Father. But Jesus does not let the anxiety of his passion or the present betrayal prevent him from showing the depth of his love. Having loved his own, he was ready to love them no matter what their response, no matter what the cost. When we reflect on the washing of the feet we regard it as a parable in action, the action of Jesus spoke for itself. As if to drive home the point still further, after Jesus had finished washing the feet of his disciples he turned to them and said, “If I have washed your feet then you too must wash one another’s feet. What I just did was to give you an example: as I have done so must you do.” When Jesus came to Peter, he refused to let Jesus wash his feet. Jesus tells Peter that if he does not wash Peter’s feet he can have no part in this meal. What Jesus is saying is that His action is more than an act of humble service. It points to the very nature of Jesus’ redeeming life and work: It is not we who redeem ourselves by anything we do; it is even more allowing ourselves to be washed; it is allowing Jesus to act in us and for us; it is letting Him be God and the only Saviour of our life.<br /><br /><strong>Eating the Paschal Meal</strong><br />Some theologians and preachers say that basically Jesus was killed because of the way he ate, whom he ate with, and what he encouraged them to do with one another as a sign of their allegiance to him and to the Kingdom of his Father. There is an old story told among Zen teachers. Once upon a time there was a family, the relatives of a poor samurai, who was dying of hunger. They approached Eisai’s temple, and the good monk there took the golden halo off the image of Buddha and gave it to them, telling them to go and sell it and buy food for themselves and find shelter. When others heard about it there were cries of “Sacrilege!” What reckless and dangerous behavior! What kind of precedent was set for the temples! But the monk calmly reminded them of the story of the Chinese master Tanka, who burned a wooden image to warm himself. And he preached to them: Buddha’s mind is full of love and mercy. If the Buddha had heard of the plight of these people, why, he would have cut off a limb if that would have helped them in their pain! What’s a halo or anything else that’s available in the face of human beings’ suffering and need? – We are invited to eat and drink at the table of the Lord, to have our feet washed, to enter the wounds and the heart of Jesus, to be his beloved friends. And we are told to do as Jesus did.<br /><em>Megan McKenna in ‘Lent –The Sunday Readings’</em><br /><br /><strong>Do this in memory of me</strong><br />The author Leslie Weatherhead, tells of a frail ten-year old boy whose mother had died and he was admitted to a Children’s home run by some Sisters. The first thing they did was to give him a warm shower and some clean clothes. He loved the new outfit but put on his old tattered cap. He clutched it tightly when the Sisters tried to remove it. After coaxing, he exchanged it for a new one. But before accepting the new one, he ripped the lining of the old and stuffed it in his pocket. “Why did you do that?” Sister asked. “Because,” he replied, that’s part of my mother’s dress, I must keep it to remember her.<br /><em>Anonymous</em><br /><br /><strong>I don’t get anything out of it</strong><br />Most people would be quite taken aback if a friend responded to a dinner invitation from them in this way. On Holy Thursday, Jesus gave us a permanent invitation to dinner with him. He promised that, no matter what the circumstances, he would always be there. He suggested that it would be a great way to become more intimately related to our believing sisters and brothers. He hoped that his followers would, by coming together for a meal, be constantly reminded of his great act of love in redeeming them, his death and resurrection. How many millions of Christians have responded by saying, “I’m not coming. I don’t get anything out of it.” We don’t get something out of an event unless we put something into it. We come to the Supper bringing our faith-supported convictions about God’s presence at the meal. We come because we care about our brothers and sisters, hoping that our own presence may be in some way helpful to their faith and prayerfulness. We come to be supportive of them in their present needs and struggles. We come because we know we will never get a better invitation to dinner.”<br /><em>Eugene Lauer in ‘Sunday Morning Insights’</em><br /><br /><strong>True worship of the heart</strong><br />There is a story about some monks in France who were popular for their loving sympathy and kind deeds, but not one of them could sing. Try as they would, the music of their services was a failure, and it became a great grief to them. One day a travelling monk, a great singer, asked for hospitality. Great was their joy, for now they could have him sing for their services, and they hoped to keep him with them always. But that night an angel came to the abbot in a dream. “Why was there no music in your chapel tonight? We always listen for beautiful music that rises in your services.” “You must be mistaken!” cried the abbot. “Usually we have no music worth hearing, but tonight, we had a trained singer with a wonderful voice, and he sang the service for us. For the first time in all these years our music was beautiful.” The angel smiled. “And yet up in heaven we heard nothing,” he said softly.<br /><em>Quoted from ‘Sunday Companion’ in ‘Quotes and Anecdotes’</em><br /><br /><strong>The Peter Principle</strong><br />Some years ago, a popular book called The Peter Principle was based on the premise that too often a person climbing the managerial ladder was promoted one step above his capacity to manage. A Christian variation on this theme could be called ‘The Simon Peter Principle,’ a rule which holds that St. Peter the Apostle was always over his head when assaying the humanity of Jesus. From the day when Jesus called Peter ‘Satan’ for supposing that he could escape human suffering to the night before he died, Peter clung to the belief that Jesus was somehow too good or too holy or too powerful to have to submit to the evil designs of his persecutors. To Peter’s mind, it was impossible that the Master could be so humbled. The ‘Simon Peter Principle’ lives on today in all of us who think that Jesus merely donned the cloak of humanity and went through the motions of human trial and suffering to set an example for the rest of us who are mired in the flesh. We pin our hopes in a God who could throw off his mantle of flesh at any moment and strike dead his tormentors. When alone in intimacy with the Saviour, we say with Peter, “You shall never wash my feet,” meaning, “Come on, I know who you really are. You can drop your pose with me.” In today’s Gospel, Jesus makes our acceptance of his total and authentic humanity a requirement for sharing his heritage. To be a Christian means much more than believing in God’s son come to earth. It means accepting the fact that God could be, and chose to be, and was humiliated…. Not just humble, but humiliated. We have seen Kings and Presidents and Popes behave humbly. We know that they can drop the pose any time. But Jesus could not drop the pose. It was no pose. Once he made the choice to drain the cup of suffering, there was no turning back. Jesus bent to the basin because a fully human being could find no other way of expressing sublime love.<br /><em>Roger Swenson in ‘The Serious Season’</em><br /><br /><strong>The man with no shoes</strong><br />In the winter of 1990, I was asked to appear on a television talk show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. At the end of our first day of taping I was on my way back to my plush hotel, when I saw something I’d never seen before. Lying on the sidewalk against a building in four inches of snow was a man sleeping with only a cardboard blanket to keep him from being completely exposed to the freezing cold. What really broke my heart was when I realized that he wore no shoes or socks. I thought to stop and help him but was not quite sure what to do. As the traffic light turned green, it seemed life was demanding that I move along. So I did and I promptly forgot about the man on the street. Several days later, prior to the morning taping, I was having coffee and Danish in the green room at the station. All of the “Important” people had left the room, it was just me and the janitor remaining. I had seen him quietly go about his business every day while I was there, and he never said a word except “Good morning” or “Can I get anything for you, sir?” He always had a smile to give to everyone. When I asked him how he was feeling today, he told me that he’d been having to ride his bike to work in the snow and that he’d been feeling rather sorry for himself…that is, until he saw a man sleeping down on the corner of Yonge Street and Bloor with just a piece of cardboard for covering from the cold and no shoes. I almost choked on my Danish as I heard him go on to relate how he was so moved with compassion for the man that he went around the corner to a store and bought the man a pair of socks and shoes. As I heard his story, I saw in my mind a poster that used to be in an old friend’s bedroom handing someone a flower and the caption read: “The smallest deed always exceeds the grandest of intentions.”<br /><em>Fr. Sudac in ‘Hear His Voice’</em></span><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">****</b><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">From Fr. Tony Kadavil:</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Introduction:</span></u></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> On Holy Thursday we celebrate three anniversaries: 1) the anniversary of the first Holy Mass, 2) the anniversary of the institution of ministerial priesthood in order to perpetuate the Holy Mass, convey God’s forgiveness to repentant sinners and preach the Good News of Salvation, 3) the anniversary of Jesus’ promulgation of His new commandment of love: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Today we remember how Jesus transformed the Jewish Passover into the New Testament Passover. The Jewish Passover was, in fact, a joint celebration of two ancient thanksgiving celebrations. The descendants of Abel, who were shepherds, used to lead their sheep from the winter pastures to the summer pastures after the sacrificial offering of a lamb to God. They called this celebration the “Pass over." On the other hand, the descendants of Cain, who were farmers, held a harvest festival called the Massoth in which they offered unleavened bread to God as an act of thanksgiving. The Passover feast of the Israelites (Exodus 12:26-37) was a harmonious combination of these two ancient feasts of thanksgiving, commanded by the Lord God to be celebrated yearly by all Israelites to thank God for the miraculous liberation of their ancestors from Egypt and their exodus from slavery to the Promised Land. </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Scripture lessons:</span></u></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> In the first reading, God gives the Hebrews two instructions: prepare for the moment of liberation by a ritual meal and make a symbolic mark on your homes to exempt yourselves from the coming slaughter. In the second reading, Paul suggests that the celebration of the Lord's Supper was an unbroken tradition from the very beginning of the Church. By it, Christians reminded themselves of the death and Resurrection of Jesus. Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus transformed the Jewish Passover into the Eucharistic celebration. After washing the feet of His Apostles and commanding them to do humble service for each other, Jesus concluded the ceremony by giving His Apostles His own Body and Blood under the appearances of bread and wine as spiritual food and drink, in addition to serving the roasted Pascal lamb.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Life Messages:</span></u></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />1)<u> A challenge for humble service. </u> Our celebration of the Eucharist requires that we wash one another’s feet, i.e., serve one another, and revere Christ's presence in other persons. In practical terms, that means we are to consider their needs to be as important as our own and to serve their needs, without expecting any reward. 2) A loving invitation for sacrificial sharing and self-giving love. Let us imitate the Self-giving model of Jesus Who shares with us His own Body and Blood and Who enriches us with His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. It is by sharing our blessings – our talents, time, health and wealth - with others that we become true disciples of Christ and obey his new commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.” 3) An invitation to become Christ-bearers and Christ-conveyers: "Go forth, the Mass is ended," really means, “Go in peace to love and serve one another’’ We are to carry Jesus to our homes and places of work, conveying to others around us the love, mercy, forgiveness and spirit of humble service of Christ Whom we carry with us. </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Introduction:</span></u></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> On Holy Thursday, we celebrate three anniversaries: 1) the anniversary of the first Holy Mass, 2) the anniversary of the institution of ministerial priesthood in order to perpetuate the Holy Mass, convey God’s forgiveness to repentant sinners and preach the Good News of Salvation, 3) the anniversary of the promulgation of Jesus’ new commandment of love: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Today we remember how Jesus transformed the Jewish Passover into the New Testament Passover. In its origins, the Jewish Passover was, in fact, a joint celebration of two ancient thanksgiving celebrations. The descendants of Abel, who were shepherds, used to lead their sheep from the winter pastures to the summer pastures after the sacrificial offering to God of a lamb. They called this celebration the “Pass over." On the other hand, the descendants of Cain, who were farmers, held a harvest festival called the Massoth in which they offered unleavened bread to God as an act of thanksgiving. The Passover feast of the Israelites (Exodus 12:26-37), was a harmonious combination of these two ancient feasts of thanksgiving, commanded by the Lord God to be celebrated yearly by all Israelites to thank God for the miraculous liberation of their ancestors from Egypt and their exodus from slavery to the Promised Land. </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Jewish Passover was a seven-day celebration, during which unleavened bread was eaten.</span></u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> The Passover meal began with the singing of the first part of the “Hallel” Psalms (Ps 113 &114), followed by the first cup of wine. Then those gathered at table ate bitter herbs, sang the second part of the “Hallel” Psalms (Ps 115-116), drank the second cup of wine and listened as the oldest man in the family explained the significance of the event, in answer to the question raised by a child. This was followed by the eating of a lamb (the blood of which had previously been offered to God in sacrifice), roasted in fire. The participants divided and ate the roasted lamb and unleavened Massoth bread, drank the third cup of wine and sang the major “Hallel" Psalms (117-118). In later years, Jews celebrated a miniature form of the Passover every Sabbath day and called it the “Love Feast.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> The first reading from Exodus, gives us an account of the origins of the Jewish feast of Passover.</span></u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> God gives the Hebrews two instructions: prepare for the moment of liberation by a ritual meal [to be held annually in later years] and make a symbolic mark on your homes to exempt yourselves from the coming slaughter. In the second reading, Paul quotes another source for this tradition that was handed to him upon his conversion. He says he received this "from the Lord,” suggesting that the celebration of the Lord's Supper was an unbroken tradition from the very beginning of the Church. Paul implies that the purpose of this celebration was to “proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes again.” Paul may simply mean that Christians, by this ritual act, remind themselves of the death and resurrection of Jesus; he may also mean that Christians prepare themselves for the proclamation of Christ to the world at large. In harmony with these readings, today’s Gospel describes how Jesus transformed the Jewish Passover into the Eucharistic celebration. First He washed His Apostles’ feet - a tender reminder of His undying affection for them; then He commanded them to do the same for each other. The incident reminds us that our vocation is to take care of one another as Jesus always takes care of us. Finally, He gave His Apostles His own Body and Blood under the appearances of bread and wine as food and drink, so that, as long as they lived, they'd never be without the comfort and strength of His presence. Thus, Jesus washed their feet, fed them and then went out to die.</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Exegesis:</span></u></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />Jesus’ transformation of his last Seder meal (Last Supper) into the first Eucharistic celebration is described for us in today’s second reading and Gospel. Jesus, the Son of God, began His Passover celebration by washing the feet of His disciples (a service assigned to household servants), as a lesson in humble service, proving that He “came to the world not to be served but to serve.” (Mark 10:45). He followed the ritual of the Jewish Passover meal up to the second cup of wine. After serving the roasted lamb as a third step, Jesus offered His own Body and Blood as food and drink under the appearances of bread and wine. Thus, He instituted the Holy Eucharist as the sign and reality of God’s perpetual presence with His people as their living, Heavenly Food. This was followed by the institution of the priesthood with the command, “Do this in memory of me." Jesus concluded the ceremony with a long speech incorporating His command of love: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Thus, Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at a private Passover meal with His disciples (Matthew 26:17-30; Luke 21:7-23). He served as both the Host and the Victim of the Sacrifice. He became the Lamb of God, as John the Baptist had previously predicted (John 1:29, 36), Who takes away the sins of the world. </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The transformation of Jesus’ Passover into the Holy Mass: </span></u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The early Jewish Christians converted the Jewish “Sabbath Love Feast” of Fridays and Saturdays (the Sabbath), into the “Memorial Last Supper Meal” of Jesus on Sundays. The celebration consisted of praising and worshipping God by singing Psalms, reading the Old Testament Messianic prophecies and listening to the teachings of Jesus as explained by an Apostle or by an ordained minister. This was followed by an offertory procession, bringing to the altar the bread and wine to be consecrated and covered dishes (meals) brought by each family for a shared common meal after the Eucharistic celebration. Then the ordained minister said the “institution narrative” over the bread and wine, and all the participants received the consecrated Bread and Wine, the living Body and Blood of the crucified and risen Jesus. This ritual finally evolved into the present day Holy Mass in various rites incorporating various cultural elements of worship and rituals. </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Life Messages:</span></u></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1) We need to serve humbly. Our celebration of the Eucharist requires that we wash one another’s feet, i.e., serve one another, and revere Christ's presence in other persons. To wash the feet of others is to love them, even when they don't deserve our love. It is to do good to them, even if they don't return the favor. It is to consider others' needs to be as important as our own. It is to forgive others from the heart, even if they don't say, "I'm sorry." It is to serve them, even when the task is unpleasant. It is to let others know that we care when they feel downtrodden or burdened. It is to be generous with what we have. It is to turn the other cheek instead of retaliating when we're treated unfairly. It is to make adjustments in our plans in order to serve others' needs, without expecting any reward.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2) We need to practice sacrificial sharing and self-giving love.</span></u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Let us imitate the Self-giving model of Jesus Who shares with us His own Body and Blood and enriches us with His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. It is by sharing our blessings – our talents, time, health and wealth - with others that we become true disciples of Christ and obey His new commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.”</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3)<u> We need to show our unity in suffering.</u> The bread we consecrate and partake of is produced by the pounding of many grains of wheat, and the wine we consecrate and drink is the result of the crushing of many grapes. Both are, thus, symbols of unity through suffering. They invite us to help, console, support, and pray for others who suffer physical or mental illnesses. </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4) <u>We need to heed the warning:</u> We need to make Holy Communion an occasion of Divine grace and blessing by receiving Jesus worthily, rather than making our reception an occasion of desecration and sacrilege by receiving Jesus while we are in grave sin. That is why we pray three times before we receive Communion, "Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us," with the final "have mercy on us" replaced by "grant us peace." That is also the reason we pray the Centurion's prayer, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed." And that is why the priest, just before he receives consecrated Host, prays, "May the Body of Christ keep me safe for eternal life," while, just before drinking from the Chalice, he prays, "May the Blood of Christ keep me safe for eternal life."</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5) We need to become Christ-bearers and Christ-conveyers:</span></u><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> In the older English version of the Mass, the final message was, “Go in peace to love and serve one another,” that is, to carry Jesus to our homes and places of work, conveying to others around us the love, mercy, forgiveness and spirit of humble service of Christ whom we carry with us. That message has not changed, though the words are different. </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-font-family: Kartika; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: ML; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">6) <u>We need to remember what Jesus did for us on Holy Thursday and does for us during every Eucharistic celebration:</u> We remember and we regret that Jesus had to go through all that He did just because of the way our lives are wrapped in sin today and every day. We remember and we rejoice that Jesus’ love for us knows no limits. We remember and we believe that Jesus has taken care of everything that stands between us and God. We remember and we rely on Jesus our living Lord Who has been through all the troubles and trials that one person can have. Hence, He is able to sympathize and help us in our times of trouble and give the best possible answers to our prayers. We remember and we know for certain that the One Who died on the cross will never leave us or desert us – we may desert Him but He will never leave us. We remember and we celebrate the new hope that we have because Jesus is alive. He is our living Lord and Savior Who supports us when we are down, strengthens us when we face difficult challenges, forgives us when we fail and comforts us when sickness and death terrify us. We remember and we are changed – What Jesus has done in giving us a new life and a new beginning through His death and Resurrection changes the way we view other people, our world and our relationship with God and, with God's help, we fill our lives with kindness, patience, tolerance and forgiveness. We remember and we anticipate that day when we will gather around the throne of God with all the saints who have gone before us. </span><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ILLUSTRATIONS:</b><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><p class="MsoNormal">1: <b> Communion on the moon:</b> The Lord’s Supper ensures that we can remember Jesus from any place. Apollo 11 landed on the moon on Sunday, July 20, 1969. Most remember astronaut Neil Armstrong’s first words as he stepped onto the moon’s surface: <i>“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind</i>.” But few know about the first meal eaten on the moon. Dennis Fisher reports that Buzz Aldrin, the NASA astronaut, had taken aboard the spacecraft a tiny pyx provided by his Catholic pastor. (Aldrin was Catholic, probably until his second marriage, when he became a Presbyterian. See the Snopes citation given below). Aldrin sent a radio broadcast to Earth asking listeners to contemplate the events of the day and give thanks. Then, blacking out the broadcast for privacy, Aldrin read, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” Then, silently, he gave thanks for their successful journey to the moon and received Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, surrendering the moon to Jesus. Next, he descended on the moon and walked on it with Neil Armstrong [Dan Gulley, “Communion on the Moon,” <i>Our Daily Bread (</i>June/July/August, 2007)]. His actions remind us that in the Lord’s Supper, God’s children can share the life of Jesus from any place on Earth — and even from the moon. God is everywhere, and our worship should reflect this reality. In Psalm 139 we are told that wherever we go, God is intimately present with us. Buzz Aldrin celebrated that experience on the surface of the moon. Thousands of miles from earth, he took time to commune with the One who created, redeemed, and established fellowship with him. (Dennis Fisher) <a href="http://www.smithvillechurch.org/html/body_remembering_jesus_on_the_moon.html">http://www.smithvillechurch.org/html/body_remembering_jesus_on_the_moon.html</a> <a href="https://www.rbc.org/devotionals/our-daily-bread/2007/07/20/devotion.aspx">https://www.rbc.org/devotionals/our-daily-bread/2007/07/20/devotion.aspx</a>, <a href="http://www.snopes.com/glurge/communion.asp">http://www.snopes.com/glurge/communion.asp</a> Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b># 2: Why is the other side empty? </b>Have you ever noticed that in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper everybody is on one side of the table? The other side is empty. “Why’s that?” someone asked the great artist. His answer was simple. “So that there may be plenty of room for us to join them.” Want to let Jesus do his thing on earth through you? Then pull up a chair and receive Him into your heart, especially in Holy Week (Fr. Jack Dorsel). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b># 3 <i>The Stole and the Towel</i></b> is the title of a book, which sums up the message of the Italian bishop, Tony Bello, who died of cancer at the age of 58. On Maundy Thursday of 1993, while on his deathbed, he dictated a pastoral letter to the priests of his diocese. He called upon them to be bound by “the stole and the towel.” The stole symbolizes union with Christ in the Eucharist, and the towel symbolizes union with humanity by service. The priest is called upon to be united with the Lord in the Eucharist and with the people as their servant. Today we celebrate the institution of both the Eucharist and the priesthood: the feast of “the stole and the towel,” the feast of love and service.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"># 4: <b>Man in the</b> <b>International Space Station </b>Astronaut Mike Hopkins is one of the select few who spent six months on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2013. And though he was thrilled when he was chosen for a space mission, there was one Person he didn’t want to leave behind: Jesus in the Eucharist. Hopkins had been received into the Church less than a year before his launch. After a long wait, he was finally able to receive Our Lord at each Mass. Facing the prospect of being off the planet for half a year, he decided he had to find out if Jesus could travel with him. It turns out Jesus could — and He did. Hopkins says, “In 2011, I got assigned to a mission to the International Space Station. I was going to go up and spend six months in space, starting in 2013. So I started asking the question, ‘Is there any chance I can take the Eucharist up with me into space?’ The weekend before I left for Russia — we launched on a Russian rocket from Kazakhstan — I went to Mass one last time, and [the priest with permission from his bishop] consecrated the wafers into the Body of Christ, and I was able to take the pyx with me. NASA has been great. … They didn’t have any reservations about me taking the Eucharist up or to practicing my Faith on orbit. The Russians were amazing. I went in with all my personal items, and I explained what the pyx was and the meaning of it to me — because for them, they, of course, saw it just as bread, if you will, the wafers — and yet for me [I knew] it was the Body of Christ. And they completely understood and said, ‘Okay, we’ll estimate it weighs this much, and no problem. You can keep it with you.’ All these doors opened up, and I was able to take the Eucharist up — and I was able to have Communion, basically, every week. There were a couple of times when I received Communion on, I’ll say, special occasions: I did two spacewalks; so on the morning of both of those days, when I went out for the spacewalk, I had Communion. It was really helpful for me to know that Jesus was with me when I went out the hatch into the vacuum of space. And then I received my last Communion on my last day on orbit in the “Cupola,” which is this large window that looks down at the Earth, and that was a very special moment before I came home.” (<a href="http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/what-is-it-like-to-receive-the-eucharist-in-space">http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/what-is-it-like-to-receive-the-eucharist-in-space</a>).Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<b> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>23 additional anecdotes:<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>1) “What did you have for breakfast today?”</b> President Nelson Mandela of South Africa (d. December 5, 2013), was one of those rare politicians who had the common touch even when the cameras were not rolling. When he spoke at banquets, he made a point of going into the kitchen and shaking hands with every dishwasher and busboy. When out in public, he often worried his bodyguards because he was prone to stop to talk with a little child. Typically, he would ask, “How old are you son?” Then his next question is, “What did you have for breakfast today?” — In that strange, wonderful company called the Kingdom of God, even the bosses wash feet. Have you allowed Jesus to give you a servant’s heart and servant’s hands? Be servant leaders in a serving community!Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>2) Jesus has no desire to be cloned:</b> That night in the upper room Jesus knew what it would take to change the world — not strife and revolution, not warfare and bloodshed, but love, sincere, self-sacrificing love on the part of his people. Last November, Dr. Avi Ben-Abraham, head resident of the American Cryogenics Society, told an audience in Washington, D.C., that several high-ranking Roman Catholic Church leaders had privately told him that despite the Church’s public stance against research in genetics and gene reproduction and experimentation in artificial life production, they personally supported his way-out research. According to Ben-Abraham, those Church leaders hope to reproduce Jesus Christ from DNA fibers found on the Shroud of Turin. — If Dr. Ben-Abraham is right, somebody’d better tell those venerable church leaders that Jesus has no desire to be cloned — except in the lives of those who love him and follow him. That’s why He takes bread and wine and gives us Himself in Holy Communion, to bring us forgiveness and to strengthen us to love one another. <i>“This is My will — this is My commandment for you — love one another” (Jn 13:34).</i> Fr. Tony <b>(</b><a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/"><b>http://frtonyshomilies.com/</b></a><b>) 2021.</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>3)“Jesus Christ gave a lasting memorial”: </b>One of his Catholic disciples asked the controversial god-man Osho Rajneesh about the difference between Buddha the founder of Buddhism and Jesus Christ. Rajneesh told a story to distinguish between Buddha and Christ. When Buddha was on his deathbed, his disciple Anand asked him for a memorial and Buddha gave him a Jasmine flower. However, as the flower dried up, the memory of Buddha also dwindled. But Jesus Christ instituted a lasting memorial without anybody’s asking for it by offering his Body and Blood under the appearances of bread and wine and commanding his disciples to share his Divinity by repeating the ceremony. So Jesus continues to live in his followers while Buddha lives only in history books. — On Holy Thursday we are reflecting on the importance of the institution of the Holy Eucharist and the ministerial priesthood. [Osho Rajneesh claimed himself to be another incarnation of God who attained “enlightenment” at 29 when he was a professor of Hindu philosophy in Jabalpur University in India. He had thousands of followers for his controversial “<i>liberation through sex theology,</i>” based on Hindu, Buddhist and Christian theology.] Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>4) “Now she’s ready for living–in this life and the next.”</b> TV pastor Robert Schuller tells about the time Bishop Fulton Sheen spoke at the Crystal Cathedral. Fulton Sheen was one of the most effective religious communicators of his time. In the early 1950s, his weekly television broadcast was the most popular program in the country. Because he was so popular, thousands of people came to hear Sheen at the Crystal Cathedral. After the message, he and Robert Schuller were able to get to their car only because a passageway was roped off. Otherwise, they would have been mobbed. Along both sides of the ropes, people were reaching out in an attempt to touch the bishop. It was as if the pope himself had come to town. As Sheen was passing through this section on his way to his car, someone handed him a note, which he folded and put into his pocket. Then, as he and Schuller were on their way to the restaurant where they were going to eat lunch, Bishop Sheen pulled out that note, read it, and asked Schuller, “Do you know where this trailer park is?” Schuller looked at the note and said, “Yes, it’s just a couple of miles from here.” The bishop said, “Do you think we could go there before we go to lunch?” “Sure,” Schuller answered. “We have plenty of time.” So they drove to this little trailer park, and Bishop Sheen went up to one of the trailers and knocked on the door. An elderly woman opened the door, and seemed surprised–flabbergasted, really–when she saw who had come to visit her. She opened the door and the bishop went in. After a few moments, he came out, got back in the car and said, “Now she’s ready for living–in this life and the next.” [Robert A. Schuller, <i>Dump Your Hang-ups</i> (Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 1993).] — Bishop Sheen showed the Spirit of Jesus on Holy Thursday.Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>5) A president in servant’s role:</b> “When I try to tell people what Ronald Reagan was like,” says Peggy Noonan, former White House speechwriter, “I tell them the bathroom story.” A few days after President Reagan had been shot, when he was able to get out of bed, he wasn’t feeling well, so he went into the bathroom that connected to his room. He slapped some water on his face and some of the water slopped out of the sink. He got some paper towels and got down on the floor to clean it up. An aide went in to check on him, and found the president of the United States on his hands and knees on the cold tile floor, mopping up water with paper towels. “Mr. President,” the aide said, “what are you doing? Let the nurse clean that up!” And President Ronald Reagan said, “Oh, no. I made that mess, and I’d hate for the nurse to have to clean it up.” [Pat Williams, <i>The Paradox of Power </i>(New York: Warner Faith, 2002).]Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>6) Waiting and remembering:</b> One day the professor of Eucharistic theology came in carrying a brown paper bag and declared that his theology students were going to learn the significance of the Lord’s Supper. As he began to talk he reached into the bag and pulled out a hand full of Buckeyes, and began throwing them, one by one, to each member of the class. (If you are not familiar with the Buckeye, it is the large, shiny brown seed of the Horse Chestnut tree. It is especially abundant in Ohio, which is the reason Ohio is known as the Buckeye State.) The professor then reached into his own pocket and removed a small, brown, shriveled up something. Holding it between his two fingers for all to see he said to the class, “See this? This is a Buckeye like you have. I have been carrying it around in my pocket since 1942. I had a son who went off to the war that year. When he left he gave me this Buckeye, and told me to put it in my pocket and keep it there until he came home. That way each time I reached in my pocket I would always remember him. Well, I have been carrying that Buckeye in my pocket since 1942. And I have been waiting. Waiting for my son to come back, and each time I reach in my pocket I remember my son.” — Eucharistic celebration is about waiting and remembering. Each time, we, as a community of Faith, gather around the table to take the consecrated Bread and Wine we are remembering, and we are proclaiming that we are waiting for our Lord to return. (Jerry Fritz, <a href="http://leiningers.com/waiting.html">http://leiningers.com/waiting.html</a>).Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>7) “You don’t recognize me, do you?”</b> There is an old legend about DaVinci’s painting of the Last Supper. In all of his paintings he tried to find someone to pose who fit the face of the particular character he was painting. Out of hundreds of possibilities he chose a 19-year old to portray Jesus. It took him six months to paint the face of Jesus. Seven years later DaVinci started hunting for just the right face for Judas. Where could he find one that would portray that image? He looked high and low. Down in a dark Roman dungeon he found a wretched, unkempt prisoner who could strike the perfect pose. The prisoner was released to his care and when the portrait of Judas was complete the prisoner said to the great artist, “You don’t recognize me, do you? I am the man you painted seven years ago as the face of Christ. O God, I have fallen so low.”Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>8) “I am among you as one who serves.”</b> One of our most famous Memphians is the brilliant soprano, Kallen Esperian. We swell with pride as we see her recognized as one of the world’s most talented vocalists. But when I think of Kallen, something else comes to mind. Almost two years ago a member of our Christ Church prison ministry had the nerve to invite Kallen to go along to the city jail. — Here was a world-class talent, the toast of concert halls around the world, singing a Gospel song for free in the Memphis city jail. She imbued the real spirit of Jesus. After washing the feet of the apostles Jesus said, “<i>I am among you as one who serves.”</i> Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>9) Precious gift:</b> We are all familiar with the situation of the little boy who wants to give his father a birthday present but does not have any money to buy one. His father, realizing his son is too young to be able to earn any money, slips him five bucks so that he can do some shopping the next time they are in town. The big day comes, and the little boy proudly presents his father with a beautifully wrapped, birthday gift. He is so very happy and proud of himself. So is his father – proud and happy to have such a loving son. — God gave us his Son so that we could give him back as a gift and become once again his sons and daughters. Jesus Christ was placed in our hands so that we could have a gift, the best of gifts. During each Eucharistic celebration we give this precious gift back to God the Father. Today we celebrate the feast of the First Mass (Fr. Jack Dorsel). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>10) “Gone, But Not for Cotton:”</b> There is an absolutely terrible old joke about a bill collector in Georgia who knocked on the door of a client who lived out in a rural area. This client owed the bill collector’s company money. “Is Fred home?” he asked the woman who answered the door.” Sorry,” the woman replied. “Fred’s gone for cotton.” The next day the collector tried again. “Is Fred here today?” “No, sir,” she said, “I’m afraid Fred has gone for cotton.” When he returned the third day, he said sarcastically, “I suppose Fred is gone for cotton again?” “No,” the woman answered solemnly, “Fred died yesterday.” Suspicious that he was being avoided, the bill collector decided to wait a week and check out the cemetery himself. Sure enough, there was poor Fred’s tombstone. On it was this inscription: “Gone, But Not for Cotton.” — That’s terrible, I know, but it is a reminder that tonight as we participate in the Lord’s Supper, proclaiming that Christ is neither gone nor forgotten. We assert our Faith that He is present, here with us, as we receive Holy Communion in remembrance of him. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>11) “I still think they are wonderful.”</b> Dr. Robert Kopp tells of an interview someone did with the great composer Irving Berlin. We remember Berlin for favorites like “God Bless America,” “Easter Parade,” and “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas.” Berlin was asked, “Is there any question you’ve never been asked that you would like someone to ask you?” “Well, yes, there is one,” Berlin replied. He posed the question himself: “What do you think of the many songs you’ve written that didn’t become hits?” Then he answered his own question: “My reply would be that I still think they are wonderful.” Then he added, “God, too, has an unshakable delight in what–and whom–He has made. He thinks each of His children is wonderful, and, whether they’re a ‘hit’ in the eyes of others or not, He will always think they’re wonderful.” — Irving Berlin hit it right on the head. Here is the critical truth about Faith: it is grounded in God’s wondrous love for us. We may not feel worthy to be loved, we may even repudiate that love, but we cannot keep God from loving. That is God’s very nature. God is love. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>12) “Forget-me-not:”</b> There is an old legend that after God finished creating the world, He still had the task of naming every creature and plant in it. Anyone who has ever faced the task of naming a newborn knows this is not as easy as it seems. Thinking Himself finished at last, God heard a small voice saying, “How about me?” Looking down, the Creator spied a small flower. “I forgot you once,” He said, “but it will not happen again.” And, at that moment, the forget-me-not was born. [<i>The Great American Bathroom Reader</i> by Mark B. Charlton, (Barnes & Noble, New York, 1997), p. 260.] — It’s just a silly legend–a myth, if you will–but the reason such legends and myths abound is that they reflect the truth about God. God loves. God loves each of us as if God had no one else to love.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The $5,000 battery-less Sky-Eye chip was originally developed to track Israeli secret-service agents abroad. Sold by Gen-Etics, Sky-Eye runs solely on the neurophysiological energy generated within the human body. Gen-Etics won’t reveal where the chip is inserted but says 43 people have had it implanted. [“World Watch,” edited by Anita Hamilton, <i>Timedigital</i> (Nov. 30, 1998), p. 107.] –It is amazing to me that it is easier for some people to believe that technology can track an individual person’s movements anywhere in the world, but that, somehow, we are lost to God. How absurd! We are under the watchful eye of a Heavenly Father Who never forgets us, never leaves us, and is always concerned about our well-being. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>13) “I missed!”</b> Former President Reagan told a humorous story during the last days of his administration. It was about Alexander Dumas, author of <i>The Three Musketeers</i> and <i>The Count of Monte Cristo</i>. It seems that Dumas and a friend had a severe argument. The matter got so out of hand that one challenged the other to a duel. Both Dumas and his friend were superb marksmen. Fearing that both men might fall in such a duel, they resolved to draw straws instead. Whoever drew the shorter straw would then be pledged to shoot himself. Dumas was the unlucky one. He drew the short straw. With a heavy sigh, he picked up his pistol and trudged into the library and closed the door, leaving the company of friends who had gathered to witness the non-duel outside. In a few moments a solitary shot was fired. All the curious pressed into the library. They found Dumas standing with his pistol still smoking. “An amazing thing just happened,” said Dumas. “I missed!” — I am amazed how many Christians have been in the Church all their lives and still have missed the Gospel. So many folks still live in the Old Testament, bound by legalisms, restricted by the “Thou shalt nots” without being empowered by “Thou shalts.” Some are experts at the Ten Commandments, but absolute failures at the eleventh and most important of all. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another” (Jn 13:34; RSV)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>14) He picked it up and returned it to the bench:</b> Many years ago, a sticky situation arose at the wedding ceremony for the Duke of York. All the guests and the wedding attendants were in place. Majestic organ music filled the sanctuary of Westminster Abbey. But something was wrong. As part of the marriage ceremony, the Duke and his bride were to kneel on a cushioned bench to receive a blessing. A nervous whisper spread through the congregation as guests noticed that one of the cushions from the kneeling bench had fallen on the floor. Most of the attendants standing near the kneeling bench had royal blood-lines; at the very least, they were all from the upper crust of British society. To reach down and pick up the pillow would have been beneath them. They all pretended to ignore the misplaced pillow until finally the Prince of Wales, Heir to the Throne, who was a groomsman, picked it up and returned it to the bench (George C. Pidgeon). — That may not impress us very much, but in a society that is as class-conscious as British society, this was an extraordinary act. No wonder Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">15) <b>The Beloved Captain: </b> Donald Hankey’s The Beloved Captain tells how the captain cared for his men’s feet. After long marches he went into the barracks to inspect the feet of his soldiers. He’d get down on his hands and knees to take a good look at the worst cases. If a blister needed lancing, he’d frequently lance it himself. “There was no affectation about this,” says Donald Hankey. “It seemed to have a touch of Christ about it, and we loved and honored him the more” for it. – Is there a “touch of Christ” about our concern for our brothers and sisters? “Jesus, my feet are dirty…. Pour water into your basin and come and wash my feet. I know that I am overbold is asking this, but I dread your warning, when you said, ‘If I do not wash your feet, you can have no companionship with me.’ Wash my feet, then, because I do want your companionship.” (<b>Mark Link in<i> Daily Homilies</i>; quoted by </b>Fr. Botelho). <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>16) Pope missing</b>: A story from the life of Pope St. John Paul II brings home the profound significance of what we do tonight. Bishop John Magee, who was personal secretary to the Pope, tells about something that happened after Pope John Paul II’s election. An official came to Vatican asking to speak immediately with the new Pope. Bishop Magee went to the Pope’s room. He was not there. He went to the library, the chapel, the kitchen, even the roof. When he couldn’t find the Pope, he began to think about Morris West’s novel, <i>The Shoes of the Fisherman.</i> In that novel a newly elected Slavic pope slips out of the Vatican to find out what is happening with ordinary people in his new diocese. That was fiction, but if the new Pope actually did it, it might turn out badly. Then Bishop Magee ran to a priest who knew the Pope. “We’ve lost the Holy Father,” he said. “I’ve looked everywhere and cannot find him.” The Polish priest asked calmly, “Did you look in the chapel?” “Yes,” said Bishop Magee, “he was nowhere in sight.” “Go further in,” the Polish priest said, “but do not turn on the light.” Bishop Magee walked quietly into the darkened chapel. In front of the tabernacle, lying prostrate on the floor, was the Pope. The Polish priest knew that, before his election, the Pope often prostrated himself before Jesus truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. — Tonight, we commemorate that greatest of all tangible gifts. St. Paul quotes Jesus saying, <i>“This is my Body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor 11:24).</i> Jesus gives himself to us in a humble form – unleavened bread like that the Israelites ate during their Passover. (Fr. Phil Bloom). <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">17) <b>Gathering together in His Name: </b>A religious persecution in 1980 left a region of Guatemala without priests. But the people continued to meet in various parishes. Once a month they sent a delegate to a part of Guatemala where priests were still functioning. Traveling up to eighteen hours on foot, the delegate celebrated the Lord’s Supper in the name of the parish. Describing one of these celebrations, Fernando Bermudez writes in his book, Death and Resurrection in Guatemala: “The altar was covered with baskets of bread. After the Mass, each participant came up to take his or her basket home again. Now the bread was Holy Communion for the brothers and sisters of each community. In time the authorities closed all Churches. But the people refused to stop gathering, recalling Jesus’ words, <i>“where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them”</i> <i>(Mt 18:20).</i> [Mark Link in Journey: <b><i>Life-giving Blood</i>; quoted by Fr. Botelho.]. <o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>18) Film: Entertaining Angels: </b>Twenty-year-old Dorothy Day was a reporter and a part of an elite Socialist group in New York. Dorothy encountered a homeless man and a friendly nun and followed them to a Church that had opened a soup kitchen for the poor. She often went to the kitchen to help. She began to read Catholic books and was converted. She was urged to start feeding the poor and caring for the sick. During the 1930’s Dorothy became even more socially active. She opened hospitality houses and tried to improve the lives of the poor. Dorothy led a very unconventional life by Catholic standards. Her pre-conversion past, her abortion, and her decision not to marry, but to remain a single parent, are interesting because she used these unusual circumstances to follow Christ by helping the poor and homeless. She is a twentieth century model of lay holiness. Dorothy Day, like the apostles, was someone who did not have Faith at first. She gradually accepted the gift of Faith and grew in it by serving others. She spent most of her adult life living Jesus’ commandment of love. She personally cared for the indigent and homeless people in many ways, from preparing and serving meals to washing their feet. This was the life of Dorothy Day. An exasperated volunteer agreed to go on working when she wanted to quit because Dorothy had said, “You never know… you might be entertaining angels.” –- On this Holy Thursday we are reminded to blend our beliefs and actions into one life lived for God. (Peter Malone in Lights, Camera, Faith; quoted<b> by Fr. Botelho.)</b> <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>19) Meaningful Explanation:</b> A man came to a priest and wanted to make fun of his Faith, so he asked, “How can bread and wine turn into the Body and Blood of Christ?”<br />The Priest answered, “No problem. You yourself change food into your body and blood, so why can’t Christ do the same?” But the man did not give up. He asked, “But how can the entire body of Christ be in such a small host?” “In the same way that the vast landscape before you can fit into your little eye.” But he still persisted, “How can the same Christ be present in all your Churches at the same time? The priest then took a mirror and let the man look into it. Then he let the mirror fall to the ground and break and said to the skeptic. “There is only one of you, and yet you can find your face reflected in each piece of that broken mirror at the same time.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>20) A Walking Sermon:</b> Reporters and city officials gathered at a Chicago railroad station one afternoon in 1953. The person they were meeting was the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner. A few moments after the train came to stop, a giant of a man — six foot four inches — with bushy hair and a large mustache stepped from the train. Cameras flashed. City officials approached him with hands outstretched. Various people began telling him how honored they were to meet him. The man politely thanked them and then, looking over their heads, asked if he could be excused for a moment. He quickly walked through the crowd until he reached the side of an elderly black woman who was struggling with two heavy suitcases. He picked up the bags and with a smile escorted the woman to a bus. After helping her aboard, he wished her a safe journey. As he returned to the greeting party he apologized, “Sorry to have kept you waiting.” The man was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the famous missionary doctor who had spent his life helping the poor in Africa. In response to Schweitzer’s action, one of the members of the reception committee said with great admiration to the reporter standing next to him, “That’s the first time I ever saw a sermon walking.” — Our worship should lead us to become walking sermons. Today’s Gospel about the feet washing by Jesus may be called a washing sermon. (Jeff Strite).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>21) Get inspired by the Eucharist:</b> A few months before he died in 1979, Bishop Fulton Sheen gave a television interview. The reporter asked, “Your Excellency, you have inspired millions. Who inspired you? Was it the Pope?” Bishop Sheen responded that it was not the Pope or a cardinal or another bishop or even a priest or nun. It was an eleven-year-old girl. He explained that when the Communists took over China in the late forties, they imprisoned a priest in his own rectory. Looking through the window, the priest saw the soldier enter the Church and break open the tabernacle, scattering the Blessed Sacrament on the floor. The priest knew the exact number of hosts in the tabernacle: thirty-two. Unnoticed by the soldiers, a young girl had been praying in the back of the church and she hid when they came in. That night the girl returned and spent an hour in prayer. She then entered the sanctuary, knelt and bent over to take one of the hosts on her tongue. The girl came back each night, spent an hour in prayer and received Jesus by picking up a sacred host with her tongue. The thirty-second night, after consuming the final host, she made an accidental sound awakening a guarding soldier. He ran after her and when he caught her, he struck her with the rifle butt. The noise woke the priest -but too late. From his house he saw the girl die. Bishop Sheen said that when he heard about this, it inspired him so much that he made a promise that he would spend one hour each day before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. He always said that the power of his priesthood came from the Eucharist.– Get inspired by the Eucharist! (John Pichappilly in <i>The Table of the Word</i>). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>22) The altar and the marketplace:</b> Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee said in an interview in the magazine, The Critic: “If younger people are having an identity problem as Catholics, I tell them to do two things: Go to Mass every Sunday, and work in a soup kitchen. If one does those two things over a period of time, then something will happen to give one a truly Catholic identity. The altar and the marketplace – these two- must be related to each other; when they are, one works better, and one prays better.” — Application: Is our celebration of the Eucharist completed by our loving deeds? (Gerard Fuller in Stories for all Seasons; quoted<b> by Fr. Botelho.) </b>Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>23) “Neither is your best good enough for Almighty God.”</b> There was once an old retired Methodist bishop who never missed an opportunity to say a word for his Lord. One day he was in the barbershop receiving a haircut from the young man who was his regular barber. There was enough conversation in the shop to allow him to speak with his barber privately, so he said, “Harry, how are you and the Lord getting along?” Rather curtly the young man replied, “Bishop, I do the best I can and that’s good enough for me.” The bishop said no more. When his haircut was finished, he got up and paid the barber. Then he said with a smile, “Harry, you work so hard that you deserve a break. Sit down, rest, and have a Coke. I’ll cut the next customer’s hair.” The barber smiled and said, “Bishop, I appreciate that, but I can’t let you do it.” “But why not?” asked the Bishop. “I promise to do my best.” “But,” said the barber, “I’m afraid that your best wouldn’t be good enough.” Then the bishop added the obvious, “And son, neither is your best good enough for Almighty God.” Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.</p></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">************<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">From the Connections:</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b>THE WORD:</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />The centerpiece of John’s Gospel account of the Last Supper is the <b>mandatum</b> -- from the Latin word for “commandment,” from which comes the traditional title for this evening, <b>Maundy</b> Thursday. At the Passover seder, the night before he died, Jesus established a new Passover to celebrate God's covenant with the new Israel. The special character of this second covenant is the <b>mandatum</b> of the washing of the feet -- to love one another as we have been loved by Christ.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">(John makes no mention of the establishment of the Eucharist in his account of the Last Supper. Chapters 14, 15 and 16 recount Jesus’ last instructions to his disciples, followed by his “high priestly prayer” in chapter 17. The Johannine theology of the Eucharist is detailed in the “bread of life” discourse following the multiplication of the loaves and fish at Passover, in chapter 6 of his Gospel.)<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Tonight’s first reading recounts the origin and ritual of the feast of Passover, the Jewish celebration of God's breaking the chains of the Israelites’ slavery in Egypt and leading them to their own land, establishing a covenant with them and making of them his own beloved people.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The deep divisions in the Corinthian community have led to abuses and misunderstandings concerning the “breaking of the bread.” In addressing these problems and articulating the proper spirit in which to approach the Lord’s Supper, Paul provides us with the earliest written account of the institution of the Eucharist, the Passover of the new covenant (this evening's second reading). If we fail to embrace the spirit of love and servanthood in which the gift of the Eucharist is given to us, then “Eucharist” becomes a judgment against us.<b> </b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b>HOMILY POINTS:<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The Eucharist, instituted this night, comes at a price all must be willing to pay: We must become what we have received – we must become, for others, Christ the healer, Christ the compassionate and selfless brother, Christ the humble “washer of feet.”<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Jesus, who revealed the wonders of God in stories about mustard seeds, fishing nets and ungrateful children, on this last night of his life -- as we know life -- leaves his small band of disciples his most beautiful parable<i>: As I have washed your feet like a slave, so you must wash the feet of each other and serve one another. As I have loved you without limit or condition, so you must love one another without limit or condition. As I am about to suffer and die for you, so you must suffer and, if necessary, die for one another.</i> Tonight’s parable is so simple, but its lesson is so central to what being a real disciple of Christ is all about. When inspired by the love of Christ, the smallest act of service done for another takes on extraordinary dimensions. <o:p> </o:p></div>**********<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">From Fr. Jude Botelho:</b><o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The Book of Exodus tells us how the Lord ordered the Israelites to keep the Paschal meal. Each family had to kill a lamb and smear the doorposts with the blood of the lamb. The lamb should be roasted and eaten standing to signify their readiness to pass from the land of slavery to the land of promise. It would also signify the passing of the angel of the Lord over the houses of the Israelites marked by the blood of the lamb. To remember this Passover, God ordered the Israelites to keep the Feast of the Passover. The lamb sacrificed was eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs and the father of the family would explain to the children, year after year, what the meal and the feast meant. Our Eucharistic celebration is a commemoration of the same Paschal meal, reminding us that we are called to pass from the land of slavery to sin to the land of freedom; we are called to pass over from wherever we are to where the Lord wants us to be. It calls to mind the fact that God has passed over our sins thanks to the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ through whose death we are given life.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Depiction of the Eucharist<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An old Church in Cologne had a telling illustration of the Bread of life on the door of the church. The door had four panels, each portraying a biblical scene relating to the Eucharist. The first panel had six stone jars, depicting the miracle of Cana; the second showed five loaves and two fishes, referring to the feeding of the five thousand; the third panel portrayed Jesus and the twelve seated at the table in the Upper Room; and the last panel had three figures -Jesus breaking bread with two of his disciples in the Inn at Emmaus. The common interpretation of the first miracle depicted is that the Lord came to the rescue of the young couple who were embarrassed having run out of wine. The artist's message was that just as Jesus had turned the water into wine so one day he would change wine into his blood, thus prefiguring the Eucharist. The second panel shows the feeding of the five thousand. In Capernaum he gave ordinary bread; at the Last Supper he would give the bread of Life. The third panel reveals the institution of the Eucharist. In the Upper Room Jesus does more than change water into wine, he changes wine into his blood. He does more than multiply loaves; he changes bread into his body. In the last panel we see in the meal at Emmaus the first post-resurrection Eucharist. First in the scriptures and then in the breaking of bread they learn to recognize the Lord in their midst and their hearts are warmed at his presence. The four panels thus progressively reveal the true meaning of the Eucharist. (Mark Link)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John, who wrote his gospel more than fifty years after the last supper had taken place, does not narrate the Institution of the Holy Eucharist, since Matthew, Mark and Luke had already done it. But John wanted to remind the Christians of what Jesus had done on the night of the Last Supper. The central point of his teaching that night was his new commandment. To drive home this message he tells us how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples during the Last Supper. No other Gospel narrates this event. John was well aware that the Eucharist was the greatest gift of the Lord to the Church. Yet he preferred to describe a ritual that Jesus performed that night, which would highlight the true meaning of "Do this in memory of me!" The celebration of the Eucharist becomes relevant and meaningful only when we have washed one another's feet. After years of participating in the Eucharist, have we understood what the Lord is asking of us? Unfortunately, we have made the Eucharist a ritual to be observed but with no bearing on our daily lives. We can participate in the Eucharist daily and yet not let it affect our lives in any way. Similarly we can on this day participate in the ritual of the washing of the feet and yet not see the implications of this new commandment. To celebrate the Eucharist we have to live it. To live as a follower of Jesus Christ we have to wash one another's feet, we have to be servants; we have to live lives of humble service.<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Body of Christ!<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once I was giving out Holy Communion in a crowded church. Just as I was about to place the host on a lady's tongue, another person jostled her by wedging into a narrow space besides her. She immediately closed her mouth before receiving, turned to the intruder and called her a bitch, then turned back to me, opened her mouth and said "Amen" to the body of Christ! So often we receive the body of Christ in the Eucharist and fail to recognize it in the pew. So often the tongue that receives the Lord in Holy Communion is only too ready to lacerate the body of Christ over a cup of coffee after Mass. (James Feeban)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Film: 'Entertaining Angels': The Dorothy Day Story<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Twenty-year-old Dorothy Day was a reporter and a part of an elite socialist group in New York. Dorothy encounters a homeless man and a friendly nun and follows them to a Church that has opened a soup kitchen for the poor. She often goes to the kitchen to help. She begins to read Catholic books and gets converted. She is urged to start feeding the poor and caring for the sick. During the 1930's Dorothy becomes even more socially active. She opens hospitality houses and tries to improve the lives of the poor. -Dorothy led a very unconventional life by Catholic standards. Her pre-conversion past and abortion, her decision not to marry and remain a single parent are interesting because she used these unusual circumstances to follow Christ by helping the poor and homeless. She is a twentieth century model of lay holiness. Dorothy Day, like the apostles, was someone who did not have faith at first. She gradually accepted the gift of faith and grew in it by serving others. She spent most of her adult life living Jesus' commandment of love. She personally cared for the indigent and homeless people in many ways, from preparing and serving meals to washing their feet. This was the life of Dorothy Day. An exasperated volunteer agreed to go on working when she wanted to quit because Dorothy had said, "You never know, you might be entertaining angels." - On this Holy Thursday we are reminded to blend our beliefs and actions into one life lived for God. (Peter Malone)</div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Ultimate Acceptance<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An orthodox Jewish father came to my university office to discuss a serious problem. His son was becoming romantically involved with a young Catholic woman. The old patriarch was well-disposed to Christianity, very tolerant of its beliefs and practices. But it was 'crossing the line' to think of his son marrying a gentile outside the synagogue and perhaps even becoming a Catholic. He was disappointed in the young woman because of the present turn of events. He had readily accepted her as his son's friend but felt that she should have been more sensitive to the limits of the relationship, to its future implications, especially since he and his wife had so graciously received her into their home and family circle. As he concluded, he made a statement that wonderfully summarized a whole set of Old Testament feelings. He leaned over the desk and said dramatically: "And we even invited her to our table." What more could he have done? That said it all. His hospitality was complete. In the best of his Jewish tradition, he had included her as fully as he could. -On Holy Thursday, Jesus invites us all to His table. To invite us to his banquet table was the ultimate way that the Jewish carpenter could tell us that he accepted us, no matter how weak and sinful we may be. Jesus invited everyone to dinner to share in all of those rich human experiences which, at that moment, became divine experiences. (Eugene Lauer)<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Remembering<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A man made a dramatic turnaround in his life. When asked how he did it, he pulled out a snapshot from his wallet. It was a picture of a caseworker who had helped him years ago. "Whenever I am tempted to fall back into my old ways," the man said, "I remember what this caseworker did for me, and I draw strength from his memory." That story illustrates an important biblical truth. For ancient Jews remembering a religious event meant far more than calling to mind something that had happened centuries before. On the contrary, remembering the event meant bringing it into the present and reliving it by faith. Thus when the Jews remembered the Passover each year, they did far more than recall to mind the event that freed their ancestors from Egypt. Rather, by remembering, they brought that event into the present and relived it again. In this way they received the same blessing from it that their ancestors did. (Mark Link in 'Journey')</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p> </o:p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Eucharistic Meal<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In most cultures a meal is a special ceremony, time and occasion. We divide our day by mealtimes. A meal implies being together as a family -perhaps the only time of the day. It implies being one. Divorce is called "separation of bed and board." Tearing up a table cloth is a sign of disunity in a family. Soldiers unstrap their bayonet belt before entering a mess hall -no fighting in a dining room. At the dining table enemies, especially chiefs of clans, seal their agreements by eating one another's food. All eating is meant to be sharing. You cannot have a feast without a meal. Every big occasion has one farewell as well as welcome. When a businessman wants to discuss something important, or a friend wants to tell you something unpleasant, or a man has a special message for a woman -they get together over a meal. All this is implied in the Eucharist. (Fred Michalic in '1000 stories you can use')</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p> </o:p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Tragedy and Triumph<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An old African folk tale speaks of a land which was suffering from a famine. Men and beasts starved to death. Everyone was worried just about staying alive. In this country lived a pelican which did not worry about keeping herself alive as much as preserving the life of her young ones. Day after day she scrounged for food. Finally there was no food she could find, the pelican could find no other way out, so in her great need she made a hole in her own breast with her beak and gave her young ones her own blood to drink. When the famine was over her young ones were strong and able to fly away and look after themselves. She had given them her lifeblood to make them live.<o:p></o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Willi Hoffsuemmer in '1000 stories you can use'<o:p> </o:p></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Live for others<o:p></o:p></b></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the Russian Orthodox Church, there were people called Poustinikki who devoted themselves to lives of prayer. They withdrew to the desert (poustinia) and lived in solitude, but not isolation. The Russian word for solitude means "being with everybody." By custom, the latch was always off the door as a sign of availability. The poustinikki's priority was always a neighbour's need. We too are to live with the latch off the door to our hearts for the service of others. (John Pichappilly)</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-2714425264317483502024-03-24T18:09:00.004+05:302024-03-24T18:09:55.593+05:30 Holy Week, Wednesday, March 27<p> <b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Holy Week, Wednesday, March 27</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Isaiah 50:4-9 / Matthew 26:14-25</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus speaks about his betrayer; Judas said, "Surely it is not I?"</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Judas was able to conceal his plan from the other disciples, but he wasn't able to conceal it from Jesus. And this allows us to see how Jesus deals with sinners. One of the greatest mysteries of life is the tremendous respect God has for the free will of people.</span></p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus didn't force sinners to change their lives. Rather, he invited them to change. He appealed to them to change. At every step of the way, Jesus dealt the same way with Judas. He made Judas the treasurer of the group. He invited him to eat the Last Supper, just as he did the others.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How open are we to Jesus' invitation to change our lives for the better? "Love is the only force that can make things one without destroying them." Teilhard de Chardin</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Today we hear the bad news of the betrayal of Judas, together with the sad yet joyous good news of Jesus’ Passover meal with his disciples. “My time is near. I will keep the Passover with my disciples.” Jesus will eat the Passover meal surrounded by those who have followed him. The traitor leaves them to betray Jesus. But Jesus, the Servant of God and people, faces his death with the fullest trust in God. Jesus will celebrate this Passover in a new way making it the eucharist. This is like a testament he leaves his disciples. It is the deepest way he is going to stay among his disciples then and now.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Today’s gospel tells us how Judas finalized his plot to betray Jesus into the hands of the chief priests; in some places this day is referred to as "spy Wednesday." Though we realize that only God knows really in the heart of Judas, we do just why he turned traitor. Was it mere avarice? The gospel does call him a thief and relates that he stole from the common purse he held in trust for Jesus and the other apostles. But does it not seem that if he had had faith in Jesus, his faith should have conquered his greed?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The first mention of Judas as a traitor on the occasion Jesus promised that he would give his flesh to eat and his blood to drink. Jesus made that day of preaching on the Eucharist a supreme test of faith. When some of his own disciples walked away from him in protest that his words were hard to endure, he turned to the apostles to let them know that he demanded absolute faith as he asked, "DO you want to leave me too?" Though Peter manifested his faith in the name of the apostles, Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil." And St. John comments, "Ile was speaking of Judas Iscariot . . . for he it was, though one of the twelve, who betray him" (Jn 6, 71-72).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">It was from the supper table at Jesus instituted the Eucharist that Judas left to carry out his betrayal. The impression, at least, is left that Judas turned traitor because<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">he had failed to pass the supreme test of faith in the Eucharist.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tomorrow, Holy Thursday, we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist. Let us take that occasion to profess our complete faith in Jesus, and let us pray that our faith will make us loyal and faithful to him.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Opening Prayer</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">God our Father, when the hour of your Son Jesus had come to accept suffering and death out of love of you and his saving love for us, he did not refuse that suffering and deep pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the hour of trial that we may have to pass through, do not let us become rebellious but keep us trusting in you, for you save us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-23251476391834813432024-03-24T18:00:00.000+05:302024-03-24T18:05:35.530+05:30 Tuesday of Holy Week, March 26<p><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Tuesday of Holy Week, March 26</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Isaiah 49:1-6 / John 13:21-33, 36-38</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Jesus talks about betrayal; The disciples were amazed at Jesus' words.</b> <span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: times;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">The surprising thing about Judas' plan to betray Jesus is that the other disciples had no idea of it. How could they have lived so close to Judas and been so blind to what was going on in his mind? There are two lessons here. First, our external words and actions may deceive others, but they will never deceive God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">Second, the day will come when everyone will know what is in our hearts. For it is a law of human nature that what is in our heart will eventually usher forth into action.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">Do we really believe that God knows our innermost thoughts? What effect ought this to have on us? "Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">Today’s gospel presents three persons to us:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">The first is a man preoccupied with himself, his own interests and needs, and his selfish satisfaction. He is not a free person; he is not open to Christ, for he serves money and greed. He will betray Jesus. This man is Judas.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">Then there is a second man, a good person, open to Christ, but weak. He tries to hide his frailty with impetuous, self-reliant bravery. He cracks in the hour of the test. He will deny Jesus. This person is Peter.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">The third person is Jesus. He is totally unselfish and completely open to God and to everyone. He is the perfect servant, the person-for-others, described again today in the first reading in the words of the second song of God’s servant. And because he was the perfect servant, he could save us all.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">It is rather amazing as well disturbing to see how cold and calculating Judas was at the Last Supper. In the gospel passage that we heard (the gospel of John), there were no recorded words of Judas. He didn't say anything, he acted normal, he did what he was told. Yet, behind and beneath that facade the shadows of betrayal are lurking and slithering around. Yet for that to be happening in him during the Last Supper was unthinkable to the rest because it was for them the sacred Passover meal which celebrated the marvelous event of freedom from slavery in Egypt and the renewal of God's covenant with His people. Jesus sensed that betrayal and treachery and troubled in spirit, He said: I tell you most solemnly, one of you will betray me. He was even more direct when He said that it was the one to whom He gave the piece of bread that He shall dip in the dish, and thereafter He gave it to Judas. Judas was the Apostle most in need of Jesus' love that night. It was the last opportunity for Judas to turn from sin and turn to Jesus. But he rejected Jesus for the final time. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">During the last hours of Jesus on this earth, St. Peter learned a bitter lesson: words are cheap. All you have to do is open your mouth and let them come out, but if they are not backed up by actions they are as worthless as counterfeit money or a bad check.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">At the Last Supper, poor Peter opened his mouth and let the words come out. He said to Jesus, "1 will lay down my life for you." At the moment he did not realize that his words were counterfeit. It was only later, when he was challenged concerning his association with Jesus, that he realized how worthless those words were. While Jesus was standing trial before the high priest, a servant girl noticed Peter in the courtyard and accused him of being a follower of Jesus. And this man, who a few hours before had said that he would die for Jesus, said to the girl, "I don't know what You are talking about." A little later when some bystanders accused him of the same thing, he replied, "I don't even know the man you are talking about!" Then he heard the second cock crow and broke down and began to cry. It was a bitter lesson for Peter to learn.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">But learn the lesson he did. Peter determined to make good his words at the Last Supper, not with a bad cheek, but with a blank check on which he would allow Jesus to fill in the amount he wished. And so it was that many years after the crucifixion Peter followed his master to a martyr's death on a cross. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">If we are good Christians, we will tell Jesus that we will follow him to death rather than deny him or be disloyal to him in any way, even in little things. In fact, we should write Jesus a blank check and allow him to require any amount from us. We must remember, however, that our payment cannot be counterfeit; it must be backed up with the silver and gold of sincerity and truth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;"> ***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Opening Prayer</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: times;">Lord our God, your Son Jesus Christ had to undergo the humiliation of being betrayed and denied by those he called his friends. But he made his suffering and death into instruments of love and reconciliation. Make us with him people-for-others, who accept difficulties, even betrayals and misunderstandings of our best Intercessions, and turn them into sources of life and joy for those around us. Keep us faithful to you and to one another through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-21196006336964130372024-03-24T17:30:00.000+05:302024-03-24T18:11:07.766+05:30 Monday of Holy Week, March 25<p> <span style="font-family: times;"> </span><b style="font-family: times; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Monday of Holy Week, March 25</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Isaiah 42:1-7 / John 12:1-11 </b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Judas criticizes Mary; "Why was this oil not sold?"</span></b></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">William Barclay says of Judas' reaction to Mary's anointing of the feet of Jesus: "Judas had just seen an action of surpassing loveliness; and he called it extravagant waste. He was an embittered man who took an embittered view of things." Judas' reaction illustrates an important fact: "We see things not as they are, but as we are." H. M. Tomlinson</span></p><span style="font-family: times;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If we are prejudiced against a person, that person can do nothing right in our eyes. If we are prejudiced in favour of a person, that person can do nothing wrong in our eyes. Judas was prejudiced against Mary.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To what extent do we tend to let our feelings and prejudices dictate our attitude and our actions toward people? "Mud thrown is ground lost." Alta G. Shaw</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Holy Week is for us the time when we meditate on the saving death of our Lord. The days of his suffering are approaching. The first reading gives us the first of the famous songs about the Servant of Yahweh. The liturgy of the Holy Week characterizes Jesus as the Servant of Yahweh. This first song speaks perhaps directly about the attitude and role of God’s people, but we find these exemplified fully in Jesus, the perfect servant of God and of people. He is shown here to us as God’s servant who came to serve the poor and the suffering by bringing them justice and freedom, and light in darkness to all; he will be the covenant of us, the people, by uniting us with God and one another. All this he did for us by his saving death.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> ***</span></b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mary's anointing of Jesus was indeed an extravagance. Judas, a shrewd calculator of monetary worth, estimated that the perfume could have been sold for three hundred pieces of silver (perhaps ten month's wages, and incidentally ten times more than Jesus was worth in his eyes). Jesus saw in Mary's impetuous act a beautiful sign of love (cf. Mk 14, 6). Love does not always correspond with cold logic, and there is room in religion for deeds which spring more from the heart than from the intellect. It is true that the perfume could have been sold for the benefit of the poor, but Jesus, who took second place to no one in his concern for the poor, graciously accepted Mary's extravagance.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The protest of Judas was hypocritical, made from no concern for the poor, since his hope was to have pocketed the price of the perfume for himself. Today in the Church there has been a healthy renewal of concern for the poor, and in many respects we all need such a renewal. And yet some, though with a sincerity never felt by Judas, seem to be making of religion nothing but the service of the poor. No excuse should be manufactured for hoarded or abused wealth on the part of anyone in the Church; however, there is much more to religion than the alleviation of poverty, important though it be. Mary had learned that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and her act was one of loving recognition. The wish to spend the money on the poor involved a lack of recognition of the real nature of Jesus as the Son of God. There must always be a time and a place for service of the poor, but there must also be a time and a place for the due worship of the person of the Son of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">***</span></b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Opening Prayer</span></b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: times; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lord our God, you have called your people to be the servant of one another in the cause of justice and mercy. You showed us in Jesus, your Son, what it means to serve and how much this may cost us. Fill us with the Spirit of Jesus, that we too may not break those who are weak nor repel those groping in the dark. Let him teach us to serve and to love with compassion for the helpless and respect for the least and the poorest, together with Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-54700691293215197342024-03-23T09:09:00.000+05:302024-03-23T09:09:00.907+05:30Palm Sunday B - Liturgical Prayers<p><b><span style="font-family: times;"> <span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I. BLESSING OF PALMS AND PROCESSION</span></span></span></b></p><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><strong><span style="font-size: medium;"><a name='more'></a></span></strong><br /></span><div style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #4c1130;">Introduction by the Celebrant</b></span></div><blockquote style="line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span>A. Come, Let Us Go With Him</span></b></span></span> <i>(Option 1)</i><br />All those who grow plants, even people in the city who love flowers, know that seeds have to die in the soil so that shoots can sprout from them and give us colorful flowers. The seed has to die to give life. In the same way, Jesus died to give us life. And we, his disciples today, have to follow in his footsteps. We have to give ourselves so that others may be happy and live. St. Paul says with Jesus: "No one lives for oneself." Can we say the same of ourselves?</span></span></span><br /><span><!--more--></span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b><span>B. Where Do We Stand?</span></b></span><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;"><span> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><i>(Option 2)</i><br />It is not reasonable to look for pain and suffering, yet we know that in life there are certain pains we have to accept in line with our tasks in life – a woman has to pass through birth pangs to bring a child into the world; parents sacrifice themselves for their children; nurses dedicate themselves to lighten the pains of the sick. Yes, the seed has to die in the furrows to give life to a new plant. Today Jesus invites us to follow him in accepting the pain and efforts needed in carrying out our task in life.</span></span></span></span></blockquote><div style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #4c1130;">Prayer of Blessing</b></span></div><blockquote style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-size: medium;">Let us ask forgiveness from the Lord<br />for the times we h</span></blockquote><div style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #4c1130;">Penitential Act</b></span></div><blockquote style="line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;"><span>Let us pray<br />(pause)<br />Our </span><a href="http://www.bibleclaret.org/liturgy/CycleB/PalmSun.htm#" id="_GPLITA_0" in_rurl="http://www.textsrv.com/click?v=R0I6MTc2MTc6NTU6c2F2aW5nOmRhNWM5MDQ3ZTJiMjFlOTk2MGVkN2Y0NDhmY2YxYTJjOnotMTExMi0yNzExNDp3d3cuYmlibGVjbGFyZXQub3Jn" title="Powered by Text-Enhance"><span style="color: white;">saving</span></a><span> God,<br />your Son Jesus called himself the green wood,<br />for he is the tree on which we are grafted<br />so we can receive from him the sap of life.<br />Let these green branches express<br />that we are united with him<br />and want to live in him<br />as the people he sets free from sin<br />and makes alive with love<br />for you, our God, and for people.<br />Bless + these living branches,<br />that we may wave them to acclaim him<br />as the Lord we want to follow<br />all the way to you, our living God<br />and that he may keep us<br />from withering as dry, useless wood.<br />For he is our Lord and Savior for ever. R/ Amen.</span></span><br /><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;"><br /><em><span>The priest sprinkles the branches with holy water in silence.</span></em></span></span></blockquote><div style="line-height: normal;"><span><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;"><b>GOSPEL OF THE PALM BLESSING</b>• Mk 11:1-10: <b><span>Blessing On Him Who Comes</span></b><br /> </span><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;">Jesus accepts that the crowd honors him, but his real triumph will come on the cross.</span></span></span></div><blockquote style="line-height: normal;"><blockquote><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;"><span><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><em>Now a brief homily may be given. Then the priest or a minister invites the people to join the procession:</em><br />With the people of Jerusalem<br />we acclaim Jesus as our Lord<br />and follow him while we sing his praise.<br />Song: The procession song serves also as Entrance Song.<br /><em>After the procession or solemn entrance, the priest prays immediately the Opening Prayer. If there is no procession or solemn entrance, the usual Penitential Act of the missal is said.</em></span></span></span></blockquote></blockquote><div style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #4c1130;">I. BLESSING OF PALMS AND PROCESSION</b></span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #4c1130;">Opening Prayer</b></span></div><blockquote style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-size: medium;"><span>Let us pray that we may follow Jesus<br />on his road of service.<br />(pause)<br />God our Father,<br />in Jesus your Son you have shown us<br />that the road that leads to victory<br />is the way of loving service<br />and willingness to pay the price of sacrifice<br />for faithful, unswerving love.<br />Give us the mentality and attitude of Jesus,<br />that we may learn to serve with him<br />and to love without counting the cost.<br />May we thus become victorious with him<br />who is Lord for ever and ever.</span><em><span>R/ Amen.</span><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></em></span></blockquote><div style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #4c1130;">General Intercessions</b></span></div><blockquote style="line-height: normal;"><span><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;">We pray now to our Lord Jesus who in his deep love went all the way and saved us by his death and resurrection. Let us say: <em>R/ Lord, heal your people.</em><br />• Jesus, by the food and drink of the Eucharist, accompany us on the road of life, be our strength and joy, we pray you: <em>R/ Lord, heal your people.</em><br />• Jesus, by your agony in the garden assist all the dying in their hour of struggle and give to all the courage to do the Father's will, especially when it is very difficult, we pray you:<em>R/ Lord, heal your people.</em><br />• Jesus, by your unjust imprisonment and condemnation remember those jailed for their convictions or condemned by corrupt judges, we pray you: <em>R/ Lord, heal your people.</em><br />• Jesus, betrayed and deserted by your friends, be near to all those who are lonely; give your people the capability of making friendships, we pray you: <em>R/ Lord, heal your people.</em><br />• Jesus, by your way of the cross, lighten the burdens of all who suffer and make them mild and understanding of others, we pray you: <em>R/ Lord, heal your people.</em><br />• Jesus, by your death on the cross and your glorious resurrection forgive all sin, give life to all, we pray you:<em>R/ Lord, heal your people.</em><br />Lord Jesus, let the flow of your forgiveness and life come down on all of us and bring us your lasting joy and happiness in your kingdom that will stand for ever. </span><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;">R/ <i>Amen.</i></span></span></span></blockquote><div style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #4c1130;">Prayer over the Gifts</b></span></div><blockquote style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;"><span><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;">Loving Father,<br />on the night before he died<br />Jesus gave himself to his friends<br />in the form of bread and wine,<br />as he again does now, here among us.<br />Give us grateful hearts for all his goodness<br />and make us strong enough<br />to give ourselves with him<br />to those with whom we go through life.<br />Let this offering bring us reconciliation<br />with one another and with you.<br />We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ <i>Amen.</i></span></span></span></blockquote><div style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #4c1130;">Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer</b></span></div><blockquote style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-size: medium;">Jesus' cross and death brought us forgiveness and life. He died, that we might live. With Jesus we thank the Father for his love.</span></blockquote><div style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #4c1130;">Introduction to the Lord's Prayer</b></span></div><blockquote style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;"><span><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;">Jesus prayed to the Father<br />for the strength to do his will.<br />We join him in his prayer of trust: R/ <i>Our Father...</i></span></span></span></blockquote><div style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #4c1130;">Deliver Us</b></span></div><blockquote style="line-height: normal;"><span><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;">Deliver us Lord from sin<br />and from every evil,<br />and grant us your forgiveness and peace.<br />In your mercy, give hope and love<br />to those who are abandoned<br />and agonizing because of their crosses.<br />Lead us all forward in hope<br />toward the full coming among us<br />of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. </span><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;">R/ <i>For the kingdom...</i></span></span></span></blockquote><div style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #4c1130;">Invitation to Communion</b></span></div><blockquote style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;"><span><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;">This is the Lamb without sin<br />who suffered and died for our sins.<br />Happy are we that he comes to us<br />to let us share in his life. R/ <i>Lord, I am not worthy...</i></span></span></span></blockquote><div style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #4c1130;">Prayer after Communion</b></span></div><blockquote style="line-height: normal;"><span><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;">Loving Father, in this Eucharist<br />your Son Jesus has given himself to us<br />as he gave himself totally on the cross.<br />May we learn from him<br />to keep our hope in you alive<br />and to continue going our way in life<br />also when we do not know<br />what will come to us in the future<br />or when we have to bear heavy crosses.<br />For we trust you, and we know<br />that we will rise above our miseries<br />to a life of joy without end,<br />by the power of Jesus Christ our Lord. </span><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;">R/<i> Amen.</i></span></span></span></blockquote><div style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="color: white; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #4c1130;">Blessing</b></span></div><blockquote style="line-height: normal;"><span face=""times new roman" , sans-serif , serif , "arial"" style="font-size: medium;"><span><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;">In Jesus we have seen today<br />how love of God and love of people<br />go inseparably hand in hand.<br />Jesus' love for the Father<br />made him go "all the way" in his love for us.<br />He died in carrying out that mission,<br />and in his death we are reborn.<br />Let this thought guide us this Holy Week<br />and inspire our Christian living too:<br />He is the Master and Lord whom we follow.<br />May God give you strength and bless you:<br />the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.<br />Go with one another<br />the way of Jesus our Lord. R/ <i>Thanks be to God.</i></span></span></span></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-8504417818299624122024-03-22T17:54:00.003+05:302024-03-22T17:54:34.109+05:30Palm Sunday B<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="588" scrolling="no" src="https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=93789A8146D4FC9D&resid=93789A8146D4FC9D%2193412&authkey=AFPf3iYvI9JOf70&em=2" width="776"></iframe><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></strong><a href="http://www.tkayala.com/2012/03/palm-sunday-homily.html"><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">http://www.tkayala.com/2012/03/palm-sunday-homily.html</span></strong></a></p><a href="http://www.tkayala.com/2012/03/palm-sunday-homily.html"><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a name='more'></a></span></strong></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As we have come to accompany Jesus in this week when we enter into his paschal mystery which is the suffering, death, resurrection of our Lord, we also reflect his humanity that took upon himself the human sufferings, rejection, betrayals and sin so that we be freed from them all.<o:p> </o:p></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">-We are sinners who have compounded the anguish of sin around us, Lord have mercy<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">-We are simple people who tend to act like kings expecting respect and reverence; our pride has prevented us from being Christians, Christ have mercy<o:p></o:p><br />-We have been fickle and wavering to stand by your values and principles, lord have mercy. </span></span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The suffering in our world seems overwhelming at times. It cries out from countries devastated by famine, afflicted by the pestilence of AIDS and torn apart by an unending cycle of violence and war in the name of religion, ideologies, color and beliefs. It confronts us in the immediacy of our own country: families crowding into slum and shelters, and the elderly living alone and lacking adequate medical care, as well as in the senseless shootings and bombings that erupt every now and then. Schools and churches are attacked, religious and priests are abused because of the Christian name. Suffering afflicts our own flesh in sickness and weighs down our spirits in depression and discouragement. Yes, our world is awash in pain and suffering. How do we choose to respond?<o:p> </o:p></span></span></span></span><span><span><br /><span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><span><span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">a)<u> Denial</u></b> is one of the easiest and least fruitful reactions. We see, we hear, and we turn away as quickly as possible — tune into another channel, or bury the troublesome front page with the glowing promises of the ads or the sports page. We put off visiting the friend in the hospital; we forget the dire warnings of our doctor about the consequences of not making unwelcome lifestyle changes. Like children we hide from what we don't want to see and grow deaf to any summons that threatens our comfort level. <o:p> </o:p></span></span></span><span> </span></span><br /><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><span><span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">B)</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Discouragement and defeatism</u></b> are another unfruitful response. It is all beyond us so we do nothing. We withdraw from life, allowing sadness to paralyze us. With our face to the wall, we shut out the light and live in a world of gathering darkness. Hopelessness prevails. At the opposite end of the spectrum, we may grow angry, but instead of being energized by our passion, we allow it to fester into bitterness. We complain endlessly about suffering's unfairness, raging against the injustice of it all. We blame everyone but ourselves, castigating "them," including God, for being so heartless. There is no good news, no realistic hope of change. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Suffering is truly a two-edged sword</b>, cutting and dividing, revealing and changing. It can either deform us or transform us, never leaving us the same. Just as it can discourage and defeat us, so also it can make us stronger and more open of mind and heart. And what makes the difference? Our response to suffering?<o:p> </o:p></span></span></span><span> </span></span><br /><span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">"Pain will occur; suffering is a choice." </b>We often use the two terms interchangeably. But they are not the same. Pain seemed the immediate response to something hurtful. A wide range of experiences came to mind — everything from a sliced finger to major surgery, from the relatively brief encounter with the dentist's drill to the all day, most every day of something more chronic like arthritis. I could also easily recall the times when my heart hurt but the pain came not from clogged arteries but from<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>another's<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>words<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>actions...or my<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>own.<o:p> </o:p></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: white;"><span><span style="background-color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pain comes in many sizes and degrees</b>. Each individual experiences it differently depending on a host of variables.<o:p> </o:p></span></span></span></span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">All pain is psychosomatic</b>. It may begin in my body, but it eventually reaches into the very fabric of my being, or it can begin in the mind or the spirit yet end up as a stomach cramp or a bad headache. Doctors say that a patient's attitude makes a major difference in something as organic as the progression of a tumour or healing after surgery. And we all know how even a bad cold can darken one's disposition and how a bad day at work can result in an upset stomach.</span></span></span></span><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b></span></span></span><br /><span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Despite our instinctive reaction to it, pain is basically good</b>; it is a healthy response that tells us something is wrong. If we were unable to feel pain, we would have to be on constant alert to dangers we could not perceive. Hot water would scald us; sores would become infected wounds. Grief, our own or that of others, would leave us untouched. Numbed to the world around us and inside us, we would be only half-alive.<o:p> </o:p></span></span></span><span><br /><span></span></span></span></span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="color: white;"><span><span style="background-color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Suffering is our response to pain</b>; it is the attitude we choose when we experience it. We can, for example, simply ignore the pain we are feeling, or we can let it become the focus of our concentrated attention.</span></span></span></span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span><span><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pain gets our attention</b>, warning in strong language that something is wrong. Put more positively, pain calls for change</span></span></span></span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Acknowledging our pain not only refrains from denial but also refuses exaggeration; it keeps pain in perspective.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span><span><span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mine is neither the only pain nor the worst pain</b>. Despite its immediacy and insistence, it is not even the whole of my reality. I am left with the freedom to choose, if not whether I will suffer, at least how I will suffer.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span></span></span></span></span><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span><span><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It is this attitude of receptivity that pain tests. </b>Redemptive suffering moves in quite a different direction. Having acknowledged pain with some appropriate expression of our naturally felt resistance, we remain at peace because we know that a good Giver is always giving good gifts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span><span><span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">We wait in patience for time to reveal the potential in this strangely wrapped present. We trust, knowing that we are in for surprises as time reveals the potential hidden in what we have received<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span> </span><br /><span>The iron stove glows red with fire, restrains the heat that I desire.</span></span><span><o:p></o:p><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When I approach to warm my hands, respect is what the fire demands.<o:p></o:p><br />Too close, my skin begins to smart. Too far, the cold creeps round my heart.</span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><span>The paradox is clear to me. The risk lies in proximity.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span>Permit me, Lord, to come so near that your warm love will melt my fear.<o:p> </o:p></span></span></span><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Loving Father, let me walk in the footsteps of your Son during these holiest of days. May I never fear the demands of his love or the risks of his sacrifice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amen.</span></span></span><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span><br /><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">************************</span></span></span><br /><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Life is a journey. God's and ours together. Ever since Adam and Eve had chosen to make a journey of disobedience and hiding away from the maker, humankind has been making this journey away and back to Paradise. Either making their own paradises or refusing to enter God's houses. Abraham leaving Haran and travelling towards Canaan. Through prophets, judges and kings, we are constantly been reminded of that return journey beyond the captivities of Egypts and Babylons, deserts and green pastures, Bethlehems and Jordans, fishing nets and tax counters, wells and valleys, sheep folds and vineyards, temples and synagogues. The Lord, perhaps, will meet us at the well or at the market place or at the last supper or on our way to Emmaus.<br />That journey of God extending his hand that Michelangelo once drew was accepted in Mary. Another journey begins in receptivity, obeying God's commandments, moving from Nazareth to Bethlehem to Egypt to Nazareth to Jordan to Capernaum and finally to Calvary. That journey has to go through Jerusalem - the city of peace - the temple city where the sacrifice has to be offered as a sin offering, purification and redemption.<br />That is the journey that we are called to be part of: to redeem ourselves, our families and the world. Beyond the Hosannas and Jeers, beyond the help of Simons an Veronicas, it's our own journey we steadfastly undertake. May be we never reach Canaan. Let the journeying with purpose and commitment give us the fulfillment.<br /><br /><strong>Tony Kayala, c.s.c.</strong></span></span></span><span></span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span></span></span></span><br /><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><span></span></span></span></span><br /><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><span> </span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">********</span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hDfT487i2Tk?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><strong>The </strong></span><span><strong>PASSION</strong></span><em><span><strong> </strong>(Shorter form) :<span>Mark 14:1-15:47</span></span></em></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="PontiusPilateandJesus" class="wp-image-79627 alignright" height="225" scale="0" sizes="(max-width: 256px) 100vw, 256px" src="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/PontiusPilateandJesus.jpg" srcset="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/PontiusPilateandJesus.jpg 520w, https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/PontiusPilateandJesus-165x145.jpg 165w, https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/PontiusPilateandJesus-300x264.jpg 300w" width="256" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">They led him out to crucify him. They enlisted a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he refused it. Then they crucified him, and shared out his clothing, casting lots to decide what each should get. It was the third hour when they crucified him. The inscription giving the charge against him read: ‘The King of the Jews’. And they crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.</span><br /></span><a href="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/carrying-cross.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="carrying cross" border="0" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79628" height="234" scale="0" sizes="(max-width: 215px) 100vw, 215px" src="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/carrying-cross.jpg" srcset="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/carrying-cross.jpg 215w, https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/carrying-cross-133x145.jpg 133w" width="215" /></span></a><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The passers-by jeered at him; they shook their heads and said, ‘Aha! So you would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days! Then save yourself: come down from the cross!’ The chief priests and the scribes mocked him among themselves in the same way. ‘He saved others,’ they said ‘he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the king Of Israel, come down from the cross now, for us to see it and believe. Even those who were crucified with him taunted him.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When the sixth hour came there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice,‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you deserted me?’ When some of those who stood by heard this, they said, ‘Listen he is calling on Elijah’. Someone ran and 5oaked a sponge in vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave it him to drink saying, ‘Wait and see if Elijah will come to take him down.’ But Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.</span><br /><span><em><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">(All kneel and pause a moment.)</span></em></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The centurion, who was standing in front of him, had seen how he had died, and he said, ‘In truth this man was a son of God.’</span><br /><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">******************************************</span></span><br /></span><a href="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/jesus-dies.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="jesus dies" border="0" class="size-full wp-image-79629 alignleft" height="174" scale="0" sizes="(max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px" src="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/jesus-dies.jpg" srcset="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/jesus-dies.jpg 290w, https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/jesus-dies-242x145.jpg 242w" width="290" /></span></a><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span><span><span><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><em>Michel DeVerteuil </em></span></strong></span><strong><br /><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><em><span><span><strong>Prayer reflection</strong></span></span><br />Lord, we thank you for those precious moments<br />when you allowed us to experience<br />that we played a significant part in your work of grace:<br />– we were there when a holy person was dying, and said the final prayers;<br />– a national crisis arose, we were in the right place<br />and did our duty to the country;<br />– members of our community shared their sorrows with us;<br />– we were at prayer and suddenly felt our solidarity<br />with the suffering of the world.<br />It was a fleeting moment but the memory remains.<br />It must have been like that for Simon of Cyrene<br />when he happened to be passing by,<br />coming in from the country, and they enlisted him<br />to carry the cross of Jesus.<br />Thank you, Lord.</em></span></span></strong></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><strong>Lord</strong></span>, you often make a place of death the source of new life:<br />– we were abandoned by our friends,<br />but learned how deep our inner resources were;<br />– a parent died and the family came together as never before.<br />You teach us that you always bring life,<br />and this is why your Son Jesus was not afraid<br />when they brought him to a place called Golgotha,<br />which means the place of the skull.</span><br /><a href="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/death-to-life.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="death to life" border="0" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79630" height="183" scale="0" sizes="(max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px" src="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/death-to-life.jpg" srcset="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/death-to-life.jpg 275w, https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/death-to-life-218x145.jpg 218w" width="275" /></span></a><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><strong>Lord</strong></span>, we thank you for the members of our church who are not afraid<br />to be associated with those whom society labels disreputable:<br />– those who work with AIDS patients;<br />– movements like St Vincent de Paul and the Legion of Mary;<br />– worker-priests.<br />Often they are criticized and mocked,<br />but we see in them Jesus crucified with two robbers,<br />one on his right and the other on his left.<br />It can be rightly said of them that their only interest is in saving others,<br />and that, like Jesus, they are not unduly concerned with saving themselves.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><em>“It was essential that Jesus should become completely like his brothers </em></span><em><span>so that he could be a compassionate and trustworthy high priest of God’s religion.”</span> </em> …Hebrews 2:17<br />Lord, people sometimes think that those of us who are leaders in the church<br />must always be calm and composed.<br />We thank you for teaching us that when you yourself seem to be silent<br />we can cry in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?”</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><em><span>“To destroy human power nothing more is required than to be indifferent to its threats and to prefer other goods to those which it promises.”</span> </em> …R.H. Tawney<br />Lord, how true it is that success and popularity are not really important in life.<br />The only important thing is that some unbelieving centurion,<br />seeing how we live and die, could say, “In truth, this was a son of God.”</span><br /></span><div><a href="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/women-at-Cross.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="women at Cross" border="0" class="wp-image-79631 alignright" height="224" scale="0" sizes="(max-width: 234px) 100vw, 234px" src="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/women-at-Cross.jpg" srcset="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/women-at-Cross.jpg 300w, https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/women-at-Cross-152x145.jpg 152w" width="234" /></span></a><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><strong>Lord,</strong></span> when great people remain faithful unto death,<br />showing no anger or resentment to their enemies,<br />but on the contrary continuing to love and forgive,<br />it shows us how false are the barriers we set up<br />to separate people into bad and good;<br />the veils we have erected in your temple are torn in two from top to bottom.</span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lord, we thank you for faithful followers of Jesus,<br />those who, like the women in the gospel,<br />look after him in Galilee where it is safe,<br />and then come up to Jerusalem with him, even though it is dangerous,<br />and are there watching with him as he hangs on the cross.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><span><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">******************************************</span></strong></span><br /><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="tol"></a><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Thomas O’Loughlin</span></span></strong><br /><span><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span>General Introduction</span> </span></strong></span><br /><em><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Passion in the Liturgy: The demands of celebration</span></em><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="passion of Jesus" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-79632" height="168" scale="0" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/passion-of-Jesus.jpg" srcset="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/passion-of-Jesus.jpg 300w, https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/passion-of-Jesus-259x145.jpg 259w" width="300" /><br />Twice each year, on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, the reading of the gospel becomes visibly a liturgical event in its own right. On these occasions the dramatic reading with several voices may replace the solitary tone of the deacon/ priest. Yet in most parishes this is not only a missed opportunity to do something which can enhance the whole celebration, but actually becomes something counter productive. At the very least it can become a shambles of voices coming in off-cue, lines-lost, or confused mumbling (‘Whose line is itT ‘Whose that voice supposed to represent?’). At worst it can send hidden signals to the congregation about how we view the passion, the Jews, and the ministry of proclamation.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times";"></span><br /><span><em><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Introduction to today’s Celebration</span></strong></em></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The text in the Missal (p. 123: ‘Dear friends in Christ …’) cannot be bettered. However, care should be taken to read it as if it were one’s own notes so as to stress the notion that we are entering into the Great Week, accompanying Christ in the Paschal Mystery.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is not just another Sunday: it is the beginning of a week with Christ that culminates next Sunday. It recalls all the pointers in the gospels (e.g. Mk 10:32-3) to the journey that the Lord must make to Jerusalem to perform his great work.<br />The liturgy of Holy Week is a participation in this work at Jerusalem: today the church building is a symbol of the city (hence we begin outside it, and then enter it),<br />then there are the final days (Monday to Wednesday),<br />then the final meal and the commissioning of the apostles (Thursday), the time in the garden and the passion<br />(Thursday night/ Friday until 3 pm), the exaltation on the Cross which is recalled by the church as a victory celebration (the Good Friday liturgy),<br />the tomb (Saturday), the resurrection (the Vigil) and its announcement (Sunday). This is the symbolic week, in the sense that we by participating in the liturgy are not just on-lookers engaged in a pageant, but are uniting ourselves with Christ now in his Great Work. Everything that is said or done in today’s liturgy must aim at conveying this sense of a week of participation.</span><br /></span><a href="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/holy-week.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="holy week" border="0" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79633" height="247" scale="0" sizes="(max-width: 204px) 100vw, 204px" src="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/holy-week.jpg" srcset="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/holy-week.jpg 204w, https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/holy-week-120x145.jpg 120w" width="204" /></span></a><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So while the Missal still thinks (compiled in 1970) of a’principal Mass’ and then other Masses, we must be aware that in our pastoral situation few places have this rigid dichotomy of celebration: whatever Mass people are attending is the principal Mass for them. So that whether it is the vigil Mass on Saturday evening, or any Mass on the Sunday, there should be the full entry celebration: the introduction and blessing of palms somewhere other than the main building where the Eucharist will be celebrated; and then the procession into the church/ Jerusalem/ this week. Unless we set the scene of a week with Christ todaythe great liturgies later in the week are held without their proper context. They stand as individual ‘bits’ (one ‘bit’ today – a pageant of one episode in the gospels, another ‘bit’ (‘the first Mass’) on Thursday, etc.) because the introduction to the whole has been missed. In such a fractured presentation the liturgy cannot convey the message of the Paschal Mystery shared in by the baptised, and becomes a bunch of historical commemorations more akin to anniversaries of ancient events (e.g. the way we recall events like ‘the first Dail,’ ‘the battle of the Somme,’ ‘the day Jack met Jill’) rather than a week that somehow presents us with the basis of Christian faith and a foretaste of the New Jerusalem (cf Gal 4).</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In many parishes there is a feeling that this is just an ordinary Sunday plus a few extras, and that careful planning and arranging special things like extra readers, assembling outside the church, decorations, and so forth, does not have to start until Thursday. The hard fact is this: if you do not start the extra work that ‘the Easter Ceremonies’ involve today, then by Thursday it is too late, and all the worries about readers, thuribles, and what not, is more a desire to fulfill rubrics than as attempt to adequately create the ritual environment which allows us to grow in our understanding of the mystery of the Christ.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times";"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><em><strong>Homily notes</strong></em></span><br />The Missal (p. 132) says that a brief homily may be given.’ There is definitely a case today for taking up this permission to omit the homily altogether; not because such an omission might shorten an already long liturgy, but since we have just come through one of the longest verbal elements in the whole of the liturgy (the passion), another verbal event (a homily) does not bring contrast or help the gospel reading to sink in. A better way to highlight what has been read would be a couple of moments of structured silence (e.g. ‘Let us now reflect in silence on the passion of our Saviour’) before standing for the Creed. On the subject of the length of today’s liturgy we should remember that length of time is one of the key non-verbal ritual cues that humans use to indicate special importance: a crucial symbolic event that is over in a moment, or takes just the same length of today’s liturgy we should remember that length of time as an ordinary event is an anti-climax – do not forget Christmas dinner must take longer than an everyday meal. Because this is a special day opening a special week, it should and must take a noticeably longer time than an ordinary Sunday.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="this much" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79634" height="154" scale="0" sizes="(max-width: 208px) 100vw, 208px" src="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/this-much1.jpg" srcset="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/this-much1.jpg 208w, https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/this-much1-196x145.jpg 196w" width="208" />If one does preach, then the brief comments should be directed to introducing the week as a whole rather than particular comments on the readings. This could take its starting point from the gospel outside – that Christ has arrived at, and entered Jerusalem, and that ‘his hour’ has arrived. As Christians we are sharers in this event.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">If the situation calls for a meditation rather than a homily, then a suitable meditation is provided in the Christ-hymn (the second reading) as a way of interpreting the events narrated. However, rather than re-reading it directly from the lectionary it can be broken up into its verses and read with pauses. The version used in the Office is better for such use than either the RSV or JB. Better still, have it sung by a soloist and simply introduce it as the earliest Christian meditation we possess on what we have just recalled about the death of Jesus.</span><br /><span><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">**************************************</span></strong></span><br /><strong><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="sg"></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><span>Sean Goan</span><br /><span><strong>Gospel/ Passion Commentary : </strong>Mark 14:1-15:47</span></span></span></strong><br /></span><a href="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/every-drop.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="every drop" border="0" class="alignright size-full wp-image-79635" height="236" scale="0" sizes="(max-width: 236px) 100vw, 236px" src="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/every-drop.jpg" srcset="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/every-drop.jpg 236w, https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/every-drop-145x145.jpg 145w" width="236" /></span></a><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The account of the passion in Mark is very stark. Jesus is portrayed as alone, abandoned by his closest friends and perhaps even by God. He dies on the cross with a loud cry on his lips and darkness covers the whole earth. Yet at this precise moment the Roman centurion who was guarding him, having seen how he died, makes the great confession of faith: ‘Truly this man was God’s Son.’ Throughout his ministry Jesus had tried to teach his followers that the way of the kingdom was the way of self emptying love. They had to become servants, slaves to one another and forget about greatness as the world understands it. Repeatedly they failed to understand him and eventually they ran away. So we are left with this foreign outsider to tell us the meaning of Calvary. Through his faithfulness to the kingdom Jesus finally tears away the veil that separates God and suffering humanity. By his prayer of abandonment Jesus has shown us that, far from abandoning us, God has identified totally with our struggle.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times";"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span><em><strong>Reflection</strong></em></span><br />Suffering is part and parcel of being human and, while we must readily acknowledge this fact, it is also true that we usually do all in our power to avoid it. The readings for today are an invitation to reflect on how it is that passion of Jesus can change our outlook on suffering. Our Saviour may be seen in these texts as a model of patient endurance and of faithfulness. We are not asked to believe that suffering is good in itself but to see that good can come of it and to recognise in Jesus God’s solidarity with all those who endure suffering for doing what is right.</span><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">**************************************</span></span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span><strong><span><span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Donal Neary SJ<br /><strong><span>Two Parades.</span></strong></span></span></span></strong></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-139172" height="194" scale="0" sizes="(max-width: 259px) 100vw, 259px" src="https://media2.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/palm-sunday-1-1.jpg" srcset="https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/palm-sunday-1-1.jpg 259w, https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/palm-sunday-1-1-194x145.jpg 194w, https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/palm-sunday-1-1-24x18.jpg 24w, https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/palm-sunday-1-1-36x27.jpg 36w, https://www.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/palm-sunday-1-1-48x36.jpg 48w" width="259" /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There are two parades of Holy week: First into Jerusalem from Bethany on the Sunday and Jesus being acclaimed as a political saviour. People hoped he would triumph, that his followers would put him into power and all hoped he would get rid of the Romans.</span><br /><a href="https://media1.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/JesusCarrying-cross-e1518548263748.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img alt="" border="0" class="alignright size-full wp-image-139174" height="225" scale="0" src="https://media1.catholicireland.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/JesusCarrying-cross-e1518548263748.jpg" width="300" /></span></a><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The second, from Jerusalem outside the walls of the city on the following Friday, to Calvary; a man in disgrace. A man carrying his cross, crowned with thorns, mocked and bullied and tortured. And about to be killed. Like the parade to a dishonoured graveside.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He had all sorts of followers – some like camp followers, some terrorists, some people on the make for themselves, or the ones who stayed till the end, like his mother, an aunt and a few of the followers. The others were at a distance, they would come back, and would follow later to the end.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">We hope to be in that second parade.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Palms are for waving in triumph, then they and wither. The cross is forever, for all time.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The cross is his love, and as we follow in this parade we show our willingness to console him in love to the end.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is a holy week because a man like us, and one of the Trinity, gave his life.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">****</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times";"><strong>FROM THE CONNECTIONS:</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times";"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times";"><strong>THE WORD:</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times";"></span><br /></span><div class="style3--sectiona"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times";"><strong>The Blessing and Procession of Palms: </strong>Mark 11: 1-10 <strong>or</strong> John 12: 12-16</span></div><div class="style3--sectiona"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times";"> </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times";"><strong>Mark’s account</strong> of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is the most subdued version of the event in Scripture. The donkey plays a central role in the Mark's story – Mark relates with surprising detail how the disciples found the donkey colt as Jesus told them.<br />It was the custom for pilgrims to enter Jerusalem on foot. Only great kings and rulers would “ride” into the city, and usually on great steeds and horses. Jesus, the King of the New Jerusalem, chooses to ride into the city – not on a majestic stallion but on the back of a young beast of burden. By being led through the city on the back of a lowly, servile donkey, Jesus comes as a King whose rule is not about being served but centered in generous and selfless service to others; his kingdom is not built on might but on compassion. The little donkey Jesus mounts mirrors how the prophet Zechariah foretold this scene five centuries before: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey . . . ”<br />In <strong>John’s</strong> shorter account, Jesus is enthusiastically welcomed as the Messiah-King by the crowds, many of whom had seen or heard about Jesus' raising of Lazarus. John makes specific reference to Zechariah’s prophecy that the Messiah-king will enter the city seated on “a donkey's colt.”</span><div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times";"><br /></span><div class="style3--sectiona"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times";"><strong>The Celebration of the Eucharist – The Passion: </strong>Mark 14: 1 – 15: 47</span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times";">Jesus’ entry into the holy city and his “cleansing” of the temple with the demand that it be a “house of prayer for all people” will bring his clash with the ruling class to a head. In his account of the Passion, Mark portrays the anguish of Jesus who has been totally abandoned by friends and disciples. Mark’s Jesus is resigned to his fate. He makes no response to Judas when he betrays him nor to Pilate during his interrogation (and Pilate makes no effort to save him, as the procurator does in the other three Gospels). As he does throughout his Gospel, Mark pointedly portrays the utter of failure of the disciples to provide any assistance or support to Jesus or to even understand what is happening. The “last” disciple who flees naked into the night when Jesus is arrested is a powerful symbol in Mark’s Gospel of the disciples who left family and friends behind to follow Jesus now leave everything behind to get away from him. </span></div><div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times";"><div class="style3--sectiona"><strong>Reading 1:</strong> Isaiah 50: 4-7</div>Reading 1 is taken from Deutero-Isaiah's “Servant songs,” the prophet's foretelling of the “servant of God” who will come to redeem Israel. In this third song, Isaiah portrays the servant as a devoted teacher of God's Word who is ridiculed and abused by those who are threatened by his teaching.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times";"><div class="style3--sectiona"><strong>Reading 2:</strong> Philippians 2: 6-11</div>In his letter to the Christian community at Philippi (in northeastern Greece), Paul quotes what many scholars believe is an early Christian hymn (Reading 2). As Christ totally and unselfishly "emptied himself" to accept crucifixion for our sakes, so we must "empty" ourselves for others.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times";"><div class="style3--sectiona"><strong>HOMILY POINTS:</strong></div>There is a certain incongruity about today’s Palm Sunday liturgy. We begin with a sense of celebration: we carry palm branches and echo the <em>Hosannas</em> (from the Hebrew “God save [us]”) shouted by the people of Jerusalem as Jesus enters the city. But the Passion story confronts us with the cruelty, injustice and selfishness that lead to the crucifixion of Jesus. We welcome the Christ of victory, the Christ of Palm Sunday – but we turn away from the Christ of suffering and of the poor, the Christ of Good Friday. These branches of palm are symbols of that incongruity that often exists between the faith we profess on our lips and the faith we profess in our lives.<br />In his account of the Passion, Mark portrays a Jesus who has been totally abandoned by his disciples and friends. There is no one to defend him, to support him, to speak for him. He endures such a cruel and unjust death alone. Yet, amid the darkness, a light glimmers: The prophecy of a new temple “not made by human hands” is fulfilled in the shreds of the temple curtain; a pagan centurion confesses his new-found realization that this crucified Jesus is indeed the “Son of God”; and a member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea, is embolden to break with his fellow councilors and request of Pilate the body of Jesus. The Passion of Jesus should be a reason for hope and a moment of grace for all us as we seek the reign of God in our own lives – however lonely and painful our search may be.<br />The Gospel calls us to take on what Paul calls the “attitude of Christ Jesus” (Reading 1) in his passion and death: to “empty” ourselves of our own interests, fears and needs for the sake of others; to realize how our actions affect them and how our moral and ethical decisions impact the common good; to reach out to heal the hurt and comfort the despairing around us despite our own betrayal; to carry on, with joy and in hope, despite rejection, humiliation and suffering. <br />In our remembering the events of Holy Week, Jesus will turn our world and its value system upside down: true authority is found in dedicated service and generosity to others; greatness is centered in humility; the just and loving will be exalted by God in God's time. <br />Today’s liturgy confronts us with the reality of the cross of Christ: by the cross, we are reconciled to God; by the cross, our lives are transformed in the perfect love of Christ; by the cross, Jesus’ spirit of humility and compassion become a force of hope and re-creation for our desperate world.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span><div class="style3--title"><strong><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;">Borrowed time</span></strong></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;">In his account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, Mark makes a point of the fact that the donkey was borrowed.<br />He sends two disciples to a nearby village where they will find a colt. <em>If anyone questions you, </em>Jesus directs,<em> tell them that “The Master needs it” and assure them it will be returned.</em><br />And so Jesus enters Jerusalem, seated on a borrowed donkey, acclaimed by the crowds as the “one who comes in the name of the Lord.”<br />But what kind of Messiah, what kind of king, makes his grand entrance on a borrowed donkey?<br />But that is an unbroken thread in the story of Jesus: He was born in a borrowed place and laid in a borrowed manger. As he traveled, he had no place of his own, so he spent his nights in a “borrowed” space somewhere. He ate his final meal in a borrowed room. And when he died, his body was placed in a borrowed tomb.<br />Jesus owns nothing. He possesses nothing. He takes nothing for himself but shares whatever is given him.<br />His only possession is compassion: love freely given, without limit or condition or expectation.<br />And such poverty is what he asks of those who would follow him.<br />Because such poverty is the treasure of the Kingdom of God — a Kingdom built of justice, of mercy, of reconciliation, of peace. <br />It is that Kingdom of God that Jesus preaches and models and ultimately dies for — on a cross that was borrowed, as well.<br /></span><div class="style2--gospel"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;">[Adapted from sermons by William Carter and Rob Elder, <strong>Day One.]</strong></span></div><div class="style2--gospel"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><strong></strong> </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><strong>St. Paul expresses it beautifully in today’s second reading: Jesus “empties” himself of his very divinity to take on the cross for the sake of God’s beloved but fallen humanity. As we walk with Jesus this Holy Week, may we learn to “empty” ourselves of our egos, our wants and expectations, our possessions, in order to make room in our lives for the simple, liberating love of God and to be that love for others who are crushed under the weight of their own crosses. May we “borrow” from the humble of spirit of Jesus, enabling us to build the Kingdom of God in this time and place of ours</strong>. <br /><br /><span style="font-family: "times";">****</span><br /><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fr. Munachi:</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></strong><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">What different story would we be telling today if the unnamed owners of the donkey had refused to give it up? Maybe we would have no story of the triumphal entry, at least not in the way Jesus wanted it. No matter how unknown a person is, he or she can still play a crucial role in the unfolding of God's plan. The Lord needs each one of us as he needed the unnamed owners of the donkey in the reading. We are not told who these owners of the donkey are but the fact that they understood that "the Lord" refers to Jesus and voluntarily gave up the donkey shows that they could be his secret disciples or admirers. Otherwise one would have expected them to answer, "But who is this Lord who needs my donkey?"</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A donkey was a very big thing in those days. The donkey was the equivalent of a car, a truck and a tractor all in one. It was a car because people used it to move around and do their shopping, a truck because it was used to carry load, and a tractor because it was used in cultivating the land. Add to this the fact that the donkey had never been ridden, that means it was brand new and had a very high market value. You can see that giving up the donkey just because the Lord needed it was a very big sacrifice. It was a generous and heroic act of faith.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now, compare the faith response of the owners of the donkey to that of many of the faithful in our churches today.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A visiting preacher was really getting the congregation moving. Near the end of his sermon he said, "This church has really got to walk," to which someone in the back yelled, "Let her walk preacher." The preacher then said, "If this church is going to go it's got to get up and run," to which someone again yelled with gusto, "Let her run preacher." Feeling the surge of the church, the preacher then said with even louder gusto, "If this church is going to go it's got to really fly," and once again with ever greater gusto, someone yelled, "Let her fly preacher, let her fly." The preacher then seized the moment and stated with even greater gusto, "If this church is really going to fly it's going to need money." There was silence. Then someone in the back seat cried, "Let her walk preacher, let her walk."</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Max Lucado reminds us that each of us has got a donkey that the Lord needs. Here is his reflection on using our donkey for the service of the Lord:</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sometimes I get the impression that God wants me to give him something and sometimes I don't give it because I don't know for sure, and then I feel bad because I've missed my chance. Other times I know he wants something but I don't give it because I'm too selfish. And other times, too few times, I hear him and I obey him and feel honored that a gift of mine would be used to carry Jesus to another place. And still other times I wonder if my little deeds today will make a difference in the long haul.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Maybe you have those questions, too. All of us have a donkey. You and I each have something in our lives, which, if given back to God, could, like the donkey, move Jesus and his story further down the road. Maybe you can sing or hug or program a computer or speak Swahili or write a check.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Whichever, that's your donkey.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Whichever, your donkey belongs to him. It really does belong to him. Your gifts are his and the donkey was his. The original wording of the instructions Jesus gave to his disciples is proof: "If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkeys, you are to say, 'Its Lord is in need.'" [Max Lucado, And the Angels were Silent, p. 54]</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">So, what is the name of your donkey? The Lord has need of it.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">***</span><br /><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">ILLUSTRATIONS:</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. Fr. Tony Kadavil:</span></strong><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;">1: <b>Reminder of Maccabean victory celebration</b>: A key element of understanding the connection between the Palm Sunday reception given to Jesus and Good Friday is to recognize that the actions, words, and symbols of Palm Sunday indicated a religious and political Messiah who would save the Jews from foreign rule and regain for them religious and political freedom. The occasion of this reception was carefully chosen by the Lord God, through Jesus’ disciples, to coincide with the Passover feast which celebrated the Jewish liberation from Egyptian rule and slavery. The palms used in the procession and the slogan used (“Hosanna!” meaning “Save us, God!”) were probably used by Judas Maccabaeus and his men December 14, 164 BC, when when they purified the Temple from the pagan Greek desecration begun on that same date in 167 BC by order of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and in the June 3, 141 BC victory parade to the Temple after Simon Maccabaeus, last of the family, had retaken and cleared the Citadel in Jerusalem. In 1 Mc13:51, we read: <b><i>“</i></b><i>On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the one hundred seventy-first year, <b>the Jews entered it with praise and palm branches, </b>and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs, <b>because </b>a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel.”</i> It was natural, then, that the Romans saw the crowds of people carrying palm branches and giving a royal reception to a very popular, miracle-working rabbi, Jesus, as a potential threat to their power and a banner for revolution. Hence, the governor Pilate and his counselors were justified in their concern. They interpreted people’s slogan “Hosanna!” as “Save us” from Roman occupation! Besides, the Jewish rabbis had been teaching that the final redemption of the Jews would take place with the Messiah’s arrival. With 1½ to 2 million Jews in and around the city for the Passover, the situation was highly volatile, and Jesus’ ride on a donkey, as prophesied by Zechariah, seemed to have all the signs of producing great trouble and revolt. So the Romans informally made allies of some of the Temple priesthood (largely Sadducees), who were planning to arrest Jesus (the suspected center for the trouble), because these priests were the people most closely allied to Rome, and they would lose their power and income in the case of a popular uprising. This collusion between Pilate and the High Priest Caiaphas and their supporters is exactly what we see in the Passion accounts describing the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus. Given the political, religious and social context, this is hardly surprising. Keeping that in the back of our minds helps us to make sense of certain parts of the action that will follow. (Fr. Murray from Jerusalem). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>2: Are you a donkey with a Christian name only, or one carrying Christ?</b> An interesting as well as challenging old fable tells of the colt that carried Jesus on Palm Sunday. The colt thought that the reception was organized to honor him. “I am a unique donkey!” this excited animal might have thought. When he asked his mother if he could walk down the same street alone the next day and be honored again, his mother said, “<i>No, you are nothing without Him who was riding you</i>.” Five days later, the colt saw a huge crowd of people in the street. It was Good Friday, and the soldiers were taking Jesus to Calvary. The colt could not resist the temptation of another royal reception. Ignoring the warning of his mother, he ran to the street, but he had to flee for his life as soldiers chased him and people stoned him. Thus, the colt finally learned the lesson that he was only a poor donkey without Jesus to ride on him. As we enter Holy Week, today’s readings challenge us to examine our lives to see whether we carry Jesus within us and bear witness to Him through our living or are Christians in name only. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>3: Zachariah foresaw it. Jesus fulfilled it:</b> The Greek author Plutarch describes how Kings are supposed to enter a city. He tells about one Roman general, Aemilius Paulus, who won a decisive victory over the Macedonians. When Aemilius returned to Rome, his triumphal procession lasted three days. The first day was dedicated to displaying all the artwork that Aemilius and his army had plundered. The second day was devoted to all the weapons of the Macedonians they had captured. The third day began with the rest of the plunder borne by 250 oxen, whose horns were covered in gold. This included more than 17,000 pounds of gold coins. Then came the captured and humiliated king of Macedonia and his extended family. Finally, Aemilius himself entered Rome, riding in a magnificent chariot. Aemilius wore a purple robe, interwoven with gold. He carried his laurels in his right hand. He was accompanied by a large choir singing hymns, praising the military accomplishments of the great Aemilius. That, my friends, is how a King enters a city. But the King of Kings? He entered riding on a lowly donkey. Zechariah envisioned the King of Kings, the Messiah, coming not on a great stallion, but riding on a humble donkey. Zechariah foresaw it. Jesus fulfilled it. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;">4. <b>Little Johnny was sick on Palm Sunday</b> and stayed home from Church with his mother. His father returned from Church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, “Why do you have that palm branch, Dad?” His father explained, “You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved palm branches to honor Him; so we got palm branches today.” “Aw, shucks,” grumbled Little Johnny. “The one Sunday I can’t go to Church, and Jesus shows up!”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>5. The king on a donkey!</b> Some of you heard my story about the husband and the wife who had quarrelled. It had been a pitched battle of wills, each digging heels in to preserve the position each had vehemently taken. Emotions had run high. As they were driving to attend a family wedding in a distant city, both were nursing hurt feelings in defensive silence. The angry tension between them was so thick you could cut it with a knife. But, then the silence was broken. Pointing to a donkey standing in a pasture out beside the road, the husband sarcastically asked, “Relative of yours?” The wife quickly replied, “By marriage!”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>25 Additional anecdotes:</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;">1) <b>Two processions:</b> “Two processions entered Jerusalem on a spring day in the year 30 … One was a peasant procession, the other an imperial procession. From the east, Jesus rode a donkey down the Mount of Olives, cheered by his followers. Jesus was from the peasant village of Nazareth, his message was about the kingdom of God, and his followers came from the peasant class …On the opposite side of the city, from the west, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Idumea, Judea and Samaria, entered Jerusalem at the head of a column of imperial cavalry and soldiers. Jesus’s procession proclaimed the kingdom of God; Pilate’s proclaimed the power of empire. The two processions embody the central conflict of the week that led to Jesus’ crucifixion. As Mark tells the story in 11:1-11, Jesus’ procession is a prearranged ‘counter-procession.’ The meaning of the demonstration is clear, for it uses symbolism from the prophet Zechariah in the Jewish Bible. According to Zechariah, a king would be coming to Jerusalem (Zion), <i>‘humble, and riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey’</i> (9:9). Jesus’s procession deliberately countered what was happening on the other side of the city. Pilate’s procession embodied the power, glory, and violence of the empire that ruled the world. Jesus’ procession embodied an alternative vision, the Kingdom of God. The king, riding on a donkey, will banish war from the land—no more chariots, warhorses, or bows. Commanding peace to the nations, Jesus will be a king of peace. Pilate’s military procession was a demonstration of both Roman imperial power and Roman imperial theology — worshipping the emperor as god. It was the standard practice of the Roman governors of Judea to be in Jerusalem for the Jewish festivals … to be in the city in case there was trouble … The mission of the troops with Pilate was to reinforce the Roman garrison permanently stationed in the Fortress Antonia, overlooking the Jewish Temple and its courts. No wonder, the Roman governor realized how the peasant procession was a threat to his government and, hence, its leader should be exterminated.” (Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, <i>The Last Week: A Day-by-Day Account of Jesus’ Final Week in Jerusalem</i>. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;">2) <b>Welcome to the triumph and the tragedy of the Holy Week</b>: On Palm Sunday, April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, General of the Union Army, at the Appomattox Court House, Appomattox, Virginia. This surrender ended the bloodiest war ever fought on American soil. State against state, brother against brother, it was a conflict that literally tore the nation apart. Five days later, on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, America’s most revered president, Abraham Lincoln, was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth in Ford’s Theatre. It was Lincoln who wrote the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation that ended slavery in the U.S. forever. It was Lincoln who wrote and gave The Gettysburg Address. Lincoln hated war, but he was drawn into this one because he believed it was the only way to save the nation. On Palm Sunday, the war ended. Triumph. On Good Friday, Abraham Lincoln became the first U.S. president to be assassinated. Tragedy. — Welcome to Holy Week. Welcome to the triumph and the tragedy of the six days preceding Easter. (Surrender location corrected by Fr. Richard W. Frank, <a href="mailto:richardwfrank1@yahoo.com" target="_blank">richardwfrank1@yahoo.com</a>) Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>3) The cross and the crucifix down through the centuries</b>: Until the fifth century AD, the early Christians generally avoided representing the Cross with the body of Jesus; in fact even bare crosses were rarely depicted until the fourth century AD. As J. H. Miller (op. cit.) explained, there were many reasons for the Church’s reluctance to openly represent the cross as its symbol. For many Jews and Gentiles, the cross underscored the seemingly irreconcilable contradiction of Christian belief, viz. that a crucified man could also be God. As various early heresies attacked either the divinity or humanity of Christ, the symbol of the cross, which seemed to exacerbate the conflict, was avoided, Not until the fourth century (during the reign of Constantine) did the cross begin to appear everywhere in public places as the pre-eminent symbol of Christianity. Despite the frequency of its representation in Christian art and architecture, the cross remains an ambivalent symbol. In its crossbeams meet death and life, sin and salvation, conquest and victory, immanence and transcendence. The cross represents both the basest aspects of the human condition and the most sublime reflection of divinity. As Karl Rahner once explained, “the cross of the Lord is the revelation of what sin really is. The cross of Christ mercilessly reveals what the world hides from itself: that it, as it were, devours the Son of God in the insane blindness of its sin — a sin in which Godless hate is truly set on fire upon contact with the love of God” (<i>The Content of Faith</i>, Crossroad Press, New York: 1992). 12:32). — As the dual revelation of the sinfulness of humanity and the love of God, the cross is unparalleled. ( Sanchez Files). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>3)”What did the Christian’s God do then?</b> On Marco Polo’s celebrated trip to the Orient, he was taken before the great and fearsome ruler, Genghis Khan. Now what was Marco Polo supposed to do before this mighty pagan conqueror? One false move could cost him his life. He decided to tell the story of Jesus as it is recorded in the Gospels. It is said that when Marco Polo related the events of Holy Week, describing Jesus’ betrayal, His trial, scourging, and crucifixion, Genghis Khan became more and more agitated, more engrossed in the story, and more tense. When Marco Polo pronounced the words, “Then Jesus bowed his head and yielded up His spirit,” Genghis Khan could no longer contain himself. He interrupted, bellowing, “What did the Christian’s God do then? Did He send thousands of angels from Heaven to smite and destroy those who killed his Son?” — What did the Christian’s God do then? He watched His beloved Son die, that’s what the Christian’s God did then. For that was the way God chose for Jesus to ascend the throne of His Kingdom and to establish His Lordship for all time. Not at all the way we would expect God to demonstrate His might and power, but that’s the way it was, and that is how we know what our God is like. In practical terms, that means that this suffering King who rules in love comes to lay His claim on our life. Our entire life is subject to His Lordship, not just a portion of it. To have Christ for our King means that we must rely on Him for everything, most of all the forgiveness of sins. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>4) “Either give up Christ or give up your jobs.”</b> Constantine the Great was the first Christian Roman emperor. His father Constantius I who succeeded Diocletian as emperor in 305 AD, was a pagan with a soft heart for Christians. It is said that when he ascended the throne, he discovered that many Christians held important jobs in the government and in the court. So he issued an executive order to all those Christians: “Either give up Christ or give up your jobs.” The great majority of Christians gave up their jobs rather than disown Christ. Only a few cowards gave up their religion rather than lose their jobs. The emperor was pleased with the majority who showed the courage of their convictions and gave their jobs back to them while he dismissed those who were willing to give up their allegiance to Christ to keep their jobs, saying to them, “If you will not be true to your God you will not be true to me either.” — Today we join the Palm Sunday crowd in spirit to declare our loyalty to Christ and our fidelity to His teachings by actively participating in the Palm Sunday liturgy. As we carry the palm to our homes, we are declaring our choice to accept Jesus as the King and ruler of our lives and our families. Let us express our gratitude to Jesus for redeeming us by His suffering and death. We do so best by our active participation in the Holy Week liturgy and our reconciliation with God and His Church, as we repent of our sins and receive God’s pardon and forgiveness from Jesus through his Church. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>5) Passion Sunday and the shadow of the cross:</b> The Bishop of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris during the early part of the last century was a great evangelizer who tried to reach out to unbelievers, scoffers, and cynics. He liked to tell the story of a young man who would stand outside the cathedral and shout derogatory slogans at the people entering to worship. He would call them fools and other insulting names. The people tried to ignore him but it was difficult. One day the parish priest went outside to confront the young man, much to the distress of the parishioners. The young man ranted and raved against everything the priest told him. Finally, the priest addressed the young scoffer, saying, “Look, let’s get this over with once and for all. I’m going to dare you to do something and I bet you can’t do it.” And of course the young man shot back, “I can do anything you propose, you white-robed wimp!” “Fine,” said the priest. “All I ask you to do is to come into the sanctuary with me. I want you to stare at the figure of Christ on His cross, and I want you to scream at the very top of your lungs, as loudly as you can. ‘Christ died on the cross for me, and I don’t care one bit.” So the young man went into the sanctuary, and looking at the figure, screamed as loudly as he could, “Christ died on the cross for me, and I don’t care one bit.” The priest said, “Very good. Now do it again.” And again the young man screamed, with a little more hesitancy, “Christ died on the cross for me, and I don’t care one bit.” “You’re almost done now,” said the priest. “One more time.” The young man raised his fist, kept looking at the crucifix, but the words wouldn’t come. He just could not look at the face of Christ and say those words any more. The real punch line came when, after he told the story, the bishop said, “I was that young man. That young man, that defiant young man was I. I thought I didn’t need God but found out that I did.” (<i>World Stories for Preachers and Teachers</i> by <a href="https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1440&bih=699&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22William+J.+Bausch%22&sa=X&ei=KcdJUajxMom08ASN5oGYDA&ved=0CFAQ9AgwBA">William J. Bausch</a>). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>6) In the footsteps of Jesus, the donkey rider:</b> There is a biography of a man who was one of the most learned people of his generation. He had two PhDs – one in philosophy, another in theology. Further, he was a world-class musician, and concert halls around the world were sold out when he went on tour. Then, to the surprise of everyone, he decided he wanted to go to a medical college to earn yet another doctoral degree in medicine. As soon as he had his medical degree, he left the comfortable surroundings of Western Europe and went into the jungles of Africa. There he cleared away part of the jungle and began building a clinic and a hospital. Once these were built, he started providing medical care to the young and old of Africa. Many years later, Dr. Albert Schweitzer won the Nobel Peace Prize for his ministry of healing in the jungles of Africa. When he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, he shared with that distinguished crowd in Stockholm the reason he had built a hospital in Africa. The reason was summed up, he stated in the first words he always said to his native patients as they awakened from an operation. He would say: “The reason that you have no more pain is because the Lord Jesus told the good doctor and his wife to come to the banks of Ogooue River and help you. If you owe thanks to anyone, you owe it to the Lord Jesus.” He accepted the challenge to be a humble servant of Jesus Christ. –And this is our challenge – this is your challenge – this is my challenge in this Holy Week! When we look beyond our own needs to the needs of others, we will be walking the road to becoming a humble servant of Jesus Christ. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>7) “Welcome home Mr. President.”</b> A number of years ago, <i>Newsweek</i> magazine carried the story of the memorial service held for Hubert Humphrey, former Vice-President of the United States. Hundreds of people came from all over the world to say good-bye to their old friend and colleague. But one person who came was shunned and ignored by virtually everyone there. Nobody would look at him much less speak to him. That person was former President Richard Nixon. Not long before, he had gone through the shame and infamy of Watergate. He was back in Washington for the first time since his resignation from the presidency. Then a very special thing happened, perhaps the only thing that could have made a difference and broken the ice. President Jimmy Carter, who was in the White House at that time, came into the room. Before he was seated, he saw Nixon over against the wall, all by himself. He went over to [him] as though he were greeting a family member, stuck out his hand to the former president, and smiled broadly. To the surprise of everyone there, the two of them embraced each other, and Carter said, “Welcome home, Mr. President! Welcome home!” Commenting on that, <i>Newsweek</i> magazine asserted, “If there was a turning point in Nixon’s long ordeal in the wilderness, it was that moment and that gesture of love and compassion.” — The turning point for us is Palm Sunday. It is our moment of triumph. It was a triumph because God, Jesus, decided to ignore our miserable state and act on our behalf. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>8) Hosanna leading to the cross:</b> Some years ago, a book was written by a noted American historian entitled <i>When the Cheering Stopped<b>.</b></i> It was the story of President Woodrow Wilson and the events leading up to and following World War I. When that war was over, Wilson, the 28<sup>th</sup> president of the United States was an international hero. There was a great spirit of optimism abroad, and people actually believed that the last war had been fought, and the world had been made safe for democracy. On his first visit to Paris after the war, Wilson was greeted by cheering mobs. He was actually more popular than France’s own heroes. The same thing was true in England and Italy. The cheering lasted about a year. Then it gradually began to stop. At home, Woodrow Wilson ran into opposition in the United States Senate, and his League of Nations was not ratified. Under the strain of it all, the President’s health began to break. In the next election his party was defeated. So it was that Woodrow Wilson, a man who barely a year or two earlier had been heralded as the new world Messiah, came to the end of his days a broken and defeated man. — It’s a sad story, but one that is not altogether unfamiliar. The ultimate reward for someone who tries to translate ideals into reality is apt to be frustration and defeat. It happened that way to Jesus. When He emerged on the public scene, He was an overnight sensation. On Palm Sunday, leafy palm branches were spread before Him and there were shouts of “Hosanna.” But before it was all over, a tidal wave of manipulated opposition had welled up that brought Jesus to the cross. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>9) Christ-less donkey arrested and handcuffed on a Palm Sunday</b>: The light turns green, but the man doesn’t notice that the light has changed. The woman behind him begins pounding on her steering wheel and yelling at the man to move! The man doesn’t move! The woman is going ballistic, ranting and raving at the man, pounding on her steering wheel. When the light turns yellow, the woman begins blowing her car’s horn and screaming curses at the man. Finally, the man looks up, sees the yellow light, and accelerates through the intersection just as the light turns red. While she is still ranting, she hears a tap on her window and looks up into the barrel of a gun held by a very serious looking policeman. The policeman tells her to pull her car to the side, shut off the engine, come out and stand facing the car, while keeping both hands on the car roof. She is quickly cuffed, and hustled into the patrol car. The woman is too bewildered to ask any questions, and she is driven to the police station, where she is fingerprinted, photographed, searched, booked, and locked up in a cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approaches the cell, and opens the door. The policeman hands her the bag containing her things, and says, “I’m sorry for this mistake, but you see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, and cursing at the car in front of you. I noticed the <i>“Choose Christ”</i> license plate holder, and the <i>“Follow Me To Sunday School”</i> bumper sticker, and <i>Palm Sunday palm leaves</i> inside the back windshield. So naturally I assumed you had stolen the car because such a nice Christian, who courageously displays Christian symbols in her car, would never act as you did.” Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>10) A donkey at Kentucky Derby?</b> Church tradition tells us (though none of the Gospels report it), that this wasn’t Jesus’ first donkey ride. Matthew’s text doesn’t detail how Joseph traveled with Mary to Egypt and back to Nazareth again. Nor does Luke’s Gospel describe how Mary and Joseph journeyed to Bethlehem. But all of us have in our heads the picture of a pregnant Mary perched on the back of a sturdy donkey. Our mind’s eye puts her back on that beast for the escape to Egypt and the homeward trek to Nazareth after Herod had died. Church tradition has long suggested that in honor of the donkey’s humble service to Jesus, the animal was rewarded with a permanent “sign of the cross,” for most donkeys do show a distinctive black cross pattern across their sturdy shoulders. — Despite this lip service from Church tradition, the donkey still remains far beyond the pale of glory. Little girls don’t dream of riding across summer fields on a little donkey. The Kentucky Derby doesn’t blow the herald horn for a herd of dinky donkeys to race around the track. And everyone from Shakespeare to Pinocchio knows that fools and dolts are depicted as donkeys. Of course, the donkey’s other common name says it all: a donkey is just an . . . well, you know what that word is. Yet if the mission of the Church is to carry Christ into the world, then each of us is called to be a donkey. There’s no particular glory in being a donkey. There are only long trails, steep roads, heavy loads, and little or no recognition for a completed job. Fr. <b>Tony (</b><a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/"><b>http://frtonyshomilies.com/</b></a><b>) 2021.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>11) An angry Christ:</b> A Catholic priest in Dayton, Ohio defied his archbishop by denying Communion to worshipers who did not observe a dress code. For several years he had denied the Sacraments to anyone who came to Church in “shorts, bare midriffs, tank tops, jeans, and sweatshirts.” Finally, the Archbishop retired the 73-year old priest for defying his authority. The priest said: “I do not hate the Archbishop. I have only pity for him, since he will have to face an angry Christ in judgment.” (<i>Christian Century</i>, January 24, 1990, page 73). — Whatever we may think of the good priest’s sartorial preferences, we must be shocked awake by his words: “an angry Christ.” Yes, according to the Gospel record, Christ did get angry. And He got angry over something a whole lot more important than a dress code. In fact, it might be argued that the attitude expressed by the good father in Dayton was precisely the sort of attitude that made Jesus really angry-putting roadblocks in front of people who wished to come to Him. The first place where it says He got angry was when He was forbidden to heal on the Sabbath. (Mark 3:5) In another place, anger is not mentioned, but implied. That was when He came to the Temple on the Monday of Passion Week. There, His passion burst forth against the moneychangers in the Temple. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>12) A parade of humility:</b> A pastor was once asked to speak at a banquet for a charitable organization. After the meeting, the program chairman handed the pastor a check. “Oh, I don’t want this,” the pastor said. “I appreciate the honor of being asked to speak. Keep the check and apply it to something special.” The program chairman asked, “Well, do you mind if we put it in our special fund?” “Of course not!” the pastor replied. “Could you please tell me what your special fund is for?” The chairman answered, “It’s so we can get a better speaker for next year.” — Life is full of humbling experiences. But, when we look at Jesus’ parade through the Holy City, we sense that it was an act of humility. He did not choose to ride into the city upon a stallion, but a donkey. He was not coming in the might and power of a conquering king, but as a humble servant. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>13) “The Hero’s Quest.”</b> Some of you will remember the name of Joseph Campbell. Campbell taught in relative obscurity for many years until Bill Moyers discovered him, did a series on public television about Campbell’s ideas about mythology and comparative religions, and thus elevated him into celebrity, most of it posthumous since Campbell died shortly after that television series. What caught Moyers’ attention was Campbell’s book entitled, <i>The Hero with a Thousand Faces</i>. Incidentally, it also caught George Lucas’s attention and was the inspiration for his film, <i>Star Wars</i>. The thesis of that book is that the same story appears over and over again in all the world’s literature, including the Bible. He called that story, “The Hero’s Quest.” He said that the plot is always the same. A hero must make a solitary journey, sometimes to climb a mountain to get the prize, sometimes to go to the cave to slay the dragon, sometimes to journey the gates of the forbidden city. The hero is the person who faces hostile powers, enters the struggle, prepared to give his or her life, and then comes out of it a new person, with a new life. — Those stories are everywhere. They are a part of every culture. In Greece, we see it as the Golden Fleece. In Britain, it is the Arthurian legends and the Holy Grail. And in the Bible, it is the story of Abraham leaving Ur of Chaldees, the most civilized part of the world in those days, and journeying through many “dangers, toils, and snares” to a promised land. Or it is Moses, leaving the comfort and security of shepherding in Midian to go to Egypt and confront Pharaoh. Or it is David, leaving the simple life of a shepherd boy and going out to meet the giant Goliath. But unparalleled in history is Jesus’ leaving the safety of Galilee and heading for Jerusalem to accomplish His mission of redeeming mankind by His suffering, death and Resurrection. That is the story of Palm Sunday. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>14) “Sir, I just know I love Jesus.”</b> In a Sociology of Religion class at the University of Virginia, the professor asked the students in the first class to tell about their religious background and commitments. One young woman named Barb said she was a Christian. The professor asked, “What tradition of the Christian faith do you identify with? The northern European or English pietism or another?” The student did not understand his question. Finally she said, “Sir, I don’t know exactly what you mean; I just know I love Jesus.” Right there in a classroom, Jesus was declared to be King and perhaps attracted more followers. One of my favorite golfers on the pro tour is Tom Lehman. He often says, “I think of myself as a Christian who plays golf, not as a golfer who is a Christian.” — What about you? Are you first a Christian and then secondarily a banker or a teacher or a salesperson or a Republican or a white person or a husband or a mother? Is the word “Christian” your most important adjective? When you declare, “Jesus is Lord!” have you revealed the essential you? This Jesus is still marching down the streets of the world, calling people to decision. Jesus is the unidentified King who has no crown to wear or kingdom to command…until one person at a time declares by Faith, “Jesus is Lord for me. He will reign in my life.” Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) <b>2021.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>15) The myth of redemptive violence:</b> “In a period when attendance at Christian Sunday schools is dwindling, the myth of redemptive violence has won children’s voluntary acquiescence to a regimen of religious indoctrination more extensive and effective than any in the history of religions. Estimates vary widely, but the average child is reported to log roughly 36,000 hours of television by age 18, viewing some 15,000 murders. What church or synagogue can even remotely keep pace with the myth of redemptive violence in hours spent teaching children or the quality of presentation? (Think of the typical “children’s sermon” – how bland by comparison!)” With that kind of insight as a background, perhaps we should EXPECT what happened to Jesus in the Holy Week. (“<i>The Myth of Redemptive Violence” </i>http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/exploratory/articles/wink99.doc ). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>16) After the shouts of Hosanna we should walk to Golgotha</b>: Bishop Kenneth Carder (Tennessee) wrote: “The Church of today has become an institution in which even belief in God is optional or peripheral. Marketing techniques for a multiple option institution have replaced response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the means of membership enlistment. The basic appeal is to self-defined needs rather than a call to radical discipleship. The Church’s mission, all too often, is to meet its members’ perceived needs rather than to serve God’s need for a redeemed, reconciled, and healed world.” — Our concept of consumerism has crept into the Church. To recruit persons and to be marketable we think that we need to be able to say: “Look what our Church can offer you.” In this atmosphere of a sorority rush party, talk of discipleship is muted. Discipleship means knowing Who Jesus Christ is and following the Revelation made known to us in His teaching, death, Resurrection, and presence. Commitment means that, after the shouts of Hosanna, we walk to Golgotha carrying His cross of suffering. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>17) And Superman ducked! </b>Jesus rides upon a donkey fulfilling an ancient prophecy, but clearly in total control. He knows what will happen to Him in Jerusalem. Still He rides on. He does not seek to avoid the task to which He has been called. It reminds me of a routine comedian David Brenner used to do about Superman in the movies. Go back with me in your minds. Picture this scene. Superman is confronting one of the bad guys. The bad guy would fire at Superman with a gun. Superman would smirk and throw his chest out. The bullets would bounce harmlessly away. But did you ever notice what happened next? Brenner said, “And then when the guy ran out of bullets, he would throw the gun at Superman. And Superman ducked.” He ducked! I’ll bet you never thought about that before. Bullets bounced off of him, but when a gun was thrown at him, Superman ducked. — Perhaps that amusing insight will serve to remind us that Jesus did not have to enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He could have ducked His mission. But still He rode on. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>18) King for a day:</b> Once upon a time, before television, there was radio. One of the most popular daytime radio programs in those days was called <i>Queen for a Day</i>. Each day four or five women from the studio audience would tell the host what they would like to do if they could be “Queen for a Day.” Then, on the basis of applause, one woman was chosen, and insofar as they were able, the sponsors fulfilled her wildest desires. She was given a number of valuable prizes and for one day she reigned as “Queen.” — That sounds like what happened to Jesus, doesn’t it? Jesus was crowned “King for a Day” on that first Palm Sunday. Fr. Tony <b>(</b><a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/"><b>http://frtonyshomilies.com/</b></a><b>) 2021.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>19) The humble king versus proud kings:</b> The dictator Sulla during the time of the Roman republic invented the “proscription”, by which he would just announce whom he wanted dead. This would be read out in public places and he then would reward anyone who would kill that particular person. Caligula abandoned himself to cruelty and lust. He declared himself to be a god and would often go through the streets of Rome dressed as Bacchus, Venus, or Apollo. The Romans were compelled to worship him, and he made the wealthiest citizens his priests. Having exhausted Rome and Italy, in AD. 39 Caligula led a large army across the Alps for the purpose of plundering Gaul, where the richest citizens were put to death and their property confiscated. — The crowd that cheered Jesus was familiar with such cruelties of the Kings and Emperors. Contrary to their experience, they found a new procession where the king was adorned with humility. (Fr. Bobby Jose). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>20) “Help! Help!”</b> There is an old story about a preacher who was having problems and decided to leave the ministry. But he ran into trouble finding another job. Finally, in desperation, he took a job at the local zoo. The gorilla had died, and since it had been the children’s favorite animal, the zoo officials decided to put someone in a gorilla costume until a real replacement could be found. To the minister’s surprise, he liked the job. He enjoyed ministering to children as the donkey on Palm Sunday carried Jesus. He got lots of attention and could eat all he wanted. There was no stress: there were no deadlines, complaints or committees. And he could take a nap anytime he wanted. One day he was feeling particularly frisky. So he began swinging on the trapeze. Higher and higher he went. But suddenly he lost his grip, flipped a couple of times, and landed in the next cage. Stunned and dazed, he looked up and saw a ferocious lion. In his panic he forgot he was supposed to be a gorilla and yelled, “Help! Help!” That ferocious lion turned in his direction and said, “0h, shut up, man, I’m a minister too.” — Unlike these gorilla and lion ministers, all of us are supposed to be donkey ministers by becoming donkey-givers like the man Jesus met long ago, who loaned his donkey to Jesus to ride as He entered Jerusalem for the last time. We become donkey-givers when we give something that promotes Jesus and His Kingdom. Five hundred years from now as we delight in the glory of God’s Kingdom, we will not even remember how much money we earned on earth or how big our houses were or whether we had much status or popularity. But we will celebrate forever every single donkey we gave to the Master in the form of little things we have done for others in Jesus’ name for God’s glory. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>21) Speaking Donkey:</b> Ever wonder why the donkey is the only animal in the Bible that speaks? Karl Barth at his 80th birthday party offered this testimony: “In the Bible there’s talk of a donkey, or to be quite correct, an ass. It was allowed to carry Jesus to Jerusalem. If I have achieved anything in this life, then I did so as a relative of the ass who at that time was going his way carrying an important burden. The disciples had said to its owner: ‘The Master has need of it.’ And so, it seems to have pleased God to have used me at this time. Apparently, I was permitted to be the ass which was allowed to carry as best I could a better theology, a little piece” [as quoted by John Robert McFarland’s Preacher’s Workshop in “The Illustration is the Point,” <i>The Christian Ministry</i>, (January-February, 1988), 21.] Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>22) “The Traveler”: </b>Richard Matheson wrote a science-fiction story called “The Traveler.” It’s about a scientist called Paul Jairus, who is part of a research time that has developed an energy screen to permit people to travel back into time. The first trip is scheduled to take place a few days before Christmas and Jairus has been picked to make the trip. He decided to go back in time to the crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary. Jairus is a non-believer and anticipates finding the crucifixion different from the way the Bible describes it. When the historic moment comes, Jairus steps into the energy screen and soon finds himself soaring back into time -100 years, 1000 years, 2000 years. The energy screen touches down on target and Calvary is swarming with people, everybody’s attention is focused on three men nailed to crosses about 100 feet away. Immediately Jairus asks the Command Centre for permission to move closer to the crosses, they grant it, but tell him to stay inside the energy screen. Jairus moves closer and as he does, his eyes come to rest on Jesus. Suddenly something remarkable begins to happen, Jairus feels drawn to Jesus, as a tiny piece of metal is drawn to a magnet. He is deeply moved by the love radiating from Jesus, it’s something he’d never experienced before. Then contrary to all his expectations, events on Calvary begin to unfold exactly as the Gospel described them. Jairus is visibly shaken. — The Command Centre realizes this and fears he’s becoming emotionally involved. They tell him to prepare for immediate return to the 20th century. Jairus protests, but to no avail. The trip back goes smoothly. When Jairus <i>steps from the energy screen, it’s clear he’s a changed man. (</i>Mark Link<b>). </b>Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>23) Victory of St. Polycarp</b>: In Christian art, the martyrs are almost always shown holding palm branches as symbols of victory over temptation and suffering. These martyrs are our older brothers and sisters in the Faith — God wants us to learn from and be encouraged by them. Take the example of St Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. • In the year 155, Polycarp was condemned to death for refusing to give idolatrous worship to the Roman Emperor. As he was a well-known Christian leader, even though he was already in his 80s, his execution was made into a large public spectacle. • He was burned to death in the city stadium. • Normally, criminals executed that way were actually fastened to the pile of wood, so that they wouldn’t climb out of the fire. • But not Polycarp. • He told his guards: “He who gives me strength to endure the fire will also grant me to stay on the pyre unflinching even without your making sure of it with nails.” • According to eye witnesses, his last words were a prayer of blessing and thanksgiving to God for giving him the honor of sharing Christ’s cup of suffering. • Those same eye witnesses tell us that when the fire was lit, • a great flame blazed up, • but instead of burning Polycarp right away, • it surrounded him like a fiery force field; • his face was serene and his body glowed like gold being refined in a furnace. • As he peacefully breathed his last, the onlookers perceived a fragrant smell, as if incense were being offered. — This is the paradox of Palm Sunday, which God wants us all to experience: that Christ’s limitless love • can strengthen us to resist even the greatest temptations, • and fill us with interior peace and joy even amidst the flames of suffering that torment us here on earth. <i>(E- Priest)</i><b> . </b>Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b>24) Helplessness of a terminal cancer patient:</b> The renowned spiritual writer Henri Nouwen, shares how he once went to a hospital to visit a man dying of cancer. The man was still relatively young and had been a very hardworking and generative person. He was the father of a family and provided well for them. He was the chief executive officer in a large company and took good care of both the company and his employees. Moreover, he was involved in many other organizations, including his Church, and, because of his leadership abilities, was often the one in charge. But now, this once-so-active man, this person who was so used to being in control of things, was lying on a hospital bed, dying, unable to take care of even his most basic needs. As Nouwen approached the bed, the man took his hand. It’s significant to note the particular frustration he expressed: “Father, you have to help me! I’m dying, and I am trying to make peace with that, but there is something else too: You know me, I have always been in charge—I took care of my family. I took care of the company. I took care of the Church. I took care of things! Now I am lying here, on this bed and I can’t even take care of myself. I can’t even go to the bathroom! Dying is one thing, but this is another! I’m helpless! I can’t do anything anymore!” Despite his exceptional pastoral skills, Nouwen, like any of us in a similar situation, was left rather helpless in the face of this man’s plea. The man was undergoing an agonizing passivity. He was now a patient. He had once been active, the one in charge; and now, like Jesus in the hours leading up to his death, he was reduced being a patient, one who is ministered to by others. Nouwen, for his part, tried to help the man see the connection between what he was undergoing and what Jesus endured in his passion, especially how this time of helplessness, diminishment, and passivity is meant to be a time where we can give something deeper to those around us. (Quoted by Fr. Ron Rolheiser). — Among other things, Nouwen read the Passion narratives of the Gospels aloud to him because what this man was enduring parallels very clearly what Jesus endured in the hours leading up to his death, a time we Christians entitle, “the Passion of Jesus.” What exactly was the Passion of Jesus? Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;">25) <b>Obediently accepting death on a cross: </b>Andy lived in Jersey City. His father worked for the great meat-packing firm of Swift and Company. Andy’s dad used every opportunity to educate his son along practical lines. One day when the boy was about ten, he took him on a tour of the Swift packinghouses in Newark to show him how they killed animals for the meat-markets. Swift called these places their “abattoirs.” The French word <i>abattoir</i> sounds a little less gross, but it means the same as the English “slaughter-house.” What the butchers did there was a necessary but bloody business, not always easy for a visitor to stomach. Andy noticed in particular the way in which the different types of animals reacted to impending death. The beef cattle and calves struggled and bellowed with fear. Pigs squealed and squirmed and tried to escape. But the sheep were different. They simply stood there meek and silent, offering no resistance to their slayers. When Andy grew up, he became a priest. He never forgot the way he had seen sheep behave in the face of death, and he often pointed out in his Holy Week sermons how appropriately the Christ who died for us is called “the Lamb.” The Jews of Bible times knew very well how sheep acted under these circumstances. Sheep and goats were their main livestock. Isaiah spoke out of experience when he foretold in vision how the Messiah would die: “Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth.” (Is 53:7) — Today as we enter upon Passion Week, let us bear in mind this symbol of Christ as a lamb, and during the narrative of His passion and death see how well it was fulfilled. (Father Robert F. McNamara). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) 2021. L/21 </span></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">******</span><br /><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">2. Fr. Jude Botelho:</span></strong></span></div></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the first part of this service we remember Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem acclaimed by all the people. We could dwell on the thoughts of those who were present there. Firstly there are the disciples and the crowds, which were growing in their admiration of Jesus the master. They must have been particularly happy to see their master thus publicly acknowledged by the multitude. Then there are the Jewish leaders who understood what was happening as the crowds proclaimed: "Hosanna to the Son of David." They wanted Jesus to silence the crowd but he didn't. Then there is Jesus himself and his thoughts were very different from those of his disciples and the crowd. He did gratefully accept the praises of the people since they were sincere, but these praises did not make him proud. He still remained humble and that is the reason he comes on a donkey fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah.<br /><br /><strong>Triumph and Tragedy</strong><br />In 1978 President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin shared the Nobel Peace Prize. The award was given to them for their joint efforts to reduce Mideast hostilities by framing and signing the U.S. mediated Camp David peace accord. The agreement was an unprecedented move on Sadat's part because he was the first major Arab leader to accept Israel's existence as a sovereign state. Only five years earlier, in 1973, he was hailed as a hero for successfully sending Egyptian forces across the Suez Canal to recapture Israeli-occupied territories. But in 1978 Sadat was called a traitor by Arab radicals. President Sadat was assassinated by some Arab extremists in 1981. Ironically, he was killed while viewing a parade to celebrate the anniversary of the 1973 battle that had made him an Arab hero. The life and death of Anwar Sadat suggest some striking similarities to the life and death of Jesus, similarities that stand out on Palm Sunday. For both Sadat and Jesus had loyal followers who acclaimed them, but also enemies who eventually killed them. Both men entered their final scene to sounds of triumph, only to depart from it on a note of tragedy.<br /><em>Albert Cylwicki in 'His Word Resounds'</em><br /><br />In the first reading the prophet Isaiah, who lived seven hundred years before Christ, wrote about the sufferings of the suffering servant in such detail that one would have thought that he was an eye witness of the passion and death of Jesus Christ himself. The spirit of God prompted him to say and write as he did. In particular, in today's reading, Isaiah will highlight one key aspect of the suffering servant of Yahweh that he would be obedient and uncomplaining in his acceptance of whatever he had to endure. In all that he suffered he would trust in his Father and surrender to His will.<br /><br />As we listen to the narrative of the passion we need to remind ourselves that the gospels were not written at a stretch but gradually. The account of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus were among the very first sections of the Gospels to be put into writing as nothing was dearer to the followers than to recall and relive the very last moments of Jesus and all that he had said and done before he died. On listening to the narrative of the passion, those Christians and millions of others were empowered and fortified to remain faithful to Jesus in times of persecution. We too, as we listen to the narrative of the passion will find the courage and strength to carry our own crosses and follow after him. As we enter into his passion we need to make an act of faith. Jesus died but he still lives on and continues to be in our midst. During Holy Week Jesus comes in a special way not only to listen to us but also to speak to us and to work in us and through us. Times have changed and the settings have changed. There are no apostles and no Jews but we have taken their place. Jesus is undergoing his passion today through the people who suffer, those who are unjustly condemned to death; those who are betrayed by their very own; those who suffer for their stand against aggression, injustices, human rights; those who are manipulated by power hungry forces; those who are the victims of war; victims of terrorism; the narrative of the passion is unfolding in our very times. May our meditation on the passion and death of Jesus Christ lead us and all those who suffer, into the fullness of the Resurrection.<br /><br /><strong>The people, in them I see the face of God</strong><br />In one of his plays Padraig Pearse tells the story of Mac Dara, the Singer, who returns home and tells his old school teacher Maoilsheachlainn about his loss of faith. "Once as I knelt at the cross of Kilgobbin, it became clear to me with awful clearness, that there was no God. Why pray after that? I burst into a fit of laughter at the folly of men in thinking there is a God. I felt inclined to run through the village and cry aloud, "People, it is all a mistake. There is no God." Then I said, 'Why take away their illusion? If they find there is no God, their hearts will be as lonely as mine.' So I walked the roads with my secret." To which Maoilsheachlainn replied, "Mac Dara, I am sorry for this. You must pray, you must pray. You will find God again. He has only hidden his face from you." "No," said Mac Dara, "He has revealed his face to me, the people, Maoilsheachlainn, the dumb, suffering people. In them I saw or seemed to see again the face of God." In the people and his concern that his unbelief might disturb their simple faith, Mac Dara rediscovered the face of God.<br /><em>James A Feeban from 'Story Power'</em><br /><br /><strong>Do you think he loved me?</strong><br />Manning and Brennen were part of a platoon in Vietnam making their way through the jungle when, suddenly, Manning was sent flying into the bushes, when Brennen threw himself on the ground. There was a terrific explosion, as a landmine blew Brennen to bits, and Manning escaped without a mark. Manning was deeply shocked, of course, but he was also profoundly overcome that his friend had sacrificed his own life for him. His right foot was just about to come down on the mine when Brennen spotted it, and dived. His intention was to get Manning out of the way, but it was impossible to do that without throwing himself in the line of fire. When Manning returned to the US, he joined a branch of the Franciscans, called Canons Regular and took 'Brennen' as his religious name. Some years after his ordination, he was visiting the mother of his friend Brennen, who was now quite old. She was a quiet little woman, and constant prayer was her daily sustenance. By way of saying something during a lull in the conversation, Manning turned to her and asked, "Do you think that he really loved me?" The quiet little woman sprang to life, was on her feet, and was pointing a finger into his face as she spoke with a clear firm voice: "Don't you ever ask me that question again. Of course he loved you. Didn't he die for you? What further proof could you need?"<br /><em>Jack McArdle in 'And that's the Gospel truth'</em><br /><br /><strong>I have already died</strong><br />Henri Nouwen tells of a Lutheran Bishop who was imprisoned in a German concentration camp during World War II and beaten by an SS Officer in order to extract a confession from him about his political action. The beatings continued to increase in intensity, but the bishop maintained his silence. Finally, the infuriated officer shrieked, "Don't you know that I can kill you?" The bishop looked into the eyes of his torturer and said, "Yes, I know -do what you want - but I have already died." Instantly as though paralyzed, the officer could no longer raise his arm. It was as if power over the bishop had been taken from him. All his cruelties had been based on the assumption that the bishop's physical life was his most precious possession and therefore he would be willing to make any concession to save it. But with the grounds for violence gone, torture was futile.<br /><em>Anthony Castle in 'More Quotes and Anecdotes'</em><br /><br /><strong>Ready to die that others may live</strong><br />There was a report of a coal mining accident. Many miners escaped with their lives, but three men were trapped somewhere deep within the earth's crust. Whether they were dead or alive no one knew. What made the accident even more frustrating was the presence of intense heat and noxious gases within the mine itself. If the rocks had not crushed them, they very well would have been asphyxiated by the fumes or killed by the heat. Two days went by before a search expedition was allowed to even enter the mine because of heat and fumes. Even then there was a great danger in store for anyone who would dare descend into what could be a deep black grave. A brief interview was conducted with one of the members of the search expedition as he was preparing to enter the mine. A reporter asked him, "Sir, are you aware of the noxious gases and the extreme danger of the mines." The fireman replied, "Yes, I am aware." The reporter asked again, "Are you still going down?" And the man replied, "The men may still be alive." Without another word of explanation he put on his gas mask, climbed into the elevator and descended into the black inferno of the mine. That rescuer put his life on the line that others might live. That's what Jesus did - by entering Jerusalem, He put his life on the line that others might have life.<br /><em>John Rose in 'John's Sunday Homilies'</em><br /><br /><strong>Specially for you</strong><br />The young man was at the end of his rope. Seeing no way out, he dropped to his knees in prayer. "Lord, I can't go on," he said. "I have too heavy a cross to bear." The Lord replied, "My son, if you can't bear its weight, just place your cross inside this room. Then, open that other door and pick out any cross you wish." The man was filled with relief. "Thank you, Lord," he sighed, and he did as he was told. Upon entering the other door, he saw many crosses, some so large the tops were not visible. Then, he spotted a tiny cross leaning against a far wall. "I'd like that one, Lord," he whispered. And the Lord replied, "My son, that is the cross you just brought in."<br /><em>Anonymous</em><br /><br /><strong>We join our sufferings to those of Christ, then they make sense</strong><br />A.J. Cronin tells of his days as a medical officer to the Welsh mining company in his book <em>Adventures in Two Worlds</em>. I have told you of Olwen Davies, the middle aged district nurse who for more than twenty years, with fortitude and patience, calmness and selflessness, served the people of Tregenny. This unconscious selflessness, which above all seemed the keynote of her character, was so poorly rewarded, it worried me. Although she was much beloved by the people, her salary was most inadequate. And late one night after a particularly strenuous case, I ventured to protest to her as we drank a cup of tea together. "Nurse," I said, "Why don't you make them pay you more? It is ridiculous that you should work for so little." She raised her eyebrows slightly. But she smiled. "I have enough to get along." "No, really," I persisted, "you ought to have an extra pound a week at least. God knows you are worth it." There was a pause. Her smile remained, but her gaze held a gravity which startled me. "Doctor," she said, "if God knows I am worth it, that's all that matters to me." - Are we content to do our work in silence, knowing that God knows our efforts, concerns and sufferings?<br /><em>Gerard Fuller in 'Stories for All Seasons'</em></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. From Sermons.com</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some years ago a book was written by Gene Smith, a noted American historian. The title was "When The Cheering Stopped." It was the story of President Woodrow Wilson and the events leading up to and following WWI. When that war was over Wilson was an international hero. There was a great spirit of optimism abroad, and people actually believed that the last war had been fought and the world had been made safe for democracy. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">On his first visit to Paris after the war Wilson was greeted by cheering mobs. He was actually more popular than their own heroes. The same thing was true in England and Italy. In a Vienna hospital a Red Cross worker had to tell the children that there would be no Christmas presents because of the war and the hard times. The children didn't believe her. They said that President Wilson was coming and they knew that everything would be all right. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The cheering lasted about a year. Then it gradually began to stop. It turned out that the political leaders in Europe were more concerned with their own agendas than they were a lasting peace. At home, Woodrow Wilson ran into opposition in the United States Senate and his League of Nations was not ratified. Under the strain of it all the President's health began to break. In the next election his party was defeated. So it was that Woodrow Wilson, a man who barely a year or two earlier had been heralded as the new world Messiah, came to the end of his days a broken and defeated man. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's a sad story, but one that is not altogether unfamiliar. The ultimate reward for someone who tries to translate ideals into reality is apt to be frustration and defeat. There are some exceptions, of course, but not too many.</span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It happened that way to Jesus...</span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is a time-honored story about a little boy who was sick. It was Palm Sunday and the children waved palm branches to open the service. But this young man stayed home from church with his mother. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, "Why do we wave palm branches on Palm Sunday, Dad, and why do we call it Palm Sunday?" </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"You see," his Dad explained, "when Jesus came into town, everyone waved palm branches to honor him, so we got palm branches in the worship service today." </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The little boy replied, "Aw, Shucks! The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up."</span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, I'm confident that Jesus will show up today, even though we will not be able to welcome him with quite the excitement with which the crowd in Jerusalem welcomed him 2,000 years ago. Someone has compared the reception Jesus received to a ticker-tape parade in New York City honoring heroes and celebrities. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some of our young people might wonder what ticker-tape is. For those who may never have seen the stuff, ticker-tape refers to long, narrow strands of paper, with holes punched in them. These strands of paper once carried information about the performance of the New York Stock Exchange. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As the information was entered by machines, holes were punched in the tape as it fed through, and other machines would read the information for the benefit of brokers and investors. It was sort of an early computer--all very modern in the first half of the twentieth century. But there was a problem--what do you do with the tape once it had gone through the reader and was no longer useful? </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">One cynic says since all that ticker-tape was waste paper and, even then, expensive to get rid of, some enterprising person had the bright idea of staging a parade for some hero and dumping the whole mess out the window. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is not quite true. Actually, the greatest honor that the city of New York can bestow upon an individual or a collection of individuals, say a championship sports team, is to throw a ticker-tape parade. Since the first parade in 1886, 204 of these celebrations have taken place. Since then thousands of tons of paper have descended on the heads of various kinds of heroes...</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">___________________________</span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There Is Still Hope</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The reality is that, if we figure to survive in this world, we had better have hope. The ancients knew that. Do you remember Pandora? Mythology has her as a lady endowed with every charm...the gift of all the gods. She was sent to earth with a little box which she had been forbidden to open, but curiosity finally got the better of her...she lifted the lid and out from that box escaped every conceivable kind of terror. Pandora made haste to close the box up again, but it was too late. There was only one thing left...HOPE. That was the ancients' way of saying how important hope is. Even when all else is lost, there is still hope. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This was what had sustained the Israelite faithful from generation to generation. This was what energized the crowd along Jesus' parade route that day. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">David E. Leininger, Sunday's Coming!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">_________________________________</span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Creating Turmoil</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In his book, The Freedom Revolution and the Churches, Robert Spike recalls an incident from the early years of the turbulent civil rights movement. Flying out of Jackson, Mississippi, Spike overhears the conversation of a Catholic sister, sitting across the aisle from him, with her seat companion. The sister is lamenting all the unrest in Mississippi, and she complains about the "outside agitators," the students and church leaders who have come to her state in support of civil rights, certain that their presence is provoking violence on the part of white racists. "I do not question their dedication, nor even the rightness of their position," said the sister. "But surely it is a bad thing to create turmoil by stirring up people who feel differently." As the sister talks, all the while she is nervously fingering a cross hanging around her neck. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There's a tragic irony in the sister's words and actions, not unlike that of the first Holy Week. For the one whose cross the sister holds most dear, Jesus, would never have taken the risk of going to Jerusalem and proclaiming a new way of living, would never have confronted comfortable patterns and ultimately endured the cross, had he followed the sister's philosophy. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joel D. Kline, What Did We See in Jesus?</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">_________________________</span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Tomb Is Easier than the Cross</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In just a matter of days Holy Week takes us from the mountain of festive palms to the mountain of Golgatha's despair. And that is why we resist it so. I mean, do we really need the emotional rollercoaster of Holy Week? What's so wrong with just jumping from one parade to the next and skipping all the sacrifice and death stuff? What's wrong with simply moving on to the joy of Easter, with its white bonnets, Easter eggs, family, friends, big ham dinner, and of course the empty tomb. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, I think we know the answer to that. For starters, an empty tomb, at face value, is a lot easier to deal with than a dying, bleeding Savior on a cross. Add to that all the pain and suffering that comes with Holy Week, is it any wonder that the human tendency is to try and ignore the events of the week and simply move on to the Easter celebration? But as much as we'd like to skip Holy Week we know that the only way to Easter is through the cross. We know where the parade of Palm Sunday leads and we also know that we're part of that parade. That is to say, we know this intellectually. Our hearts are another story. Our hearts may be more in sync with the disciples and the fear and disbelief that led them to run away. It would seem that 2000 years later Jesus' disciples are still running away. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jeffrey K. London, And When You Think It's All Over</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">__________________________</span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">You Brought Pavement?</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I love the story about a rich man who wanted to take his money with him beyond the grave. When he was nearing death, he prayed fervently about this matter. An angel appeared to him and said, "Sorry, you can't take all your wealth with you after death, but the Lord will allow you to take one suitcase. Fill it with whatever you wish." Overjoyed the man got the largest suitcase he could find and filled it with pure gold bars. Soon afterward he died and showed up at the gates of heaven. St. Peter, seeing the suitcase, said, "Hold on, you can't bring that in here with you." The man explained how God had given him special permission." St. Peter checked it out with the angel Gabriel and the story was verified. "Okay," said St. Peter, "You can bring the suitcase in with you, but first I must check its contents." He opened the suitcase to see what worldly items this man had considered too precious to leave behind. "I don't believe it!" said St. Peter. "You brought pavement??" </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, </span><a href="http://www.sermons.com/"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">www.Sermons.com</span></a></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">________________________</span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">He Expected Fruit</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The disciples come upon a fig tree which is showing a burst of new leaves. But Jesus looks among them, and says that there is no fruit. He expected fruit. It is the condemnation of promise without fulfillment. Charles Lamb told of a certain man in whose life, he said, there were three stages. When he was young, people said of him, "He will do something." As he grew older and did nothing, they said of him, "He could do something if he tried." </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Towards the end of his life they said of him, "He might have done something, if he had tried." That could be the epitaph of too many Christians...and too many churches.</span> </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Donald B. Strobe, Collected Words, </span><a href="http://www.sermons.com/" shape="rect" title=""><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">www.Sermons.com</span></a></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">______________________________</span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">What Is Good For Us Is Hidden</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Martin Luther often spoke of this aspect of the theology of the cross, concerning how God works in a hidden way through contrasts. In a series of lectures that Luther gave in 1515 and 1516 on the Book of Romans, he wrote: "For what is good for us is hidden, and that so deeply that it is hidden under its opposite. Thus our life is hidden under death, love for ourselves under hate for ourselves ... salvation under damnation, heaven under hell ... And universally our every assertion of anything good is hidden under the denial of it, so that faith may have its place in God, who is a negative essence and goodness and wisdom and righteousness, who cannot be touched except by the negation of all our affirmations." </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Martin Luther had one more observation about why God operates this way - under contrasts and opposites. In another of his sermons, he put it this way: "He thrusts us into death and permits the devil to pounce on us. But it is not his purpose to devour us; he wants to test us, to purify us, and to manifest himself ever more to us, that we may recognize his love. Such trials and strife are to let us experience something that preaching alone is not able to do, namely, how powerful Christ is and how sincerely the Father loves us. So our trust in God and our knowledge of God will increase more and more, together with our praise and thanks for his mercy and blessing. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Otherwise we would bumble along with our early, incipient faith. We would become indolent, unfruitful and inexperienced Christians, and would soon grow rusty." </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mark Ellingsen, Preparation and Manifestation, CSS Publishing</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">_____________________</span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lose Yourself</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">What does a Christ-like mind look like as we live in the world? We can see it clearly in the great saints and martyrs, such as Mother Teresa or Albert Schweitzer. I'm drawn as well to the idea William Placher suggests in his book "Narratives of a Vulnerable God" as he uses an illustration from the world of basketball. Professor Placher writes, "In basketball the players who are always asking, 'How am I doing? Am I getting my share of the shots?' Those are the ones who never reach their full potential. It is the players who lose themselves who find themselves. And it's that kind of self-forgetfulness that makes the best players." And isn't that the case with all of us in whatever we do?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I read about one of the fastest growing churches in the world, with branches in 32 countries already. It is called the Winners Church, and according to its leaders, it lives by a motto that comes from America's religious culture. Here's the motto: "Be happy. Be successful. Join the winners." People flock to that kind of church, I guess. But it all depends, doesn't it, on how we define winning? I wonder what kind of church you would have if your motto were "Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant." Or about this one for a motto, "Those who want to save their lives will lose them and those who lose their lives for my sake, will find them." </span></span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joanna Adams, A Beautiful Mind</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">____________________________________</span></span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Passion Sunday: Surprising and Inevitable</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">At a pre-concert lecture, the conductor of a symphony orchestra was telling the audience about the major work that the orchestra would be performing at that evening's concert. The conductor told the people that if they listened carefully to the music, they would discover that it was both surprising and inevitable. On the one hand, the musical score would take a fair number of rather jarring and unexpected twists. There would be points in the concert when the blare of the trumpet or the sudden rolling of the timpani would seem to come from out of nowhere in a surprising fashion. On the other hand, however, the conductor noted that in the long run, these surprises would themselves become part of a larger coherence. Once listeners heard the entire piece from start to finish, they would find in the music an air of inevitability--how could it ever have been written any differently?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Surprising and inevitable. Palm Sunday and the events of Holy Week are both surprising and inevitable. The truth is that we are not completely sure what to make of Palm Sunday. After forty days of Lenten travel that have often focused on serious and sometimes dark subjects, suddenly we arrive at a day that seems at first blush to be surprisingly cheery. The Palm Sunday parade has color and spectacle, cheering and singing, festive voices and joyful exuberance. This seems like a happy day. Yet it would be completely appropriate if you were to ask, "What in the world is this day doing here given how close we are now to the cross!?" Is Palm Sunday a bright spot in the midst of the otherwise darker hues of Lent? Are we, for just a little while this morning, supposed to forget about all things dreary so that we can cry out some full-throated "Hosannas!"? Or is there also a sadness to this day that we must bear in mind?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">_________________________________</span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><strong>We Are Responsible for a Dead Church</strong> </span></span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some years ago, a new pastor was called to a spiritually dead church in a small Oklahoma town. The pastor spent the first week calling on as many members as possible, inviting them to the first Sunday service. But the effort failed. In spite of many calls, not a single member showed up for worship! So the pastor placed a notice in the local paper stating that since the church was dead, the pastor was going to give it a decent, Christian burial. The funeral for the church would be held at 2 p.m. on the following Sunday. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Morbidly curious, the whole town turned out for the "funeral." In front of the pulpit, there was a large casket, smothered in flowers. After the eulogy was given, the pastor invited the congregation to come forward and pay their respects to the dead church. The long line of mourners filed by. Each one peered curiously into the open casket, and then quickly turned away with a guilty, sheepish look...</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">**********</span></span></div><h3 style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">More Anecdotes:</span></h3><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><strong></strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. When The Cheering Stopped<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some years ago a book was written by Gene Smith, a noted American historian. The title was "When The Cheering Stopped." It was the story of President Woodrow Wilson and the events leading up to and following WWI. When that war was over Wilson was an international hero. There was a great spirit of optimism abroad, and people actually believed that the last war had been fought and the world had been made safe for democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">-------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">2. President Wilson in Europe after the War:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-IN">On his first visit to Paris after the war Wilson was greeted by cheering mobs. He was actually more popular than their own heroes. The same thing was true in England and Italy. In a Vienna hospital a Red Cross worker had to tell the children that there would be no Christmas presents because of the war and the hard times. The children didn't believe her. They said that President Wilson was coming and they knew that everything would be all right.</span><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-IN">The cheering lasted about a year. Then it gradually began to stop. It turned out that the political leaders in Europe were more concerned with their own agendas than they were a lasting peace. At home, Woodrow Wilson ran into opposition in the United States Senate and his League of Nations was not ratified. Under the strain of it all the President's health began to break. In the next election his party was defeated. So it was that Woodrow Wilson, a man who barely a year or two earlier had been heralded as the new world Messiah, came to the end of his days a broken and defeated man.</span><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's a sad story, but one that is not altogether unfamiliar. The ultimate reward for someone who tries to translate ideals into reality is apt to be frustration and defeat. There are some exceptions, of course, but not too many. </span><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It happened that way to Jesus...<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">----------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Debtor's Prison:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-IN">One of the most gruesome, hopeless places in early nineteenth century England was "debtor's prison." Charles Dickens described it, but thousands of England's poor lived it first-hand. Everything the debtor owned was confiscated. Nothing was left. If any debts still remained, debtors were imprisoned until the balance owed could be paid. Which, of course, could never be, because the debtor was locked up. It was a situation without hope. </span><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-IN">That was "civilized" nineteenth century England. But according to ancient Jewish law, there were moral limits on what could be demanded in payment for debts. Among those things that were legally "off-limits" was a person's most important piece of clothing, their "cloak." Less substantial garments could be held as collateral. But a person's cloak was considered to be in a category by itself. A cloak offered warmth and protection. It provided modesty, shielding nakedness. A cloak doubled as clothing and shelter, functioning as haberdashery by day and as a bedroll by night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">You could take a lot in payment for debts, but you could not take the cloak off someone's back.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-IN">But a cloak could always be OFFERED. Sir Walter Raleigh legendarily swept his cloak off his shoulders and flung it over a mud puddle so his Queen's foot would not be dampened. In today's gospel text cloaks were offered for theological, not meteorological reasons. </span><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As Jesus prepared to enter into Jerusalem proper, he intentionally "changes things up." The Galilean ministry is at an end. The time for keeping a low profile is over. It is a new messianic moment. Jesus had announced to his disciples the fate that awaited "the Son of Man" once he entered into the city of Jerusalem. As Jesus crossed into Jerusalem the Calvary cross already stood before him. He chooses to embody the image of the humble king, the meek Messiah, riding on a small and simple donkey. Jesus moves into Jerusalem with obedience and humility. Symbolically his back is already bared, readied for the cruelties and sacrifices that await him...</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">___________________________<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN">4. There Is Still Hope</span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The reality is that, if we figure to survive in this world, we had better have hope. The ancients knew that. Do you remember Pandora? Mythology has her as a lady endowed with every charm...the gift of all the gods. She was sent to earth with a little box which she had been forbidden to open, but curiosity finally got the better of her...she lifted the lid and out from that box escaped every conceivable kind of terror. Pandora made haste to close the box up again, but it was too late. There was only one thing left...HOPE. That was the ancients' way of saying how important hope is. Even when all else is lost, there is still hope.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This was what had sustained the Israelite faithful from generation to generation. This was what energized the crowd along Jesus' parade route that day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">David E. Leininger, Sunday's Coming!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">_________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>5. Palm Sunday - Who Is That?</span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Picture Fifth Avenue in Manhattan--the stretch of road where the Macy's parade is held each Thanksgiving Day. Imagine that one spring day a kind of makeshift parade is being staged along upper Fifth Avenue near Central Park. But this is not the Macy's parade, not by a long shot. This is a relatively small affair: no floats, no tickertape, no giant balloon figures floating down the street. It's just a crowd of people waving some tree branches and throwing their coats into the road. At the center of it all is a modest, average looking fellow astride a donkey's colt which actually is too small for him to ride with any kind of dignity.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-IN">But the members of the parade entourage are nothing if not jubilantly excited. Especially the kids are making a lot of noise, singing and shouting. The enthusiasm of this little crowd is enough eventually to attract some attention. The people standing on the plushily carpeted steps leading into the Plaza complex swivel their heads. The horses hooked up to Central Park carriages turn a lazy eye toward the parade even as the people in the carriages peer out past the canopy to see what the commotion is all about. Shoppers coming out of Saks Fifth Avenue and the Time Warner Center also start to glance around to discover the source of all the hubbub. And inevitably people begin to ask, "Who is that?" In reply the branch-waving, coat-tossing folks excitedly answer, "Who is this, you ask! Why, it's Joshua Jones, a preacher from North Platte in Nebraska!"</span><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-IN">"Oh. So it's not Donald Trump? Not Tom Cruise or Katie Couric, not Bill Clinton? Joshua Jones from Nebraska? Oh. That's nice." But then eyes roll, eyebrows rise, and smirks are repressed as the big city folks go back to their big city business.</span><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-IN">Granted that Jerusalem circa 30 A.D. was not New York City. Granted that maybe Jesus' name on that Sunday long ago was a little bit better known than the Joshua Jones in my analogy. Granted, and yet . . . there is something about Matthew 21 which bears resemblance to this allegorical story. "Who is that?" the Jerusalemites ask in verse 10. In verse 11 comes the reply: "Jesus, the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee."</span><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">_________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">6. Save Us</span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When we wave our palms and boldly cry out, "Hosanna," do we dare imagine what we really want God to save us from? Save me from anger. Save me from cancer. Save me from depression. Save me from debt. Save me from the strife in my family. Save me from boredom. Save me from getting sent back to Iraq. Save me from the endless cycle of violence. Save me from humiliation. Save me from staring at the ceiling at three a.m. wondering why I exist. Save me from bitterness. Save me from arrogance. Save me from loneliness. Save me, God, save me from my fears.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In viewing Palm Sunday from that angle, we can begin to see the potential for some real depth in this celebration, for embedded in our quaint pageantry is an appeal to God that originates in the most vulnerable places inside of us; and it bubbles, almost beyond our control, to the surface. "Hosanna." "Save us." Please God take the broken places that will tear us apart and make them whole. We beseech you, God, jump into the water and drag our almost-drowned selves to shore. "Save us." "Hosanna."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scott Black Johnston, Save Us</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">___________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">7. Power through Love</span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Back in our early seminary years Janice and I visited one of her aunts and uncles in Pennsylvania. The uncle had been a car dealer much of his life, and had always wanted a Lincoln Continental, the height of luxury in a car thirty years ago. We were going out to dinner together, and as we walked to the garage he somewhat sheepishly told us about his recent purchase. And then, rather apologetically he asked, "Did you ever want something so much, and then when you got it, wondered why in the world it had been so important to you?"</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-IN">Might that not be akin to the reaction of many in the Palm Sunday crowd? They recognized something special, something unique, about Jesus, but Jesus does not fit their preconceived notions of how the Messiah ought to act. They do not know what to make of one who, in spite of a commanding presence, talks not of power through force, but the power that comes through emptying oneself, taking the form of a servant, dying to self in order to find genuine life. The crowd does not know what to make of one who embraces a different kind of peace - the peace that comes from recognition that love, and love alone, can meet and master greed and lust and hatred. The crowd little knows what to make of one who challenges us to embrace a love so potent that, in place of vengeance, we can turn the other cheek and go the extra mile in relationships. Jesus speaks of a love so powerful that it can lead us to face the full fury of hatred and enmity with the prayer, "God, forgive them, for they do not understand what they are doing." It is a love so transforming that it empowers us to confront life - and death - with a spirit of trust: "Gracious God, into your hands I commend my spirit."</span><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joel D. Kline, What Did We See in Jesus?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">_________________________<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">8. Creating Turmoil</span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In his book, The Freedom Revolution and the Churches, Robert Spike recalls an incident from the early years of the turbulent civil rights movement. Flying out of Jackson, Mississippi, Spike overhears the conversation of a Catholic sister, sitting across the aisle from him, with her seat companion. The sister is lamenting all the unrest in Mississippi, and she complains about the "outside agitators," the students and church leaders who have come to her state in support of civil rights, certain that their presence is provoking violence on the part of white racists. "I do not question their dedication, nor even the rightness of their position," said the sister. "But surely it is a bad thing to create turmoil by stirring up people who feel differently." As the sister talks, all the while she is nervously fingering a cross hanging around her neck.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There's a tragic irony in the sister's words and actions, not unlike that of the first Holy Week. For the one whose cross the sister holds most dear, Jesus, would never have taken the risk of going to Jerusalem and proclaiming a new way of living, would never have confronted comfortable patterns and ultimately endured the cross, had he followed the sister's philosophy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joel D. Kline, What Did We See in Jesus?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">_________________________<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">9. The Tomb Is Easier than the Cross</span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In just a matter of days Holy Week takes us from the mountain of festive palms to the mountain of Golgatha's despair. And that is why we resist it so. I mean, do we really need the emotional rollercoaster of Holy Week? What's so wrong with just jumping from one parade to the next and skipping all the sacrifice and death stuff? What's wrong with simply moving on to the joy of Easter, with its white bonnets, Easter eggs, family, friends, big ham dinner, and of course the empty tomb.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, I think we know the answer to that. For starters, an empty tomb, at face value, is a lot easier to deal with than a dying, bleeding Savior on a cross. Add to that all the pain and suffering that comes with Holy Week, is it any wonder that the human tendency is to try and ignore the events of the week and simply move on to the Easter celebration? But as much as we'd like to skip Holy Week we know that the only way to Easter is through the cross. We know where the parade of Palm Sunday leads and we also know that we're part of that parade. That is to say, we know this intellectually. Our hearts are another story. Our hearts may be more in sync with the disciples and the fear and disbelief that led them to run away. It would seem that 2000 years later Jesus' disciples are still running away.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jeffrey K. London, And When You Think It's All Over</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">__________________________<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">10. Walking the Walk</span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Christ's commitment reminds me of a Japanese social worker who lived before and during the Second World War named Toyohiko Kagawa. Kagawa was a devout Christian whose faith caused him to have an extraordinary impact on the working conditions of ordinary citizens in Japan. He was so well thought of in that land that he came on a mission to the U.S. before the beginning of the Second World War to seek to prevent that terrible conflict breaking out. Even though he failed in this effort, he gained international renown for his Christian witness and selfless work.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Years later Kagawa was on a lecture tour to the United States. Two college students were walking across their campus after hearing him speak. One of them confessed that he was disappointed in Kagawa's simple message.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After some reflection, the other student replied: "I suppose it really doesn't matter very much what a man says when he has lived as Kagawa has lived."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">That is true. In today's vernacular, it is more important that Kagawa walked the walk and not just talked the talk. A consecrated life is far more eloquent and convincing than any well thought out argument. The world will not accept the way of Christ because we can out talk our spiritual opponents, but only because we can out live them. Such a demonstration of the superior quality of our faith will verify our witness more readily than any other effort in which we can engage. Kagawa did that superbly. His life, however, was simply a reflection of the life of his Master.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jesus walked the walk more perfectly than anyone who has ever lived. He lived out the ethic which he taught. He was totally committed to doing his Father's will. He was a man of courage. He was a man of commitment.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">King Duncan</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">___________________________<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">11. What Is Good For Us Is Hidden</span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Martin Luther often spoke of this aspect of the theology of the cross, concerning how God works in a hidden way through contrasts. In a series of lectures that Luther gave in 1515 and 1516 on the Book of Romans, he wrote: "For what is good for us is hidden, and that so deeply that it is hidden under its opposite. Thus our life is hidden under death, love for ourselves under hate for ourselves ... salvation under damnation, heaven under hell ... And universally our every assertion of anything good is hidden under the denial of it, so that faith may have its place in God, who is a negative essence and goodness and wisdom and righteousness, who cannot be touched except by the negation of all our affirmations."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Martin Luther had one more observation about why God operates this way - under contrasts and opposites. In another of his sermons, he put it this way: "He thrusts us into death and permits the devil to pounce on us. But it is not his purpose to devour us; he wants to test us, to purify us, and to manifest himself ever more to us, that we may recognize his love. Such trials and strife are to let us experience something that preaching alone is not able to do, namely, how powerful Christ is and how sincerely the Father loves us. So our trust in God and our knowledge of God will increase more and more, together with our praise and thanks for his mercy and blessing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Otherwise we would bumble along with our early, incipient faith. We would become indolent, unfruitful and inexperienced Christians, and would soon grow rusty."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mark Ellingsen</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">_____________________<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">12. Passion Sunday: Surprising and Inevitable</span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">At a pre-concert lecture, the conductor of a symphony orchestra was telling the audience about the major work that the orchestra would be performing at that evening's concert. The conductor told the people that if they listened carefully to the music, they would discover that it was both surprising and inevitable. On the one hand, the musical score would take a fair number of rather jarring and unexpected twists. There would be points in the concert when the blare of the trumpet or the sudden rolling of the timpani would seem to come from out of nowhere in a surprising fashion. On the other hand, however, the conductor noted that in the long run, these surprises would themselves become part of a larger coherence. Once listeners heard the entire piece from start to finish, they would find in the music an air of inevitability--how could it ever have been written any differently?</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Surprising and inevitable...<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">-------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">13. Two Teenagers:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Background:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-IN">This poor man lucked out with neither of his sons. He loved them both and they both were goofs. The first was too wild, the second was too rigid and nasty. Neither one appreciated their father’s love. Both tried to exploit him. What’s more he knew they were exploiting him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not a story of a prodigal son, but of an indulgent father, indeed of a hyper-indulgent father. Note that he runs to meet the first son and cuts off his phony speech. Note too that he is incredibly patient with the mean-spirited and ungrateful second son. This story is not supposed to provide a model for family life. Rather it tells us that God loves us like the indulgent father, so much that my human standards, he’s quite over the top.</span><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Story:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span lang="EN-IN">Once there were two teenagers whose parents went away for the weekend. As some teenagers do, they decided they would have a party. You know the rest. A couple hundred people showed up. They drank all the family liquor, trashed the house, tore up the garden, wrecked the family cars, burned down the garage, smashed the windows in the neighboring homes, rioted when the police came, and even threw beer cans on the rectory lawn (Really!). </span><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the parents came home to find the National Guard patrolling their streets, they said to their children, “You shouldn’t have done that.” Why not, said the kids. You went away it’s your fault, not ours. You should have never trusted us. </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the parents love their children so much that they weren’t angry at them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the way God love us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">-------------<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">14. A BOY WAITS FOR THE BUS</span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There's an old story of the boy who stood on a sidewalk, waiting on a bus. A man walking by spotted the boy, and gave him some gentle instruction. "Son," he said, "if you're waiting on the bus, you need to move to the street corner. That's where the bus stops for passengers."<br /><br />"It's OK," said the boy. "I'll just wait right here, and the bus will stop for me."</span></span><span lang="EN-IN"><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The man repeated his argument, but the boy never moved. Just then, the bus appeared. Amazingly, the bus pulled over to where the boy stood, and the child hopped on. The man on the sidewalk stood speechless. The boy turned around in the doorway and said, "Mister, I knew the bus would stop here, because the bus driver is my dad!"</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When you've got a family relationship with the bus driver, you don't need a bus stop. If your mother is a US Senator, you won't need an appointment to slip into her office. If you've given your heart to the King of Kings, you're in a royal family of unspeakable proportions.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">-------<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">15. ADD:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Young Harold had a really bad case of Attention Deficit Disorder. On Palm Sunday, Harold’s Sunday School teacher sent empty plastic eggs home with each of her students. Mrs. Wilson told them to bring something back in the eggs next Sunday to represent Easter. She really didn’t expect Harold to bring anything, because he never listened in class. The next Sunday her children brought their eggs back. Susan had a pretty spring flower inside her egg. Joey had a little cross in his egg. Jackie had put a plastic butterfly in her egg. But, just as Mrs. Wilson suspected, there was nothing in Harold’s egg. She was surprised that he even remembered to bring it back! She had praised each of the other children for what they brought, but she didn’t say anything about Harold’s empty egg. Harold looked at her with anticipation and said, "Mrs. Wilson, you didn’t say anything about my egg!" Mrs. Wilson said, "But, Harold, you don’t have any reminder of Easter in your egg." Harold replied, "Uh-huh! It’s empty just like Jesus’ tomb!"<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">----------------------<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN">15. John Singer Sargent at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts</span></b><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I attended a wonderful exhibition of the works of John Singer Sargent at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. It went on for rooms and rooms. There seemed to be hundreds of works. The artist must never have rested. There was as best as I can recall only one religious work. And that was a riveting crucifixion scene.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Studying Sargent's brass relief, one could better understand why Cicero wrote that crucifixion was the "most heartless and most harrowing" manner of execution.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This solitary work by the master artist Sargent was a fulfillment of the line of a priest who said so prophetically, "The world can never get away from that strange Man on the cross."<br /><br />The crucifixion was of a type that I had never seen before. It had been made for the Boston Public Library about 1899. Beneath each of the outstretched arms of the Christ, there stood a figure. One was clearly the young disciple John. The other was a woman, no doubt His mother.<br /><br />Each one held a chalice. They were catching His precious blood as it flowed from His hands wounded by the nails. They obviously wished to collect each and every drop of it.<br /><br />The right foot of the Saviour was standing on a serpent. He was meant by Sargent to be a symbol for Satan. By His death Jesus the Christ had bested him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">And at the very base of the representation was a pelican. She was feeding her young with her own flesh and blood. It was a reference to His Body and Blood in the Eucharist. I recall wondering whether the artist knew of the line: "All the love of God crammed into a tiny piece of Bread."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sargent had himself squeezed a great deal of theology into one brass relief. For me, John Singer Sargent had brought some fresh insights into the horrible and painful death of the Messiah. It was also the case for other spectators. Many stood around his crucifixion work studying every detail. No one spoke. They were transfixed. They better understood I think the awesome price the redemption had cost the Christ.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yet, I do think Mr Sargent would have been surprised to learn that the cross did not appear as a Christian symbol till about the fifth century. Many archaeological digs have discovered early Christian symbols other than the cross. One thinks immediately of the ever-popular fish whose Greek letters stand for "Jesus Christ Son of God Saviour." There was the anchor which symbolized hope for the early Christians. And there were various types of Christograms. These were the first letters of Jesus Christ in Greek placed one on top of the other. But there were no crosses to be found among these early century finds.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why? No less an authority than Dominican Father Jerome Murphy O'Connor, a professor at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem, answers the question for Catholic News Services. "The cross at the time," he says, "was being used for crucifixion and torture. To wear it around one's neck would be like wearing a miniature electric chair around your neck today. The idea was repulsive." Furthermore, many Christians felt it would be dreadful to utilize a symbol of sheer disgrace for their flourishing creed. Other scholars confirm Fr Murphy O'Connor's view. Some observers also go on to declare that if the Christians were to wear a cross, they would be inviting serious troubles from the police. They would be broadcasting the fact that they were indeed the followers of the Christ - Him who had been crucified outside Jerusalem by the Romans. So wisely they chose the more subtle symbols of the fish, the anchor, and the Christograms. These were codes that those who did not follow Jesus Christ would not fathom. These early centuries were of course the period in which the Christians underwent serious persecutions for their faith.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span lang="EN-IN"></span><span lang="EN-IN"><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the fourth century, the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. Happily he brought an abrupt halt to the centuries-old barbarous crucifixion. Then and only then did Christians accept the cross as their universal symbol. But intriguingly Fr Murphy O'Connor asserts it took another two centuries before the Christ figure was placed on that cross. The why of it remains a mystery.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As we begin this solemn week, we should carry with us this refrain: no one is too bad to be forgiven.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">----------------</span><br /><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><strong>Sermons. com</strong></span><br /><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some years ago a book was written by Gene Smith, a noted American historian. The title was "When The Cheering Stopped." It was the story of President Woodrow Wilson and the events leading up to and following WWI. When that war was over Wilson was an international hero. There was a great spirit of optimism abroad, and people actually believed that the last war had been fought and the world had been made safe for democracy. </span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span lang="EN-IN"><br /><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">On his first visit to Paris after the war Wilson was greeted by cheering mobs. He was actually more popular than their own heroes. The same thing was true in England and Italy. In a Vienna hospital a Red Cross worker had to tell the children that there would be no Christmas presents because of the war and the hard times. The children didn't believe her. They said that President Wilson was coming and they knew that everything would be all right.</span></span><br /><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The cheering lasted about a year. Then it gradually began to stop. It turned out that the political leaders in Europe were more concerned with their own agendas than they were a lasting peace. At home, Woodrow Wilson ran into opposition in the United States Senate and his League of Nations was not ratified. Under the strain of it all the President's health began to break. In the next election his party was defeated. So it was that Woodrow Wilson, a man who barely a year or two earlier had been heralded as the new world Messiah, came to the end of his days a broken and defeated man.</span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span lang="EN-IN"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's a sad story, but one that is not altogether unfamiliar. The ultimate reward for someone who tries to translate ideals into reality is apt to be frustration and defeat. There are some exceptions, of course, but not too many.</span></span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span lang="EN-IN"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It happened that way to Jesus...</span></span></div><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><span lang="EN-IN"></span><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is a time-honored story about a little boy who was sick. It was Palm Sunday and the children waved palm branches to open the service. But this young man stayed home from church with his mother.</span></span></div><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, "Why do we wave palm branches on Palm Sunday, Dad, and why do we call it Palm Sunday?" </span></span></div><span style="color: white;"><span lang="EN-IN"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130;">"You see," his Dad explained, "when Jesus came into town, everyone waved palm branches to honor him, so we got palm branches in the worship service today." </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The little boy replied, "Aw, Shucks! The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up."</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well, I'm confident that Jesus will show up today, even though we will not be able to welcome him with quite the excitement with which the crowd in Jerusalem welcomed him 2,000 years ago. Someone has compared the reception Jesus received to a ticker-tape parade in New York City honoring heroes and celebrities. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some of our young people might wonder what ticker-tape is. For those who may never have seen the stuff, ticker-tape refers to long, narrow strands of paper, with holes punched in them. These strands of paper once carried information about the performance of the New York Stock Exchange. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As the information was entered by machines, holes were punched in the tape as it fed through, and other machines would read the information for the benefit of brokers and investors. It was sort of an early computer--all very modern in the first half of the twentieth century. But there was a problem--what do you do with the tape once it had gone through the reader and was no longer useful? </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">One cynic says since all that ticker-tape was waste paper and, even then, expensive to get rid of, some enterprising person had the bright idea of staging a parade for some hero and dumping the whole mess out the window.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is not quite true. Actually, the greatest honor that the city of New York can bestow upon an individual or a collection of individuals, say a championship sports team, is to throw a ticker-tape parade. Since the first parade in 1886, 204 of these celebrations have taken place. Since then thousands of tons of paper have descended on the heads of various kinds of heroes...</span></div></span><br /><span style="background-color: #4c1130; font-family: "times new roman";">*****</span><span style="background-color: #4c1130; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #4c1130; color: white;"><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NFbS8d-txUY" width="640"></iframe></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><!--more--><!--more-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-58399190787521697282024-03-01T20:52:00.000+05:302024-03-01T20:52:05.923+05:30 3rd Week of Lent, Saturday, March 9<p> <b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">3rd Week of Lent, Saturday, March 9</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hosea 5:15 -6:6 / Luke 18:9-14</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Jesus rebukes the self-righteous; "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled. "</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">A young man was very conscious of the fact that he was rather short. </span><span style="text-align: left;">He made a point of dating only girls who were much shorter than he so that he could live under the delusion of thinking of himself as being tall. This self-deception, on a much more serious scale, was one of the problems of the Pharisee in today's gospel. His prayer, far from being a humble and honest admission of weakness, was a form of self-congratulations because he was making the wrong point of comparison. Rather than comparing himself with people who had the reputation of being grasping, crooked, and adulterous, he should have been comparing himself with God, who is perfection itself.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> </span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">We here at Mass today could, I suppose, be thought of as being better than some people who have no regard for religion or morals. And yet, as we begin every Mass, we are urged to call to mind our sins, and to say, in effect, "O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Indeed, we are sinners in comparison with the goodness of God. And it is who should be the point of comparison since Jesus said, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">To stand before God with a humble, honest admission of our imperfection is the key to true, effective prayer. Notice that the Pharisee's prayer" was a nauseous mixture of pride and self-complacency. He asked for nothing from Cod, and he received nothing in return. The tax collector asked for mercy and he received justification from God. If our prayer is to be effective, it must begin with a plea for mercy. How sincere, then, should be our prayer, "Lord, have mercy.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Jesus' parable is not a caricature. It reflects a common attitude among certain Jews. An old Jewish prayerbook reads: "Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast not made me a Gentile. Blessed art Thou who hast not made me a slave."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">And the Jewish Talmud quotes Rabbi Nehunia ben Hakaneh as praying daily: "I give thanks to Thee, O Lord my God, that Thou . . .hast not set my portion with those who sit on street corners, for I rise early for the words of the Torah and they rise early for frivolous talk." Prayers quoted in Saint Luke by G. B. Caird<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Do we tend to put ourselves up by putting others down? "A mountain shames a molehill until they are both humbled by the stars." Old adage<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">These days there are some people who seem to want to excuse all sins. They say that heredity is to blame, or environment, or psychological factors, or something else. Still others maintain that a feeling of sinfulness is a guilt complex, a hang-up. They put one in mind of the man who felt he had a guilt complex and told his psychiatrist so. After spending a long time in many visits with the man, the honest psychiatrist said to him, "You don't have a guilt complex; you are guilty."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Certainly, it is true that heredity and environment have an influence on us, and a real psychological problem is no laughing matter. But we must remember that the mark of maturity is to accept responsibility for our free actions, not to seek excuses for our mistakes and that a spiritually healthy person is honest with himself before God while deceiving oneself habitually and living in a make-believe world of self-righteousness is to border on mental as well as spiritual illness.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Pharisee in the parable certainly had no guilt complex; in a sense, you might say that he had an innocence complex. Rather than being straightforward and honest, he put forth a catalog of shallow virtues to cover the guilt of his deep pride. In contrast, the tax collector acted grown up; no excuses, no double talk, just the plain truth about himself as he prayed, "O God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Of course, we should not pretend to have sins, of which we are not guilty, nor should we exaggerate our real sins. But with complete honesty, we should admit our sins, and without fear, we should turn to Jesus for mercy, who came to call sinners.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Prayer</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Lord, our God, you yourself remind us through your holy people that all our religious practices, even this Eucharistic sacrifice, are not worth anything if we use them to bend you our way. God, may we come to you in humility and repentance, ready to encounter you in love and to turn your way. Accept us as your sons and daughters, together with Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord for ever. Amen</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-33226915011933672024-03-01T20:48:00.003+05:302024-03-01T20:48:37.928+05:30 3rd Week of Lent, Friday, March 8<p> <b>3rd Week of Lent, Friday, March 8</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Hosea 14:2-10 / Mark 12:28-34<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Jesus talks about love; "Love your neighbor as yourself. "</b> <span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Author Ardis Whitman was having a hard time recovering from the death of her son. One night her college-aged granddaughter and her granddaughter's boyfriend took Ardis to a nightclub. When the orchestra struck up a memory-laden song, Ardis began to cry.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Spontaneously, the young couple took her hands and held them in theirs. That simple gesture of love, Ardis said later, "made God seem very close to me. It also reminded Ardis of something the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore said about a dear friend who had come to visit him: "After you had taken your leave, I found God's footprints on my floor."<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">***<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">How loving are we toward others, especially toward our own flesh and blood? "One kind word can warm three winters.” Japanese proverb<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">***<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Many human endeavors fail because God is left out of the picture. Israel wanted to go her own way, relying on her resources and alliances with the mighty of the day. The mighty are toppled by mightier ones, and everything collapses. People today try to establish prosperity and happiness, but at the expense of others, with the force of arms or relying on gadgets, money, or palliatives. We cannot be saved without God. Salvation lies in love of God and is expressed in love of our neighbor. The rule of life of Christians is: Love God with your whole being, and your neighbor as yourself; see God in your neighbor and see also a bit of yourself in your neighbor.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">***<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The question asked by the scribe in today's gospel about the greatest commandment was not an idle one. The rabbis of the time had determined that there were 613 (365 days and 248 joints in the body. You remain in one piece all the days of the year! That is, if you are faithful to God everyday of your life you shall remain wholesome) distinct commandments in the law, and they distinguished not only between great and small commandments, but even very great and very small ones. Moreover, some people lived according to what was an observance of merely the letter of the law without regard for its spirit, despite the warnings of the prophets throughout the history of Israel that external cult was insufficient. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The answer of Jesus, to love God and love the neighbor, not only indicated the greatest commandment, but also revealed the spirit and purpose behind all of the other commandments of the law. We are so familiar with this teaching of Jesus that we may fail to see its vital import for our lives.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Today in the Church we have gotten away from a lot of very small rules. and obligations, which had their value at certain times and places. Some of you will remember when the fast before communion was so stringent that you dared not drink water or careful even brushing your teeth before Mass lest you accidentally swallow even a drop of water. There was a time too when you would not eat meat on a Friday. And before you would reach almost any moral decision, you first consulted a priest. Today we enjoy a greater freedom, and we know that the Spirit is at work in all of us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">One lesson to be drawn from today's gospel is that our freedom must be exercised to allow for a greater love of God and our neighbor. The validity of any movement we think we feel from the Spirit is to be confirmed by how conducive that movement is to loving God and the neighbor more unselfishly.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">As mature people we all want to enjoy freedom and do not wish to be restrained like children by a whole host of petty rules and regulations. Our freedom will be really mature and responsible if we learn to live according to the great command to love God and our neighbor. And then, like the scribe in today's gospel, we too will not be far from the reign of God.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">***<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> <b>Prayer</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Lord our God, all throughout history people have experienced that we cannot be happy if we rely merely on our own insights and resources. God, do not let us idolize anything made with our own hands, but may we humbly seek justice, truth and happiness in cooperation and communion with you, as you taught us through Jesus Christ who lives with you and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-27619179476198251182024-03-01T20:44:00.003+05:302024-03-01T20:44:35.101+05:30 3rd Week of Lent, Thursday, March 7<p> <b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">3rd Week of Lent, Thursday, March 7</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Jeremiah 7:23-28 / Luke 11:14-23</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">People misjudge Jesus; "He drives out devils by Beelzebul."<span></span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">As a hobby, an elderly couple raised vegetables and kept chickens. </span><span style="text-align: left;">Since they were frugal, they weren't hurting financially. Yet whenever someone came to them to buy fresh vegetables or fresh eggs, the couple always charged the full market price. They gave no discount, not even to their closest friends and neighbors. This earned them the reputation, among some people, of being miserly. Later it was discovered that the couple gave all the proceeds from the sale of the vegetables and eggs to two poor families living nearby.</span></p><o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Do we sometimes tend to jump to conclusions about the actions and motives of other people? "He who judges others condemns himself." English proverb<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Listen to my voice,” says God through his prophet Jeremiah, and then he complains that God’s people fail to listen: they listen to themselves and follow their own ways. Their deeds do not speak the language of God. They do not follow God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the gospel Jesus cures the man who was mute. Worse than anyone who is deaf and mute and blind are those who do not want to hear and see, or to speak with sincerity. They do not follow Jesus. Their hearts are divided.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Before our baptism we were, in a sense, like the mute in today’s gospel. We were freed from the power of the devil by the grace of our baptism. Jesus warns however that the devil is strong, and that if we are not constantly on our <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>guard, he will overpower us. The devil we rejected in our baptism is insidious and persistent in trying to claim us for himself. Our only defense is to fill the void left by the devil with the love of God and the neighbor. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> devil these days uses many different weapons in the hope of destroying Christian love in our hearts. One is rugged (a) i</span><u style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">ndividualism</u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">, which in its false independence and pride refuses to see the necessity of depending on God for anything.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Another is (b) <u>materialism</u>, which considers the accumulation of possessions and power as the goal of life, and not the love of God. Still a third weapon is (c) <u>indifference</u>, which makes the Christian either unaware of the needs of others, or unconcerned with helping to meet those needs. Last to be mentioned hele is the subtle yet extremely effective weapon of (d) <u>smug complacency</u>, which makes the Christian feel, as did the people addressed in today's first lesson, that simply because he is baptized and has the faith his eternal salvation is assured, and that nothing more need be done except to fufill the mere letter of the law. This last weapon is frequently the first to be used by the devil to get his foot in the door.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The history of our world is to a large extent the story of war, lust, greed, and selfishness. What is behind it all? Today's gospel, as well as much of sacred scripture, implies that it is the devil. Many people say that believing that there is a devil is naive and childish, but the truth is that not accepting the reality of the devil is naive and childish. The Bible teaches that there are intelligent, highly powerful forces for evil in the world, known as devils. That teaching is in accord with reality.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Look at Nazism and all its horrors: millions of people exterminated. How could any human being ever wish such evil? Adolf Hitler was no doubt insane, but maybe part of the cause of his insanity was the power of Satan. Communism began with a certain sincerity and good intention on the part of Marx and Lenin, but how did it become such a monster today?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The devil puts ideas into people's heads under the guise that the ideas represent freedom and goodness. Look at the attack on human life in the movements for abortion, euthanasia, and compulsory sterilization. Or look at the blows dealt to human dignity in today's sexual revolution: premarital sex, wife swapping, the disintegration of marriage and the family.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Christianity does not mean no fun; it is not a religion for prudes, such as the scribes and the Pharisees in the gospel who were just waiting for Christ to do something wrong so that they could pounce on him. But we must make no mistake about the fact that there is a war going on, a war between good and evil, between Christ and the devil. We must take sides: for Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">*** <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Prayer</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Lord our God, you ask of us not so much that we observe certain practices but that our hearts are turned to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God, may we do your will in everything, loyally and generously, as Jesus did, your Son, who did your will because he loved you and who lives therefore with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-26081746016355008592024-03-01T20:42:00.005+05:302024-03-01T20:42:23.812+05:303rd Week of Lent, Wednesday, March 6<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">3rd Week of Lent, Wednesday, March 6</span></b></p><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9 / Matthew 5:17-19</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Jesus instructs his disciples: ' 'Whoever teaches others the law is great. " <span></span></b></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Clara Feldman is one of the Jews who survived the Nazi Holocaust during World War Il. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">Today she goes from school to school in New York City to teach students about what happened to Jews in Germany during the war. Clara also applies the lessons of the Holocaust to our modern world. She makes it clear to the students that they cannot remain silent about the violation of human rights in South Africa, Russia, or wherever it occurs.</span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have we accepted our responsibility to teach the young about what is right and what is wrong? "There is actually one thing worse than evil itself, and that is indifference to evil." Joseph Fletcher</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">****<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">What is the meaning of the commandments to us? To some, they are the summary and summit of all morality; to others, narrow and outmoded rules; still to others, obstacles to the freedom of the gospel.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">To Israel, they were the expression of fidelity to God and to the whole people as part of God’s covenant. They were the road to freedom from all forms of slavery: to other gods, to selfishness, to exploitation of one person by another. They were the sign of belonging to God and God’s nearness. And they were witnesses that love of God and love of neighbor cannot be separated.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">In Christ, all this is fulfilled, and more. The commandments remain, but they become a basic step not to salvation by observances but to seeking communion with God in Christ and communion with our neighbor, and they are animated by love.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> ****<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">We all realize that the purpose behind traffic laws is to provide for the safety of both motorists and pedestrians. Merely sticking to the letter of the law, however, can get you into trouble. For example, say someone runs through a stop sign when you have the right of way. The law is, strictly speaking, on your side, but insisting on your right of way at that moment may well be the way to an accident, perhaps even death itself. The spirit behind the law, not to mention common sense, would demand that you stop.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">This illustration is close to the idea our Lord had in mind in today's gospel. He said that he had not come to abolish the law found in the Old Testament. That law was an expression of God's will for people, but because it was necessarily put in human words it was an imperfect expression of God's will. The spirit behind the law is what counts, and that spirit is found in the love of God and the neighbor. Jesus fulfilled the law first by his more complete teaching on love, and secondly by his own supreme example of love. It is his teaching and example that Jesus wants us to follow, and not merely the letter of the law.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">For instance, no law requires that you be present at Mass on weekdays during Lent. But in the celebration of these Masses you are certainly fulfilling the spirit behind the command that we love God and pray to him. You won't find any explicit law which says that if your neighbor down the block has just come home from the hospital you must go and find out what help you can be, but taking the initiative in a case like that is in accord with the spirit of the law.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">****</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Do you remember not long ago when there were as many ads on television against smoking as there were commercials pushing different brands of cigarettes? One episode showed a father walking down a country road with his young son. Everything the father did the little boy imitated: throwing a rock, admiring a bird, and stretching in the marvelous sunshine. Then the father sat by a tree and his son did the same. The punch of the ad came as the father took a cigarette, lay the pack on the ground, and the little boy slowly reached for the pack.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">What we do, the way we live, the example we set, all influence others, adults as well as children. We would probably be amazed if we were to know how much we do affect others. Jesus says in today's gospel, "Whoever breaks the least significant of these commands and teaches others to do so shall be called least in the of God." What a terrible thing it would be deliberately to teach evil to others. We hope and pray that we will never become so perverse. But we teach others not only by our words but also by our example. As a matter of fact, we recognize, at least in theory, that "actions speak louder than words.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">**** </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Prayer: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Lord our God, you have given us your commandments to set us on the road of freedom from all forms of alienation. May we learn to obey them not to save ourselves by observances nor to do you favors, but to be free for you and for people and to live in your love, with Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord. Amen</span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-81454369308618859092024-03-01T20:34:00.005+05:302024-03-01T20:34:48.569+05:303rd Week of Lent, Tuesday, Mar 5<p><b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3rd Week of Lent, Tuesday, Mar 5</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Daniel 3:25, 34-43 / Matthew 18:21-35</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jesus speaks about forgiveness; "Forgive seventy-seven times."</span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tommy Pigage was drunk when he hit and killed Ted Morris of Kentucky. Ted was the only son of Mrs. Elizabeth Morris. The death of her only son left Elizabeth stunned and angry.</span></p>Tommy pleaded guilty, was convicted, and was ordered to give talks to high school students on behalf Of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) One day Elizabeth went to hear Tommy speak. She heard him say with heartfelt emotion that he "murdered Ted” and should be behind bars for what he did. Elizabeth said, "I didn't want my son's death to be totally in vain. And, in my heart, I knew that if he could, Ted would tell us to forgive<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-no-proof: yes;"> Tommy.” </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today Elizabeth and Tommy are friends.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How forgiving are we toward others? "They who forgive most will be most forgiven." Joseph W Baily<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">****<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">We don’t like too much—or not at all—to acknowledge it, but we have been forgiven a lot. Open, scandalous, upsetting sins... maybe not. Probably not. But scandalous in the sense of totally unexpected on the part of people who profess to be the sign of the Church, of Christ, of God... perhaps yes: antipathies, non-sharing, animosities, enmities nurtured for years, living side-by-side without genuine love and sharing, maybe yes... and to many or at least some the opposite of witnessing to what we profess to be, yes... Where is our forgiving others as God has forgiven us, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> A man lay on his deathbed. Having held public office, though never any major ones, he had experienced how a politician's motives and actions are open to the sometimes-erroneous judgment of others. Despite his good intentions, he had made many enemies. After his confession, he said to the priest, "Father, I am grateful for one thing, that I will be judged by God and not by my fellow men."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The dying man had a point. Though we may fear to stand before God as our judge, we must remember that God is not only infinitely wise and powerful but also infinitely merciful. His mercy exceeds any mercy a human being could possibly manifest. Notice in today's parable a detail you may have overlooked. The official, who owed the huge amount, pleaded with the master only for a delay; he said, "My lord, be patient with me and I will pay you back in full." The master not only heeded the plea but granted even more than the official dared ask: "Moved with pity, the master let the official go and wrote off the debt."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The master of course represents God, who wishes to write off our debt of sin completely, but he will do so only if we learn to forgive those who have offended us. When our brother has wronged us, how often must we forgive him? Jesus says, "Seventy times seven times," that is, without any limit. When we are tempted to feel that enough is enough, maybe it will help to remember that any injury done to us is trifling in comparison with the sins we have committed against God, as the gospel says, a mere fraction. Like the dying man, we too can be grateful that we are judged by God, but only if we have learned to forgive our brothers without limit from our hearts.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> ****</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Liturgy:</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Introduction</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">We don’t like too much – or not at all – to acknowledge it, but we have been forgiven a lot. Open, scandalous, upsetting sins... maybe not. Probably not. But scandalous in the sense of totally unexpected on the part of people who profess to be the sign of the Church, of Christ, of God... perhaps yes: antipathies, non-sharing, animosities, enmities nurtured for years, living side-by-side without genuine love and sharing, maybe yes... and to many or at least some the opposite of witnessing to what we profess to be, yes... Where is our forgiving others as God has forgiven us, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer? <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Opening Prayer</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Lord our God, we consider ourselves your chosen flock, the people who profess to be your sign of reconciliation. God, how poor we are! How often we fail you by forgiving by an act of condescension as if we did a great favor to those who sought to be reconciled with us. Lord, help us to forgive the way and to the extent that you forgive us: unconditionally and totally, in the goodness of our hearts. Give us this greatness of heart through Jesus Christ our Lord.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Intercessions</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">– That we may be patient with one another, as God has been patient with us, we pray:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">– That we may forgive one another, as God has forgiven us, we pray:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">– That we may keep loving one another, as God keeps loving us even when we have repeatedly hurt his love, we pray: </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Prayer over the Gifts</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Merciful Father, we welcome your Son in these signs of bread and wine as the Lord of forgiveness who laid down his life for us. May we, whom you call your chosen ones, beloved and called to be holy, be found ready to forgive willingly, notwithstanding antipathies and hurt feelings, that we may be to one another the sign of your forgiveness which goes beyond our human feelings, as followers of Jesus Christ, our Lord. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Prayer after Communion</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Lord, it is beautiful but hard to be the body of your Son, the sign of forgiveness and life that he brings to the world. But give us the courage, notwithstanding and beyond our all too human feelings, sympathies, and antipathies, to bring to all around us your message of love, tolerance, peace, and joy, which you have given us here again through the body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Blessing</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">We are people who have received forgiveness from the Lord, and, hopefully at times also from people. We should know also how to forgive, so that our praying to the Our Father may be truthful. May almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Commentary</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Power of the Keys: </b>Jesus had just spoken about the lost sheep, and the need to win back a sinful sibling. Peter got the point—we must be generously merciful. But to what extent? So, he asks: <i>How many times should I forgive? Seven times? </i>After all, Peter held the keys! What good is key if it cannot lock some people in and some people out? Power does not feel like power until it draws a limit and excludes it. But Jesus dismisses the limits and leaves them open-ended: “<i>seventy times seven</i>” meaning, unlimited! What Peter forgot is that the key can also be used to open the shut doors to let people in and let people free! Jesus wants Peter to use the keys to leave his Church eternally open! Ask yourself: Am I holding anyone to ransom by the negative power of my keys?</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-49118860257690049062024-03-01T20:32:00.005+05:302024-03-01T20:32:53.854+05:303rd Week of Lent, Monday, Mar 4<p><b>3rd Week of Lent, Monday, Mar 4</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>2 Kings 5:1-15 / Luke 4:24-30</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Jesus repeats an old teaching: God is the God of all people.</b> <span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Sometimes people become so preoccupied with their own problems that they tend to see only themselves. Their vision shrinks and they forget that there are other people in the world.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">That happened to the Jewish nation, as a whole, in the years after the return from exile. The Jews turned in upon themselves and, in the process, made God over into their own image and likeness. They made him into a nationalistic God who had eyes only for his Chosen People.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Of course, prophets like Elijah and Elisha had warned the nation earlier about this tendency, but it's something that needs to be repeated. That's what Jesus does in today's gospel. He repeats an old teaching that the people didn't want to hear.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">***<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Do we tend to let our personal problems blind us to other people's bigger problems? "We see things not as they are, but as we are." H. M. Tomlinson<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">***<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Today’s liturgy thinks especially of converts who are baptized and immersed into the baptismal water. Are conversion and missionary action still valid? Why be concerned about unknown, distant peoples? – Elisha cured the pagan officer from Damascus, Syria, and the man found both healing and faith. Jesus, not accepted as a prophet in his own town, says that salvation will be offered to pagans. That doesn't mean that the missionary will not be always understood and welcomed in the missions...<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> ****<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">There is one day in our lives which we usually consider pretty important, and that is our birthday. It would be a very rare person indeed who would not know the date of his own birth or who would not celebrate that day. As we grow older, we may not be too eager to count how many birthdays we have had, but we still like to be greeted with a "happy birthday" from relatives and friends.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Actually, we have two birthdays, one when we were born of our parents, and one when we were born of God in baptism. The event related in the first lesson puts us in mind of the sacrament of baptism. Naaman suffered from leprosy. He was asked to do a simple thing by Elisha, to wash seven times in the water of the Jordan. After some reluctance he complied, and, as we saw, he was cured of his leprosy. It was a great day for Naaman, one he never forgot.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Our baptism was a very simple ceremony: a little water was poured over our heads, but it was a great day for us. Not only were we cured of the leprosy of sin, but more importantly God gave us a share in his divine life, and thereby made us his children. It was indeed our spiritual birthday. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">It does not really matter too much, I suppose, if we do not know the actual day when we were baptized, but certainly should celebrate the day with great joy and happiness. As you know, during Lent there is an emphasis on baptism, an emphasis which reaches its climax in the renewal of our baptism on Holy Saturday. Each time, however, that we come into church we should reflect on our baptism as we take holy water at the font, a symbol of baptism. Then as we see others in the church, we should realize that we are all here in our Father's home, brothers and sisters of one another because of our spiritual birth from a common Father in baptism. Indeed, the day of our baptism was a great day for us, one we should never forget.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">***<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Encountering Christ:</b><o:p></o:p></p><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><b>No Prophet Is Accepted in His Native Place: </b>Objectively, Jesus is the most loveable person there ever was or will be. But he encountered many people, even those from his hometown, who rejected him. In this passage, they rejected Jesus because he was too familiar. They assumed they knew him well, and their partial knowledge blinded them to the greater truth that the Messiah was in their midst. It is pride that prompts us to jump to conclusions and judge rashly. The Messiah is in our midst every day. May our hearts be open and docile to his promptings, not hardened by our pride. <o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><b>They Rose up and Drove Him Out:</b> The movement of the angry mob of people in the synagogue is a paradigm for sin—an image of what happens in our lives every time we turn away from God due to our own pride, vanity, or sensuality. We can get swept up by the “angry mob” (temptation) and purposely push Jesus away by sinning outright, or we might simply “go along with the crowd” and reject Jesus by our complacency or distraction. To keep grace alive in our souls, we have to resist the lure of angry mobs. We have to set ourselves apart from much of contemporary thought and take the narrow path his disciples took, sometimes even lamenting, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal"><b>They Seek to Hurl Him Down Headlong:</b> Did Jesus have the power to escape his enemies whenever he wanted to? He most certainly did. In this passage, Jesus “passed through the midst” of those intent on killing him, completely in control of his destiny. John, whose writing emphasizes Jesus’ divinity, told us also that when it was his time to give his life during his Passion, Jesus did so voluntarily: “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself” (John 10:18). Jesus, in His humanity, suffered and died, but in his divinity made his sacrificial offering for us from the depths of his heart, of his own holy will. <o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Conversing with Christ:</b> Jesus, help me to enter into the mystery of your Passion, the greatest mystery of your life and of history, through the words of today’s Gospel. You were utterly rejected by many of those you came to save. You came to love humanity, and they rose up in hatred. You came because your anger with our sin was obliterated by your mercy, but you faced only unforgiving anger from those who heard your words. Help me to answer you differently, full of love and humility, seeking to follow you.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Resolution: </b>Lord, today by your grace I will take a moment to gaze on the crucifix and pray, offering my love to you.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>***</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Liturgical Prayers</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Introduction </b>Today’s liturgy thinks especially of converts who are baptized and immersed into the baptismal water. Are conversion and missionary action still valid? Why be concerned about unknown, distant peoples? – Elisha cured the pagan officer from Damascus, Syria, and the man found both healing and faith. Jesus, not accepted as a prophet in his own town, says that salvation will be offered to pagans. That doesn't mean that the missionary will not be always understood and welcomed in the missions... <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Opening Prayer<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Lord God, our Father, you want all people to be saved through faith in Jesus Christ, your Son. May Christians not practice spiritual selfishness and clannishness but may their faith mean so much to them that they want to share it with others, that your Son may be known and loved everywhere, for he is the Lord of all forever. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Intercessions</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">– For those who are preparing for baptism, that the Word of God may become their guide in life and that baptism may renew them, we pray:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">– For the Christian community, that they may prepare a hearty welcome and support for the newly baptized, we pray:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">– For those who have joined us in the faith, that they may experience us as joyful, redeemed people who know how to love and to serve, we pray: <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Prayer over the Gifts</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Lord, our God, may we have enough faith to welcome your Son among us in these simple signs of bread and wine. May we and people everywhere accept that you come to us all with a human approach through the humanity of Jesus Christ, our Lord. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Prayer after Communion</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Lord, our God, Father of all people everywhere, strengthen with your word and your body and blood all those who have left their country and culture to bring your Good News to different countries and other cultures. May they humbly serve their new people, receive their love and gifts of mind and heart, and help the local Church to grow in Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Blessing</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">We should also think during Lent the converts who will be accepted into the Church through baptism, the great Lenten sacrament. It is not merely that individuals join us in the Church, but that the community of the Church must be ready to receive these people and to make them feel at home. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-81265964563861430042024-03-01T09:21:00.007+05:302024-03-01T09:21:53.140+05:30Lent 4th Sunday B: Jesus Meets Nicodemus<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="588" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cLWqr-HXOOA" title="Lent 4th Sunday B: Jesus with Nicodemus" width="778"></iframe> <iframe frameborder="0" height="588" scrolling="no" src="https://onedrive.live.com/embed?resid=93789A8146D4FC9D%2196652&authkey=!ACwDIDfa8umedeQ&em=2" width="778"></iframe></p><a name='more'></a><p><strong>After-hours prayer</strong></p>Late in the afternoon, a teenager sneaks into a back pew. <span></span>He drops his backpack, unplugs his iPod and stuffs his basketball behind the kneeler. His aloofness and sullenness mask his feelings of being overwhelmed by living in that strange land between childhood and adulthood, trying to meet the expectations of teachers to be a scholar, his coaches to be champions, and his classmates to be cool. In the quiet darkness, he sits and prays simply, “Lord, it’s me, Joe . . . ”<br />In another part of the church, an exhausted businessman sinks into a seat. It has been a horrible day — he had to let five people go in his small agency. He had no choice: business is drying up. He did everything he could to keep them on; he offered severance pay and extended benefits; still, he feels like the worst person who ever lived. In the nightmare he is struggling through, he prays, “God, help me keep it together.”<br />And in front of the statue of the Mother of God, a woman sits fingering her rosary. The <em>Aves</em> fall silently from her lips — but her thoughts are elsewhere: another confrontation with her daughter, the illness of her mother, the growing distance between her and husband. She stops her beads, sinks to the floor and cries, “Lord, I’m not sure I can go on.”<br /><br /><strong>Like Nicodemus, we find ourselves coming to Jesus in the middle of our darkest nights, seeking hope and consolation, direction and comfort. Jesus’ meeting with Nicodemus is one of the most hopeful and enduring episodes in the Gospels. In his questioning and confusion, his fears and doubts, Nicodemus is welcomed by Jesus with understanding and compassion. God so loves us that, by his grace, he transforms our darkest nights into the morning light of hope; by his wisdom, he transfigures our Good Friday despair into Easter joy; by his compassion, he heals our broken spirits into hearts made whole. </strong><br /><br />******<br /><br /><strong><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">1. Fr. Tony Kadavil:</span></strong><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><p class="MsoNormal">1: <b>“The Hound of Heaven”:</b> “The Hound of Heaven<i>,”</i> written by Francis Thompson, is one of the best- known religious poems in the English language. It describes the pursuit of the human soul by God. The poem tells the story of a human soul who tries to flee from God, as it thinks that it will lose its freedom in the company of God. This is the story of Thompson’s own life. As a boy, he intended to become a priest. But the laziness of his brilliant son prompted Thompson’s father to enroll young Francis in a medical school. There he became addicted to opium that almost wrecked his body and mind. He fled to a slum and started earning a living by shining shoes, selling matches, and holding horses. In 1887 Francis sent some poems and an essay to Mr. Wilfrid Meynell, the editor of a Catholic literary magazine called <i>Merry England</i>. The editor recognized the genius behind these works and published them in April 1888. Then Meynell went in search of the poet. He arranged accommodation for Francis, introduced him to other poets and helped him to realize God’s love. How Francis tried to run away from God, how God “hunted” him, how Divine love caught up with him – these are the themes of his stirring poem, “The Hound of Heaven<i>.”</i> Once we realize, as did the poet Francis Thompson, and as do all the saints, that God, in His Infinite love for us, will pursue our souls to the ends of the earth and beyond, then we will try to return to that Love , allowing the Hound of Heaven to “catch” us. Today’s Gospel tells us about the breadth and depth and height of the Divine love of the Hound of Heaven for each one of us. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>2: Glimpse of God’s love in the Amtrak tragedy:</b> Near Mobile, Alabama, there was a railroad bridge that spanned a big bayou. The date was September 22, 1993. It was a foggy morning, just before daybreak, when a tugboat accidentally pushed a barge into the bayou. The drifting barge slammed into the river bridge. In the darkness no one could see the extent of the damage, but someone on the tugboat radioed the Coast Guard. Minutes later, an Amtrak train, the Sunset Limited, reached the bridge as it traveled from Los Angeles to Miami. Unaware of the damage, the train crossed the bridge at 70 mph. There were 220 passengers on board. As the weight of the train broke the support, the bridge gave away. Three locomotive units and the first four of the train’s eight passenger cars fell into the alligator infested bayou. In the darkness, the fog was thickened by fire and smoke. Six miles from land, the victims were potential food for the aroused alligators. Helicopters were called in to help rescue the victims. Rescuers were able to save 163 persons. But one rescue stands out. Gary and Mary Jane Chancey were waiting in the railcar with their eleven-year-old daughter Andrea. When the car went into the bayou and began to fill rapidly with water, there was only one thing they could do. They pushed their young daughter through the window into the hands of a rescuer, and then succumbed to their watery death. Their sacrificial love stands out especially because their daughter was imperfect by the world’s standards. She was born with cerebral palsy and needed help with even the most routine things. But she was precious to her parents. We, too, are imperfect – our lives filled with mistakes, sin and helplessness. But we are still precious to God – so precious that He sacrificed his Son Jesus to save us. Today’s Gospel tells us how a perfect God sent His perfect Son to save an imperfect world. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>3: AA’s twelve steps and today’s readings:</b> You do not have to be an alcoholic (or compulsive gambler or sex addict) to recognize that the famous twelve steps of AA reflect the essentials of the human experience of redemption. It is all there: the profound awareness of need for rescue by Another; the abandonment of self to God; the admission of one’s own responsibility for the moral harm of one’s behavior; commitment to prayer, reflection, and outreach to others. The fact that the twelve steps are a “we” statement in the past tense testifies that it is an expression of a community which shares the experience of the healing power of rescue from evil by a caring God. That makes it a kind of <i>Credo</i> or confession of Faith. More accurately, it is a proclamation of sacred history: Here’s how God has acted in our lives. AA’s twelve steps can help us get to the heart of this Sunday’s readings. The first reading tells us how God has worked through Cyrus to rescue the Babylonian exiles from exile and “restore them to sanity” by bring them home. The same sense of rescue by “a Power greater than ourselves” is spelled out powerfully in the passage from Ephesians. Like the twelve steps of AA, this passage is the celebration of a community who have “turned their will and lives over to the care of God as they have come to know him” in Christ Jesus. The Gospel passage for this Sunday is another classic confession of Christian experience of Divine rescue in Jesus. <i>“God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.”( Dennis Hamm S. J. ). </i>Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>). </p><p class="MsoNormal">4: <i>“For God so loved the world that” He sent His Son to Israel</i>: A Jewish father in the U.S. was concerned about his son. He had not truly raised him in the faith of Judaism… So, hoping to strengthen his son’s Faith, the father sent him to Israel so that the boy could experience his heritage. A year later the young man returned home. He said, “Father, thank you for sending me to the land of our Fathers. It was wonderful and enlightening. However, I must confess that while in Israel I converted to Christianity.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">“Oh (groan) what have I done?” the father thought. So, in the tradition of the patriarchs, he went to his best friend and sought his advice and solace. “It is amazing that you should come to me,” stated his friend. “I, too, sent my son to Israel and he returned a Christian.” So, in the tradition of the Patriarchs, they went to the Rabbi. “It is amazing that you should come to me,” stated the Rabbi. “I, too, sent my son to Israel and he returned a Christian. What is happening to our sons? Brothers, we must take this to the Lord,” said the Rabbi. They fell to their knees and began to wail and pour out their hearts to the Almighty.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">As they prayed, the clouds above opened, and a mighty voice stated, “Amazing that you should come to Me. I, too, sent My Son to Israel…” (<i>Jewish Jokes</i>) </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>30 Additional anecdotes:</b> </p><p class="MsoNormal">1) <b>“I beheld only the face of the man who would die for me.” </b>On the southern border of the Persian empire of Cyrus, there lived a great chieftain named Cagular who tore to shreds and completely defeated the various detachments of Cyrus’ army sent to subdue him. Finally the emperor, amassing his whole army, marched down, surrounded Cagular, captured him, and brought him to the capital for execution. On the day of the trial, he and his family were brought to the judgment chamber. Cagular, a fine-looking man of more than 6 feet, with a noble manner about him was a magnificent specimen of manhood. So impressed was Cyrus with his appearance that he said to Cagular, “What would you do should I spare your life?” “Your Majesty, if you spared my life, I would return to my home and remain your obedient servant as long as I lived.” “What would you do if I spared the life of your wife?” “Your Majesty, if you spared the life of my wife, I would die for you.” So moved was the emperor that he freed them both and returned Cagular to his province to act as governor thereof. Upon arriving at home, Cagular reminisced about the trip with his wife. “Did you notice,” he said to his wife, “the marble at the entrance of the palace? Did you notice the tapestry on the wall as we went down the corridor into the throne room? And did you see the chair on which the emperor sat? It must have been carved from one lump of pure gold.” His wife could appreciate his excitement, but she only replied: “I really didn’t notice any of that.” “Well,” said Cagular in amazement, “What did you see?” His wife looked seriously into his eyes and said, “I beheld only the face of the man who said to the emperor that he would die for me.” — Today’s Gospel presents before us the face of God’s Son who was sent to die for us, demonstrating God’s mercy and love for each one of us. Fr. Tony <b>(</b><a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/"><b>http://frtonyshomilies.com/</b></a><b>).</b><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>2) “Gee, Mom, she thinks I’m real!”</b> There is an old story about a family consisting of mother, father, and small son who went into a restaurant. As they were seated at the table, the waitress sailed up. You know, the particular kind of waitress who moves as though she were the captain of a ship. She sailed up, pad in efficient hand, looked, and waited. The parents ordered. Then the boy looked up and said plaintively, “I want a hot dog.” “No hot dog!” said the mother. “Bring him potatoes, beef, and a vegetable.” The waitress paused for a moment, and then looked at the boy squarely and said, “Yes, sir. What do you want on your hot dog?” “Ketchup – lots of ketchup – and a glass of milk.” “One hot dog, coming up,” said the waitress and sailed off toward the kitchen. The boy turned to his parents said, “Gee, Mom, she thinks I’m real!” — One reason that we are real is because God thinks we are real. He created all of us to be His children. That process of becoming God’s children may be for us as radical as being born anew, as Jesus told Nicodemus, but it is precisely that for which we were created. For Christians, to be real is to allow ourselves to be loved by God, and to love God in return, which, according to St. John, means living the truth. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>3) Nicodemus in art and history:</b> One of Rembrandt’s most famous etchings portrays the scene. The limp, dead body of Jesus was slowly taken down from the cross. Joseph of Arimathea, dressed as the person that he was, in all his finery, stands close by. In the darkness, further away, veiled in shadow as only Rembrandt could do it, with his face lined in sorrow, is Nicodemus. He is holding in his hands the linen cloth in which Jesus’ body would be buried. The Gospel says that Nicodemus also brought with him a mixture of spices, myrrh and aloes, “about a hundred pounds”. One wonders what Nicodemus must have been thinking as he stood there, waiting for the body of Christ to be taken down from the cross. Obviously, much was going on in his life — this wealthy man, bringing fine linen and a bountiful supply of expensive spices to anoint the body of one who had died as a common criminal. Was he still mystified as he had been when Jesus told him that he must be born again? Was he still puzzled by the response of Jesus when he pressed his question about how one could be born again? Jesus’ answer had been totally unsatisfying for his rational mind: “The Spirit blows where it wills — you feel it, and you hear the sound of it — but you don’t know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>4) Emergency Night call:</b> One of the things that pastors, doctors, fire-fighters, and police have in common is that they all receive occasional night calls. And most pastors would agree that some of our most significant opportunities to help people have come in response to night-time calls, usually of an emergency nature. However, not all of our night calls are that significant. Dr. Robert Ozmont of First United Methodist Church in Atlanta received a call one night about 2:00 AM. He did not know the lady who called; she had found his number in the yellow pages. She had a problem. By any objective measure it was not an emergency; certainly it could have waited until morning. Nevertheless, Dr. Ozmont tried to offer what advice he could. Then he asked, “Ma’am, do you belong to a church in Atlanta?” “Yes,” she replied. “I am a member of Calvary Presbyterian.” “Why,” asked Dr. Ozmont, “didn’t you call your pastor about your problem?” “I thought about that,” she said, “but my pastor works so hard that I just hated to bother him in the middle of the night.” — The Gospel of John tells us about a night-time call Jesus received from a prestigious Jew named Nicodemus. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>5) “Believe in the God Who Believes in You</b>.” Mother Teresa was interviewed on American television years ago. She said, “It is very, very important, that the families teach their children to pray and pray with them.” Then she added, “And we have enough reason to trust God, because when we look at the cross, we understand how much Jesus loved us. It is wonderful to be able to come to Jesus! That’s why God made Him – to be our bread of life, to give us life! And with His life comes new life! New energy! New peace! New joy! New everything! And I think that’s what brings glory to God, also, and it brings peace.” Then she said, “I’ve seen families suffer so much, and when they’ve been brought to Jesus, it changes their whole lives.” [Robert H. Schuller. <i>Believe in the God Who Believes in You.</i> (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), p. 126.] — I have also seen lives changed by the power of the cross. Have you? Today’s Gospel gives a parallel between the bronze serpent erected by Moses to heal the Israelites bitten by snakes and Jesus raised on the cross to save mankind. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>6) “Release this guilty man.”</b> King Frederick II, an Eighteenth-Century king of Prussia, visited a prison in Berlin one day. The inmates jumped at the opportunity to plead their cases directly to the king. All except one. One prisoner sat quietly in the corner. This aroused the king’s curiosity. The king quieted the other inmates and approached the man in the corner. “What are you in for?” he asked. “Armed robbery, your honor.” The king asked, “Are you guilty?” “Yes sir,” he answered. “I entirely deserve my punishment.” The king then gave an order to the guard: “Release this guilty man. I don’t want him corrupting all these innocent people!” — How ironic! Only when we see and admit our guilt to ourselves, can we repent and return to God to receive the forgiveness and so wash that guilt away. One of the greatest promises of Scripture is this one: “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins.” Recognition of our sin and Repentance are the first steps toward the new birth mentioned in today’s Gospel. Think for a moment. Is there some failing in your life that you have never admitted to yourself or to God? Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>7) Only five percent of people are able to dream in color:</b> Did you know that a glass of hippopotamus milk contains eighty calories, or that only five percent of people are able to dream in color? Facts are intriguing, but they are easily forgotten. The recent knowledge explosion has had a great impact upon technology. With that technological “know how,” we thought we had a blank check on the future. Then came the new bullies on the block: environmental pollution and computer impersonalism. The marriage of knowledge and technology was not creating the utopia we had hoped for. The yellow brick road to the future emptied into that old dirt path of breast-beating. It didn’t break any record for moral progress, either. Many of us have to agree that any quest for knowledge as a thing in itself can be a dull date. Knowledge must ripen into truth. Okay, but what is the truth? To answer that adequately, we must recall Nicodemus. If ever a man were dead certain of himself, it was the Pharisee. For him all was quiet on the western front until he met Jesus. The Nazarene became the burr under his saddle. His intellectual absolutes shook like Jello. His neatly spun web of Jewish theology slowly began to unravel. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>8) “Well, Sarah, that is exactly right.”</b> A little girl went to the doctor for a check-up. When the doctor came into the examining room, she held up both hands to get his attention and then she said: “Doctor, I know what you are going to do. You are going to do 5 things. You are going to check my eyes, my ears, my nose, my throat and my heart.” The Doctor smiled and said: “Well, Sarah, that is exactly right. Is there any particular order I should go in?” Sarah said: “You can go in any order you want to… but if I were you, I’d start with the heart!!!” — That’s what Jesus did, wasn’t it? He started with the heart. He started with Love… and that is precisely what he wants us to do! Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>9) “God, I ain’t got nothin’ against nobody.”</b> Anthony Campolo tells about a mountaineer from West Virginia who fell in love with the beautiful daughter of the town preacher. The gruff and tough man one evening looked deeply into the eyes of the preacher’s daughter and said, “I love you.” It took more courage for him to say those simple words than he had ever had to muster for anything else he had ever done. Minutes passed in silence and then the preacher’s daughter said, “I love you, too.” The tough mountaineer said nothing except, “Good night.” Then he went home, got ready for bed and prayed, “God, I ain’t got nothin’ against nobody!” — Many of us know that feeling. To love and to be loved — what joy that simple emotion brings into our lives! Then to realize that the very nature of God IS Love is almost more than you or I can comprehend. (Rev. King Duncan; quoted by Fr. Kayala. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>10) Chain of love:</b> Before we are able to give love we must receive love. Let me give you a powerful example. Once years ago there was a little girl in an institution who was almost like a wild beast. The workers at the institution had written her off as hopeless. An elderly nurse believed there was hope for the child, however. She felt she could communicate love and hope to this wild little creature. The nurse daily visited the child whom they called Little Annie, but for a long time Little Annie gave no indication she was aware of her presence. The elderly nurse persisted and repeatedly brought some cookies and left them in her room. Soon the doctors in the institution noticed a change. After a period of time, they moved Little Annie upstairs. Finally the day came when this seemingly “hopeless case” was released. Filled with compassion for others because of her institutional experience, Little Annie, Anne Sullivan, wanted to help others. It was Anne Sullivan who, in turn, played the crucial role in the life of Helen Keller. It was she who saw the great potential in this little blind, deaf, and rebellious child. Anne loved her, disciplined her, played, prayed, pushed, and worked with her until Helen Keller became an inspiration to the entire world. It began with the elderly nurse, then Anne Sullivan, then Helen Keller, and finally every person who has ever been influenced by the example of Helen Keller. (Jeffrey Holland in <i>Vital Speeches</i>) — That chain of love goes on forever. Before it began with that elderly nurse, though, we have to go all the way back to the beginning when God first loved His creation and then created it. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>11) “I resolve to compose no more.”:</b> One day in his later years, the composer Johannes Brahms reached a point in his life when his composing almost came to a halt. He started many things, serenades, part songs and so on, but nothing seemed to work out. Then he thought, “I am too old. I have worked long and diligently and have achieved enough. Here I have before me a carefree old age and can enjoy it in peace. I resolve to compose no more.” This cleared his mind and relaxed his faculties so much that he was able to pick up with his composing again without difficulty. — Many of us are a bundle of anxieties. That is why we accomplish so little. What we need is to relax in the knowledge that we are loved. “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son that whoever believes in him…” Do you believe in Christ? Then what in the world are you worried about? Accept His love. Lay your deepest concerns at the foot of the cross. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>12) Driving Miss Daisy:</b> Miss Daisy drove her Packard into her neighbor’s backyard. Boolie Werthan, Daisy’s son, thought that such an incident was sufficient evidence to warrant the end of his mother’s driving; she needed a driver, a chauffeur. Hoke Coleburn, a middle-aged black man, was Boolie’s choice for the job. Daisy, however, would not accept this restriction, this change in her life; she was not open to being transformed. Boolie may have hired Hoke, but that did not mean that Miss Daisy had to use him. As Hoke stood idle, Miss Daisy took the street-car wherever she went, to the hairdresser or the grocery store. Hoke Coleburn was being paid for doing nothing. That is exactly how Miss Daisy wanted things. As stubborn as she could be, Miss Daisy ultimately did change her attitude. One day she needed a few things from the store. She left the house and began to walk toward the streetcar. Hoke decided that Miss Daisy’s refusal to use his services needed to end. As she walked down the sidewalk, Hoke slowly drove alongside in the new 1948 Hudson Boolie had purchased for his mother. “Where are you going?” scowled Daisy. Hoke replied, “I’m fixin’ to take you to the store!” Although still not content with the arrangement, Daisy agreed to get into the car; her conversion had begun. Daisy did not approve, but Hoke had become her chauffeur. Whether it was to the temple (you see Miss Daisy was Jewish), the store, or a trip to Mobile to visit relatives, Daisy and Hoke went together. As the years passed, their relationship as driver and passenger grew; they bonded together. Then one day Miss Daisy’s conversion became complete. The process had been long and sometimes difficult, but now it was finished. She could finally say, “Hoke, you are my best friend.” — Alfred Uhry’s 1988 Pulitzer Prize winning play, <i>Driving Miss Daisy</i>, tells more than the story of a relationship between a black chauffeur and an elderly, rich, Jewish widow. It is the story of a challenge to be transformed in mind and heart from rebellion into a sense of acceptance in one’s life. Lent is a season when the Church calls us to reflect upon our lives and see how we need to be transformed, to enter into a stronger relationship with God. Daisy’s experience is one illustration of a reality for all – transformation takes time, and shortcuts to its end-product only lead to problems and disappointments. Today’s popular and familiar passage from John’s Gospel challenges us, as it did Nicodemus, to be transformed by Christ. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>13) “I can’t imagine dividing love by eight.”</b> One of the “ministers” (that means lay persons), of a local Church was delivering meals as part of his work with a “Meals on Wheels” mission. He took the meal to a home of a woman whose only child was visiting that day. He congratulated the woman for having such a nice son, and said, “I have eight children of my own.” “Eight kids,” exclaimed the woman. “I love my son so much that I can’t imagine dividing love by eight.” “Ma’am,” the man said gently, “you don’t divide love–you multiply it.”– Jesus’ Love is not zero-based: the more you give, the less you have. Jesus’ Love is eternity-based: the more you give, the more there is to go around. Jesus’ Love is other-based: we are to reach out in love to “all people” and “especially to those of the family of Faith” (Galatians 6:10). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>14) A baseball story:</b> Those who are “born again” claim Jesus Christ as both Savior and Lord. Let me share a sports story told by the outstanding Christian coach at Florida State University, Bobby Bowden. Back in the 1920s there was a great major league baseball player named Goose Gosling. His team was in the World Series one year. In the bottom of the 9th inning of the final game, the score was tied. Goose came to the plate. He got the kind of pitch he wanted and hit a solid line drive over the shortstop’s head. It rolled all the way to the wall. The left-fielder fumbled the ball as he tried to make the play. Goose rounded second. As he neared third base, the coach was waving him toward home. The ball reached the catcher a half- second before Goose did. Goose lowered his shoulder as he had been taught and hit the catcher as hard as he could. The ball squirted loose and Goose Gosling stepped on home plate. The fans erupted in pandemonium and poured onto the field. In all the confusion no one noticed the first baseman retrieving the ball, racing to first, and tagging the base. He then appealed to the umpire, claiming that Goose had never touched first base. The umpire agreed with the first baseman and called Goose out. — Many people are like Goose Gosling. They seem to be altogether successful. Everybody is cheering for them. They glitter with success. But if in the course of living, they never repent and claim Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, they never even make it to first base. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>15) “I have lived my life the best I could.”</b> Perhaps the most powerful movie I have ever watched is <i>Saving Private Ryan</i>. Tom Hanks, as Captain Miller, along with a ragtag squad of soldiers in World War II, give their lives in search of Private Ryan so he can be returned to his parents. Private Ryan’s parents had already lost their other sons in that terrible war that some of you know first-hand. As they move in the search of Private Ryan, they argue with one another and sometimes fight with one another, “Why on earth are we risking our lives for Private Ryan? He is probably not worth it anyway.” Still, they push on. Finally at the big battle at the bridge, one by one, they give their lives for this no-named person called Private Ryan. Finally there is Captain Miller, lying wounded and taking his final breaths, looking up into the eye of the Private, saying just two words, “Earn it.” — The movie fast-forwards and now Ryan is an old man. Once more he goes to the rows of crosses that help us remember the high price of our freedom. He finds the grave of Captain Miller and falls to his knees, saying, “Every day I think about what you said to me that day at the bridge. I have lived my life the best I could. I hope that was enough.” Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>16) Miracle of new birth:</b> One rainy Sunday afternoon, a little boy was bored and his father was sleepy. The father decided to create an activity to keep the kid busy. So, he found in the morning newspaper a large map of the world. He took scissors and cut it into a good many irregular shapes like a jigsaw puzzle. Then he said to his son, “See if you can put this puzzle together. And don’t disturb me until you’re finished.” He turned over on the couch, thinking this would occupy the boy for at least an hour. To his amazement, the boy was tapping his shoulder ten minutes later telling him that the job was done. The father saw that every piece of the map had been fitted together perfectly. “How did you do that?” he asked. “It was easy, Dad. There was a picture of a man on the other side. When I got him together right, the world was right.” — A person’s world can never be right until the person is right, and that requires the miracle of new birth. Don’t you dare stop asking God for the experience of new birth until you can shout from the housetops, “Through Jesus Christ, God has fundamentally changed my life!” Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>17) Coming Home:</b> John Voigt and Jane Fonda play the lead roles in the movie, Coming Home, which is about an American soldier crippled for life because of the Vietnam War. The film focuses on the psychological as well as the physical ordeals of this paraplegic – how he struggles with the help of a woman to accept his handicap, reconstruct his dreams, and create a future for himself. — This Vietnam War vet’s situation is very similar to that of the Jews in the first reading. God often sends people to help us through a crisis: parents and children often intervene to assist each other; a true friend comes through when no one else will; sometimes it is a pastor, a teacher or a parishioner who bails us out. Like the Jews in exile, or like that Vietnam vet in Coming Home, we endure small deaths in many ways. Nonetheless, we can find new life because of our faith in the Lord Jesus. (Albert Cylwicki in His Word Resounds; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">18<b>) A life that makes a difference: </b>Several years ago a bomb was detonated outside the huge oak doors of a Greek Catholic Church in Jerusalem. The heavy doors were blown inward so that they careened up to the front of the sanctuary and destroyed the chancel area. Windows were blown out, pews were destroyed, and the balcony collapsed. Dr. Ken Bailey, a Presbyterian missionary scholar and friend of the priest of the Greek Church, stopped by to assess the damage. It took little time to determine that the priest was in shock and unable to make necessary decisions. So Dr. Bailey took it upon himself to ask seminary administrators at the school where he taught to close classes, and he invited students to join him in helping the priest. They cleaned the church and boarded the windows to prevent looting. The next day, Bailey again called on his friend. The maid confided in him that the priest did not cry at the bomb’s destruction. However, she added, “He did cry when you and your friends helped clean up the mess it made.” — Dr. Bailey has since remarked, “I did not teach any theology that afternoon — or did I?” If theology is about love in action, he held one of his best classes that day. The truth is…faith is never so beautiful as when it has its working clothes on. (Steve Goodier; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">19) <b>Snakes and Ladders: </b>Aboriginals in India have an indigenous and ingenious way of curing snakebite. Once in Magathara village, South Gujarat, a little girl Nimmi (8) was bitten by a cobra. The girl wept bitterly. Makhabhai, Nimmi’s dad, the village leader, made an incision near the snakebite. He then caught a hen and pressed its rectum on the spot where blood was oozing out. The hen’s rectum worked like a suction-pump, and it began to struggle. I saw the hen slowly turning blue. Nimmi was saved. The hen died. In childhood, I enjoyed playing ‘snakes and ladders’. The dice are cast and one hopes to reach ‘Home’ before the others by avoiding snakes, ascending ladders. Some of those snakes were big; some, small. Even close to ‘Home’, one could suddenly be bitten by a snake and tumbled down. — Life’s like that! As the bronze–serpent signified salvation for the Israelites, the cross, like a ladder, leads us God-wards. (Francis Gonsalves in Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">20) <b>Bought with a price: </b>During the years when slavery was legal in the United States, a gentleman happened upon a slave-bidding in a crowed street. As he watched from the edge of the crowd, he saw one slave after another led to a platform, their arms and legs shackled with ropes as if they were animals. Displayed before the jeering crowd, they were auctioned off, one by one. The gentleman studied the group of slaves waiting nearby. He paused when he saw a young girl standing at the back. Her eyes were filled with fear. She looked so frightened. As the auctioneer opened the bidding for the girl, the gentleman shouted out a bid that was twice the amount of any other selling price offered that day. There was silence for an instance, and then the gavel fell as, “Sold to the gentleman” was heard. The rope, which bound her, was handed to the man. The young girl stared at the ground. Suddenly she looked up and spat in his face. Silently, he reached for a handkerchief and wiped the spittle from his face. He smiled gently at the young girl and said, “Follow me”. She followed him reluctantly. When a slave was set free, legal documents were necessary. The gentleman paid the purchase price and signed the documents. When the transaction was complete, he turned to the young girl and presented the documents to her. Startled, she looked at him with uncertainty. Her narrowed eyes asked, what are you doing? The gentlemen responded to her questioning look. He said, “Here, take these papers. I bought you to make you free. As long as you have these papers in your possession, no man can ever make you a slave again. The girl looked into his face. What was happening? Slowly, she said, “You bought me, to make me free? You bought me, to make me free?” She fell to her knees and wept at the gentleman’s feet. Through her tears of joy and gratitude, she said, “You bought me, to make me free….I’ll serve you forever!”– You and I were once bound in slavery to sin. But the Lord Jesus paid the price, to make us free, when He shed His Blood at Calvary. How often have we spat in our Master’s face – He who paid His all, for our freedom? <i>(</i>Anonymous; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">21) <b>Lifelines: </b>A number of years ago, these two verses, John 3:16 and John 3:17, took on extra-special meaning for many Bible readers. You may recall the episode. It involved our astronaut program. Space engineers were designing space suits for the command module pilot and the lunar module pilot. A part of the design of each space suit was an umbilical cord, consisting of a long flexible tubing. The purpose of the umbilical cord was to supply oxygen to the astronauts when they “walked” in space or passed from one module to another. The suit receptacle into which the command pilot’s cord fit was called J 3:16. Designer Frank Denton said he named the two suit receptacles after the two gospel passages: John 3:16 and John 3:17: [<i><sup>16</sup>“For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. <sup>17</sup>For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.”</i>] Just as J 3:16 and J 3:17 supplied the astronauts with what they would need to survive in their journey from one module to another, so Jn 3:16 and Jn 3:17 supply us with what we need to survive in our journey from earth to Heaven. (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">22) <b>God so loved the world that He gave…</b>Once a certain Saint asked God to show her the difference between Heaven and Hell. So God asked an angel to take her first to Hell. There she saw men and women seated around a large table with all kinds of delicious food. But none of them were eating. They were all sad and yawning. The saint asked one of them, “Why are you not eating?” And he showed her his hand. A long fork about 4 feet long was strapped to their hands such that every time they tried to eat they only threw the food on the ground. “What a pity!” said the Saint. Then the angel took her to Heaven. There the saint was surprised to find an almost identical setting as in hell: men and women sitting around a large table with all sorts of delicious food, and with four-foot forks strapped to their arms. But unlike hell the people in heaven were happy and laughing. “What!” said the Saint to one of them, “How come you are happy in this condition?” “You see,” said the man in Heaven, “Here we feed one another.” — Can we say this of our families, our neighborhood, our Church, our world? If we can say that, then we are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven. (John Pichappilly in The Table of the Word; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>23) “I’ve got a newfound glory and it shines out in all I do.”</b> During the American depression (1929-1939), a ferry-boat captain managed to eke out a modest living for himself and his family by piloting his boat up and down the Mississippi. His boat was old and in poor repair. The engines were grimy, spewing forth soot and smoke as the boat made its seemingly endless shuttle on the river. The captain was as unkempt as his boat, his manner with passengers often surly and rude. As it happened, the captain was proselytized by one of his passengers, a traveling missionary who introduced the captain to Christ and to the Gospel. The captain’s conversion was profound and authentic. One of the first things he did was to clean up his ferry-boat and repair its engines. The decks and deck chairs were freshly painted, and all the brass fixtures were polished. As to his personal appearance and demeanor, the captain was utterly transformed. Clean-shaven, and with a smile, he greeted his regular customers who immediately remarked about the pleasant changes he had made. In reply, the captain said, “I’ve got a newfound glory and it shines out in all I do; that’s what Christ does for a person. He gives him a glory!” — In his letter to the Christians of Ephesus, the author of today’s second reading described a similar transformation that had taken place in his readers because of Christ. (Sanchez Files). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">24) <b>A serpent on a pole and a man on the cross</b>: According to Greek mythology, Hermes, messenger of the gods carried a <i>caduceus</i> as a symbol of peace. Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, it became the badge worn by heralds and ambassadors signifying their inviolability. Originally the <i>caduceus</i> was a rod or olive branch decorated with garlands or ribbons. As time passed, the garlands were interpreted as two snakes, intertwined in opposite directions with their heads facing away from each other. A pair of wings, representing the swiftness of Hermes was attached to the staff above the snakes. The similarity of the <i>caduceus</i> to the staff of Aesculapius, the healer, (a single serpent twined around a staff branched at the top), resulted in the adoption of the <i>caduceus</i> as a symbol of the physician and as the emblem of the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Serpent-signs of healing, like these, played a main role in mythological and religious traditions throughout the world and were known to our ancient Israelite ancestors as well. According to the narrative from the book of Numbers (21:4-9), the wandering Hebrews were instructed by Moses to look upon the bronze serpent entwined on the staff as he held it aloft. Those who looked at the serpent were healed. St. John incorporated this event into today’s Gospel pericope and offered the raised serpent-sign as a <i>type</i> or pre-figuring of the lifted up and crucified Christ. (Sanchez Files). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">25) <b>Forgive and be Forgiven: </b>Some time ago a woman wrote a letter to Ann Landers describing the terrible relationship that once existed between her and her brother. It took the death of their father to get her to forgive him and to treat him as a brother again. Sometime after their reconciliation, her brother had a heart attack and died in her arms. She ends her letter with this moving paragraph. “I am grateful for the years we had together, but I could scream when I think of all the years we missed because we were too bull-headed and short-sighted to try to get along. Now he is gone and I am heartsick.” — Today’s Gospel is an invitation to review the relationships in our lives and to bring them into line with Jesus’ teaching. Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’ Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">26) <b>Inability to Forgive: </b>The singing career of Grammy award winner Marvin Gaye ended in tragedy on April 1, 1983. He was shot to death by his own father. Gaye’s close friend David Ritz wrote Gaye’s biography a year later. He called it Divided Soul. Gaye was indeed a divided soul. He was part artist and part entertainer, part sinner and part saint, part macho man and part gentleman. Gaye’s childhood was tormented by cruelty inflicted upon him by his father. Commenting on the effect this had on Gaye, Ritz says of his friend: “He really believed in Jesus a lot, but he could never apply the teaching of Jesus on forgiveness to his own father. In the end it destroyed them both.” — That story of an unforgiving father and son contrasts sharply with the story of the forgiving father and son, which Jesus tells in the Gospel. And the contrast between the two stories spotlights a growing problem in modern society. It is the inability or unwillingness of people to forgive one another. (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">27) <b>Mutiny on the Bounty: </b>Mutiny on the Bounty is one of the most adventurous maritime episodes in history. Captain Bligh sailed in the ship to Tahiti in search of breadfruit plant for the West Indies. He was proud and ruthless, and many of his crew were against him. While returning from Tahiti, most of the sailors rebelled against him and a mutiny broke out. The captain and 17 of his sympathizers were forced into a small boat and were left on the high sea. The mutineers, 15 of them with the ship Bounty went to Tahiti. Gathering with them some men, women and children, they reached a small Island called Pitcairn in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and South America. Afraid that they might be found out if they had the ship, they saved whatever they could carry and burnt the ship. This group of undesirables perpetuated their evil lives of drinking, revelry and murder. Within ten years of their landing on this island only one survived. His name was John Adams, and he was no better than the rest who died. However, he had to take on the responsibility of the Island’s folk. One day as he was checking the goods salvaged from the ship before it was burnt, he found an old Bible. Though he was not interested in it, it was the only book on the Island, and he began reading it. The Word of God began to work in him, and eventually, he changed his, life and became a new creation in Christ. He built a school-cum-Church and began to lead the children in Christian experience. For years the only book they had was the Bible. Years later, a strong Christian community was formed on this Island. The warm and pleasant behaviour of the people on this Island attracted the ships sailing through the Pacific. In 1980 when a census was taken, all the inhabitants on the Island were Christians. (John Rose in John’s Sunday Homilies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).</p><p class="MsoNormal">28) <b>Coming out into the Light: </b>The shortest journey to the Light is by doing the good/right thing. The following true story beautifully illustrates this. In the Lithuanian city of Kovno there lived a Jewish professor. Though he had been an agnostic all his life, the professor began to be more and more troubled by the sad, neglected condition of the Jewish graveyard in the city. Since the holocaust of the Jews by the Nazis and the harassment of them by the Soviets, no one had taken care of their graves. So out of the goodness if his heart, the professor himself decided to do so. Whether or not he was aware that tending graves is a ‘mitzvah’, that is a traditional good deed, we do not know. In any case, the old man acquired a spade, a sickle and shears, and began the job of making the graveyard worthy of those buried in it. At first, he was on his own, but as some weeks went by other Jews joined him in the work. Most of these were once observant Jews but had become agnostic like the professor. Eventually there were some two hundred of them, all doing a good thing. As they worked a beautiful thing happened. Their Jewish Faith came alight in them. Practically all of them became observant Jews once more. — We have to accept that there is darkness in our lives and in our world. How many of our deeds are done in the Light? How many of them could bare the scrutiny of the Light? Alas, we disciples of Jesus sometimes prefer the darkness to light. (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday & Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>29) Salvation through faith … God’s gift: </b>In the wars of religion that followed the Protestant Reformation, both Catholics and Protestants sometimes treated each other with a cruelty we would like to forget. Especially cruel was a group of fanatical Calvinists who waged war upon the Catholics of Holland. They called themselves the “Ragamuffins.” In 1572 these guerrillas rounded up nineteen Catholic priests and friars in the town of Gorkum, both because they despised their beliefs, and because they hoped the priests and brothers would reveal where their Church “treasures” were hidden. The captors made public mockery of their “hostages” and then put them “on trial,” demanding that they deny the authority of the Pope and the doctrine of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Meanwhile, the Prince of Orange, head of the Calvinist army, sent an order that the captives be released. The Ragamuffins ignored their leader’s order. Herding the captives into a shed, they prepared to hang them from its beams, unless they would finally deny their Catholic faith. When all nineteen refused, they were hanged and their bodies were mutilated. Now, although there were some saintly men among the victims, two of them did not have good records. James Lacops, a member of the Norbertine Fathers, had made light of the rule of his order, and when rebuked had resisted his superiors. Fortunately, he had made amends. But Andreas Wouters, a secular priest, had scandalized many by flagrantly ignoring his vow of chastity. Yet, when these unlikely men had been asked to deny their Faith, they had stood firm. Far from being “other Christs” in their lives, they had truly become “other Christs” in their deaths. With the rest of their fellow martyrs they were canonized as saints in 1867. — God’s grace is always free. The human mind can never appreciate the extent of His generosity “. . . <i>Salvation … is not your own doing … neither is it a reward for anything you have accomplished so let no one pride himself on it.” (Ephesians2:8-9).</i> Today’s first reading). (Father Robert F. McNamara). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">30) <b>“Create him not:” </b>Jewish legend has it that when God was about to create man, He consulted the angels about His throne: “Create him not,” said the Angel of Justice. “For he will commit all kinds of wickedness against his fellowmen; he will be bad and cruel and dishonest and unrighteous.” The Angel of Truth said, “Create him not, for he will be false and deceitful to his brothers and sisters ,and even to You.” “Create him not,” said the Angel of Holiness. “He will follow that which is impure in Your sight and dishonor You to Your face.” Then stepped forward the Angel of Mercy said, “Our Heavenly Father, create him, for when he sins and turns from the path of right and truth and holiness, I’ll take him tenderly by the hand, speak loving words to him, and then lead him back to You,.” And God indeed created man, following the counsel of the Angel of Mercy. — This story shows to us the message of Christ in today’s Gospel of Fourth Sunday of Lent in the B Cycle. And the verse John 3:16 has been called a summary of the Bible, and a summary the entire Gospel as well. Maybe because we can find the acronym, GOSPEL Let us listen very carefully: <i>“For <b>G</b>od so loved the world that He gave His <b>O</b>nly-begotten <b>S</b>on, so that whoever who believes in Him should not <b>P</b>erish but have <b>E</b>ternal <b>L</b>ife.” (3:16).</i> (Fr. Benitez) Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).</p><strong><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Fr. Jude Botelho:</span></strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In the first reading of today we are told of the many misfortunes that God allowed to come upon Israel because of their sins, the greatest being the destruction of the temple and their banishment into exile. However Chronicles points out that this was not because God wanted to take revenge on his people. The author points out that during their misfortunes God did not abandon them but rather took care of them and moved persons and events in such a way that they would, after their exile, be able to come back to their land, rebuild their temple and once again prosper as His people. God did not keep a record of their wrongs but was ever ready to forgive. People may give up on us but God never abandons his people.<br /><br /><strong>Take what you like best</strong><br />Joachim and Rebecca were married for ten years but there was no sign of a child to gladden Joachim's heart and perpetuate his name. So he decided to divorce his wife and went to old Rabbi Ben Shamir to make the necessary arrangements. "Joachim son," said the Rabbi, "we had a party to celebrate your marriage, so before we do anything about the divorce we are going to have another party to mark your parting," and unknown to Joachim, he winked knowingly at Rebecca. The party came and acting on the advice of the Rabbi, Rebecca plied her husband with the best vintage wine. As she topped off the cup Joachim spoke to her, "Little wife, take what you like best from this place and take it with you to your father's house." Then he fell asleep. Rebecca put him to bed and then with the connivance of the Rabbi and the sturdy shoulders of some of the guests they brought the bed with Joachim in it to her father's house. When he awoke the following morning and recognized the surroundings he called Rebecca. "Little wife, what am I doing here?" to which she coyly replied: "I only did what you told me to, husband dear. I took what I liked best to my father's house - and that was you!" Joachim took her in his arms and forgot about the divorce. A few weeks later she told him she was pregnant.<br /><em>James A Feeban from 'Story Power'</em><br /><br />In the gospel we have Jesus' encounter with Nicodemus, who appears three times in the Gospel of John, each time at night. His caution in coming at night implies heavy opposition to Jesus in Jerusalem. This is the only time on record when Nicodemus meets Jesus and they speak. In today's reading, God orders Moses to make a bronze serpent, mount it on a pole, enabling all who looked at it to be cured of the bites of poisonous snakes as they trekked through the desert. Jesus used this story as a parable of himself. He told Nicodemus that for the salvation of the world, he himself would be lifted up. He meant it in a twofold sense: lifted up on the cross and lifted up into the glory of the resurrection. Jesus told Nicodemus and us through him, that if we look at Jesus and believe, we will experience healing pardon and new life. Jesus summed it all up by saying, "God sent his son into the world not to condemn the world but so that through him the world might be saved." This is the sum and substance of the good news that Jesus came to bring us: Salvation is ours in and through Jesus Christ. The only requirement is faith. If we believe then God's power comes alive in us, if we do not believe then we condemn ourselves and God's spirit lies impotent in us. Some people condemn themselves by turning away from the light.<br /><br /><strong>A life that makes a difference</strong><br />Several years ago a bomb was detonated outside the huge oak doors of a Greek Catholic church in Jerusalem. The heavy doors were blown inward so that they careened up to the front of the sanctuary and destroyed the chancel area. Windows were blown out, pews were destroyed, and the balcony collapsed. Dr. Ken Bailey, a Presbyterian missionary scholar and friend of the priest of the Greek Church, stopped by to assess the damage. It took little time to determine that the priest was in shock and unable to make necessary decisions. So Dr. Bailey took it upon himself to ask seminary administrators at the school where he taught to close classes, and he invited students to join him in helping the priest. They cleaned the church and boarded the windows to prevent looting. The next day, Bailey again called on his friend. The maid confided in him that the priest did not cry at the bomb's destruction. However, she added, "He did cry when you and your friends helped clean up the mess it made." Dr. Bailey has since remarked, "I did not teach any theology that afternoon -- or did I?" If theology is about love in action, he held one of his best classes that day. The truth is...faith is never so beautiful as when it has its working clothes on.<br /><em>Steve Goodier</em><br /><br /><strong>Coming to the light</strong><br />In the Lithuanian city of Kovno there lived a Jewish professor. Though he had been an agnostic all his life the professor began to be more and more troubled by the sad, neglected condition of the Jewish graveyard in the city. Since the holocaust of the Jews by the Nazis and the harassment of them by the Soviets, no one had taken care of their graves. So out of his goodness of heart, the professor himself decided to do so. Whether or not he was aware that tending the graves is a mitzvah, that is a traditional good deed, we do not know. In any case the good man acquired a spade, a sickle, a pair of shears, and began his job of making the graveyard worthy of those buried in it. At first he was on his own, but as the weeks went by other Jews joined him in the work. Most of these were once observant Jews who had become agnostics like the professor. Eventually there were two hundred of them, all doing the true thing. As they worked a beautiful thing happened. Their Jewish faith came alight in them. Practically all of them became observant Jews once more.<br /><em>Flor McCarthy in 'New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies'</em><br /><br /><strong>Judgement on ourselves</strong><br />A visitor was once being shown around an art gallery. The gallery contained some beautiful paintings which were universally acknowledged to be masterpieces. At the end of the tour the visitor said, "I don't think much of these old pictures." To which the guide replied, "My good man, these pictures are no longer on trial. But those who look at them are." The man's reaction was not a judgement on the pictures but on his own pitiful appreciation of art. In the same way those who prefer darkness to light have condemned themselves.<br /><em>Flor McCarthy in 'New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies'</em><br /><br /><strong>Attitude towards the light</strong><br />The Simon Community run night-shelters for down-and-outs. Each night volunteers bring soup and sandwiches to those who, for one reason or another, do not want to come to the shelters. They go looking for them in derelict buildings and such places. The most important aid they take with them is a torch, because often there is no light where the down-and-outs live. Most of the down-and-outs receive the volunteers as friends. But some refuse to have anything to do with them. The volunteers can tell at once which group they are dealing with by their reaction to the light. Some welcome the light. Others fear it. You could say that the light judges them, in the sense that it shows up the darkness in their lives - the darkness of alcoholism, misery, hopelessness, crime. But it doesn't come to judge them. It comes as a friend, to brighten up their lives, to comfort them. That's how it was with the coming of Christ's light. Christ did not come to judge people but to save them. He came bearing a light -of truth, goodness, and salvation from sin. Some welcomed his light, others rejected it because it shows the evil in their lives.<br /><em>Flor McCarthy in 'New Sunday and Holyday Liturgies'</em><br /><br /><strong>Lifelines</strong><br />A number of years ago, these two verses, John 3:16 and John 3:17, took on extra-special meaning for many Bible readers. You may recall the episode. It involved our astronaut programme. Space engineers were designing space suits for the command module pilot and the lunar module pilot. A part of the design of each space suit was an umbilical cord, consisting of a long flexible tubing. The purpose of the umbilical cord was to supply oxygen to the astronauts when they "walked" in space or passed from one module to another. The suit receptacle into which the command pilot's cord fit was called J 3:16. Designer Frank Denton said he named the two suit receptacles after the two gospel passages: John 3:16 and John 3:17. Just as J 3:16 and J 3:17 supply the astronauts with what they need to survive in their journey from one module to another, so John 3:16 and John 3:17 supply us with what we need to survive in our journey from earth to heaven.<br /><em>Mark Link in 'Sunday Homilies'</em><br /><br /><strong>God so loved the world that he gave...</strong><br />Once a certain saint asked God to show her the difference between heaven and hell. So God asked an angel to take her first to hell. There she saw men and women seated around a large table with all kinds of delicious food. But none of them were eating. They were all sad and yawning. The saint asked one of them, "Why are you not eating?" And he showed her his hand. A long fork about 4 feet long was strapped to their hands such that every time they tried to eat they only threw the food on the ground. "What a pity" said the saint. Then the angel took her to heaven. There the saint was surprised to find an almost identical setting as in hell: men and women sitting around a large table with all sorts of delicious food, and with four-foot forks strapped to their arms. But unlike hell the people in heaven were happy and laughing. "What!" said the saint to one of them, "How come you are happy in this condition?" "You see," said the man in heaven, "Here we feed one another." Can we say this of our families, our neighbourhood, our church, our world?" If we can say that, then we are not far from the kingdom of heaven.<br /><em>John Pichappilly in 'The Table of the Word'</em><br /><br /><strong style="background-color: #ffff99;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">May we experience and believe that by God's love alone are we kept alive!</span></strong></span><br /><strong>*************</strong><br /><strong><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">From Sermons.com</span></strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I can't think of a greater condemnation to be levied against a people than this: They loved darkness instead of light. I would never want that to be said of me. But that is the way God sees the world. You and I see the world as it is right now. Most of the people around us try and do the right thing and when we are wrong hopefully we apologize. So we tend to think well of most people. But look out on the passage of time. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The Ancient World of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Hellenism, Rome, Persia, India, and East Asia was filled with the ignorance of hundreds of thousands of gods, magic, rituals, superstitions, human sacrifice, conquests, sewage(refuse was mostly thrown into the streets for the rats and dogs), disease (priests attempted to foretell the course of a disease by examining the livers of sacrificed animals). And the list doesn't end there: ethnic bigotry, civil wars, persecutions, despots, tyrants, class rule, and the systematic murders of tens of thousands. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The Middle Ages of Persia, Constantinople, Islam, Britain, China, India, Genghis Khan and the Mongols, Timur and the Turks, Europe, African Empires and the Americas. All of them covered in the darkness of man's inhumanity to man: Revolutions, expansionism, Mohammad's Conquest and Christianity's Crusades, warlords, heretics, witchcraft, increased trade bringing death and plagues to millions, and the crowding in the cities spreading the misery all the more. And on top of this misery wars fought for every ridiculous reason known to man. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The Enlightenment and the Modern world also have fared no better. We too have loved the darkness instead of the light... </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">___________________________</div>Who doesn't love the "Indiana Jones" series of movies? Harrison Ford was in an airplane crash last week, and it was the head-liner for all the prime time media. Ford is a good actor and seems to be a decent guy. But mostly he and his "Indiana Jones" screen persona seem to hit the "hero" jackpot. Ford's crash landing, and his amazing survival, made for media gold.<br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Ford made an emergency landing of his vintage airplane on a golf course, managing not to hurt anyone else or damage any homes or property. And he survived. Hero stuff all over again. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Everyone who knows anything about "Indiana Jones" knows that he hates snakes. He is a strong, tough guy until he meets a slithery thing. Then he dissolves into a quivering mass of spinelessness. Now, there ARE people who do like snakes, who keep them as pets, and let them slide about their homes. But these people are definitely in the minority. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Most of us do NOT want to be in the company of snakes. Most of us are right there with "Indiana Jones." Snakes are slippery and scaly and slimy and scary. Snakes are creatures we really do not want to engage or embrace. "Anaconda" was a great title for a movie about the Amazon, but "Snakes on a Plane" -- was there ever a better B-movie title! Combining our fear of snakes with our loathing of economy class air travel - what a genius movie idea. Snakes are creatures so different from us that they evoke revulsion and fear, even when we do not know if the snake we are looking at is dangerous, or a harmless natural insect repellant. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">So we do not readily have a warm, fuzzy relationship with limbless reptiles...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">________________________</div><strong>Born of the Spirit</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Windborne! That's a far better moniker for Christians than that mistaken term "born again." That's a phrase we picked up from Nicodemus' misunderstanding of entering a second time into the mother's womb rather than Jesus' terminology "born from above" or "born of the Spirit." "No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and wind - Spirit - pneumatos."<br /><br />Windborne speaks of being carried along by the wind of the Spirit of God. Here is a lifestyle that is not bogged down with the how questions, but a life that soars among the clouds powered by the mystery of God. "The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes." Ours is a life filled with mystery and the unexplainable.<br /><br />Science has taught us to ask the how questions. Our contemporary culture seems to be obsessed with the tangible, the explainable, and the measurable. And we are tempted to believe that the only reality is that which we can see and touch. But Jesus calls us to a life of the spirit. It's a life lifted by the invisible power of the wind.<br /><br />Mickey Anders, Windborne<br />_________________________________________</div><strong> God Is Seeking You in Love</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Fred Craddock tells the story of his father, who spent years of his life hiding from the God who was seeking him out: </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">"When the pastor used to come from my mother's church to call on him, my father would say, 'You don't care about me. I know how churches are. You want another pledge, another name, right? Another name, another pledge, isn't that the whole point of church? Get another name, another pledge.'</div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">My nervous mother would run to the kitchen, crying, for fear somebody's feelings would be hurt. When we had an evangelistic campaign the pastor would bring the evangelist, introduce him to my father and then say, 'Sic him, get him! Sic him, get him!' May father would always say the same thing. 'You don't care about me! Another name, another pledge. Another name, another pledge! I know about churches.' </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I guess I heard it a thousand times. One time he didn't say it. He was at the Veteran's Hospital. He was down to 74 pounds. They had taken out the throat, put in a metal tube, and said, 'Mr. Craddock, you should have come earlier. But this cancer is awfully far advanced. We'll give radium, but we don't know.' </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I went in to see him. In every window - potted plants and flowers. Everywhere there was a place to set them - potted plants and flowers. Even in that thing that swings out over your bed they put food on, there was a big flower. There was by his bed a stack of cards 10 or 15 inches deep. I looked at the cards sprinkled in the flowers. I read the cards beside his bed. And I want to tell you, every card, every blossom, every potted plant from groups, Sunday School classes, women's groups, youth groups, men's bible class, of my mother's church-every one of them. My father saw me reading them. He could not speak, but he took a Kleenex box and wrote something on the side from Shakespeare's Hamlet. . . . He wrote on the side, 'In this harsh world, draw your breath in pain to tell my story.' I said, 'What is your story, Daddy?' And he wrote, 'I was wrong.'" </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It is not until you know God is seeking you in love, not in condemnation; it is not until that moment that the gospel becomes Good News for you. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Fred Craddock, adapted by James Fitzgerald, Serpents, Penguins, and Crosses</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">______________________________________</div><strong>God Can Make Something Out of You</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Some years ago, the great boxer, Mohammed Ali, was asked by a ghetto youth how he could quit school and start a boxing career since he had bad grades. Ali smiled at the young man and said in his poetic fashion:<br /><br />"Stay in college and get the knowledge,<br />And stay there! Til you're through</div>Cause if God can make penicillin out of moldy bread,<br />He can make something out of you."<br /><br />This is the good news of John 3. Because God so loved the world, He SENT His only son to make something out of us; when we accept Him into our lives and commit our hearts to Him, then He gives us new life in this world - and new life in the world to come.<br /><br />James W. Moore, Encounters with Christ, www.Sermons.com<br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">___________________________________</div><strong>We Become His Son</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">There is a story that comes out of the Bedouin culture. "Bedouin" is the Aramaic name for "desert dwellers." These people live much as the characters of the Old Testament did. During a heated argument, according to this story, a young Bedouin struck and killed a friend of his. Knowing the ancient, inflexible customs of his people, the young man fled, running across the desert under the cover of darkness, seeking safety.<br /><br />He went to the black tent of the tribal chief in order to seek his protection. The old chief took the young Arab in. The chief assured him that he would be safe until the matter could be settled legally.<br /><br />The next day, the young man's pursuers arrived, demanding the murderer be turned over to them. They would see that justice would prevail in their own way. "But I have given my word," protested the chief.<br /><br />"But you don't know whom he killed!" they countered.<br /><br />"I have given my word," the chief repeated.<br /><br />"He killed your son!" one of them blurted out. The chief was deeply and visibly shaken with his news. He stood speechless with his head bowed for a long time. The accused and the accusers as well as curious onlookers waited breathlessly. What would happen to the young man? Finally the old man raised his head. "Then he shall become my son," he informed them, "and everything I have will one day be his."<br /><br />The young man certainly didn't deserve such generosity. And that, of course, is the point. Love in its purest form is beyond comprehension. No one can merit it. It is freely given. It is agape, the love of God. Look to the cross. At the cross we encounter love in its purest form. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">King Duncan, Collected Sermons, <a href="http://www.sermons.com/" shape="rect" title="">www.Sermons.com</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">___________________________</div><strong>Rules for Being Human</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.</div>3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works."<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">4. A lesson is repeated until it is learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">5. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">6. "There" is no better than "here." When your "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain another "there" that will, again, look better than "here." </div>7. Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.<br />8. What you make of life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.<br />9. Your answers lie inside you. The answers to life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.<br />10. You will forget all this.<br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Michael D. Powell, Look, Listen, Love, and Live</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">______________________</div><strong>Judgment and Grace</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Most preachers have preacher dreams. I am sure every profession has its own particular variation. They are often recurring and usually show clearly the preacher's feelings of inadequacy. Early in my ministry, I used to put my sermon on the pulpit before worship so it would already be in place when I got there to preach. The problem with that is the accompanying dream I would have on many Saturday nights. In my dream, I would step up to the pulpit and the sermon would not be there. The dream took many shapes and forms, but it always came down to the missing sermon and me having nothing to say. Nothing. The dream stopped when I started carrying my sermon with me. More recently I had a dream that I came by the church and a wedding was beginning. I suddenly realized I should be up there performing the wedding, and I was completely unprepared. So you can see a common thread in these preacherly dreams...unprepared and unable. It reveals the dark side of us, the part of us that really needs the grace. It reveals that even if I sing "God Is Love," and "Jesus Loves Me," there is nevertheless that judgment there that haunts me, even in my dreams. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Sharon Rhodes-Wickett, God's Promises: Judgment and Grace</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">_______________________</div><strong>Complain, Complain, Complain</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The story is told of a young man who entered a very strict monastic order. It was so strict that members were permitted to speak only two words per year to the abbot. At the end of year one the young man appeared before the abbot and spoke his two words, "bad food." At the end of the second year the young man appeared before the abbot and spoke two more words, "hard bed". At the end of year three he came to the abbot and spoke his last two words, "I quit." The abbot responded, "Well it is about time. Complain, complain, complain - that's all you've done since you came here." </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">We humans are people of darkness. People who complain, rebel, work against the Kingdom of God. Death is all we know. Lives filled with the patterns of sin. However, God does an astonishing thing. He brings the light. He erects a cross of death that we might look up and live. He leads us out of the darkness. He loves the world and does not condemn it. He does not condemn you, if...if you will believe. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Brett Blair, <a href="http://www.sermons.com/">www.Sermons.com</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">_______________________</div><strong>Affirming What We Believe</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In his autobiography, actor Alec Guinness tells a story that might keep every pastor and church school teacher awake at night. He was a teenager and it was the morning of his confirmation. The classes were finished. The students' heads had been filled full of Bible stories and theological doctrines. Guinness says Holy Trinity Church in Eastbourne was crammed with confirmation candidates, their parents, friends, schoolteachers, and sponsors. At the appropriate moment, he notes, "The girls, mostly in grey uniforms, filed up to kneel at the Bishop's left hand and the boys, in blue serge, to his right. I remember white episcopal hands and shaggy black eyebrows. A pale, greenish light filtered through the window-panes, giving a subaqueous hue to the perspiring congregation." Then he adds, "At the age of sixteen, one early summer day, I arose from under the hands of the Bishop of Lewes a confirmed atheist ... With a flash I realized I had never really believed what I had been taught." </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I don't know about you, but I am troubled by that story. I believe in Christian education. God's people are called to teach the Christian faith to children, teenagers, and adults. Sunday church school and confirmation classes are important educational activities. The church needs to do these things. And yet, here is the story of a bright, intelligent person who emerged from those experiences, and he did not believe a word of what he learned. As a professional church leader, as a Christian educator, that story bothers me. At a personal level, however, that story haunts me for another reason, namely, that it sounds surprisingly familiar. On a bright Sunday morning, it is easy to affirm what we believe. As the familiar verse we've heard today puts it, "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life." With sunbeams shining through stained glass, I can believe it. But late at night, after the lights are dimmed, sometimes I have my doubts, my questions, my lapses of belief. Perhaps I'm not the only one.<br /><br />William G. Carter, Water Won't Quench the Fire, CSS Publishing Company</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">__________________________</div><strong>All You Need is Love </strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Anthony Campolo tells about a mountaineer from West Virginia who fell in love with the beautiful daughter of the town preacher. The gruff and tough man one evening looked deeply into the eyes of the preacher's daughter and said, "I love you." It took more courage for him to say those simple words than he had ever had to muster for anything else he had ever done. Minutes passed in silence and then the preacher's daughter said, "I love you, too." The tough mountaineer said nothing except, "Good night." Then he went home, got ready for bed and prayed, "God, I ain't got nothin' against nobody."</div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Many of us know that feeling. To love and to be loved, what joy that simple emotion brings into our lives. Then to realize that the very nature of God is love is almost more than you or I can comprehend. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">King Duncan, Collected Sermons, <a href="http://www.sermons.com/">www.Sermons.com</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">____________________________</div><strong> All It Would Take To Make Me Happy</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Charles Shultz, creator and author of the Peanuts cartoon characters often conveyed a message in his comic strips. In one strip he conveys through Charlie Brown the need we have to be loved and through Lucy our inability to love one another. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Charlie Brown and Lucy are leaning over the proverbial fence speaking to one another:</div>CB: All it would take to make me happy is to have someone say he likes me.<br />Lucy: Are you sure?<br />CB: Of course I'm sure!<br />Lucy: You mean you'd be happy if someone merely said he or she likes you? Do you mean to tell me that someone has it within his or her power to make you happy merely by doing such a simple thing?...</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-8526789731445513552024-03-01T09:00:00.002+05:302024-03-01T09:00:13.476+05:30Lent 3rd Sunday B: Liturgical Prayers<p> <b>Greeting (see
Second Reading)</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“The crucified Christ is the power and the
wisdom of God.” May he never be an
obstacle or scandal to us. The Lord Jesus be
always with you. <b>R/ And also with you.<span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Introduction<br />
The House of My Father</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If a Christian comes
to Mass on Sundays but for the rest of the week doesn’t care about Christ,
cheats in business, lies, shows no love, then the religion of this person is
not genuine. Our Lord tells us today that true religion, worship in spirit and
in truth, unifies our lives in such a way that there is no part reserved for
God and another part for ourselves only: God is to be present in all we do,
Christ is our companion in all of our life. Let us ask Christ with us here in
this Eucharist to inspire all we do and to journey through life with us all the
time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>True Worship</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Today we proceed on
our way of Lent to Easter. We are told how Jesus drove the merchants out of the
temple. It might be a good time to ask ourselves: what would the Lord wish to
be driven out of us so that we become better Christians? What stands in our way
of being closer to him in everyday life? What matters for us Christians is that
we are attached to the Lord and close to the people he has entrusted to us.
Then we can worship him with our whole life.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Penitential Act</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are many times
when we have reserved part of our life for ourselves only. Let us seek
forgiveness from the Lord. (pause) <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lord Jesus, you invite
us to encounter you any time, any place, in any one: Lord, have mercy.<b> R/
Lord, have mercy.</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jesus Christ, too
often we come to church with hearts too full of our cares or too empty to pray
to you: Christ, have mercy. <b>R/ Christ, have mercy.</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lord Jesus, you want
us to worship in spirit and in truth: Lord, have mercy. <b>R/ Lord, have
mercy.</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Have mercy on us,
Lord, meet us with your forgiving love and lead us to everlasting life. <b>R/
Amen.</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Opening Prayer</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let us pray that we
may be God’s holy temple (pause) <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We often turn our
hearts into houses of pride and greed rather than into homes of love and
goodness where you can feel at home. Destroy the temple of sin in us, drive
away all sin from our hearts, and make us living stones of a community in which
can live and reign your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord for ever and ever. <b>R/
Amen.</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>First Reading: The
Commandments: Charter of Covenant Fidelity</b> God gave his “ten words” to his people not so much as laws to be obeyed
than as a charter of their freedom. By following this, they expressed their
loyalty to the faithful God of the covenant. <b> </b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Second Reading: Is
Christ a Stumbling Block?</b> To
those who look from the outside, Jesus’ death on the cross is either a folly or
a failure. But for those who believe, it is the source of life. <b> <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Gospel: Toward a
New Temple</b> Christ purifies the
Jewish Temple from being a place that confines God. The Romans will destroy it.
For we can encounter the Risen Christ anywhere and he will be the foundation of
the new People of God. <b> </b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Intercessions</b> Let us pray to the Lord Jesus who knows what
is in the hearts of people, and let us pray to him in spirit and in truth: <b>R/
Lord, hear our prayer.</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">– When people look for
a God to pray to and to trust, may they may find no other God than the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit to worship, to love and to serve, we pray
you: <b>R/ Lord, hear our prayer.</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">– When people look for
a faith to believe in, let them encounter you, Lord Jesus, listen to what you
say and follow what you do, we pray you: <b>R/ Lord, hear our prayer.</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">– When people look for
a reliable hope, let them discover your Word to inspire and to guide them, we
pray you:<b> R/ Lord, hear our prayer.</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">– When people look for
faithful love, let them discover you, Lord Jesus, alive in people, in their
words and deeds, we pray you: <b>R/ Lord, hear our prayer.</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">– When people look for
a community, let them discover the Church as the house of your Father where
they meet your brothers and sisters, we pray you: <b>R/ Lord, hear our
prayer.</b> Lord Jesus, may we be close to you and love you not only here in
this Eucharist but in everything we do and say, for you are our Lord for ever
and ever. <b>R/ Amen.</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Prayer over the
Gifts</b> Lord God, our Father, with
the bread of life and the wine of joy of himself, your Son will renew your covenant
with us. Let Jesus give us the will and the love to be faithful to its demands the
way he was faithful to it even when it meant the cross. For we wish to give you
true worship through Jesus Christ our Lord. <b>R/ Amen.</b> <b> </b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Introduction to the
Eucharistic Prayer</b> Let us give
thanks to the Father and with Jesus offer him the worship of our life. <b> </b>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Introduction to the
Lord’s Prayer</b> Let us pray in
Jesus’ words to the Father that we may all seek and do his will: <b>R/ <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Our Father...</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Deliver Us</b> Deliver us, Lord, from the evil of sin and
from our obstinate self-will that refuses to listen to you and to those you
have given us as our guides. Help us to free our brothers and sisters from our
hunger for power and wealth and from the oppressive structures that keep them
from living as your children. Help us to prepare in hope and freedom for the
final coming in glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. <b>R/ For the
kingdom...</b> <b> </b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Invitation to
Communion</b> This is Jesus
Christ, our Savior and our Lord, the power and the wisdom of God. He was
crucified because he did your will to the end. Happy are we to receive him and
to be filled with his power and love. <b>R/ Lord, I am not worthy...</b>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Prayer after
Communion</b> God, our faithful
Father you have given us in this Eucharist your Son Jesus Christ to show us in
him what loyal obedience means. Let your Son be alive in us, so that our
Christian community may be the temple in which he lives and that gathers us
together as his brothers and sisters. Keep us from all formalism, that we may
worship you with our lives, by the power and wisdom of Jesus Christ our
Lord. <b>R/ Amen.</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Blessing</b> By his words and actions Jesus has spoken to
us today that we must serve God as he himself did: in spirit and in truth. Our
everyday living must correspond to what we believe, in loyal service to God and
people. We must make ourselves free for him and people, in respect and love. May
God bless you and guide you: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit<b>.
R/ Amen.</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let us go and build
together the community in which Jesus lives. <b>R/ Thanks be to God.</b> <b> </b>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Commentary:</b> Jesus drove the sheep, the oxen out of the
temple and then he overturned the tables of the money changers. What did Jesus
mean by his gesture? He simply said that God did not want animal sacrifices,
nor any sacrifice because God’s favours cannot be bought. We cannot give
anything to God, because his gifts are completely free. To offer something to
God to obtain his blessings is a buying and selling or bribing God! He gives
his love freely and when we welcome it, we are happy. We have nothing to give
to God. Jesus never spoke of sacrifices to be offered to God. When he spoke of
it he said 'I want works of mercy, not sacrifices.' Our liturgies, our songs,
our good deeds are a manifestation of our joy of being with Him, of our
gratitude for the love He showed towards us, but they give nothing to God. Jesus
has cast out the sellers and the buyers because they are relating with God as
if they are on a business deal. At the 8 gates of the temple esplanade, the
Levites– the sacristans of those days – conducted a screening of the people to
ensure that the blind, the lame, the deformed, the hunchbacked, the paralytics,
the lepers and the sinners were prevented from entering the temple. Because
they had nothing to offer to God except their own misery, weakness, and their
own frailty. Jesus challenged the Priests and religious authorities, that the
current sanctuary is obsolete but Jesus would raise a new one in three days.
The Sanctuary was the central part of the building where the Israelites
believed that the Lord was; whoever wanted to meet God should go to this
sanctuary. But today, the function of the ancient sanctuary is finished.
Dismantle this temple, do away with it. Why? Because Jesus is now the sanctuary
where God manifests himself. God shows his face is not in a material temple,
but in his person. It is in Jesus where we see the face of God. Paul tells us
“You forget that the Spirit of God dwells in you, that the same divine life
circulates in you, that you are the sanctuary of God, in the risen Christ. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> =================== <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">3 March 2024 III Sunday
of Lent John 2:13-25 <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Shaping a God in our
image and liking! Today's Gospel offers us an image of Jesus that we
might find difficult to understand. Jesus is in the Temple, and he is
angry, even violent. He turns his attention to those who had turned the
Sacred Temple into a marketplace and condemned them for violating and
desecrating The Temple; <i>‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my
Father’s house into a market.’ </i>What are we to make of this today? There
is no way to purchase God's favour. God cannot be bribed by offering
something to gain his blessing. His love is freely given, and when we
accept it, we are happy. Jesus never mentioned offering sacrifices to God. In
contrast, he said, 'I want works of mercy, not sacrifices.' Those things we do
in liturgies, songs, or good deeds reflect our gratitude to God for the love he
showed us. During those days, the Levites- the sacristans- screened people at
the temple's eight gates to prevent blind, lame, deformed, hunchbacked,
paralytics, lepers and sinners from entering because they had nothing to offer
God except their misery, weakness, and their frailty. Jesus challenged the
priests and religious authorities for this obsolete practice of making God
unapproachable to people. They shaped a God according to their liking and
image. Their sanctuary and religious practices must be dismantled and abandoned because
Jesus is now the sanctuary where God shows himself, not in a material temple,
but in person. It is in Jesus that we see the face of God. <span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-31861666776582538092024-02-28T07:42:00.001+05:302024-02-28T07:42:04.041+05:30 Stations of the Cross -4: With People Living in Poverty Around the World<p> <b style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Pinniepoker; font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Stations of the Cross -4</span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="normaltextrun"><b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">With People Living in Poverty Around the World</span></i></b></span></p><a name='more'></a><b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span class="normaltextrun">This Stations of the Cross takes us on a prayerful journey of transformation in solidarity with people living in poverty around the world. As we walk through the Stations, we also share their journey through a mixture of their stories, scripture and prayer.</span><span class="eop"> </span> </p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Opening reflection</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Leader: As we reflect on the final journey of Jesus, leading to his death on the cross, we also contemplate the lives of our sisters and brothers around the world living in extreme poverty. People like those living in drought-stricken areas. Let us pray together for God to transform our lives and the lives of others:</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Loving God, we hear your call</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">to all who thirst</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">for a brighter future:</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Come to our aid. Pour out your Spirit upon us</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">and lead us to walk</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">alongside one another.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Let a desire for change</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">well up within us.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">May we overflow with</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">compassion and love.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">And as a stream</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">wears away stone,</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">may we reshape</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">our world together</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">to reflect your kingdom</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">of hope for all. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amen.</i></span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn – 1 Stanza</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The first Station: Jesus is condemned to death</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Reader: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">“The governor again said to them, ‘Which of the two do you want me to release for you?’ And they said, ‘Barabbas’. Pilate said to them, ‘Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?’ All of them said, ‘Let him be crucified!’… When Pilate saw that it was no use to go on, but that a riot might break out, he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd …. Pilate released Barabbas for the crowd; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.” <i>Matthew 27:21-26</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Leader: </span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus stands silent and composed as the crowd calls for his death. Pilate finds no guilt in Jesus, yet he is still condemned.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">In our world today many are condemned to lives of hardship and poverty, especially people most vulnerable to climate changes. Many people are impacted by the severe drought this causes. What is our response? Do we wash our hands of our brothers and sisters or seek to act in solidarity?<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus, you know what it means to stand alone in front of those who reject you and don’t understand you. Walk with us. When we feel that we can’t make a difference, help us to keep going.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Teach us to share your love. Amen</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn – 1 Stanza</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The second Station: Jesus carries his cross</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Reader: “After mocking Jesus, the soldiers stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Matthew 27:28-31</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: <b>because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The guards dress Jesus up as a king, with a crown made of thorns, and mock him. They give him a heavy wooden cross to carry. Jesus knows that the way will not be easy and that it will lead to his death. And yet he shoulders his burden and starts on his way.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The burden of carrying water over long distances is one that too many people must bear, including children. Pavan is 11 and twice each day he must journey alone to fetch water. It takes him three hours.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">“It’s so difficult,” he exclaims. “I always hope someone will help me one day. If nobody helps me in this life, maybe in the next life they will help me. I think a lot about the time when one day I will not have to do this.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">We all have burdens to carry. We also place burdens on others. In what ways do I place unnecessary loads on other people? </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> Jesus, your love led you to take up the cross. Walk with us. When we feel afraid, help us to be brave. Give us the courage to speak out to change our world, so that all our sisters and brothers can experience justice. Amen</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn – 1 Stanza</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The third Station: Jesus falls for the first time</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Reader: “He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Isaiah 53:5</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: <b>because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Burdened by his heavy cross, worn down by fatigue and pain, Jesus falls.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Sunil knows what it is to be totally exhausted. This young farmer who lives in Bihar must spend ten hours every day on the long walk to collect water for his family. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sunil says, “I don’t have any more words to express how hard this is. I’m so tired, I’m struggling to give you words. The journey for water is so long.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The choices we make have an impact on other people both near and far. In what way do my choices cause others to stumble? </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> Jesus, you know how it feels to struggle and to fall. Walk with us. Show us how to walk with others to know what it feels like to be in another’s shoes. You reach out to us with caring hands. Show us how to join our hands with communities around the world who are bringing hope to their people. Amen</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn – 1 Stanza</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The fourth Station: Jesus meets his mother<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Reader: “Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Luke 2:33-35</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: <b>because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">This was the fulfilment of Simeon’s prophecy, the sword that ran through Mary’s soul. She who nurtured Jesus as a baby, witnessed his first steps and words, now meets her son on this final journey. What pain Mary must have felt, unable to reach out to help or comfort Jesus. Yet she remains present and steadfast.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">So many mothers throughout the world grieve; with empty hands unable to feed their hungry children or get medicine and care for their families.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Let us look to the example of Mary and not turn our faces away from those who are suffering.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus, you looked through the crowd and saw your mother’s eyes. Her love gave you the strength to carry on. Walk with us. When we don’t want to listen, open our ears to hear. When it would be easier to look away, open our eyes to see. Amen</span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn – 1 Stanza</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene carries the cross<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Reader: “The soldiers compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.” </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Mark 15:21</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: <b>because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.</b></span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Simon of Cyrene comes into the city of Jerusalem on the day of Jesus’ death. He finds himself in the crowds along Jesus’ pathway to Golgotha and is enlisted to help carry his cross.<b> </b>He does not know Jesus but lends his strength to carrying the heavy weight of the wood.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Ajay lives in UP, in an area prone to severe droughts. There is very little paid work available and it is often a struggle to support his family. At one point he was forced to take a loan just to buy roti for them to survive. Despite his own hardship, Ajay still reaches out in generosity and kindness to others in need.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">“Another family we know, I gave some money to them. They didn’t have enough and they had big problems. I had to help them and they bought roti.” </span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Do we look for opportunities to help others, or do we try to keep out of the way, telling ourselves that it is not our responsibility?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus, you know what it means to depend on someone and to need their help. Walk with us. When my friends need help, teach me to work with them to lighten their load. Show me how to listen carefully so that I can offer what they need. We are your global family of many different colours, cultures and religions. Make us one family united in you. Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Hymn - 1 Stanaza</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><b style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The sixth Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Reader: “And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of our family, you did it to me.’” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Matthew 25:37-40</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: <b>because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Moved by Jesus’ pain, Veronica’s love overcomes her fear and she courageously steps forward to wipe the blood and sweat from Jesus’ face. She cannot change his fate, but recognising his dignity, she faithfully performs her small act of compassion. As the guards force Jesus onward, the image of his face is left on Veronica’s veil. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">We too are called to compassion. It is easy to be discouraged by the scale of poverty and need in the world, but each day offers us the opportunity to perform small acts of kindness and generosity. In so doing, we recognise the face of Jesus in our neighbour and he imprints his face on each of us.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Do we look for opportunities to do small acts of generosity and love? Are we attentive to the face of Christ in our brothers and sisters?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus, you know how it feels to be hurt and to cry out in pain and fear. Walk with us. Show us how to walk together with others. Show us how to love the people around us and to be there for those who need us. Amen</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn – 1 Stanza</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The seventh Station: Jesus falls for the second time</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Reader: “Come to me all you who labour, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Matthew 11:28-30</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: <b>because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Under the weight of the cross, Jesus is once again brought to his knees. After this second fall, Jesus’ struggle to rise up again is much harder. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">We think of the people of certain areas, many of whom have faced poor harvest after poor harvest due to droughts. They show great resilience and strength in continuing to work for a better future. We think of those who are struggling to hold onto hope due to the daily struggle against natural disasters and lack of opportunity.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">How can we live in solidarity with those who feel despondent or invisible?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus, you stumbled and fell. You lost strength and became tired. And yet you carried on. Walk with us. When we find it hard to keep going, give us the strength we need to finish our work as well as we can and show love to others. Amen</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn – 1 Stanza</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The eighth Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Reader: “A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Luke 23:27-28</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: <b>because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">As Jesus draws closer to the place of execution, he encounters the women of Jerusalem weeping for him. There is a shared empathy here as Jesus recognises their difficulties and tells them not to weep for him, but for themselves and their children.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">As we recall this exchange, we remember the many societies where women face huge challenges. Sujata lives in MP, where drought and lack of safe water are daily problems. She reflects; “The role of the woman in the home is very difficult. So difficult. All the activities in the home belong to me. I have to get food for my children and my husband – even preparing their clothes, washing. To get water, we travel long distances. When we gather, there are many people at the water point and you wait your turn, many times about five hours.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">What causes us to weep? Which situations in the world make us cry out to God?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus, you cared and spoke out, even on the road to your death. You knew and felt the struggles of others. Walk with us. As we hear the stories of our sisters and brothers who live in poverty, give us the courage to raise our voices, so that together we can work for change. Amen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn – 1 Stanza</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The ninth Station: Jesus falls the third time</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Reader: “For nothing will be impossible with God.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Luke 1:37<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: <b>because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus falls a third and final time. He must surely now be completely drained, and yet he finds the strength to rise and continue on his path to Calvary.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Sometimes we may feel overwhelmed by difficulties: illness, caring responsibilities, loneliness, anxiety, our own moments of weakness and failure. Sometimes the challenges of facing our global family – climate change, poverty and injustice – can feel overwhelming, impossible to address. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Love gave Jesus the strength to stand again and continue onwards. We pray for ourselves, and for all those who need strength and courage, that in the face of so many struggles, Christ’s love will urge us on.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus, you felt the darkness around you, the crowds surrounded you. You fell once more. Walk with us. When we lose hope, when everything is just too difficult, show us how to reach out to each other and hold hands, so that none of us have to do everything on our own. Help us to know that you walk alongside us even when we feel most alone. Amen<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn – 1 Stanza</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The tenth Station: Jesus is stripped of his garments</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Reader: “The soldiers took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic…” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">John 19:23-24</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: <b>because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus has nothing left. Arriving at his place of execution, even his clothes are taken from him. Stripped of his dignity he holds nothing back. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The refugees of our world have been stripped of their homes, their families, their communities, and their hopes for the future. Often, they face the added difficulty of being met with hostility and mistrust when they try to make a new home in a safer place.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Do we recognise the dignity of all human life? What am I being called to do for those who have been stripped of so much?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus, you sacrificed everything and endured mockery for our sake. Walk with us. When we value possessions more than people, or look down on someone who has less, show us your face in theirs. Amen</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn – 1 Stanza<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><b style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Reader: “When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Luke 23:33-34</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: <b>because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The soldiers drive the nails into Jesus’ hands and feet. Yet even in this moment he shows his compassion, praying for those who crucify him.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus continues to be crucified in all who suffer in our world. He is present in those whom society marginalises: people who are hungry or homeless, refugees or asylum seekers. He is crucified in the exploitation of our common home, the earth and its resources. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">As followers of Jesus, may we show his compassion and so be a source of hope for all our brothers and sisters, our global family, and our common home, the earth.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus, you cry out in pain. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Walk with us. Challenge us – when we hold people back, when we don’t treat them with respect. Help us to remember that everyone is equal, that we are all made in the image of God.<b> </b>Amen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn – 1 Stanza</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The twelfth Station: Jesus dies on the cross</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Reader: “Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ <b><sup> </sup></b>A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. <b><sup> </sup></b>When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">John 19:28-30<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: <b>because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Just before he dies on the cross Jesus cries out that he is thirsty. We can hear him continue to say these words to us, in our brothers and sisters who each day must strive for enough water simply to survive.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">These last words of Jesus challenge us. They call us to see his face in all those who thirst and reach out to them in love. They invite us to make the connections between how we live as individuals and nations and the devastating effect climate change is having on our vulnerable world.</span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus, you know what it’s like to feel alone, lost and afraid, betrayed and abandoned. Walk with us. and show us how to walk with others, who live in fear and face death through hunger, thirst and conflict. Show us how to pray for sisters and brothers that we have never met, but who are always loved by you. Amen</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn – 1 Stanza</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The thirteenth Station: Jesus’ body is taken down from the cross</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Reader: “Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed the body.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">John 19:38</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: <b>because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The bodies of those crucified were usually left on the cross to decay. Joseph of Arimathea has been a secret follower of Jesus, but now he finds the courage to go to Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body. He acts despite the fear he must have felt, in order to ensure the lifeless body of his teacher is, at least now, treated with dignity and gentleness. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">We pray that at times of difficulty we too will choose to do what is right. That we will commit to compassion and uphold dignity.</span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus, you knew what it meant to have friends, who risked their own lives to take your body from the cross. Walk with us. Show us how to be friends to those close to us and to those far away. Teach us to see you in everybody, to be kind, loving and strong. To be like you. Amen</span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn – 1 Stanza</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The fourteenth Station: Jesus’ body is laid in the tomb</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Reader: “Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where the body was laid.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mark 15: 45-47</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: <b>because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">There has been little time to prepare Jesus’ body for burial. Joseph has to move quickly to place it in the tomb before the Sabbath begins. He wraps it a simple linen cloth and rolls the stone over the door. The disciples have scattered in fear and grief and it seems like the end.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">We too must act quickly if we are to protect our common home, the earth, for future generations. We pray that we may have a sense of urgency and hope, even in dark times, as we seek to make a difference.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus, as you were sealed in the tomb those who loved you felt sad and alone. They did not know what to do. Walk with us. Guide us in difficult times, so that we can share you with our sisters and brothers when they feel sad and alone. Amen</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn – 1 Stanza</span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The fifteenth Station: Jesus rises from the dead</span></b><b style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Reader: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Luke 24:5</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">All: <b>because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus is alive. He has conquered death and is here among us. His resurrection opens the way of hope and assures us that injustice, pain and death can be overcome.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">As we reflect on Jesus’ final journey, we pray for the strength to live each day as people transformed through God’s love. May we radiate God’s love to all of creation. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Prayer:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Jesus, you share your life, your light and your peace with us all. Walk with us. Show us how to live out your love so that our sisters and brothers, here and around the world, may know the joy of new life. May we all be changed by living in your light. Amen</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Hymn</span></b></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-17605818585779663912024-02-27T07:48:00.001+05:302024-02-27T07:48:09.961+05:30 Lent 2nd Week: Feb 26- March 2: <p> <b>Lent 2<sup>nd</sup> Week: Feb 26- March 2: </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Feb 26 Monday:<span></span></b></p><a name='more'></a><b> </b><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>The context: </b>In today’s passage, taken from the
Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs his followers to be merciful,
non-judgmental, forgiving, and generous. He condemns our careless, malicious,
and rash judgments about another person’s behavior, feelings, motives, or actions.
St. Augustine explains it thus: “What do you want from the Lord? Mercy? Give
it, and it shall be given to you. What do you want from the Lord? Forgiveness?
“<i>Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Reasons why we should not judge others:</b> <b>1)</b> No
one except God is good enough to judge others because only God sees the whole
truth, and only He can read the human heart; hence, only He has the right and
authority to judge us.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>2)</b> We are often prejudiced in our judgment of
others, and total fairness cannot be expected from us.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>3)</b> We do not see all the facts, the
circumstances, and the power of the temptation which have led a person to do
something evil.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>4)</b> We have no right to judge others because we
have the same fault as, and often to a more serious degree than, the one we are
judging (remember Jesus’ funny example of a man with a wooden beam in his eye
trying to remove the dust particle from another’s eye?) St. Philip Neri
commented, watching the misbehavior of a drunkard: “There goes Philip but for
the grace of God.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Life message: </b>1) We should leave all judgment to
God and practice mercy and forgiveness, remembering the advice of saints: “When
you point one finger of accusation at another, three of your fingers point at
you.” Let us pay attention to the Jewish rabbi’s advice: “He who judges others
favorably will be judged favorably by God. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Fr. Tony (</i><a href="https://frtonyshomilies.com/">https://frtonyshomilies.com/</a><i>)
</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Feb 27 Tuesday: [Saint Gregory of Narek, Abbot and
Doctor of the Church] </b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>The context:</b> For Jesus, it was the third day of
the very first “Holy Week” in Jerusalem, a day of controversy and personal
attacks. Jesus, under fire from the religious leaders of Israel who reject Him
as the Messiah, faced them in the public forum and, in agape love, turned the
Light of Truth on their behavior. He showed them, in detail, where and how they
were failing themselves and their vocation and so the Lord God. Then He laid
out the consequences of their mistaken choices, pronouncing eight woes against
them, and clearly identifying their behavior as hypocritical because they were
more concerned about self-promotion than serving others. These home truths,
spoken publicly, were intended to humble them, in order to cause them to see
themselves as God saw them, and, horrified, to reform. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Three sins of the Scribes and Pharisees: Jesus raises three
objections to the Pharisees: (1) “They do not practice what they teach” (v. 3).
They lack integrity of life and fail to practice what they preach, namely,
justice, mercy and charity. (2) They overburden the ordinary people (v. 4). The
scribes and the Pharisees, in their excessive zeal for God’s laws, split the
613 laws of the Torah into thousands of rules and regulations affecting every
movement of the people, thus making God’s laws a heavy burden. (3) “They do all
their deeds to be seen by others” (v. 5). Jesus accuses the scribes and
Pharisees of seeking the glory that rightly belongs to God. They express their
love of honor in several ways, thereby converting Judaism into a religion of
ostentation: (a) “They make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long”
(v. 5). b) They “love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats
in the synagogues” (v 6). (c) They “love to be greeted with respect in the
marketplaces and to have people call them rabbi” (v 7).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Life messages:</b> 1) We need servant-leaders in a
serving community: The Church is a servant-community in which those who hunger,
and thirst are to be satisfied; the ignorant are to be taught; the homeless are
to receive shelter; the sick are to be cared for; the distressed are to be
consoled; and the oppressed are to be set free. Hence, leaders should have a
spirit of humble service in thought, word and deed. 2) We need to live the
Faith we profess. Our Faith tells us that we are all brothers and sisters,
children of the same Heavenly Father. Hence, we should always pray for each
other. Instead of judging the poor, we should be serving them both directly and
through our efforts on behalf of economic justice. Instead of criticizing those
of other races, we should be serving them both directly and through our efforts
on behalf of racial justice. Instead of ignoring the homeless, we should be
serving them through efforts to supply them with adequate housing. 3) We need
to accept the responsibilities which go with our titles. Titles and polite
forms exist to remind each of us of our specific responsibilities in society.
Hence, let us use everything we are and have in a way that brings glory to God,
by serving His children. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Fr. Tony(</i><a href="https://frtonyshomilies.com/"><i>https://frtonyshomilies.com/</i></a><i>)
</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Feb 28 Wednesday: </b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>The context:</b> We celebrate the feast of St. James
the apostle on July 25th. James was the son of Zebedee the fisherman and
Salome, Mary’s sister (Mt 27:56). John the apostle was his brother. The two,
with Simon Peter, made up Jesus’ inner circle of disciples who were given the
privilege of witnessing the <i>Transfiguration,</i> the raising to
life of the daughter of Jairus, and Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane. Jesus called
James and John “<i>sons of thunder,”</i> probably because of their
volatile character and high ambitions. Later, James was known as James<i> the
Greater</i> to distinguish him from <i>James the Less</i> who
wrote the epistles and led the Jerusalem Church community. James the Greater
was probably the first apostle martyred by Herod in an attempt to please the
Jews (Acts 12:1-3)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Gospel episode: The incident in today’s Gospel describes
how ambitious, far-sighted, and power-crazy James and his brother John were in
their youth. They sought the help of their mother to recommend them to Jesus in
their desire to be chosen as the two cabinet ministers closest to Jesus when he
established his Messianic kingdom after ousting the Romans. But they picked the
most inappropriate moment to make this request because Jesus had just predicted
his passion and death for a third time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jesus’ response: Jesus told them that it was the spirit of
service which would make his disciples great because he himself had come, ”not<i> to
be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Life message: 1:</b> The leaders in Jesus’ Church
must be the servants of all as Mary was <i>(“Behold the handmaid of the
Lord</i>”). That is why the Pope is called “<i>the servant of the servants of
God</i>.” The priesthood of the ordained priests is called the <i>ministerial
priesthood</i> because the duty of ordained priests is to give spiritual
services to the people of God who share the royal priesthood of Christ by their
Baptism (Rv 1:6; cf. 1 Pt 2:5,9. Church leaders must be ready to serve others
sacrificially with <i>agape</i> love in all humility. In other words,
leaders among Christians must be humble, loving, selfless and “the servants of
all.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Fr. Tony(</i><a href="https://frtonyshomilies.com/">https://frtonyshomilies.com/</a><i>)</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Feb 29 Thursday: </b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>The context:</b> The main theme of today’s Gospel is
the warning that the selfish and extravagant use of God’s blessings, including
personal wealth, without sharing them with the poor and the needy, is a serious
sin deserving eternal punishment. The rich man’s punishment was not for having
riches, but for neglecting the Scriptures and what they taught.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Objectives: Jesus told this parable to condemn the Pharisees
for their avarice (love of and greed for money), and for their lack of mercy
and compassion for the poor. He also used the parable to correct the Jewish
misconception that material prosperity in this life is God’s reward for moral
uprightness, while poverty and illness are God’s punishments for sin. The
parable further reminds us that we will be judged (private judgment) and
rewarded or punished immediately after our death. The parable finally offers an
invitation to each one of us to be conscious of the sufferings of those around
us and to share our blessings generously with the needy.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One-act play: The parable is presented as a one-act play
with two scenes. The opening scene presents the luxurious life of the rich man
in costly dress enjoying five-course meals every day, in contrast to the
miserable life of the poor, sick beggar living on the street by the rich man’s
front door, competing with stray dogs for the crumbs discarded from the rich
man’s dining table. As the curtain goes up on the second scene, the situation
is reversed. The beggar, Lazarus, is enjoying Heavenly bliss as a reward for
his fidelity to God in his poverty and suffering, while the rich man has been
thrown down into the excruciating suffering of Hell as punishment for ignoring
God in his prosperity and for not doing his duty of showing mercy to the poor
by sharing with the beggar at his door the mercies and blessings God had given
him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Life messages</b>: 1) We are all rich enough to share our
blessings with others. God has blessed each one of us with wealth or health or
special talents or social power or political influence or a combination of many
other blessings. The parable invites us to share with others, in various ways,
what we have been given –instead of using everything exclusively for selfish
gains. 2) We need to remember that sharing is the criterion of Last Judgment:
Matthew (25:31ff), tells us that all six questions Jesus will ask each of us when
he comes in glory as our judge are based on how we have shared our blessings
from him (food, drink, home, mercy and compassion), with others. <i>Fr.
Tony (</i><a href="https://frtonyshomilies.com/">https://frtonyshomilies.com/</a><i>)
</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>March 1 Friday: </b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>The context</b>: Told by Jesus during Passover week, the
parable of the wicked tenants is actually an allegorical “<i>parable of
judgment,</i>” accusing the Pharisees of not producing the fruits of repentance
and renewal of life which God expected from them as leaders of His Chosen
people. <i>“I expected my vineyard to yield good grapes. Why did it yield
sour ones instead?”</i> The parable also explains the necessity of our
bearing fruit in the Christian life and the punishment for sterility and
wickedness. The meaning of the parable: As an allegory, this parable has
different meanings. Like the Jews, the second- and third-generation Christians
also understood God as the landlord. The servants sent by the land-owner
represented the prophets of the Old Testament. They were to see that God’s
chosen people produced fruits of justice, love, and righteousness. But the
people refused to listen to the prophets and produced the bitter grapes of
injustice, immorality, and idolatry. Further, they persecuted and killed the
prophets. As a final attempt, the landowner sent his son, (Jesus) to collect
the rent (fruits of righteousness) from the wicked tenants (the Jews). But they
crucified him and continued to lead lives of disloyalty and disobedience.
Hence, God’s vineyard was taken away from His Chosen People and was given to a
people (Gentile Christians and Jewish converts), who were expected to produce
the fruit of righteousness. The parable warns us that if we refuse to reform
our lives and become productive, we also could be replaced as the old Israel
was replaced by us, the “new” Israel.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Life messages:</b> 1) We need to be good
fruit-producers in the vineyard of the Church. Jesus has given the Church
everything necessary to make Christians fruit-bearing. Having already received
the Gift of Life in Baptism, we find we also have the following: a) the Bible
to know the will of God; b) the priesthood to lead the people in God’s ways; c)
the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the remission of sins; d) the Holy
Eucharist as our spiritual food; e) the Sacrament of Confirmation for a dynamic
life of Faith; f) the Sacrament of Matrimony for the sharing of love in
families, the fundamental unit of the Church; g) the Sacrament of Anointing of
the Sick to heal us in spirit, and in body if God so wills, and to prepare us
for bodily death; and h), the Sacrament of Holy Orders by which the priesthood
of Jesus is continued on earth and will be continued until the end of the
world. We are expected make use of these gifts and to produce fruits for
God. <b>2) </b>We need to be good fruit-producers in the vineyard of
our family. By our mutual sharing of blessings, by our sacrificing of our time
and talents for the welfare of all the members, by our humbly and lovingly
serving others in the family, by our recognizing and encouraging each other,
and by our honoring and gracefully obeying our parents, and by teaching and
caring for our children, we become producers of “good fruit” or good
vine-branches in our families. <i>Fr. Tony (</i><a href="https://frtonyshomilies.com/">https://frtonyshomilies.com/</a><i>) </i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>March 2 Saturday: </b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>The context:</b> Chapter 15 of Luke’s Gospel has
been called “the Gospel within the Gospel,” because it is the distilled essence
of the Good News about our Heavenly Father. The whole chapter is essentially
one complete parable, the “Parable of the Lost and Found,” with three
illustrations: the story of the lost sheep, the story of the lost coin and the
story of the lost son. These parables remind us that we have a God Who welcomes
sinners and forgives their sins when they return to Him with genuine
contrition, resolved to reform. In addition, He is always in search of His lost
and straying children.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The lost son: This parable speaks about the deep effects of
sin, the self-destruction of hatred, and the infinite mercy of God. This is a
story of love, of conflict, of deep heartbreak, and of ecstatic joy. The scene
opens on a well-to-do Jewish family. With the immaturity of a spoiled brat, the
younger son impudently extracts his share of the coming inheritance from his
gracious father. He sells out his share and then squanders the money in a
faraway city. Then, bankrupt and starving, the prodigal son ends up feeding
pigs, a task that was forbidden to a Jew (Lv 11:7; 14:8). Finally, comng “to
his senses” (v. 17), he decides to return to his father, asking for forgiveness
and begging to be given the status of a hired servant. When he sees his son
returning, however, the father runs to him, embraces him, kisses him and gives
him a new robe, a ring and new shoes. The father also throws a great feast for
him, to celebrate his return, killing the “<i>fatted calf’”</i> reserved
for the Passover feast, so that all may rejoice with him at the wanderer’s
return.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Life messages:</b> 1) We need to meet the challenge
for self-evaluation: If we have been in sin, God’s mercy is seeking us,
searching for our souls with a love that is wild beyond all imagining. God is
no less ready to receive and welcome us back than Jesus was to welcome sinners
in his time. 2) We should also ask God for the courage to extend this
forgiveness to others who have offended us. 3) Let us confess our sins and
regain peace and God’s friendship. The first condition for experiencing the joy
and relief of having our sins forgiven is to see them as they are and give them
up. We have to be humble enough to recognize that we need God’s forgiveness to
be whole. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Fr. Tony(</i><a href="https://frtonyshomilies.com/"><i>https://frtonyshomilies.com/</i></a><i>)
</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-73865326036447158942024-02-20T20:11:00.002+05:302024-02-20T20:11:07.271+05:30 Lent 1st Week: Feb 19-24: <p> <b>Lent 1<sup>st</sup> Week: Feb 19-24: </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Feb 19 Monday: Mt 25:31-46:</b><i> “<span></span></i></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>The context:</b> Today’s Gospel describes the Last
Judgment and its criterion using as an image the Palestinian shepherds’
practice of the nightly separation of the over-active, less docile goats from
the docile sheep. Jesus promises that he will come in all his glory as a Judge
(Christ’s Second Coming), to reward the good people and punish the bad people.
This will be the final, and the public, separation of the good people from the
evildoers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>The lessons:</b> The parable teaches us that the
main criterion of the Last Judgment will be the works of Christian charity,
kindness, and mercy we have done, or not done, for others, in whom we have
actually served, or not served, Christ, knowingly or unknowingly. The parable
tells us that Christ, the Judge, is going to ask us six questions, and all of
them are based on how we have cooperated, or failed to cooperate, with God’s
grace to do acts of charity, kindness, and mercy for others because Jesus
actually dwells in them. The first set of questions: “I was hungry, thirsty,
homeless. Did you give me food, drink, accommodation?” The second set of
questions: ”I was naked, sick, imprisoned. Did you clothe me? Did you help me
by visiting me in my illness or in prison?” If the answers are yes, we will be
eternally rewarded because we have cooperated with God’s grace by practicing
charity. But if the answers are negative, we will be eternally punished. Mother
Teresa of Calcutta said, “If sometimes our poor people have had to die of
starvation, it is not because God didn’t care for them, but because you and I
didn’t give, were not instruments of love in the hands of God, to give them
that bread, to give them that clothing; because we did not recognize Christ,
when once more Christ came in distressing disguise.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Life messages</b>: 1) The Holy Bible, the Seven
Sacraments, the Ten Commandments, and the precepts of the Church are all meant
to help us to practice corporal and spiritual works of charity (mercy), in this
life so that we may become able to receive God’s love, our eternal reward of
Heavenly bliss. 2) Sins of omission (in which, we fail to recognize those in
need as our brothers and sisters in Christ, and, so, fail to serve them in
love), are very serious matters leading us toward eternal punishment. (<a href="https://frtonyshomilies.com/">https://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>) <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Feb 20 Tuesday: Mt 6:7-15:</b><i>7 </i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>The context: </b>In today’s passage from the Sermon
on the Mount, Jesus instructs the crowd that they should not pray like the
Gentiles, repeating empty phrases. He means that true prayer is not so much a
matter of the number of words as of the frequency and the love with which one
turns towards God, raising one’s mind and heart to God. So, Jesus teaches
them a model prayer. Jesus’ prayer, “Our Father,” consists of two parts.
In the first part, we praise and worship God, addressing Him as our loving,
caring, and providing Heavenly Father and asking Him to help us to do His Holy
Will in our lives as obediently and lovingly as His Will is done in Heaven and,
thus, to remain remaining in His kingdom. In the second part, we present our
petitions before the Triune God. First,we ask God for our present needs, food
clothing and shelter, (“<i>give us this day our daily bread”), </i>then
for our past needs, especially for forgiveness of our sins (“<i>forgive us our
trespasses</i> <i>as we forgive those who trespass against</i> <i>us”),</i> and
finally, for our future needs, protection against the tempter and his
temptations (“<i>and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”)</i>.
In this part, we also bring the Trinitarian God into our lives. We bring in: 1)
God the Father, the Provider, by asking for daily bread; 2) God the Son, our
Savior, by asking forgiveness for our sins; and 3) God the Holy Spirit, the
Paraclete, Who is our Guide, Advocate, Comforter, and Illuminator, by asking
for protection and deliverance from evil. Special stress on the spirit of
forgiveness:We are told to ask for forgiveness from others for our offenses
against them, and to offer unconditional forgiveness to others for their
offenses against us as a condition for receiving God’s forgiveness. Jesus
clarifies, <i>“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your
Heavenly Father will also forgive you. “But if you do not forgive men their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” </i>(<i>Mt</i> 6:14-15).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, now and
forever. Amen.”The manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew do not contain this
phrase, nor do any of the Catholic translations. Martin Luther added this
doxology to the Our Father in his translation of Matthew’s Gospel, and
the <i>King James</i> editions of the Biblekeep it. The doxology is
actually taken from the Divine Liturgy or Catholic Mass. Known as the final
doxology, it takes up the first three petitions to our Father. By the final
“Amen,” which means, “So be it”, we ratify what is contained in the prayer that
God has taught us. Fr. Tony <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Feb 21 Wednesday: <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>[<u>Saint Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church</u>] :</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>The context:</b> Since there had been many false
prophets and false messiahs in the past, and since their pride and prejudice
did not permit them to see the Messiah in a
carpenter-from-Nazareth-turned-wandering-preacher, the Jewish religious leaders
demanded that Jesus should show some “Messianic” signs and miracles taken from
their list. They would not accept that Jesus’ numerous miraculous healings were
the Messianic signs foretold by the prophets.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jesus’ negative response: Calling them an apostate
generation who refused to believe in their own prophets and denied the hand of
God in the miracles he worked, Jesus warned these religious leaders that they
would be condemned on the Day of Judgment by the people of Nineveh and by the
Queen of Sheba from the South. (<b>Sheba,</b> or <b>Saba</b>,
was a southern kingdom centred on <b>Yemen </b>or <b>Ethiopia,</b> and
possibly including both. The distance from Yemen to Jerusalem is 2084 miles).
This is one of the instances in which Jesus held up Gentiles as models of Faith
and goodness (other examples: the Canaanite woman in Mt 15, the centurion in Lk
7, the Good Samaritan story in Luke 10; etc.). The pagan Ninevites heard the
voice of the Lord God in the prophet Jonah, repented, and were spared. The
Queen of Sheba recognized God’s Wisdom in King Solomon, and she traveled to
Israel to receive more of it. Nevertheless, Jesus gave the religious leaders
challenging him, “the sign of Jonah.” It was the undeniable Messianic sign of
his own Resurrection from the tomb on the third day after his death, just as
Jonah had spent three days in the belly of the giant fish before finally going
to Nineveh to accomplish the mission God had originally given him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Life messages:</b> We need to recognize God-given
signs in our lives: 1) Each Sacrament in the Church is an external sign
representing God’s grace. 2) On the altar we re-present Christ’s sacrifice on
the cross using liturgical signs and prayers. 3) Everyone living with us or
working with us is a sign of God’s living presence in our midst, inviting us to
love and honor him or her as God’s child and the living Temple of the Holy
Spirit. 4) All world events and all the events in our lives are signs of God’s
care and protection for us, His children. 5) The Holy Bible is a sign of God
communicating His message to us every day. So, let us learn from these
God-given signs instead of looking for signs in weeping Madonnas, bleeding
crucifixes, and daily messages of visionaries. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Fr. Tony (</i><a href="https://frtonyshomilies.com/">https://frtonyshomilies.com/</a><i>)</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Feb 22 Thursday: (The Chair of Saint Peter the
Apostle</b>)<b>:</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By celebrating the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter we honor
the mission of teacher and pastor conferred by Christ on Peter and continued in
an unbroken line down to the present Pope. We also <a href="https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2019-02-22">celebrate</a> today,
the unity of the Church, founded upon the Apostle Peter, and we use this
occasion to renew our submission to the Magisterium or teaching authority of
the Roman Pontiff, extended both to truths which are solemnly defined <i>ex
cathedra</i>, and to all the acts of the ordinary Magisterium. Like the
committee chair, this chair refers to the occupant, not the furniture. Its
first occupant stumbled a bit, denying Jesus three times and hesitating to
welcome Gentiles into the new Church. Some of its later occupants have also
stumbled a bit, sometimes even failed scandalously. So, the feast reminds us
that the Vicar of Christ needs the prayer support of all the Catholics. This
feast also gives us the occasion to give thanks to God for the <a href="https://hobart.catholic.org.au/media/news/feast-chair-st-peter-february-22">mission</a> He
entrusted to the Apostle Peter and his successors.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is also is the feast of a relic long reputed to be St.
Peter’s actual throne or the <i>Cathedra Petri</i>. On the feast, 110
candles illuminate the reliquary that contains it. This relic has been
venerated by the faithful since the fourth century. Previously reserved in the
Baptismal Chapel of what is referred to as the Old St Peter’s Basilica, built
by the Emperor Constantine around 333AD, today it can be found encased in a
reliquary — the bronze throne built by Bernini and enshrined in the apse of St
Peter’s Basilica. The throne is supported by the statues of four Doctors of the
Church: two from the West, St Augustine and St Ambrose, and two from the East:
St John Chrysostom and St Athanasius, beneath the well-known stained-glass
image depicting the Holy Spirit as a dove. In medieval liturgical custom the
Pope was enthroned on the relic for part of his coronation ceremony and used it
as his liturgical throne in the Basilica on the feast. Ever since, Bernini’s
art work covering the Chair, is considered as the reliquary, with the wooden
Chair in side it as the relic. The last time the relic was exposed was in 1867
by Blessed Pius IX on the eighteenth centenary of the martyrdom of Ss. Peter
and Paul. Kings of old sat on thrones and ruled. Peter’s chair is a symbol of
his authority from Jesus to rule the Church. This feast reminds us that Jesus
bestowed on Peter a special place among the Apostles. He was one of the three
who were with Christ on special occasions, such as the raising of the daughter
of Jairus, the Transfiguration of Christ, and the Agony in the Garden of
Gethsemane. He was the only Apostle to whom Christ appeared individually on the
first day of the week, the day of the Resurrection. Peter, in turn, often spoke
on behalf of the Apostles. When Jesus asked the Apostles, “<i>Who do men say
that the Son of Man is?”</i> Simon replied, <i>“Thou art Christ, the
Son of the Living God.” (Mt 16:16)</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And Jesus said, “<i>Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona: because
flesh and blood have not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
And I say to you: That you are Peter [Cephas, a rock], and upon this rock
[Cephas] I will build my Church [ekklesia], and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it</i>. <i>I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of the
Kingdom of Heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven </i>(Mt 17-19) In
saying this, Jesus made St. Peter the head of the entire community of believers
and placed the spiritual guidance of the faithful in St. Peter’s hands. A
symbol of this authority is the “cathedra,” a bishop’s throne or chair in a
cathedral. Peter delivered the first public sermon after the Pentecost and won
a large number of converts. He also performed many miracles and defended the
freedom of the Apostles to preach the Gospels. He preached in Jerusalem,
Judaea, and as far north as Syria. He was arrested in Jerusalem under Herod
Agrippa I, but miraculously escaped execution. He left Jerusalem and eventually
went to Rome, where he preached during the last portion of his life. He was
crucified there, head downwards, as he had desired to suffer, saying that he
did not deserve to die as Christ had died. The date of St. Peter’s death is not
clear. Historians estimate he was executed between the years 64 and 68. His
remains now rest beneath the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Fr. Tony (</i><a href="https://frtonyshomilies.com/"><i>https://frtonyshomilies.com/</i></a><i>)
</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Feb 23 Friday: [<u>Saint Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr</u>] :</b> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>The context</b>: For the Scribes and the Pharisees, the
external fulfillment of the precepts of the Mosaic Law was the guarantee of a
person’s salvation. In other words, a man saved himself through the external
works of the Law. Jesus rejects this view in today’s Gospel passage, taken from
the Sermon on the Mount. For Jesus, justification or <b>sanctification is
a grace</b>, a free, strengthening gift from God. Man’s role is one of <b>cooperating
with</b> that grace by being faithful to it, and using it as God means it
to be used. Jesus then outlines new moral standards for his disciples.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Control of anger:</b> Anger is the rawest,
strongest, and most destructive of human emotions. Describing three stages of
anger and the punishment each deserves, Jesus advises his disciples not to get
angry in such a way that they sin.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">1) Anger in the heart (“brief stage of insanity” Cicero)<b>: </b>It
has two forms: a) a sudden, blazing flame of anger which dies suddenly. b) a
surge of anger which boils inside and lingers, so that the heart seeks revenge
and refuses to forgive or forget. Jesus prescribes trial and punishment by the
Village Court of Elders as its punishment.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">2) Anger in speech: The use of words which are insulting (“<i>raka</i>“=“fool”),
or damaging to the reputation (“<i>moros</i>” = a person of loose morals).
Jesus says that such an angry (verbally abusive) person should be sent to the
Sanhedrin, the Jewish religion’s Supreme Court, for trial and punishment.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">3) Anger in action: Sudden outbursts of uncontrollable
anger, which often result in physical assault or abuse. Jesus says that such
anger deserves hellfire as its punishment.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In short, Jesus teaches that long-lasting anger is bad,
contemptuous speech or destroying someone’s reputation is worse and harming
another physically is the worst.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Life messages: </b>1)Let us try to forgive, forget,
and move toward reconciliation as soon as possible. St. Paul advises us “<i>Be
angry</i> (righteous anger), <i>but do not sin”</i> (Eph 4:26).
2) When we keep anger in our mind, we are inviting physical illnesses like
hypertension, and mental illnesses like depression. 3) Let us relax and keep
silence when we are angry and pray for God’s strength for self-control , and
for the grace, first to desire to forgive, and then actually to forgive, those
who have injured us Fr. Tony <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Feb 24 Saturday: </b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>The context</b>: Today’s Gospel passage is perhaps the
central and the most famous section of the Sermon on the Mount. It gives us the
Christian ethic of personal relationship: love one’s enemies, as well as one’s
neighbors, and show one’s love for one’s enemies by forgiving them and praying
for them. Above all, it tells us that what makes Christians different is the
grace with which we interact with others, treating them with loving kindness
and mercy, especially when those others seemingly don’t deserve it. The Old Law
never said to hate enemies, but that was the way some Jews understood it. Jesus
commands us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us <b>in
order to</b> <b>demonstrate</b> that we are children of a merciful
Heavenly Father. From the cross, Jesus, living what he preached, did as he
commands us to do, praying for Mercy to God His Father for all of those who
were responsible for the Crucifixion – which includes all fallen humankind, and
so ourselves — saying, ‘<i>Father forgive them; they know not what they do.’”
(Lk 23:34).</i> A Christian has no personal enemies. If we only love our
friends, we are no different from pagans or atheists.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We need to love our neighbors and our enemies, too: The
Greek word used for loving enemies is not <i>storge </i>(= affection
or natural love towards family members), or <i>philia (= friendship, </i>love
of close friends), or <i>eros (= romance) (</i>passionate love between a
young man and woman<i>), </i>but <i>agápe (= unconditional
love) </i>which is the invincible benevolence, or good will, for another’s
highest good. Since<i> agápe,</i> or unconditional love, is <b>not</b> natural,
so practicing it is possible only with God’s help. <i>Agápe</i> love
is a choice more than a feeling. We choose to love our enemies <b>because</b> Jesus
loved them enough to die for them, and they, too, are the children of our God.
We have in the Acts of the Apostles the example of St. Stephen, the first
Christian martyr, who, like Jesus on the cross, prayed for those who were
putting him to death.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Life Messages: </b>We are to try to be perfect, to
be like God: 1) We become perfect when we fulfill God’s purpose in creating us:
with His help, to become God-like. 2) We become perfect when, with His ongoing
help, we try to love as God loves, to forgive as God forgives, and to show
unconditional good will and universal benevolence as God does. Perfection means
we are striving to live each and every moment doing God’s will, using or
cooperating with the grace of God. Fr. Tony <i>(<a href="https://frtonyshomilies.com/">https://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>)</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-11028808560377396682024-02-20T09:43:00.005+05:302024-02-20T09:43:37.165+05:30Lent 3rd Sunday B: Cleansing of the Temple<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="588" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d6I1sZMFVCk" title="Lent 3rd Sunday B: Cleansing of the Temple" width="778"></iframe> <iframe frameborder="0" height="588" scrolling="no" src="https://onedrive.live.com/embed?resid=93789A8146D4FC9D%2196651&authkey=!ACwDIDfa8umedeQ&em=2" width="778"></iframe></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><strong>THE WORD:</strong></p>The temple is the focus of today’s Gospel. Whereas the Synoptic Gospels place Jesus’ cleansing of the temple immediately after his Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem, John places the event early in his Gospel, following Jesus’ first sign at Cana. While the Synoptics recount only one climactic journey to Jerusalem, the Jesus of John’s Gospel makes several trips to the holy city.<span></span><div><br /></div><div>Pilgrims to the temple were expected to make a donation for the maintenance of the edifice. Because Roman currency was considered “unclean,” Jewish visitors had to change their money into Jewish currency before making their temple gift. Moneychangers, whose tables lined the outer courts of the temple, charged exorbitant fees for their service.</div><div>Visiting worshipers who wished to have a sacrifice offered on the temple altar would sometimes have to pay 15 to 20 times the market rate for animals purchased inside the temple. Vendors could count on the cooperation of the official temple “inspectors” who, as a matter of course, would reject animals brought in from outside the temple as “unclean” or “imperfect.”<br />Jesus’ angry toppling of the vendors’ booths and tables is a condemnation of the injustice and exploitation of the faithful in the name of God. So empty and meaningless has their worship become that God will establish a new “temple” in the resurrected body of the Christ.<br />Of course, the leaders and people do not appreciate the deeper meaning of Jesus’ words, nor did the people who witnessed his miracles understand the true nature of his Messianic mission. John’s closing observations in this reading point to the fact that the full meaning of many of Jesus’ words and acts were understood only later, in the light of his resurrection.<br /><br /><div class="style3--sectiona"><strong>HOMILY POINTS:</strong></div>In the temple precincts of our lives are “money changers” and connivers – fear, ambition, addictions, selfishness, prejudice – that distort the meaning of our lives and debase our relationships with God and with one another. <br />Lent is a time to invite the “angry” Jesus of today’s Gospel into our lives to drive out those things that make our lives less than what God created them to be. To raise one’s voice against injustice, to stand up before the powerful on behalf of the weak, to demand accountability of those who exploit and abuse others for their own gain is to imitate the “holy” anger of Christ.<br />Our late winter yearning for the newness, freshness, warmth and light of spring mirrors Jesus’ angry expulsion of the merchants from the temple. Christ comes to bring newness to humankind, to bring a springtime of hope to a people who have lived too long in a winter of alienation and despair. <br /><br /><div class="style3--title"><strong>Anger management</strong></div>Sara is angry. While riding her bicycle, her daughter was struck by a car. The young man behind the wheel had been drinking all afternoon. Her daughter survived — but Sara is livid that a guy who already had two convictions for drunk driving still had a driver’s license. So Sara went to work. She brought together other families, including families who had lost a loved one because of an impaired driver, and together they pressured local and state officials to enforce existing laws and enact new measures against irresponsible driving. Sara and company channeled their anger into creating a safer community for every family.<br />Frank is angry. He believes the town is spending money foolishly. His taxes have gone up and up and up. So he rallied folks just as angry and they elected Frank to the town council. Frank now votes no to every proposal, every hiring, every expenditure. It doesn’t matter what the issue is, Frank votes no. Frank has managed to grind everything to a halt. But ask Frank what he would like to accomplish or change, he merely glares. Frank is operating on anger — pure, cynical, destructive anger.<br /><br /><strong>Anger is a very powerful emotion that can get the better of us — or bring out the best in us. Jesus is uncharacteristically angry in today’s Gospel — but his anger compels him to act to restore the temple to what it was intended to be: a house of prayer for all people. Consider during these Lenten days what makes us angry — angry enough to change ourselves: our attitudes, our perspectives, our understandings, in order to restore and re-create our lives and world in the compassion and justice of God.</strong> <br />****<br /><h1 class="entry-title">The Snake and the Angry Swami: A Cautionary Tale</h1><div class="entry-content"><div class="floatdiv-left"><img alt="Rolling Thunder" scale="0" src="http://www.martialdevelopment.com/wordpress/wp-content/images/rolling-thunder.gif" /></div><em>The following short story was excerpted from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440574358?ie=UTF8&tag=martialdevelo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0440574358" rel="nofollow">Rolling Thunder: A Personal Exploration into the Secret Healing Powers of an American Indian Medicine Man</a>. In this section, Doug Boyd sits by the campfire with Rolling Thunder, sharing stories he heard from other spiritual teachers.</em><br /><span style="font-size: 14.4px;">On the train to Brindavan a Swami sits beside a common man who asks him if indeed he has attained self-mastery, as the name “Swami” implies.<br />“I have,” says the Swami.<br />“And have you mastered anger?”<br />“I have.”<br />“You mean you can control your anger?”<br />“I can.”<br />“And you do not feel anger?”<br />“I do not.”<br />“Is this the truth, Swami?”<br />“It is.”</span><br /><span style="font-size: 14.4px;">After a silence the man asks again, “Do you really feel that you have controlled your anger?”<br />“I have, as I told you,” the Swami answers.<br />“Then do you mean to say, you never feel anger, even–”<br />“You are going on and on–what do you want?” the Swami shouts.</span><span id="more-2206"></span><span style="font-size: 14.4px;"> “Are you a fool? When I have told you–”<br />“O, Swami, this is anger. You have not mas–”<br />“Ah, but I have,” the Swami interrupts. “Have you not heard about the abused snake? Let me tell you the story.”</span><br /><em>“On a path that went by a village in Bengal there lived a cobra who used to bite people on their way to worship at the temple there. As the incidents increased, everyone became fearful, and many refused to go to the temple. The Swami who was the master at the temple was aware of the problem and took it upon himself to put an end to it. Taking himself to where the snake dwelt, he used a mantra to call the snake to him and bring it into submission.”</em><br />Rolling Thunder, who had been staring into the fire as I talked, suddenly looked at me. I began to relate what the Swami said to the snake. Immediately Rolling Thunder interrupted: “What was the mantra?”<br />“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think the mantra itself was part of the story. At least I never heard it.”<br />“Go ahead.”<br /><em>“The Swami then said to the snake that it was wrong to bite the people who walked along the path to worship and made him promise sincerely that he would never do it again. Soon it happened that the snake was seen by a passer-by upon the path, and it made no move to bite. Then it became known that the snake had somehow been made passive, and people grew unafraid. It was not long before the village boys were dragging the poor snake along behind them as they ran laughing here and there. When the temple Swami passed that way again he called the snake to see if he had kept his promise–“</em><br />Again Rolling Thunder interrupted: “He didn’t say anything at all about what words the Swami used to called the snake? Just thought they might probably be familiar to me. Must be something like the words I would use.” Rolling Thunder did not wait for me to repeat what I had told him, but asked some question to pick the story up again.<br /><em>“The snake humbly and miserably approached the Swami, who exclaimed, ‘You are bleeding! Tell me how this has come to be.’ The snake was near tears and blurted out that he had been abused ever since he made his promise to the Swami. ‘I hold you not to bite,’ said the Swami, ‘but I did not tell you not to hiss!'”</em><br />That was supposed to be the end of the story. Rolling Thunder quietly looked into the fire. When he saw I was finished, he considered a moment and then he looked straight up and laughed. “That’s right!” he exclaimed. “That’s right!” His face became serious and he stared into the fire as though he had begun to consider again. Then I felt him thinking of the pinyon forest chaining (clear-cutting) issue and the other struggles in which he was involved. His “That’s right!” sounded to me like he was speaking for the snake. “Sure would be interested to hear that mantra,” he said. “You suppose Swami Rama himself would be familiar with that particular mantra?”<br />“If he does know, I’m sure I could find it out.” But I regretted my words as soon as I’d spoken them. Would Swami Rama tell me if he knew, and would it be permissible to ask? Even for Rolling Thunder’s sake? I wondered whether Rolling Thunder would ever tell me his mantra. I would never ask him. I turned to look at him. His eyes stared thoughtfully into the flames. I watched the shadows from the dancing fire hammer upon him as thought they were trying to deepen the lines in his face, and I could see he had nothing more to say.<br /> ******</div><strong><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Fr. Tony Kadavil</span></strong><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><p class="MsoNormal"><b>1:</b> <b>Righteous anger, good anger, healthy anger</b>: Abraham Lincoln was angry at slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. was angry at racial discrimination, Mahatma Gandhi was angry at the racial discrimination against the “untouchables” by the “high castes” in India … righteous anger. Nelson Mandela was angry at apartheid in South Africa. That was righteous anger. When we see a bully beating up on a young kid, when we see a thief stealing an old woman’s purse, when we see a group of girls being catty and mean to another girl at recess, when a husband beats up his wife — the list goes on and on. The Lord God has wired us in such a way that most healthy human beings are angry inside when we see evil and injustice being done to someone. “Anyone can be angry. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, with the right purpose … that is not easy.” (Aristotle). Today’s Gospel pictures the righteous and healthy anger of Jesus, seeing the desecration of a holy place. (Pastor Edward F. Markquart; online).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>2: “Never argue with him when he’s drunk!”</b> A man was driving without his seatbelt when he spotted a patrol car right behind him. He grabbed for the belt and put it on. But it was too late, and the red lights began to flash.<br />“You weren’t wearing your seatbelt,” said the officer. “Yes, I was,” said the man, “and if you don’t believe me, ask my wife.” “So how ABOUT it, ma’am?” asked the cop. “Officer,” she said, “I’ve been married to this man for forty years, and there’s one thing I’ve learned: Never argue with him when he’s drunk! Just give him a ticket for not wearing the seat belt.” In today’s Gospel, Jesus doesn’t bother to argue with the unjust merchants and moneychangers who have converted the Temple of Jerusalem into a noisy “marketplace” and a “hideout of thieves.” Instead, he frightens them with his angry order and chases them away, holding a whip in his hands.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>3: Nitroglycerine and salad bar:</b> Someone has compared anger to nitroglycerine. Nitroglycerine is an unstable liquid which, in paste form, constitutes dynamite. However, nitroglycerine in very small amounts is what is given to heart patients to keep their hearts beating. The little molecule that dilates blood vessels wherever they are in the body is nitric oxide. It is the active ingredient in nitroglycerine, which is a widely used as a little pill for the treatment of heart pain (angina). When the heart arteries are constricted, the heart becomes starved for blood and a crushing chest pain results. Put a nitro pill under the tongue and “ah, relief!” as the nitric oxide relaxes the arteries and allows the blood to flow again. Anger, of itself, is not sinful. The sin is in getting angry over the wrong things. We get angry when someone cuts us off in traffic, or when someone takes credit for something we’ve done at the office. We get angry at the kids when they are too noisy and at our spouses when they don’t meet our expectations. Sometimes we get angry when we’re simply tired and cranky. We don’t even need anything to set us off. The media reported sometime back on a fight that broke out in a nursing home. The Spring Haven Retirement Community in Florida found their peace disrupted over a nasty incident at the salad bar. Mealtime turned ugly when an 86-year-old man complained to another gentleman about picking through the lettuce. Name-calling soon gave way to punching and the police was summoned. Those in the way paid a price. One resident was bitten in his attempt to stop the fight, another knocked down. While no one was seriously injured, one of the men was expelled from the home.(<a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/">www.PalmBeachPost.com</a>) You and I get angry over all kinds of things, some of them exceedingly silly. Sinful human beings exploit religion just as they exploit everything else and for the same reasons–wealth, power, prestige. Jesus got angry when he saw people exploiting religion for their own gain. That’s a little different from getting miffed over a salad bar. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>4: Devouring monstrous “zeal” in the Church:</b> There is a funny story about the childhood days of the former American president, Theodore Roosevelt. Little Teddy Roosevelt had a problem. When he was a child his mother, Mitty, found that he was so afraid of the Madison Square Church that he refused to set foot inside it alone. He was terrified, as she discovered, of something called “The Zeal.” It crouched in dark corners ready to pounce upon him. And when she asked him what zeal might be, he said that he couldn’t exactly describe it, but he thought it might be something like an alligator or a dragon, and he had heard the pastor read about it from the Bible one day. So, using a concordance, Mitty read him those passages containing the word zeal until suddenly he stopped her and, very excited, said, “That’s it!” The line was from the Book of John, Chapter 2, verse 17, and it was the King James version- “And his disciples remembered that it was written ‘the zeal of Thine House hath eaten me up.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>5. Commercials in the Church:</b> A little girl was taken to the Church for the first time. As she was leaving with her parents, the pastor asked how she had liked the Mass. “I liked the music,” she replied, “but the commercial was too long.” (<i>Liguorian</i>, March, 2006).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>6. “I don’t smoke during Lent.”</b> The story is told of a priest who was coming back to his parish house one evening in the dark only to be accosted by a robber who pulled a gun at him and demanded, “Your money or your life!” As the priest reached his hand into his coat pocket the robber saw his Roman collar and said, “So you are a priest? Then you can go.” The priest was rather surprised at this unexpected show of piety and so tried to reciprocate by offering the robber his packet of cigarettes, to which the robber replied, “No, Father, I don’t smoke during Lent.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><b>18- Additional anecdotes</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>1) Beware of whip-lashing Jesus in April while you file your tax returns! </b>A man was having trouble sleeping because of frightening dreams of an angry Jesus chasing him with a whip in his hands. He knew in his heart it was his conscience that was keeping him awake. He’d been less than honest in filing his tax return, and it was getting to him. So he sent a check to the IRS with the following note: “Dear Sirs, in filing my 2016 tax return, I did not report all my income. Therefore, I am enclosing my check for $100.00. P. S. If my conscience still troubles me with those dreams of whip-wielding Jesus, I’ll send you the rest.” Guess what happened next! Today’s Gospel challenges us to examine ourselves to see if Jesus will have to take a whip when he comes to our hearts – the temple of the Holy Spirit – in Holy Communion. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>2) “You’re never gonna go to school with white boys.”</b> One of the angriest young men picked out by the American spotlight over the past five decades was the black activist of the sixties, Stokely Carmichael. Remember Stokely, with his rhetoric of hate and rebellion? Why was he so angry? There were reasons. Let me give you an example. A school was being desegregated and Stokely Carmichael took his six-year-old niece to the school to begin kindergarten. Six years old. Remember that. The cops in that southern town weren’t about to let the school be integrated. One cop grabbed Stokely’s niece, put the girl on the ground, put his boot on her neck, stuck his gun in her ear, and said, “This is the last time I’m gonna tell ya. You’re never gonna go to school with white boys.” Carmichael took his niece home in shock. Naturally, she was a frightened mess. At that moment Stokely Carmichael vowed that he would never let a boot hold down the neck of another black person again. He would kill the person wearing the boot rather than let it happen. [Larry King, <i>The King</i>, (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1988).] There are times when it is right to get angry. Jesus was angry when he drove the money-changers out of the Temple. Christ’s example tells me there are times when a Christian ought to get angry. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>3) “Mother Who Abandoned Son Wins Half of His $300,000 Estate.”</b> Did you read about a Connecticut Supreme Court case in which the court reluctantly ruled that a Suzanne Benson is entitled to half the estate of her dead son? If the newspapers are correct, this mother abandoned her two-year-old son 13 years ago. Recently the son was killed in a car/bicycle collision. His dad’s insurance company awarded $300,000 to the son’s estate. Mrs. Benson showed up after all this time to claim half the money. Under Connecticut law, if Mrs. Benson had officially terminated her parental responsibility, she could not have profited from the money. Abandonment of a baby, however, does not constitute formal parental termination. [“Mother Who Abandoned Son Wins Half of His $300,000 Estate,” <i>The Knoxville News Sentinel</i> (May 10, 1989), Section A, P. 7.] So she collected $150,000. That violates my sense of justice, doesn’t it yours? It’s not fair. It’s not right. But listen. There are far worse injustices taking place in our world than that one isolated case. We all know it’s true. There are racial injustices, religious injustices, economic injustices. In today’s Gospel Jesus reacts forcefully against religious injustice. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>4) “In his note there was a very naughty word.”</b> Paul Harvey tells about a robber in Oceanside, California wearing a motorcycle helmet and carrying a gun who strode into a branch bank. He selected a teller who appeared fiftyish, soft, kindly, an easy mark. He handed her a note demanding money or her life. The woman reached for the cash drawer. Then she looked again at the note and her eyes flashed, her lips clenched. She pulled the entire cash drawer out, but instead of giving him money, she clobbered the robber over the head with the drawer. And again and again. She was scolding him. Money was flying everywhere and she was beating him and shouting shame on him and bouncing blows off his helmet “until the young man turned and ran. Police caught him in nearby shrubbery. Then they asked the woman teller how come she was about to give him money at gunpoint and then, suddenly, instead, became enraged? She said, ‘In his note there was a very naughty word.’” (Paul Harvey’s <i>For What It’s Worth</i>“). Different people get upset at different things. Jesus shouted, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s House a marketplace!” Jesus got their attention. Sometimes we need to get angry. Anger can lead to creative and constructive solutions. However, Jesus’ anger is not the focus of this story. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>5) The court had to let Sweeney go free.</b> There is a most interesting story from American history about a man named George Wythe (pronounced with), a signer of the Declaration of Independence and perhaps one of the period’s most noted legal minds. In 1776, George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and Edmund Pendleton began the task of reworking and updating the laws of the state of Virginia. The task took most of their time for three years. It was really an extraordinary piece of work. However, there was at least one flaw – a flaw that would one day haunt the family and friends of George Wythe. In 1806, Wythe suffered for almost 2 weeks from what almost certainly was arsenic poisoning and finally died. It is also reasonably certain that Wythe’s grandnephew, George Wythe Sweeney, had added the arsenic to his elder’s coffee. However, the only person who saw Sweeney commit this act was Lydia Broadnax, Wythe’s devoted mulatto housekeeper; and negroes and mulattoes were forbidden under Virginia law to testify in court against whites – a law that George Wythe had chosen to let stand during his revision process. So, despite fairly certain knowledge that Sweeney had murdered Wythe, the court had to let Sweeney go free. [Brother C. Edward, FSC. “The Law That Failed,” <i>American History Illustrated </i>(Jan., 1973), pp. 38-45.] I suppose we might consider that a case of poetic justice. If George Wythe had recognized the rights of African Americans, his killer would not have gone free. Justice does not always work out that neatly, of course, but we should tremble when we reflect that God is a just God. For eventually justice does prevail. There is a time when Christians ought to get angry about some of the inequities and injustices in our world. As Melvin Wheatley once said, “There are situations in life in which the absence of anger would be the essence of evil.” There is a time for anger. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>6) “Somebody ought to do something about that.”</b> A man named Leonard Haslim got angry watching the 6 o’clock news. Hundreds of people had died in an airliner crash in Washington, D.C. because the plane’s wings iced up, making it too heavy to fly. Haslim decided to make sure it didn’t happen again. Haslim came up with a brilliant, but rather simple solution. Everyone who has studied science knows that opposite charges attract and like charges repel. Haslim used that principle to come up with the ultimate wing deicer. He wrapped a thin sheet of rubber around an airplane wing, with wire ribbons carrying electrical current underneath. When he threw the switch on, the positive wires jumped away from each other, as did the negatives, breaking the ice that had frozen to the layer of rubber above them. “It’s like snapping a hall carpet,” drawls Haslim, “and watching the dust fly.” His invention can pulverize ice an inch thick on the surface of a wing. Yet it uses no more power than a single landing light, and costs less than an airplane tire. “It’s so simple, lightweight, and cheap, it’s nauseating,” says Haslim. It may be that over the next several years, hundreds of lives will be saved because Leonard Haslim got angry watching the 6 o’clock news. (<i>Success</i>, October, 1990). Is there something making you angry? Is there some evil in the world that a voice within you keeps saying, “Somebody ought to do something about that.” That is what Jesus did, as described in today’s Gospel, by cleansing the Temple. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>7) One-man army:</b> Two men stood in front of a taxicab arguing about who had the right to the cab. While they argued, the wife of one of the men stood and watched. After they had argued for a few of minutes, one man became calm, opened the door for his opponent, and returned to his wife. Curious, his wife asked him why he’d suddenly allowed the other man to take the cab. He explained, “You see dear, he needed the cab more than we did; he was late for his martial arts class. He’s the teacher!” Today’s Gospel tells us that Jesus had no such fear in confronting the animal merchants, the moneychangers and the Temple police in the Temple of Jerusalem in his cleansing of the Temple operation with prophetic courage. [<i>The Pastor’s Story File</i> (Saratoga Press, P.O. Box 8, Platteville, CO, 80651; 970-785-2990), January 1996.] Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>8) Herman Kahn and nuclear war:</b> Herman Kahn who founded the Hudson Institute, a private center for research on national security and public policy, had been working on a paper on nuclear warfare, which he was to deliver at the Pentagon on July 8, 1983, when he died very suddenly on July 7. For 23 years he had been repeating the same theme: that nuclear war was not only a possibility but a probability, insisting that a nuclear war would not mean the annihilation of civilization. He believed in “degrees of awfulness,” and prescribed arms control, negotiated disarmament, and a strong military deterrent to nuclear war. Kahn’s critics insisted that he minimized the dangers of nuclear war and played into the hands of the militarists calling for more powerful weapons systems. Some claimed that his thinking, writing, and speeches merely supported the system when he ought to have been challenging it. Jesus could never be accused of such a sell-out in the scheme of things prevailing in the Temple. He shook the building – and the system – right down to the very foundations of both. Why wouldn’t the priests and the other leaders be upset with him and begin to consider how they might get rid of this Jesus? Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>9) The Temple Jesus cleansed:</b> It had a series of ascending courtyards. Your first entry was into the outer courtyard … the place that was called the Court of the Gentiles. You could be admitted there … because anybody could be admitted there. But if you were a Gentile … which virtually all of you are … you could not go beyond there. For it was “death” for a Gentile to penetrate further. Next came the Court of the Women, entered by the arch that they called the Beautiful Gate. Any Israelite could go there. This was followed by the Court of the Israelites, entered by Nicanor’s Gate (a gate of Corinthian bronze which required 20 men to open and shut). It was in this court that the men of Israel assembled for Temple services. Lastly, came the Court of the Priests, into which only the priests might enter. There could be found the great altar of the burnt-offering … the lesser altar of the incense-offering … the seven-branched lamp stand … and the table of the shew bread. It was at the back of the Court of the Priests that the Holy of Holies stood, accessible only to the High Priest, and that only once a year. To enter the Holy of Holies was to approach the very throne of God, which is why legend has it that more than one High Priest attached a rope to his ankle before passing through the veil, thus ensuring that (should he be struck dead by the power of God while praying), his colleagues would be able to pull him out without endangering themselves. So when Jesus went into the Temple for purposes of “cleansing,” where did he go? Not to the Holy of Holies. Not to the Court of the Priests. Not to the Court of the Israelites. Not even to the Court of the Women. Jesus went into the outer court … the Court of the Gentiles. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>10) Jesus and the IRS:</b> The voice on the other end of the line identified its owner as a representative of the Internal Revenue Service. The caller asked, “Did John Jones give $10,000 to your Church last year?” The pastor thought for a moment, and then carefully replied, “He will!” If there is anything that strikes terror into the hardiest of hearts it is the dread acronym: IRS. “The Infernal Revenue Service.” Er, I mean, the In<b>t</b>ernal Revenue Service. Someone has said, “You may not agree with every department in the government, but you really have to hand it to the IRS.” Another cynic has said, “Death and taxes may always be with us, but at least death doesn’t get any worse.” Arthur Godfrey once said, “I feel honored to pay taxes in America. The thing is, I could probably feel just as honored for about half the price.” Benjamin Franklin said, “In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” The one we will have to confront but once; the other, like Gospel on Jesus’ cleansing the Temple of Jerusalem, comes around once a year, frightening us about what would happen if Jesus had to come to our hearts with a whip in his hands. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">11) <b>The Ten Commandments Indicator: </b>On 3rd February 1959, 10,000 meters above the Atlantic, Captain Lynch took a last look at the flight panel of the Boeing 707. The co-pilot was studying a map. Captain Lynch decided to stretch his legs, thinking that the worst was over. Shortly after leaving Paris they had run into a 120-kph headwind. But by now they had climbed above the storm. The captain made his way down the aisle. Just then the Captain felt the right-wing tip and he was thrown against the seats on the right-hand side. At the same moment all the lights in the plane went out. Next, he found himself lying on the floor. But then he realized it was the ceiling he was on. The Boeing was on its back. He began to make his way back to the cockpit. He decided to try to hold the plane at 2,000 meters. The co-pilot had been knocked unconscious. He came to again and he and the captain managed to bring the Boeing to the horizontal. A few more seconds and the plane would have crashed. The whole incident lasted four minutes. What caused it? While the co-pilot was studying the map, he did not notice the blue light on the indicator panel warning that the automatic pilot had stopped working. God has given us an indicator panel to guide us through life. That indicator panel is the Commandments. The Commandments are a gift from God to help us enjoy life by not getting lost along the way. (Author Unknown; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">12) <b>Living the Law: </b>Several years ago, a preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a Church in Boston, Texas. Some weeks after he arrived, he had occasion to ride the bus from his house to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the bus driver had mistakenly given him a quarter too much in change. As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, “You’d better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it.” Then he thought, “Oh, forget it, it’s only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a ‘gift from God’ and keep quiet.” When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, and then handed the quarter to the driver and said, “Here, you gave me too much change.” The driver with a smile, replied, “Aren’t you the new preacher in town?” “Yes,” he replied. “Well, I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I’ll see you at Church next Sunday.” When the preacher stepped off the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on and said, “Oh God I almost sold your Son for a quarter.” Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read! As someone has said, “We need Christians to make Christians.” (J. Valladares in Your Words Are Spirit and They Are Life; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">13) <b>Knowing the Law</b>: One of President Reagan’s favorite stories involves a farmer and a lawyer whose cars collided. The farmer took a look at the lawyer, then reached in the back of his car and took out a bottle of whiskey. “Here, you look pretty shook up,” “Take a nip of this; it’ll steady your nerves.” After taking five or six gulps, the lawyer suggested the farmer have a drink himself. “Not me,” declared the farmer. “I’m waiting for the traffic police.” (Christopher Notes; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">14) <!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><img border="0" height="97" src="file:///C:/Users/tk/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.jpg" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_2" width="137" /><!--[endif]--> <b>Picasso’s Bad Shepherd: </b>The famous modern artist Pablo Picasso was born into a Catholic family in 1881.But he rejected his Catholic upbringing in his early 20s, mostly because he saw religious morals as an <b>obstacle</b> to the hedonistic fashions of his age. Picasso never publicly returned to the Church, although a priest was present at the artist’s funeral. Throughout his life, he associated himself with various secular movements, one of them being Communism, a violently anti-Christian ideology. Soon after Picasso became a Communist, he made an interesting sculpture called “Man with Sheep.” It was a conscious re-interpretation of a famous and beloved image in Christian art, one we are all familiar with because it is taken directly from the Gospels – the Good Shepherd. In traditional sculptures and paintings of the good shepherd, a tranquil lamb curls gently around the shepherd’s shoulders. This is how shepherds used to teach rambunctious and foolish lambs that would run off on their own and leave the flock. The shepherd would break one of the lamb’s legs, so that it couldn’t run off into danger, and then carry the wounded lamb for weeks, until it healed. By that time, the lamb would have learned that the shepherd is good and trustworthy, and so it would never again stray away from the shepherd into danger. Picasso’s “Man with Sheep” is a complete contrast. In this bronze sculpture, the shepherd is a stark, distorted man with the bulging eyes and a fierce expression. He clasps the sheep in one arm, while the animal twists its head away, open-mouthed and protesting, resisting with all its might. Picasso’s figure seems like a butcher bringing a lamb to the slaughter. That’s what happens when we try to understand suffering without Christ – it just doesn’t make sense. But with Christ, all our crosses bring salvation, wisdom, and deeper intimacy with God. <i>(E-Priest)</i> Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>15) No Smoking: </b>Modern life is becoming more and more cluttered with No- signs. No smoking is spreading like a rash out of control. No Trespassing is growing abundantly all over the land, and there is a fair yield of No Fishing and No Shooting in the remoter scenic regions. No Dumping is to be found here too, but it does well in all types of terrain. The back-packing hiker will not have to venture far before encountering his first No Camping. The Don’ts (sometimes called the Do Nots) are another member of the same family. Don’t Walk on the Grass is a favorite in city parks. Don’t Cycle on the Pavements thrives on asphalt or Cement. We are familiar with the Don’ts from childhood. They were the first prohibitions we were taught to recognize, almost from infancy. Don’t Cry, Don’t Wake the Baby, Don’t Cross the Road, Don’t Talk to Strangers were mother’s favourites. School was a whole world of them. Teacher had a whole bagful, graded for every occasion. Some were simple admonitions like Don’t be Late or Don’t be Long. Others were more menacing like Don’t be Smart or Don’t be so Stupid. When we emerged from the school system as young adults, we were ready to face the world and its Don’ts. Since then, life has fluctuated from an official reprimand Don’t Rock the boat to a wifely pat, Don’t Worry. When Moses came down from the smoke-wrapped Mt Sinai, he brought with him two tablets of stone, on which were carved the Ten Commandments and eight of them were Thou Shalt Nots. Since then, the Ten Commandments have formed the basis of every legal system in the civilised world. The Don’ts of the Decalogue have evolved into a charter of human rights. Christ drove the money-makers out of the Temple with “<i>Don’t turn my Father’s house into a den of thieves.”</i> (<i>Biblical IE</i>) Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>16) Jesus the meek lamb and ferocious lion:</b> C. S. Lewis illustrated the contrasting qualities of Jesus in his character Aslan, the Lion. In <i>the Voyage of the Dawn Treader,</i> two children, Lucy and Edmund, come to a grassy area. The field covers an area almost as far as the eye can see in greenery, except for one small white spot. The children can’t figure out what the white spot is from a distance, so they hike down to it and discover that it’s a lamb. This white woolly creature is not just any lamb but a lamb that can cook breakfast and have a conversation with them. The children want to know how to get to the land of Aslan. While the lamb is giving them directions a marvelous thing happens: “His snowy white flushed into tawny gold and his size changed and he was Aslan himself towering above them and scattering light from his mane” (C.S. Lewis, <i>Voyage of the Dawn Treader</i>, as found in “What’s it going to take?” a sermon by Rev. John H. Pavelko). Lewis graphically illustrates one of the great truths of our Faith: Jesus, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world is also the Lion of Judah. In Christ we find both the meekness of the lamb and the ferocity of the lion. Jesus could be both the strong and gentle man who welcomed children and the angry man who swung a powerful whip to clear the Temple. Fr. Tony (<a href="http://frtonyshomilies.com/">http://frtonyshomilies.com/</a>).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>17) Divine gift and gracious guidance of a loving God</b>: In his 1965 novel about Israel through the ages,<i> The Source</i>, Michener chronicled the development of an ancient people who shifted their allegiance to a new god “partly because his demands upon them were severe and partly because they had grown somewhat contemptuous of their local gods precisely because they were not demanding.” (James A. Michener, <i>The Source</i>, Random House, Inc., New York: 1965). In the readings selected for the Third Lenten Sunday, the Scriptures invite the gathered assembly to consider some of God’s demands, albeit from a different frame of reference than Michener’s. Whereas the god featured in <i>The Source</i> appears to be the product of human reasoning and imagination and is portrayed as an ever evolving and maturing concept in the minds of believers, the God of the Hebrew and Christian Covenants is the transcendent Creator of all, Who, through Personal revelation chooses to be known immanently and intimately by humankind. For this reason, the demands of the Law, as featured in the first reading and the demands for authentic worship as featured in the Gospel are to be understood, not as orders that burden, and entrench humanity in a maze of moral gridlock, but as a Divine gift and gracious guidance. (Sanchez Files).</p>****<br /><strong><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Fr. Jude Botelho:</span></strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Friend,<br /><br />Whenever people are commanded to do something, even if they want to do it, they revolt. When parents say to their child: “Do what I tell you!” the reaction often is, “I will not!” When youth are forced to observe rules and regulations of their college, often they rebel and do just the opposite, just for the heck of it! When laws are enforced in society, there will always be some who challenge the law and there is a breakdown of law and order. We want to do our thing! But God has given us commandments for our own good. Do we care to observe them, living according to them or do we deliberately go against them?<br /><br /><strong style="background-color: #ffff99;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">Let’s spend this weekend pondering on God’s law as a means of loving Him!</span></strong></span> <br /><br /><div class="dvFirstReadingCls" id="dvreflection"><table class="TabFirstReading"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td><strong>Reflection</strong></td></tr><tr><td style="text-align: justify;"><span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_lblReflection"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">The first reading from Genesis speaks of the Ten Commandments and spells out the implications of these commandments. God did not give the commandments for his benefit but for the sake of the people. When the people observed the commandments they were the gainers, when they disobeyed they themselves were the losers. Someone has called the Ten Commandments ten guidelines to happiness; unfortunately some have interpreted the commandments as restrictions to man’s freedom. The first commandment forbids the worship of false gods, yet all of us at some time or another have created gods to suit us and often these false gods hold sway over our lives. Keeping the law for the sake of the law results in bondage, while observing the law out of love for God and respect for neighbour results in true freedom.<br /><br /><strong>The Ten Commandments Indicator</strong><br />On 3rd February 1959 10,000 meters above the Atlantic, Captain Lynch took a last look at the flight panel of the Boeing 707. The co-pilot was studying a map. Captain Lynch decided to stretch his legs, thinking that the worst was over. Shortly after leaving Paris they had run into a 120 kph headwind. But by now they had climbed above the storm. The captain made his way down the aisle. Just then the Captain felt the right wing tip and he was thrown against the seats on the right hand side. At the same moment all the lights in the plane went out. Next he found himself lying on the floor. But then he realised it was the ceiling he was on. The Boeing was on its back. He began to make his way back to the cockpit. He decided to try to hold the plane at 2,000 meters. The co-pilot had been knocked unconscious. He came to again and he and the captain managed to bring the Boeing to the horizontal. A few more seconds and the plane would have crashed. The whole incident lasted four minutes. What caused it? While the co-pilot was studying the map he did not notice the blue light on the indicator panel warning that the automatic pilot had stopped working. God has given us an indicator panel to guide us through life. That indicator panel is the Commandments. The Commandments are a gift from God to help us enjoy life by not getting lost along the way.<br /><em>Author Unknown</em><br /><br />The first part of today’s Gospel centres around the temple practices which had gradually become oppressive and corrupt. The motive for these practices should have been service of God and neighbour but instead the motive was profit. All the procedures were legal but were against the spirit of the law and done in the name of religion. That is why when Jesus entered the temple he was upset and angry because God’s house was being desecrated. Jesus’ action was amazing and unprecedented considering that the temple had pride of place and by his action Jesus was taking on the whole religious institution and challenging their power and authority. Whereas the first part centres on the temple the second part focuses on Jesus himself as God’s temple. He was referring to his bodily resurrection, but neither the temple authorities nor his own disciples understand the deeper implications. The last part of the gospel of today speaks of Jesus’ interaction with the people. Many of them were impressed by his challenging action in the temple. They did not understand his action but they somehow believed that God was with Jesus, but they failed to understand that God was within Jesus, that Jesus himself was God and that true worship was worship within one’s heart. The heart of all worship would be loving obedience to God and his commandments and therefore the true temple where one worshiped God was within one’s heart.<br /><br /><strong>Righteous Anger</strong><br />A man lived on the outskirts of a village. About thirty feet from his house, a large lime tree grew. The tree was something of a village landmark. However, it was getting old. It was clearly only a matter of time before it came crashing down. Every time there was a storm, the man feared for his house and his life. One day, unable to bear the strain any longer, he cut the tree down. He felt sure that the villagers would understand. But he was wrong. ‘Shame on you for cutting down such a splendid tree,’ said one. ‘You’ve deprived the village of part of its heritage,’ said another. It’s amazing how worked up people get when their own interests are threatened, however marginally. But how few get worked up when it’s their neighbour’s interests that are threatened. Jesus didn’t get angry on his own account. His anger resulted from his love of God and of his neighbour. His action in the temple has been seen as a protest against the commercialization of religion and the desecration of the temple. But it went deeper than that.<br /><em>Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy day Liturgies’</em><br /><br /><strong>Living the Law</strong><br />Several years ago, a preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a church in Boston, Texas. Some weeks after he arrived, he had occasion to ride the bus from his house to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the bus driver had mistakenly given him a quarter too much in change. As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, “You’d better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it.” Then he thought, “Oh, forget it, it’s only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a ‘gift from God’ and keep quiet.” When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, and then handed the quarter to the driver and said, “Here, you gave me too much change.” The driver with a smile, replied, “Aren’t you the new preacher in town?” “Yes,” he replied. “Well I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I’ll see you at Church next Sunday.” When the preacher stepped off the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on and said, “Oh God I almost sold your Son for a quarter.” Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read! As someone has said, “We need Christians to make Christians.”<br /><em>J. Valladares in ‘Your Words are Spirit and they are Life’</em><br /><br /><strong>Cleansing the Temple</strong><br />Billy Martin tells the story of himself and Mickey Mantle in his autobiography, <em>Number 1</em>. Billy says he and Mickey were doing a little hunting down in Texas. Mickey had a friend who would let him hunt on his ranch. When they got there, Mickey told Billy to wait in the car while he went in and cleared things with his friend. Permission was quickly granted for them to hunt, but the owner asked Mickey to do him a favour. He had a pet mule in the barn who was going blind and he didn’t have the heart to put him out of his misery. He asked Mickey to shoot the mule for him. Mickey agreed. On the way back to the car a plan formed in Mickey’s mind. Reaching the car, he pretended to be angry. He scowled and slammed the door shut. Billy wanted to know what was wrong. Mickey replied that the owner wouldn’t let them hunt there after all. “I’m so mad at that guy that I’m going out to the barn to shoot one of his mules,” Mantle said. He drove like a madman to the barn. Martin protested: “We can’t do that!” But Mickey was adamant. “Just watch me,” he shouted. When they got to the barn, Mantle jumped out of the car with his rifle, ran into the barn and shot the mule and killed it. When he got back to the car he saw that Martin had also taken his gun and smoke was curling from his barrel too. “What are you doing Martin?” Mantle yelled. Martin answered, “We’ll show that son-of-a gun. I killed two of his cows.” Are we ever concerned about whether or not our anger is based on God’s will?<br /><em>Gerard Fuller in ‘Stories for All Seasons’</em><br /><br /><strong>Worthwhile Objectives</strong><br />In a little country community, a farmer had a dog who spent part of his time sitting by the side of a large highway waiting for big red trucks. Whenever the dog saw a truck come round the corner, he would get ready, and as it passed him, he would take off after it down the road. One day the farmer’s neighbour said, “Sam do you think that hound of yours is ever going to catch a truck?” “Well Bill” Sam replied, “that isn’t what worries me. What does worry me is, what he would do if he caught one!” Many of us run wildly after things we could not use if we caught them. We are passionate about the wrong things in life.<br /><em>Frank Mihalic in ‘Tonic for the Heart’</em><br /><br /><strong>Knowing the Law</strong><br />One of President Reagan’s favourite stories involves a farmer and a lawyer whose cars collided. The farmer took a look at the lawyer, then reached in the back of his car and took out a bottle of whiskey. “Here, you look pretty shook up,” “Take a nip of this; it’ll steady your nerves.” After taking five or six gulps, the lawyer suggested the farmer have a drink himself. “Not me,” declared the farmer. “I’m waiting for the traffic police.”<br /><em>Christopher Notes</em><br /><br /><strong style="background-color: #ffff99;"><span style="background-color: black; color: yellow;">May our zeal be for doing the Father’s will in all things, no matter what the cost!</span></strong></span><br /><strong><span style="background-color: #ffff99; font-size: medium;">**********</span></strong><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>From Sermons.com</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The portrait of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Gospel appointed for this day has proven to be something of a conundrum for interpreters through the years. What we see is the Lord Jesus in a violent rage driving animals and people out of the Temple. Years ago Bruce Barton, in a very popular book, The Man Nobody Knows, used the story to demonstrate how virile the Lord Jesus was. He surmised that the Lord Jesus was capable of Herculean strength and prowess because of his outdoorsy lifestyle and vigorous walking missionary tours. However, others have been concerned that this public demonstration which had all the earmarks of a near riot was most unbecoming of the normal life style of Jesus. Also, if this were a pique of temper, could not someone accuse Jesus of being guilty of a sin which all of us dislike very much?<br /><br />Then, of course, there is the additional problem of finding this story in the beginning of the Fourth Gospel, whereas the other evangelists place it in Holy Week at the beginning of his passion. Could it be true that Jesus cleansed the Temple twice? Is John right and the others wrong? Or is it the other way around? Or could there be another reason why John places the story where he does? There is good reason to think that it is the latter. The story of Jesus cleansing the Temple helps us to understand several very important aspects of the church and its worship.<br /><br />1. The Context and the Importance of the Temple<br />2. The Shock of Challenging an Old System<br />3. The Body of the Church and the Sacramental Body<br />4. Our Worship in the Spirit of the Lord </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Lent is a solemn season in the Church calendar. Supposedly, it's not meant to be fun, but rueful. It is a penitential time when devout Christians have typically "given up" some earthly pleasures - meats, sweets, parties, television, movies - to focus instead on spiritual growth - Lenten Bible studies, prayer groups, singular meditation-time. In the words of Lord Williams of Oystermouth, from a 2012 sermon in Rome at St. Paul's Within the Walls, "Every Lent, we ought to be looking at the various ways in which we get involved in manufacturing the gods that suit us. Every Lent is a time to get that little bit further beyond the idolatry that constantly keeps us prisoner and draws us back to the old world. When Jesus has cleared out the temple, when he has thrown out those people involved in manufacturing religion, there he stands with his friends in a great silence and a great space." </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">But this week's epistle text from Corinthians finds us reading about a topsy-turvy world, a ditzy divine scenario, which suggests the Lenten season is the time when Christians should be preparing themselves not to go all centered and solemn, but to go flat out "crazy." </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Paul's declaration in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 is not about rising to be super spiritual, but about daring to be super strange. Lent is the season in the church when we actively "celebrate" Jesus' doomed entry into Jerusalem and anticipate his criminal conviction and his cruel crucifixion upon the cross.</div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Talk about weird holidays..<br />______________________</div><strong>A Good Cleaning</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">When Jesus entered the temple that day he found a faith that was stale, downright dirty. People were taking advantage of others and ritual had become more important than the condition of the heart. What Jesus did, I believe, was challenge a smug, hypocritical religious system that desperately needed to change. Therefore, a little demolition was necessary, not to mention an all out assault to clean house.<br /><br />The faith community at that time was so wrapped up in rules and ritual the fresh revelation of God could not get through. It was impossible for them to "see" because they were blinded by obstacles that hindered their ability.<br /><br />In this story we get an image of Jesus as a one-man wrecking crew, swinging a sledgehammer. There is no way to make improvements in an old house without making a mess. There is plaster dust, dirt, nails and smelly carpet. It is hard work. It is impossible to paint without getting paint on yourself. I am sure that Jesus absorbed a few skinned knuckles that day, not to mention getting his garment dirty.<br /><br />The faith community needed a good housecleaning and Jesus took it upon himself to do just that with zeal and determination.<br /><br />Keith Wagner, Spring Housecleaning our Faith<br />________________________</div>Daylight Savings Time - Don't forget this weekend we Spring Forward one hour!<br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">This is also a great time to remind your community to check their smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Have your youth group or young adult class reach out to help older members check theirs. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">________________________</div><strong>A Passover Crowd's Needs</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It's estimated that the population of Jerusalem would swell from 50,000 to 180,000 at Passover. Pilgrims would come from as far away as Persia, Syria, Egypt, Greece and Rome. For comparison, think about College Station on the Saturday afternoon of an A&M football game, then double that number and hold on to the crowd for a week, instead of a day. That's a lot of hungry mouths to feed; a lot of weary travelers to put up for the night. Plus, they're coming to the temple to make a sacrifice. They're going to need an unblemished animal for that. They're also going to pay their temple tax. Somebody's going to have to help them exchange their currency. Get the picture? The commercial implications of Passover were enormous, perhaps comparable to the Christmas season in the United States today. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">So, I think it's safe to say the merchants were making a killing off the week of Passover, but were they really doing anything wrong? You could say that, by exchanging money and selling birds and animals for sacrifice, they were providing a service. Now, it's true, in the synoptic gospels; i.e., Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus accuses the merchants of cheating the people. He says, "My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers." (Mt. 21:13) </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Perhaps there was some price gouging going on, but this is not the focus of Jesus' anger, according to John. As far as John is concerned, Jesus is upset because all this buying and selling has intruded upon the sacred space for worship. In John's gospel, Jesus says, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace (a house of commerce)." (John 2:16) </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Philip W. McLarty, Spring Cleaning</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">________________________</div><strong>Destroy the Temple</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">"Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again." Given that Jesus was standing smack in the middle of a literal, brick-and-mortar temple at the time he said this, it seemed merely obvious that Jesus meant the physical building. And so everyone who heard him responded the same way, "It has taken us forty-six years just to get this far, and even so the construction project isn't finished yet! Now you tell us you could do the whole thing from scratch in under a week!? Right!" According to John, Jesus does not reply to this, and even the disciples didn't understand it until years later after Jesus rose again from the dead. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">But although he doesn't say it directly, maybe Jesus wanted them to have the wrong idea as a subtle, yet poignant, way to demonstrate that just generally they had the wrong idea. They had the wrong focus. They were obsessed with brick and mortar. Their mention of how long it had taken them to build the temple was a sign that they had lost their way. They no longer had the radical faith of Psalm 69. The psalmist endured insult and injury because of his outrageous belief that the living God actually dwelled in the temple. But some of the Jews in Jesus' day had forgotten. They saw it as their own accomplishment in which they could do whatever they wanted because it was, after all, their place. (I wish that did not sound so familiar).<br /><br />Scott Hoezee, commentary on John 2:13-22<br />__________________________________</div><strong>No Celebration without Confession</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Another set of "money-changers" in the church seem to have lost their reason for forgiveness. Catholic priests have expressed concern over the sharp decline in the number of people desiring to take confession. We hear a lot of talk about the word celebration in our church today. There can be no celebration until there is first confession. In the parable of the prodigal son, the banquet does not occur until the boy had first come to himself. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">A Sunday School class in a church once made an unusual request one day. They requested that the prayer of confession be taken out of the order of worship. They gave the following reasons:</div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">1. Confessions imply that we are bad people.</div>2. Our children will get a negative image of themselves.<br />3. Guilt is damaging; we need to think positively.<br />4. Worship should always be uplifting and make us feel good.<br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">This sounds like the philosophy advocated by that book some years ago "I'm OK you're OK." Tell me then. If I'm OK and you're OK then what are we doing here? The refusal to acknowledge that we are sinful people is damaging the church today, and it is damage that is coming from within, not from without. We have bought in to the modern culture that we should have a positive self-image through positive thinking. Friends, sin is real, and it is too destructive to ignore. The cross reminds us just how serious our sin is. The failure to express our sin before God and one another devalues God's redemptive grace. It is not positive thinking that will remove our guilt; it is God's redemptive action. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Brett Blair, <a href="http://www.sermons.com/">www.Sermons.com</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">________________________</div><strong> Looking For a Loop Hole</strong><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">W. C. Fields once claimed he had studied the Bible for years, in his words, "Looking for a loophole." He never did say if he found one. I wonder, though, if he came across chapter 12 of the New Testament letter to the Hebrews, verses 5 and 6 - verses of pure grace: My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; For the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, And chastises every child whom he accepts. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Peter Buehler, Cleansing</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">_________________________</div><strong>Why the Whip?</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">What would Jesus find in our churches? Although he probably wouldn't find cattle or sheep, would he find the same attitude -- religious rituals being just a business? Is the church building simply a place where people and God take care of business? Can worship become centered on the things we do, rather than the God who is present giving to us and forgiving us in Word and Sacrament? How can we change faulty worship attitudes? </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Can "church as business" be a problem for the "professionals" in the church? Can leading worship for the clergy become simply a job for which we are paid? Does the laity sometimes think that they are "paying" the minister to do the worship for them -- thinking, "We pay them to do this for us"? </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Do we think of God more as a vending machine -- put in our sacrifices or offerings or good deeds and out comes blessings? Do we misuse our (supposed) obedience to the Ten Commandments as bargaining chips with God? </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Why the whip (only mentioned in John) and the harsh actions? Wouldn't it have been more diplomatic and have caused fewer problems to sit down with the church leaders and discuss the problem? When are swift, harsh actions needed rather than diplomacy? When should a pastor just do what he believes is right, or go through the council or other governing board? </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Brian Stoffregen, Questions</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">__________________</div> <strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Leaders Have To Make Tough Decisions</span> </strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Not long ago a friend told me one of his co-workers had been promoted above him. "You wouldn't believe this guy," he said. "Power has gone to his head and he's becoming impossible." "How's that?" I asked. "Well," my friend said, "when I'm late--even if it's only 10 minutes--he says something about it. And he's always on my back about meeting projections. He used to be great to work with, but now no one wants to be around him." </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Unfortunately, my friend's attitude reflects the attitude of many people. They don't understand that sometimes leaders have to make tough decisions. Sometimes leaders have to say things they don't like having to say. A leader can't be "one of the guys". Where others might be willing the let things slide, a leader has to deal with the problem. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In fact, this is the most difficult aspect of being a leader: You no longer have the luxury of turning your head and looking the other direction when a problem comes up. Leaders have to take responsibility for making things right, even when the task is unpleasant. Sometimes this calls for taking stock of a situation and cleaning house. This applies to all leaders--pastors, parents, bosses, coaches, managers, or any other person in a leadership role. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">There was a time in Jesus' ministry when he found himself in the midst of a bad situation in desperate need of an overhaul. He couldn't--and certainly wouldn't--look in the other direction. Instead, Jesus did something that no one would have expected him to do. The saying "Desperate times call for desperate measures" might apply to this story today. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Steve May, Confrontational Leadership</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">__________________________</div><strong>You Took My Place</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">There is a story about a man who visited a church. He parked his car and started toward the front entrance. Another car pulled up nearby, and the irritated driver said to him, "I always park there. You took my place!" The visitor went inside and found that Sunday School was about to begin. He found an adult class, went inside, and sat down. A class member approached him and said, "That's my seat! You took my place!" The visitor was somewhat distressed by this rude welcome, but said nothing. After Sunday School, the visitor went into the sanctuary and sat down in an empty pew. Within moments another member walked up to him and said, "That's where I always sit. You took my place!" The visitor was troubled, but said nothing. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Later, as the congregation was praying for Christ to be present with them, the visitor stood, and his appearance began to change. Scars became visible on his hands and on his sandaled feet. Someone from the congregation noticed him and cried out, "What happened to you?" The visitor replied, "I took your place." </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Some things that happen in church are silly. Some things are downright scandalous. Some things may even be sacrilegious. But the Church is still the body of Christ and it was for the Church that Christ died. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">B. Richard Dennis, Over My Dead Body!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">________________________</span></div><strong>Priorities</strong><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">To know and to serve God, of course, is why we're here, a clear truth, that, like the nose on your face, is near at hand and easily discernible but can make you dizzy if you try to focus on it hard. But a little faith will see you through. What else will do except faith in such a cynical, corrupt time? When the country goes temporarily to the dogs, cats must learn to be circumspect, walk on fences, sleep in trees, and have faith that all this woofing is not the last word. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">What is the last word, then? </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Gentleness is everywhere in daily life, a sign that faith rules through ordinary things: through cooking and small talk, through storytelling, making love, fishing, tending animals and sweet corn and flowers, through sports, music and books, raising kids - all the places where the gravy soaks in and grace shines through. </div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Garrison Keillor, We Are Still Married, New York: Viking, 1989. From the essay: The Meaning of Life.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">__________________________</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3098872495026357540.post-64186864592212239952024-02-18T12:27:00.005+05:302024-02-18T12:27:52.918+05:302nd Week of Lent, Saturday, Mar 2<p><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">2nd Week of Lent, Saturday, Mar 2</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Micah 7:14-15, 18-20 / Luke 15:1-3, 11-32</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Jesus teaches about forgiveness; "A man had two sons . . . "</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">A child was born of devout parents. As a young man, however, he not only left home but also abandoned any attachment to the true faith. Ile lived what we would call a wild life and even fathered a son out of wedlock. One person stood by him, his mother.</span></p>She never gave up praying for him. At her insistent urging he listened to the preaching of a very holy bishop. Struck by the preaching and influenced by his mother's prayers, he realized the mistakes he had and changed his whole way of life. His conversion was so complete that he founded a religious order, was made a bishop, and became a famous preacher, writer, and theologian of the Church. At his mother's funeral he said in his sermon, "I weep for my mother, now dead before my sight who wept for me for so many years that I might live in her sight." We now honour this man every year in the liturgy on August 28th as the great St. Augustine.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">St. Monica, Augustine's mother, never gave up on him, just as God never gives up anyone, whether they be big sinners or little sinners. During Lent the Church calls us to repentance and like a good mother weeps for our sins and prays for our conversion. Though we have not abandoned our Father's home, we must do penance for all our sins, big or small, and we must try to cooperate with the grace of God who wishes to raise us even to the heights of sanctity.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">This parable contains two remarkable things. The first is the son's demand for his inheritance. To demand one's inheritance before the death of one's parents was cruel.</span></p>It was to rob them of their "social security." The second is the father's welcome of his son. He embraces him, withholding no affection. He puts shoes on his son's feet. Freemen wore shoes; slaves went barefooted. Shoes removed from the son the sign that he was somebody's slave and restored to him the sign that he was somebody's son. Finally, the father puts a ring on his son's finger. It was undoubtedly the family's signet ring. To possess it was to possess the power to act in the family's name. In brief, the father forgives his son totally.<o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">How forgiving are we of those who have sinned against us? "Mercy imitates God and disappoints Satan." John Chyrsostom<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">When we forgive those who have hurt us, often some scars remain and take a long time to heal. Even if we have not personally suffered from a crime, we cry for blood and vengeance in the name of society, and we don’t treat a released prisoner or sinner who has made up for his failure as if he had done no wrong. But God does. He remains faithful to the love once given. He comes forward both to welcome the returning sinner and to invite the brother or sister who has a hard time to welcome his lost brother or sister to share in the joy of forgiveness and his return.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> ***<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Based on anecdotal evidence, we can say that there is a black sheep in every family. Usually that is referred to one of the children. That particular child is always out of step with the rest and seems to be marching to a different tune. That 'black sheep' is the bane and the burden of parents. Some parents will resort to renouncement of the relationship with that child, others will resort to punishment which may actually be just a way of venting out their frustrations on the child.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">In today's gospel parable we hear of yet another way of dealing with the 'black sheep'. The father gave in to his younger son's request, but yet further on in the parable, we hear of the father waiting and looking out for him to return. What made the son came to his senses was that he recalled how kindly his father treated his servants. That was enough for him to get moving.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">No matter how far a person has gone over to the dark and destructive side, the memories of love and kindness and goodness can never be erased from him. It is these memories that will make a person come to his senses and bring him back to the light. So, when we come across the odd one, the black sheep, the sinner, let us be the reflection of God's love to that person.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The 1st reading describes God taking fault away, pardoning crime, not cherishing anger for ever but delighting in showing mercy. Let us be that image of God for others to help them come to their senses and return to God.</span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">***<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Prayer</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Faithful Father, you are our God of grace, mercy and forgiveness. When mercy and pardon sound paternalistic to modern ears, make us realize, Lord, that you challenge us to face ourselves and to become new people, responsible for the destiny of ourselves and for the happiness of others. Make us responsive to your love through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com